PSYC 2700

I loved this class. It was super easy and straightforward-it served as a great intro psych course. Professor Vaish is kind and funny. Sometimes lectures can be a little boring or repetitive, but the cute baby videos make it worth it. The textbook readings are definitely not necessary to do well in the class as long as you pay attention in lecture. Exams are all multiple choice and the majority of your grade. Clicker questions are pretty straightforward the majority of the time. I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone looking to boost their GPA or someone who just has a basic interest in the development of children.

Whoever wrote that reading is not necessary and listening in class is the only thing that matters DID NOT LISTEN IN CLASS. Around 20% of the test materials are based on the textbook and it is key to know some of the stuff outside of the powerpoint. 10/10 would recommend this class though, Vaish is the nicest professor!

Yes, this class is "easy" compared to other classes at UVA, but professor Vaish said herself that students last semester complained about how the class was too easy and the test questions were too straightforward, so she made the test questions harder and less direct. Some questions on the tests are extremely specific details from the textbook. Make sure you listen in class and during the films because there are test questions on those, too.

Interesting material unless you hate kids. Exams are more than fair. Vaish keeps it real.

Hands down the easiest class I've ever taken at UVA. Only thing is, you can't miss class because there are clicker questions and 90% of the exam is directly from class notes. But that being said. I never missed class, never opened the textbook, studied 1 hour before the exams and ended up with a 98% in the class. Would absolutely recommend this class to anyone for an Easy A! The class is pretty dry though, just as a warning and she doesn't let you use electronics-- so sit in the back!

I took this class for the easy A, and that's what I got. Study the vocab and know what we learned in lectures and you'll get an A, no tricky concepts and it's all very straightforward, simple stuff. In fact, I often found that the information was very dry and would've liked to learn more about current studies and the science behind how children develop, as opposed to learning different vocab terms for phenomena (i.e. knowing the difference between "cooing" and "babbling" -- not exactly groundbreaking stuff). However, Prof. Vaish was very nice and taught the information in an organized, straightforward manner...although she has a no-electronics policy, which was sometimes annoying.

If you haven't yet taken a PSYC or BIOL class at uva then this class could go over your head at times, but this class was not bad for me at all! I really like Prof. Vaish's lecture layout -- her powerpoints have enough info that you get a cohesive view of the information from them alone, yet she adds context, examples, and explanations during lecture that were vital for my understanding of the material. You have to attend lecture because she gives 2-4 (very easy) iClicker questions during class, but she gives 10 "grace" iclicker points to accommodate for missed lectures. Her tests are very reasonable -- especially for an intro psyc uva class -- and she was very receptive to feedback and would adjust the answer options if the majority of the class missed the same question on the test.
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As for the textbook -- she does not require the most recent edition of the book, so find the pdf online! It made highlighting/finding terms so much easier. I would recommend reading the sections that she specifically mentions during class, but if this isn't your first psych class then just skim the other sections and you should be good. You can also find the "Baby Human" videos online, but I would recommend still going to lecture because she still gives iClickers on movie -- and guest lecture! -- days.
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I haven't read other peoples' reviews of Prof. Vaish, but I have a feeling that they might mention how strict she is about using technology. I appreciated that she actually enforced her "no technology" rule, because in a lecture of 350 people it is so easy to be distracted by laptop screens in front of you. Also she is pretty insistent that people actually sit in the lecture hall seats instead of sitting on the stairs or the floor in the back, but again this is just so that there aren't as many distractions.
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Overall, I would definitely recommend this psych course. This is probably the first psych class I've taken at UVA where the exams are an accurate assessment of what you've learned, unlike other courses where some questions were random, tiny textbook details.

A straightforward GPA booster. I studied for roughly an hour for each exam and got 1 wrong on average so not a lot of time needs to be applied. However, attendance is mandatory due to clicker questions everyday. The lecture material can be very dry, which as a psych major I can say is mostly due to Vaish; nice person, but not my lecture style. Overall, easy A.

I'm just gonna say it. This class is boring. Professor Vaish is a very nice professor, who writes fair and pretty easy exams. But oh man, I could not stay engaged to save my life. Most of this course is just going through the ages and seeing at what age does a certain ability develop. If you wanna do well in the course, go to lecture and answer the clicker questions. For the textbook, just know the bold and italicized terms, because she will put those on the exams even if you didn't cover it in class. No need to read all those chapters though. It is an easy class yes, but you are probably not going to learn much (unless you've never taken a psychology or biology course than maybe). Again, this course content and textbook is very dry, but Professor Vaish does a great job at explaining the material and engaging the class with conversations, guest lectures, studies, and videos. Would I take it again? ehhh, Probably, but I'd pack a pillow in my bag this time

Vaish is a very kind prof and she seems to care about her students, but the class material for child psych is just kinda boring. If you've taken intro psych or any other psych class, a large portion of this class will be review. I would recommend many other psych classes before this one, although I can't say that I particularly disliked this class, it was just ok. There is no homework, you dont need to read the book at all for clickers or tests, I would just study the slides for maybe 2 hours the night before the test and I averaged around 98 on the tests, and only missed one clicker point all semester. So, in summary, the class is super easy and moderately enjoyable, but a bit dry.