PSYC 2300

Attend class, take good notes, and memorize everything from your notes for the exams and you will be fine.

Highly recommended. Proffitt has a great sense of humor and some cool stories.. he has worked with NASA and art museums and consulted on court cases all because of his expertise in perception - and these are just the examples he's told us about. It's essential to go to class and take good notes, but study for a few hours and the tests (although entirely short answer) are no problem.

You learn interesting things, admittedly there is a good deal of overlap with PSYC 2200.

As for the grading, it could be unpredictable/unfair at times. Proffitt was a little rude when you talked to him in person.

TAs took notes and post them on Collab so you could do just as well without going to lecture. Didn't need to read the textbook.

This was my first semester of college. I went in after reading the reviews on here and though it'd be an okay class, but that'd I'd pull out with an A. Well, that didn't happen. While I was close to an A, this class was my hardest class this semester. The exams are graded WAY too harshly considering they are all short answer recalls and there's way too much information to memorize. If you mess up on one quiz and even get a B, then there's really no hope for you. While Proffitt tells cute stories to go home and tell "sweetie" and the class is actually one that helps you in life, it was taught it a manner that was way too difficult. TAs don't even know the answers half of the time and even if you're right about a question you get wrong on a quiz and they admit that you're right they won't budge. Believe me, this happened quite a few times. And this didn't happen because I didn't study either. I basically memorized the notes yet when given a SHORT ANSWER exam things tend to slip your mind and the TAs are unforgiving. Unless you have to take this class for your major or are an experienced 3rd/4th year, Save yourself the trouble and don't take this class.

Proffitt taught a fun and interesting class.

This class was great. There was no homework and no writing. Reading the textbook was optional and Proffitt warned he would pull a question out of the textbook that wasnt mentioned in lecture once each quiz, but some quizzes he didn't do it and it wasn't worth reading all the chapters for the one question. Proffitt is HILARIOUS, everything he says you expect to be funny, and he makes the lecture really interesting. He has interesting slides and an interesting lecture, but if you don't want to show up for class his TA's post thorough, hand-written notes from each lecture on Collab after the lecture. His quizzes (you can consider them exams) are difficult, but not impossible at all. They simply require complete memorization of the notes, and since they are evenly spaced throughout the semester you never have to memorize too much- but memorize it thoroughly because they are pure recall and you have to draw images like graphs freehand and label axis' etc. Overall it was a REALLY enjoyable and interesting class (that wasn't too hard if you just study for the quizzes) taught by a hilarious and intelligent professor.

Really worthwhile class. It's really not hard at all if you just pay attention, and it's usually interesting enough that you actually want to pay attention. Some people do struggle, but it helps to have some physiology or psychology background. If you use the TA notes to make sure your own are thorough and study from that, it's really easy to get an A.

Far and away my favorite class my first semester at UVA. Dennis Proffitt not only knows how to teach students a good amount of material but also understands how to teach so students remember the material. EXTREMELY funny as he often weaves fun experiments or videos into the lecture which allows students to have fun and understand them. The grade distribution will say what it says, but the average for our most recent test was a 92%. I am now considering a major in Psychology even further. One thing is that you have to attend lecture if you want to succeed. Outside of class, I have maybe opened the textbook three times. Overall, and extremely interesting, enjoyable, and manageable class that I would recommend to anyone.

Great class with a great teacher! Proffitt is a really good lecturer and is probably one of the easiest classes to take notes in, which is GREAT because the tests are solely based on the lecture material. He literally TELLS you when to write stuff down or not and is willing to repeat confusing things. I've gotten high As on all the tests because I just read the lecture notes and I'll miss one question just because it was something small from the book. DONT buy the book, just borrow from a friend because any possible question he would ask (and there is only max of 3 pts out of 100 from book) will be based on FIGURES. Overall great, relatively easy class if you pay attention during lecture and try not to miss any (since tests are lecture-based). There were 3 non cumulative tests and cumulative final, and though he's a great lecturer and entertaining, I thought he was pretty condescending during office hours or if you ask him questions. Recommend for CogSci majors!!!

I just finished the final for the class and I can say the tests are pretty intense. Unless you show up to lecture everyday and sit through it at 100% attention, don't dream about getting over a 90% on his exams. The exams are free response/short answer/graphs. It's actually pretty hard if you end up missing class because despite the TA notes (which can be extremely hard to read) learning by listening is the best way to succeed. I didn't get the grade I expected going into the semester and it actually wasn't exactly what I was expecting out of the course. It's definitely more science/bio based than anything else. Profitt isn't a bad professor, but he can be a little condescending. Don't bother even renting the book like everyone says because it's worthless + there's an online version (sigh, that I didn't know about until today). Anyway, if you're good at the stuff I described, feel free to knock your socks off and take the course.

P.S. I want to mention that the lab that is optional is pretty fun, but the quizzes are harshly graded (which are most of your grade).