PSYC 2700

I really enjoyed this class even though it took a shitload of effort to do well! I am interested in Psychology and found the textbook interesting so I enjoyed heavily outlining and reading it. However, it takes soo long to finish a chapter and the course picks up to about 2 chapters (80 pages) of reading a week. Thoroughly outlining one chapter takes me at least 3 hours. If you have a light course load and are able to spend time on this course like I did you should pull a good grade. Textbook and lectures don't always line up but definitely go to class! If you don't miss a class the clicker questions will help you and if you don't they will hurt your grade! You don't always have to finish the readings before class to get the questions at the beginning of class (especially if you've taken intro psych before- you should be able to guess and get them right). Anyway study your lecture notes well, read the textbook and their summaries before the test, and make sure you know each chapter's vocab. Knowing ages is a bitch but it shouldn't hurt your test grade too much (just be aware of them as you study). Having children come in was fun and I also really liked the optional 1 credit discussion!

Overall, I spent a lot of time a week for this class, it paid off, and I like the course topic. Hope this was a little helpful!

This was my first psych class at UVA. I had a really hard time with the exams, even after studying the material in depth for hours. The questions are not straight forward, and they are made to trip you up.. Best of luck pulling a B if you're lucky. Recommendation: take it in the Spring.

I hated this class and this professor. The clicker questions are usually guessable and the lectures/materials are somewhat interesting, but the tests are unnecessarily challenging. Even as a psych major who had studied most of the topics in previous classes, I had to work my ass off for an A-. My main issue with the class though was her technology policy. If she catches you with your phone out your grade will drop a whole letter (B+ to C+) which I find to be ridiculous and patronizing. Take the class with the other professor, who is much better and much more interesting.

If you want to take child psych, please wait till the spring semester to do so. The professor in the spring is a million times better, and because of that, I think you will actually enjoy learning the material. You can tell that no one wants to take this class with Lillard just by looking at Lou's List. For a class that can have a max of 350 people, there were around 290 enrolled this semester. When I was searching for classes to take spring semester on Lou's List, I went to child psych to see what the enrollment was like, and all 350 spots were full with a waitlist of almost 100 people. Just goes to show that people have been looking at the comments here and seeing how much better the professor in the spring is compared to Lillard. Don't get me wrong, the material is interesting and having the babies come in was awesome, but the amount of reading for this class combined with difficult exams are horrible. Some of the exam questions will ask about a specific line from the textbook and when you have around 5 chapters of material on the exam, this can be very difficult. Do yourself a favor and wait till the spring.

Lillard is a pretty good professor. I really liked her lectures and though that they were very interesting. She also used iclickers to reinforce information that she just taught in class which really helps you retain info for the test. Also she has some really cute babies come to class to demonstrate different milestones of child development which are very cool and you need to memorize for the test. Downside to the class is the amount of readings. the class meets two times a week and for each class you have to have read a chapter and she checks to see if you read with i clickers (you get 2/3 points for just being there though). Also if you get a certain amount right she curves your iclicker score (20 % of your grade) to a 100! Each chapter is about 40 pages so about 80 pages to read per week. It is VERY important to remember details from the book like at what age does a child get this skill etc. One of three midterms is dropped and then there is a final. Although it is a lot of reading and memorization if you just stay on top of it you will get a good grade. I did not stay on top of readings like I should have all the time and still ended up with a B+ because I listened in class and took a discussion section which helped me. People complained to the TAs a lot about the exams because the tests were so specific and was not as focused on big ideas as it was on specific minute details so they tried to make it better for the final which was nice and they also said that for next time they would start doing practice exams! Overall I enjoyed the class itself it is just a lot of information. (PS DO NOT USE YOUR PHONE DURING CLASS YOU WILL LOSE A LETTER GRADE THIS HAPPENED TO SOMEONE IN MY CLASS!!!)

Lillard can be quite condescending, but she knows her stuff. I loved the material, but I tell everyone to take it in the spring. This class, I think, is too much work to justify. I got an A- in the class, and got straight Bs on the tests. Clickers help a lot and she also will give you some bonus.

How I studied:
-read everything
-memorized a bunch of random stuff at the end
-stressed a ton
-went to every lecture

Also, some tests will be book-heavy and some will be lecture heavy (and there's no way you will know). Seriously, don't take this with Lillard unless you want to surrender your time for a grade less than what you want.

Although I learned a lot in this course, unless you are passionate about child psych I could not recommend. The lectures do not line up with the readings and often contradict each other. Tests are unnecessarily difficult and overall the class was way to much work for 3 credits.

DO NOT TAKE IN THE FALL. Lillard is ridiculously smart (Stanford Phd) and really knows her stuff, but it is ridiculously difficult to get the grade you want (look at the comparison in GPA between the spring and fall instructors!). Tests are so specific and I couldn't even effectively read the book because I felt like every little detail I was reading could show up on the test so I would basically end up rewriting the entire textbook chapter for my notes. Avoid this class unless you're a psych major

Lillard may be a genius but her condescending nature makes this class unbearable. Her lectures loosely connect to the textbook and the exams are WAY specific referencing material we may have mentioned only once. If you have your phone out in class, your FINAL grade will be dropped by a whole letter grade with no mercy. She flies through the lecture slides and when approaching her about posting lecture slides online she proceeded to pull out multiple research studies saying that "giving students lecture slides decreases their learning." The iClicker score will definitely help your final grade but the tests are painful. Overall she knows what she is talking about, but can not express the information to the students clearly enough. Take this class in the fall - this class is not worth all the work for only a B+.

I highly suggest taking this class in the spring if you are interested. I found Lillard to be an extremely hypocritical professor. After telling us how she is strongly against lecture-learning and multiple choice examinations, she gives the class 2 exams that total to 85% of your grade. Your midterm is a 100 question multiple choice test and your final is a 200 question multiple choice test. I found this incredibly confusing after she lectured us for a week about the issues with conventional schooling and multiple choice examinations. To go even further, the exams do not question the general points of the class, but they zoom in on very very specific things (such as the exact age of a child when they begin to understand others desires). Lillard was a very condescending professor. I do not recommend this class if you are looking for an easy A.