PSYC 2600

I expected a lot because this class is so hard to get into but I was rather disappointed. The lecture materials are interesting, but Professor Wilson's way of teaching made me fall asleep in class several times even during a couple classes that I sat in the front row. Also, the professor is not very approachable either. Some TAs are good, some are not. Overall, don't expect too much.

NOT a fan of this class. I saw the reviews for this class and thought it would be an enjoyable and not-too-difficult class. This was not the case. I never missed a lecture, read all the textbook chapters and took notes on them, and make comprehensive study guides and barely pulled out a B. I always thought I did pretty good on the tests but never actually did (questions are tricky). Professor Wilson is great and I really enjoyed lectures overall but it was just not what I expected.

This class is fascinating! Professor Wilson always starts his lectures with real world problems, making the course seem less academic and more applicable to the real world. 12/10 recommend for anyone. The readings were easy reads and the two papers where easily graded and went along with our course work well.

Not an easy A. I am an average A- student and will end up with a B- in the class. The lectures are interesting and the readings coincide well with them but the tests are insanely tricky and you really need to know everything inside out and upside down. Also, the TA's grade unreasonably harsh; they would give out B's on easy papers without much justification as to why. If you are great at psych take this class because it is very interesting and applicable to everyday life...but if you want an easier class where you don't get stumped on exams/papers for not much reason then don't take it.

This class is terrible, I regret taking it. I'm a sociology major, so I thought the material in this class would be a breeze, but the test questions are so tricky that the professor actually had to make some of them non-count because they were even confusing for the TAs. The TAs are terrible at grading the essays and Wilson needs to more clearly define his essay instructions. For one of the essays, the written instructions say one thing, but when I asked him directly, he said something completely different, which was really confusing. Also, in one of my essays, I stated the definition of my term and the TA took points off because she said I didn't state the definition, when it was clearly written there. I was upset, but didn't ask for a regrade, because the class regrade process is unforgiving and you have to accept the new grade that a different TA gives you even if it's lower than the first one. That policy is enacted just to deter students from asking for regrades and so the TAs don't have to do more work, which is really not a good policy. If you want to take an easier class similar to this class, just take Intro Sociology, and you'll get a much better grade with more interesting content that is similar to social psych (prejudices, group interactions, attraction, etc). I almost fell asleep in lectures sometimes because the content was so uninteresting, so I'm not sure why this class is so highly rated for interesting content. All of what is taught in this class is basically common sense. Also, the professor reads off the slides and posts them on Collab as well so there is really no reason to go to class except the clicker questions.

TLDR; this was not an easy or interesting class like others told me it was, and it lowered my gpa, definitely would not recommend.

OMFG. THIS CLASS! So a couple of things. This class is the reason why I will be a psychology major. TAKE IT. It is very relevant/interesting to today's world, so you might want to take it in case you are thinking about psych. With that said, be forewarned. Yeah, this is a hard class. As others have said, the papers are graded (depending on the TA) harshly and you have to know your stuff for the tests. I recommend going through each of the chapters before the tests and re-reading the powerpoint lectures, as well as your notes. I ended up with a B+ in this class though I consider myself a very diligent student (3.8 average as of last semester). Make sure you go to TA office hours. Also, the papers were super confusing as Wilson said to do one thing on a project and a TA graded somewhat harshly because we did that very same thing. Basically, hope that you get a nice TA on both papers. The fact that the tests were non-cumulative (broke up the semester into three parts) was super nice, but they were also still confusing at times. On the second one, so many students asked about two particular questions that they had to be retroactively removed.
Btw I've heard that it is easier with Wilson than with other professors. No idea as only people who have retaken it are the only ones who know (and I'm pretty sure that I don't know anyone who has retaken it), but there you have it.

This class is NOT an easy A course. Wilson is a very knowledgeable and articulate professor, and the subject matter is interesting, but the setup of this class was questionable. For one, the point system grading scale prevents you from being able to recover from a bad grade on any of the assignments. As stated in the other reviews, the TAs grade the papers harshly, and sometimes unfairly. The rubric for the papers seem simple, but the comments given on returned papers seem arbitrary and nit-picky. There is a regrade process in place, but most students do not use it as whatever grade you're assigned after the regrade will be your grade, regardless of if your original grade was higher. The TAs are also instructed not to look over your paper prior to submission. The tests are tricky and each reading will take you approximately 2-3 hours. If you have a lot of time to dedicate towards this course, it could be worth a shot. That being said, I would recommend taking it with a different professor. Not because Wilson is a bad professor, but because his class setup could use some work and it's not worth the average/bad grade.

Class was very interesting and professor was very engaging. Tests had a lot of specifics from the textbook, but were pretty straightforward, in my opinion, and the essays did not take much effort to write (~1.5-2 hrs each). Took it as an elective and found it to be a relatively easy and very applicable class.

This class was just okay for me. Quite honestly, I did not find it too interesting. Don't get me wrong, some things were very engaging and others just weren't! Wilson is an extremely knowledgeable professor and its great that he wrote the textbook we use for this class. Yet, tests were very specific and included information that was very minuscule mentioned in the textbook. You really just have to know the textbook word for word to pass the test. Ended up with an A-. Don't think you'll be able to put minimal effort into this class, it is not an easy A and you do have to put in work for the essays and tests. TAs are extremely helpful!

Wilson is possibly one of the worst professors I have ever had at UVA. First of all, he's ancient, so he has no grasp at all of how to teach students in an updated, helpful way. Class is mind-numbingly boring and makes me wish so badly that it was online. Why should I use 2.5 hours of my time every week going to a class and watching a man read words off a screen? The exams are trash and while they mostly test you on conceptual things, he takes random bits of irrelevant information and puts them into the exams to ensure that the class average is a low B. Unacceptable and he should be ashamed of himself. He's knowledgeable but clearly doesn't know how to teach. He's been here for nearly half a century and hasn't changed the way he teaches. His teaching ability is garbage. He could easily improve his methods but he chooses not to. He tells students how to write papers but not how to write papers well. He made me hate this class. People strike up conversations during class because they know they're not missing anything important. One time he pulled up a long video to show us during class and someone in the back of the room starting snoring. He is a joke and this class is a joke. You'll only do well if you have ridiculous quantities of time available to devote to this class. His exams are absurd. The material is interesting but he somehow manages to make it as uninteresting as possible. Oh and one last thing - the most obvious sign that he is old is that he has technology problems every. single. class. Before every class he'll do something weird with the computer system that emits a shrieking sound over the sound system. He is so so so so so old. watching him teach is so uncomfortable because he just so obviously has no idea what he's doing. The worst part is that he himself is guilty of a psychological phenomenon that he claims to be the expert on. People who are bad at something think they're doing great, and people who are good at something think that they are just above average. He thinks he's doing great. Thus, he's doing terrible. It's so ironic that he'll tell us not to be guilty of overconfidence and then doesn't practice what he preaches. I! hate! this! professor!