PSYC 2600

To preface: I am not a psych major, and this was my first/only psych class at UVA.
The material in this class is interesting. Believe it or not, the textbook is actually really interesting and well written. Lecture, however, was less exciting. Smyth is a nice guy and makes jokes when he can, but I just felt like not that much information was shared during class--I had like < 1 page from 1 hour 15 minutes of lecture some days. Maybe it was just Gilmer 190? When I read the book before class, I felt bored because it was a lot of repeated material, but when I didn't, I missed clicker questions, so there was no winning. Also, clicker questions are taken out of the highest # of points by any student, so you should go to class.
Some test questions were ambiguous and (in my opinion) poorly written, but he won't clarify if you ask about them during the test. In all honesty, I didn't give this class 100%, but I feel like it didn't give me that much either. Maybe it was having no discussion sections--I felt like I never really engaged with the material, just memorized and regurgitated. Read the chapters, get the clicker questions, study for the tests and you'll be ok.

I know a lot of people really like Smyth but I was very disappointed by his class. The material is super interesting and reading the textbook was not bad at all but the lectures were just so boring. He would regularly spend twenty minutes talking about one study that you almost definitely already know about if you've taken any other psych courses. He also wastes a ton of class time doing stupid activities and throwing his little microphone around the room like we were in a 20 person discussion not a 400 person lecture. I feel like I could've skipped every lecture and done well in the class except that he always had clicker questions. Social psychology is a really interesting subject but I would recommend taking it with literally any other professor.

I've heard much better things from those who did not have Smyth and took this course. The subject matter is interesting and the textbook is great. However, Smyth is not a good lecturer and the tests are not similar to what is taught in class. He is knowledgable but manages to make an interesting subject much, much less so. Lecture content is lacking and just plain boring. Tests are based on very specific and not very representative portions of the chapters covered in each unit. Overall, I would recommend taking this class but with someone else.

Professor Smyth tests on very specific and, a lot of times, irrelevant information presented in the book and lecture. It's really funny because I clearly remember him at the beginning of the semester saying he wants to test us on concepts that we'll remember beyond this semester, but I digress. Smyth is also a fairly boring lecturer which is frustrating because, given how he tests, anything that comes out of his mouth could be on the exam (no matter how seemingly irrelevant it is). On the upside, he does curve his exams, and he can be funny at times. Take this course with another professor if you can.

Do not take this course with Smyth. I know, you might need it to apply to Batten, but trust me - I'd rather not go to Batten than take this class.
Lectures are insipid, exams are extremely difficult. Smyth also does this thing where he randomly calls on people to answer questions (every single lecture at least once) and tosses them a microphone so they can answer it - it's one of the most gimmicky 'teaching strategies' I've ever seen, give me a break. The exams were some of the trickiest and most absurd tests I've ever come across - studying sufficiently was impossible to do intentionally, doing well on the tests essentially came down to whether or not you happened to recall some minute detail he threw in at the end of a particular class in his stronger-than-Ambien monotone voice. Honestly, I'm convinced Smyth isn't a malicious or bad guy - seems like a very pleasant and nice man actually - but he just managed to turn this course in to a disaster

Don't take this course with Smyth. He is a really great person, but he tests on the most irrelevant material. You spend hours studying concepts that were covered for entire chapters in the reading and then they don't appear on his tests.

Professor Smyth is probably the hardest Social Psychology professor here at UVA. His tests are incredibly hard and specific. His lectures are often dry and cover material not in the book. On tests you are expected to know material from the book and from lecture. He gives three tests during the semester and a cumulative final. He also uses iclickers for attendance and asks 3-5 questions per class. DO NOT TAKE IT WITH FREDERICK SMYTH

Interesting topic, poorly taught class. Lectures often added little, simply repeating the material from reading. In addition, Professor Smyth's dry lecture style frequently made the hour 15 lecture crawl by. However, due to clicker points, attendance was necessary to do well in the course. The tests (three midterms and a final) were a bit absurd. Students would have to have minute details committed to memory in order to have any real shot at success. Simply put, if your options are to take this class with Smyth or not to take it at all, don't take it at all.

If you're looking for a simple, straightforward class take it with Smyth. His lectures are definitely boring as he just reiterates what you already had to read for class, but I found it very easy to get a good grade. I'm surprised to see so many others described his tests as very difficult because I found that if I just studied the readings with flashcards starting a few days before the test I did really well. There is no synthesis to this class, just remember the information (key words, studies) and regurgitate it back on the tests. Tests were about 20-30 multiple choice, 10-15 fill in the blank, and one or two short answers. Although I understand the other classes are more interesting, I think they have to write papers and do other work that may not be ideal for people taking this class to fulfill a requirement and aren't interested in a psych major. On a typical week I spent 1-2 hours reading and only had to really stress about this class a few days before every test. Very low maintenance.

I found this class extremely interesting and worthwhile. The lectures were often the same content as the reading, but this only made the information easier to remember when the tests came around. The clicker questions were straight from the reading so they were easy to do well on. He does a really good job of engaging a 400 person lecture and fostering discussion. I thought the tests were very fair and representative of the material -- I reviewed flashcards for a few days leading up to the test and reviewed the studies the night before and had minimal problems on tests. He even curves the grades if he finds unfair questions. Smyth offers various extra credit opportunities also which can add up to 3 points to your final grade. Overall, one of my favorite classes at UVA and would definitely recommend!