PSYC 3006

#tCFF23 The class is structured into one in person (2.5 hr) lecture a week & an online lab once a week. The lectures were really confusing. Eventually, I stopped going because I felt it made my performance on the homework more difficult. Prof Schmidt answered questions in a confusing way, but it was also obvious that she was an expert on the topic.. all around confusing experience. The labs themselves were helpful, especially in completing the weekly homework. In labs, we were given the codes and notes to help us successfully run experiments in R.

The course has changed a lot over the years. Most importantly, there are no longer any tests, which seemed to be the biggest sticking point for past students. If you want to understand this course, take it the semester after PSYC2005 (and preferably STAT1601 too). It's pretty quantitative stuff, so if you're a psych major who, like me, doesn't care about research, buckle up. She does do a good job at explaining the reasons behind the things you learn, which is helped by the fact that Schmidt herself is a character. Seriously, without any tests to grade, it's clear that she feels free to just be a professor who professes things.

DO NOT TAKE THIS WITH KAREN SCHMIDT. If you have the option, take this with Meyer. I know the class time for him was very inconvenient this year, but if you want to learn anything it has to be with him. I self taught the material for this class, as lectures were useless. The professor was frankly quite rude to students throughout the semester.

This class has been the most frustrating class I have taken at UVA. Professor Schmidt has good intentions, but the lectures were so disorganized that students were teaching each other in the groupme. She gives 8 mini exams in sets of 2, but the mini exams were basically a full exam. She refused to let us email her, but emailed us very often. Even though I am getting a good grade, I have no confidence in my ability to do any of the techniques she "taught" us. Recommend not taking it with her unless you love random tangents mid class and complete confusion. There is also a lab component, and the lab worksheets were somewhat challenging at times. The class was also on zoom even though she was given an option to teach in person. Overall, just a bad experience. #tcfFall2021

The material of this course is not incredibly complicated after taking PSYC 2005 but the professor makes it difficult because of her lack or response to student needs. The syllabus is not followed, grading policy and test format are not clear, and the professor does not allow email communication. I would reccomend taking this course with Joey Myer if able to.

Don't do it. Horrible. Karen is really nice, but not a good instructor in any way. This class is a requirement for the psych major so you can't really avoid it, but be prepared for chaos

I took this course online during COVID so keep that in mind whilst reading my review. Professor Schmidt is a nice person, based on all the previous reviews I had read on this site from other students I was really worried when going into her class. However, she isn't as bad as people make her out to be, sometimes she's just a bit moody which is understandable (we all have those days). Her lecture slides were the best, they were very thorough and detailed. I never even read the textbook once in this class and I got an A-. Her slides state exactly what the textbook says except they're just summed up which is great. I found that her actual lectures were a bit boring, because all she does is read directly off of the slides she wrote, so you're literally just sitting and listening to an audiobook. There were 8 exams in this course and no final. We had 4 design-it exams which were based entirely off of a 20-40 min video she made as well as a study you had to create yourself. You were given a chance to write your design a couple of days before the exam. (I highly recommend writing it up ahead of time and showing it to her during OHs to get her opinion so that you can make the right changes) Designing a study sounds really scary at first, but it's not. You're simply stating an IV, DV, hypothesis (something you would do in a typical biology course in high school). Her 4 test-it exams are based on the lectures. They involve calculations and a general understanding of the concepts discussed in class. The majority of her exams require you to write which was tiresome, there were very little multiple choice questions. And let me say that ANYTHING is free game on her exams and she distinctly states this in her lectures. From a small discussion to a thing she stated out of the blue one day in her lecture (ufff is all I can say). Design its and Test its were conducted in the same week - for instance if you had a design-it on Wednesday, test-it would be on Friday. I suggest working on the practice question(s) listed on the review video/slides she gives out the Monday before the exam because it's very similar to the calculation question on the exam itself.

The labs were a bit weird, they're created by the TAs so I guess they just depend on what TAs you have, but I HIGHLY recommend going to their OHs to ask any questions you have when working on them. We also had a final lab project instead of the final which was super easy to do. Good luck :)

When judging whether to take this class with Professor Schmidt, please SORT BY MOST RECENT!! There are a lot of really negative reviews of her from 2010-2011 and it's truly a shame that those reviews are causing a lot of people to avoid taking this class with her. Professor Schmidt has completely changed her way of teaching this course and she is so nice and approachable. Her exams are pretty easy if you've paid even a small amount of attention and study for like an hour or two the day before. Seriously don't miss out on taking this class with Professor Schmidt because a bunch of now 30 year olds hated her 10 years ago. She's a lovely professor.

I was nervous to take this class with Professor Schmidt because of all the negative reviews, but I ended up having a great experience! Professor Schmidt was understanding and open to questions, and I never felt like she was rude or condescending to anyone during lecture or office hours. She also changed the exams in recent years, so each test had less material (which I really appreciated) and there was no cumulative final. The only thing I would change about the course is that she never gives back graded tests (you only get the grade itself), so it was difficult to know where points were taken off or how to improve without going to office hours. Overall, though, this course was great, and I definitely would recommend Professor Schmidt!

I was hesitant to take this class with Professor Schmidt based on reviews here, but let me say that Professor Schmidt is genuinely a kind person and was a great professor. She has clearly taken student feedback to heart and has adjusted her course accordingly. She understood the circumstances of COVID and how it affected everyone's lives and made her class much more manageable. She made our lowest exam score worth half as much as others, which was definitely helpful for a lot of people. The exams were pretty easy and fair. Professor Schmidt is super nice and fun and I encourage you to give her class a chance!

I really loved taking this class this summer. I would highly recommend taking this class as a summer class if you work better in smaller groups. There was a lot of individual attention and guidance, and it was clear the professors (Schmidt AND Meyer) cared a lot about all of the students, and they modified the workload a lot to be accommodating of the virtual situation and the summer speed.

I don't know why everyone is giving this class such bad reviews. I loved Prof Schmidt. She can be a little harsh if you break her rules (especially going on your phone in class) and she will call you out in front of everyone, but if you don't then she is super nice. She tries to make the material as interesting and fun as possible and she genuinely enjoys teaching statistics. She is also super smart and helpful with the material but also with career questions because she has so much experience in the field. Depending on the TA's you have, lab can go either way, but for my semester she stayed in the room and filled in the gaps they left so nothing was too confusing or vague.

Please just don't take this class with Schmidt. She thinks she's extremely organized but in reality her set up is confusing and not worth the extra effort. You have to review the powerpoints for exams on your own time as they are never covered in class. Lab was a drag, but fairly straightforward homework. The only positive in this class is she splits the exams up into two parts, with the first portion being MUCH easier than the second so it pads your grade quite a bit. Overall, it's manageable. Schmidt herself is fine, although she can be condescending at times. As stated by others, she has very specific rules when reviewing exams and she will call you out if you break them. But this class can be much easier to understand with other professors.

This class is honestly not bad at all. I do not understand why people give this class and the professor such bad reviews. There isn't much material for the course and the stuff we do learn isn't hard whatsoever. Schmidt is very quirky and weird but she is a fine professor. If you study the lecture slides you will be fine because the exams are exactly what you would expect. Schmidt likes her class to be in a very specific way-- she doesn't allow phone use in class or people to have anything out when we go over the exams-- and these things aren't unreasonable. Not a bad class overall, just look over the notes before the exams (4 of them and no final) and you will be fine.

Let me write you an honest review about Professor Schmidt since the other reviews that I have seen are egregiously inaccurate and set the wrong precedent for the class. Yes, PSYC 3006 is a requirement for the psych major here at UVA, but it is not difficult and honestly Karen does not expect much out of you other than to know the basics. I have no idea what kind of demonic experience other people had with this class, but she is so generous about making adjustments for the class at the end of the semester that I find it ridiculous that people find this class at all difficult. She does have her own structure for how she goes over exams (e.g. you cannot take notes, you do not get to keep your exam) but it doesn't in the smallest way affect your ability for the remainder of the course because there is no final. You don't even have to read the textbook because her lectures are so thorough and cover everything for the exams. Quite frankly, she does not expect more from you than what she teaches. She even gives you a formula sheet with everything you need to know. Pay attention and attend the class and make sure you understand the concepts behind why the statistics are done and you'll have no trouble getting through this class. Best of luck!

Terrible professor. Super rude, unbelievably paranoid and strict . The overall vibe in the classroom is just so negative. When you walk into the class and she how hard she has it because the class is big or how she doesn't understand how we can't get the material cause its so easy. She's just a negative person that is so obsessed with rules and honor. It is understandable for a professor to strictly follow honor but she takes it to a unneeded crazy level where it's just really really dumb. Calm down one time ma'am jeez. Don't recommend taking it solely because of the professor.

I don't know where to begin but IF THIS CLASS ISN'T A REQUIREMENT FOR YOU, DON'T TAKE IT! Schmidt is the most condescending professor I've ever had at UVA. She picks and chooses what questions she wants to answer in lecture. Her grading system for tests is the most unfair I've ever encountered, she docks points for any and everything. If you miss one clicker question, you lose all clicker points for that day. Most of the time she spends in class complaining about how the class is meant to be taught by two professors and she's stuck teaching it by herself. She has a very strict exam procedure where she starts exams 10 minutes earlier and expects for exams to be handed in at least one minute before class ends. She's so uptight and paranoid, she assigns seats just to review tests. The only positive is that you get a formula sheet for the tests. If you take this course, good luck!

The most egotistical, condescending, and rude professor I have ever encountered. Her arrogance and haughty attitude prevented her from helping her students. Her lack of manners and the manner she addressed her students was inexcusable. A professor is supposed to help their students understand the material, not put them down in a condescending tone when they ask questions about concepts they don't understand and make them feel useless.

She was a decent professor in lecture, the lecture slides were easy to understand, and the way the class was organized was helpful. The fact she also creates her exams straight from the powerpoint materials means that I was perfectly fine even though I never did the reading (I honestly didn't even buy the books for the class). She also lets you drop the lowest exam grade, which is nice but trust me, you don't want to have to take the final (the 5th test).

Overall, her lack of care over her students' difficulties/problems in the class and overall treatment of those she is supposed to help was pathetic and if she has tenure, I hope that UVA reconsiders. Needless to say, Professor Schmidt's attitude and superiority complex need to be adjusted ASAP.

First of all, the fact that this class is required is ridiculous. Half the class is double majors that have already taken a stats class that goes way more in depth than this class, the other half are psych majors that never want to take another math class. Karen Schmidt takes herself way too seriously for a class that no one wants to be in. Clickers at the beginning of class to make sure you're there by 9:00 am 3 times a week. God forbid you ask a question in class, which she will inevitably begin to answer with, "Well, you wouldn't know this but...", then continues to use some stats term that we didnt learn to explain a question, only making people more confused. When handing back tests, you are not even allowed to have a piece of paper out to write down what you did wrong on a test to help study for the final. Even worse, when you have a question about how a specific question on your exam was graded, you tell her when handing your test back and she proceeds to call out your name in front of the entire class when she has all of them. I've honestly never seen anything like it.

Bottom line is, don't take this class with her unless you have to (in spring '16 the other professor didn't speak english). It may seem bearable at first, but later on in the semester its terrible. It's not completely Schmidt's fault that the class is boring and poorly structured, but she does absolutely nothing to help herself. Looking back, I would rather have had a teacher that doesn't speak english than Schmidt, which should tell you a lot.

I feel like there's a lot of bad reviews on here, but honestly I liked Professor Schmidt. I feel like she has changed the course over the years, and she is very willing and helpful if you go to her and ask good questions. Just don't ask questions that are really obvious, and I think you will find her pretty helpful. She cares a lot about the Honor code and in making things less messy during the passing out of exams, which is why she has strict rules. But, don't take her rules personally. Also, some people might find her a bit intimidating, but I think she is actually trying her best to be nice to students. I would recommend! You learn a lot :)

She is nice and kind, really helpful if you just go to class and watch her powerpoints carefully before exam.

Karen Schmidt...where do I even begin? Karen is definitely a character. She claims that she's been teaching this class for almost 20 years...you would think that by now she would have come up with a way to make lecture more interesting. However, she does iClicker questions basically every class, and they're always opinion questions, so you get points just for participating. Therefore, you really should come to lecture because those points really do give you a nice grade boost (they're worth like 6-7%). Karen pretends to be all funny and cutesy during lecture, but then she transforms when it comes to exam time. The day of the exam, she starts passing out the exam at 8:45, even though the class technically starts at 9, so if you have an 8 am, you're already at a disadvantage. She claims she does it to give us more time at the beginning so that we have a full hour to take the exam. Apparently she takes points off if you're still writing at 9:50. Then, the day we get the exam back and go over it in class, she's even worse. She has a super strict procedure when you're getting your exam back, and it makes no sense. I think she's just such a stickler about the Honor Code, and she will go great lengths to make sure you're not sharing test questions with anyone. You aren't allowed to have anything out while we're going over the exam. Don't even think you can have a notebook out, thinking you can jot down some things so you know how to do better on the final--there was a kid who did that and she took his notebook and ripped his page out in front of the whole class. She also once called a girl out for waiting in her seat when we all went up to get our exam back--the girl was just waiting for the line to die down! There's really no point to ask questions about correct answers on the exam, because she'll just reply in some rude, condescending way that it was on the powerpoint. That she at least does right--she doesn't ask you anything from the readings, just her powerpoints, on the exams; so I never did the readings and I was fine. She does let you drop your lowest test grade or not take the final, which is nice. Honestly, my opinion of her is so back-and-forth, because although she's super mean on exam days, it's pretty nice of her to drop exam grades like that or weigh your super-easy clicker scores so high. The one time I went to office hours, she was also super nice and helpful.

The labs are a little different from 3005. We use R Studio, not SPSS (which, if you've by chance taken Bio Stats, you'll already know how to use). There are no lab homework assignments--you do everything in your lab section. My TA was super nice but a pretty strict grader, so I didn't do as well in lab as I did in 3005. But if you ask a lot of questions, your TA will definitely be willing to help.

I really don't like how this class is required for the major when I know I'm not going to go into research (and I doubt most psych majors do). It's not the funnest class, but it's not horrible either, if you can get past Karen's mood swings.

It makes me sad to see so many bad reviews for Schmidt. That being said, she's definitely a unique person, but I've come to respect her the most. Although people would surely tell you differently, she doesn't make the material hard at all. She actually does a really good job of detailing what you should know about the material and recognizes that it's difficult. It's a hard class so of course the professor isn't going to be loved! People come into this class thinking they can look at the powerpoints and do fine on the tests but Schmidt specifically outlines what to do to do well in the class. All you have to do is come to class every day, pay attention, and study hard for the tests. If she tells you to do something, just do it. Like study, use the review sheets, and ask plenty of questions if you're confused. If she says not to have your phone out while going over exams, don't do it! Just respect her rules and she is perfectly fine. She is very strict about going over exams because she doesn't want the questions to be shared, so do as she says and don't write or take out your phone during that time. Don't ask dumb questions that she's just went over, or yeah, she will get a little condescending. She doesn't tolerate stupidity or inattention so treat her respectfully. During the semester she joked a lot and was happy almost every day. I really enjoyed the class and I hope you will too!

If you're curious, here are my own personal grades. Four exams (89, 90, 90, 91), clicker points (6 total for the three days she randomly picks), and lab (90). I did not take the final because even a 94 wouldn't have changed my overall grade a single point. I had to take this class as I'm a 4th year. I was scared to death after reading reviews that I would have to learn R and that I'd fail the exams. But people in the psyc. department really blow it out of proportion. There are no more lab write ups. The lab is very easy (unless you get a TA who grades funky) and all you have to do in R is copy and paste. They're currently changing some stuff though, so be warned that this may not be true by next year. After getting a B in 3005 I was terrified of 3006. But I made it out with an A because of Schmidt's teaching style and materials. You can too. Don't be afraid of 3006, it's challenging in a good way and you'll be so relieved once you've made it through.

Schmidt is a crazy woman who does not teach well in class but her powerpoints are super helpful. Regardless you should def. go to class even if you do not pay attention to get clicker points and attendance points (they help out in the end). She has the option of dropping your lowest score which could be the final so try to do well on the tests since the final is hard from what I heard. The hardest part of her tests are the matching which are all conceptual. Make sure to do practice problems and memorize how to write out responses otherwise you will lose unnecessary points. Not a fun class but you have to do it for the major so try and make the best of it.

This class is not as hard as everyone makes it seem - just follow these few steps and you can come out with an A, trust me ;). For the lecture component: 1. Attend every class - no one likes 9 AMs but the bonus points from clicker questions really do make a difference, 2. Ask questions - she is really helpful if you make an attempt to try to learn. For the lab component: 1. Keep up with the work, don't slack and leave your papers for last minute, 2. Ask your TA questions - even if it means you have to send them 9999 emails, they like to see you are putting an effort to produce the best work and are always willing to help, 3. Follow directions - There are easy points for just keeping your head screwed straight on and following directions that are written clearly in black & white, 4. Have fun - This was one of the coolest classes I took because we got to design our own research projects with friends, don't be afraid to be super creative and make your project worthwhile - you get to hang your own poster in Gilmer! Good luck, you're going to do grrrreat.

Put in work! Professor makes far too many smart comments.

Schimdt is condescending, rude and comes off completely unapproachable. The content of the class is too difficult and the statistics portion is easy if you practice, she just made her concept questions more difficult than they needed to be. If you go to lecture, and do the practice problems you should be fine. Schmidt just made the class a pain to sit through.

I would recommend this class with Schmidt since she takes efforts to make you understand the material. However, the tests can be more straight forward. It's ironic how in a class in which you learn about validity and which is taught by a professor who specializes in Item Response Theory (a scale used to measure the effectiveness of tests themselves) how ambiguous some of the test questions can be. A lot depends on how lenient your TA is since there are huge disparities between some TAs and others. If you have Siny like I did then I feel sorry for you since she grades harshly.

She is better than freeman

Don't be fooled, Kathleen is not related to the professor. She is really great--funny, nice and approachable and a nice grader I think. The professor unfortunately is annoying, petty, and full of herself. Tests were really stressful because every 5 minutes she was just like hey, you have __ minutes left. And then one time she knew that we had to sign up for timeslots for the Lab section (you'll find out), and some people left slightly early and after she left, she asked the clicker question. After that I realized that she was actually kind of mean. In terms of the course material, it is what it is and she does a good job of teaching you it and her tests are fair and she does tell you basically what's on the test. I heard she was better at teaching than Freedman. I agree I think. But I really disliked this class (but if you are a Psych major you have no choice).

She just reads off her powerpoints during lecture, which she posts online. Attendance is taken every class. Concept questions found on her tests are very random. Easy to get a B.

This class wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, given the reviews. Professor Schmidt tried to make statistics interesting, and I think she succeeded for the most part--I can't think of anything different I would have liked her to do. The iClicker extra credit actually made a difference in my grade, so I really recommend participating. Tests aren't easy, but they aren't impossible. It's true that you don't get a cheat sheet like Freeman's students do, but you do get a sheet of equations on the test, so you don't have to memorize everything. The final project sucks, but if you form a good group with a reasonable project, you'll do alright.

Jeff was fine as a TA. He was a little slow getting our papers back to us, but that was because he was TAing for a lot of labs, so it was understandable, if not ideal.

You have to take this class for the psych major, so suck it up and you'll survive. Good luck!

Though the class was not a fun experience, Professor Schmidt was actually a nice person. She was harsh, both on grading and lecturing, but at least she treated students in a acceptably reasonable way. I did learn something anyway.

Though the class was not a fun experience, Professor Schmidt was actually a nice person. She was harsh, both on grading and lecturing, but at least she treated students in a acceptably reasonable way. I did learn something from the class anyway. And I love my TA, Dieynaba. She is not teaching anymore though.

I absolutely hated the teacher. She is condescending and the lectures are not very helpful. I eventually stopped going to class and taught myself everything the day before the test.

Professor Schmidt is a terrible teacher who makes an already challenging class that much worse. She is condescending and rude to her students, and adds nothing to the lecture that one couldn't get from reading the text.

RUN AWAY. This has been my least favorite class at the university and has singlehandedly killed my love for the psych department. Karen is awful, she does iclicker questions every class for attendance, counts down from the one minute mark during tests and if you don't have it in by the end of the hour, it's late (even if you were in line to hand it in), and her tests are TRICKY. I can't name a teacher I've ever had in the past who has made me hate the subject more than her. The lab sucks and the is pretty tough. I can't think of anything good about this class. Whatever you do, don't take it with Shmidt.

This class was much harder than 3005 in my opinion, the tests were very much like the homework problems so make sure you do them as practice. I actually lost the majority of my points on the multiple choice sections, as they can be very tricky. One exam grade can be dropped

exams are NOT as easy as PSYC3005 exams were. multiple choice questions can be tricky. make sure you do the HW problems before exams.

While Freeman puts up a hard exterior but really has a soft interior, Schmidt is the opposite. She is relatively straight-forward, but covers a lot of information and moves extremely quickly through her Powerpoints in lecture. On her tests, the conceptual multiple choice questions are very tricky - but for the computation sections, just do a practice or two (the homework really helps) and you'll be fine. Clicker questions every class to check attendance - counts for 6% of your lecture grade.

She really made statistics as fun as they could be. I learned alot from her, but also loved going to class! Take her!

From my own personal experience as well as comments from others, she is one of the better professors to teach this course. Although she says that the readings are not essential, I found them extremely helpful.

Makes this required course semi-bearable. She explains the materials in a comprehensive way but beware she can go fast. If you study her slides and really do the practice exam problems and few practice homework sets and seem to be able to do them in relatively short amount of time you will do fine on the tests. Definitely take her over Freeman, even if her class is at 9am, i promise its worth it.

Required class - Schmidt is great in class, she keeps it all pretty simple, but avoid her outside of class! When not lecturing (and this is from my own experience AND the experience of a friend), she's condescending and even kind of mean. Tests are not easy but at least straightforward.

Overall, better than 3005, but still an annoying requirement to have to do.

Lecture: 4 tests (1 dropped) and a final.
Lab - Just like 3005, various assignments and papers, but less busy work than in 3005.

Obviously you have to take the class if you're in it, and if you must take this class, then you must take it with Schmidt. She was relatively easy. Also- you don't have to do the reading. The lab part is pretty interesting, and they break up the work really well so you never get terribly stressed out.

Great class even though it's at 9 in the morning. I highly advise taking it with her because the material is straightforward and she actually keeps the promises that she makes about the tests. Make sure you get a good group for lab!

Great professor! Actually, Schmidt is AWESOME! but the class isn't enjoyable just because of what it is, she makes it more fun than anyone else could

THIS CLASS IS HORRIBLE. If you are taking it, you are taking it because you have to, so there is really nothing you can do about it. Schmidt is SO irritating and the lab is SO MUCH BUSY WORK.

worst class ever. teacher is horrible.

Much better than the other two professors that teach this course.

the lesser of two evils, i suppose.

If you're taking this class, it's because you have to so there's really no way out of it. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, Prof Schmidt is weird but nice. She presents the material very clearly and her midterms are very fair. Lots and lots of work, especially for lab. Glad it's over.

Schmidt seems nice outside of class, but is not very open to questions - she seems short and rude with students. Boring and pretty useless material if you're not into research, but it's required for the major. Not particularly challenging math or concepts, but tests can be tricky.

Get a calculator that lets you backspace and see the stuff you typed in (TI-83 or whatever they're up to now). Also get ready for group work in lab. Grades will kill you, the range for a paper in my lab was 52-89. You can try the TAs, but you're not going to get very far. Suck it up and come to class, along with random tangents KS likes to throw in helpful hints that aren't in the powerpoints.

Professor Schmidt K is very fair in terms of how she writes her exams to test the understanding of her students

Incredibly easy stats class. Definitely take Schmidt. Her powerpoints are straightforward and well-done. All you need to do is study those!