PSYC 3480

TAKE THIS CLASS!! Professor Allen is an amazing man. Great lecturer and really knows his stuff which makes going to class enjoyable. Attendance is mandatory unless you find a buddy to share notes with as he only provides outlines before each class. Exams are fair if you read the textbook and pay attention in class; multiple choice and a relatively easy short answer for the midterms. I highly recommend this course.

It was completely my pleasure to have Professor Allen as a teacher. He oozes charisma in every sense of the word. The material lends to be engaging, as the topic is basically the past 6 or so years of our lives, but Allen's lectures are what truly make the class. The ways in which he approaches the class makes it feel a lot less like pure memorization like how some other psych classes can feel. The readings aren't incredibly short but very manageable. I could not recommend this class enough, even to non psych majors.

Professor Allen is so nice and thoughtful and makes the class incredibly intriguing. The exams are more difficult than they should be, but Professor Allen gives plenty of opportunities to improve your grade and that's why he's so thoughtful. But if you have any interest in psychology definitely take this class!

This has been my favorite class that I have ever taken at UVA. Professor Allen is the best professor, and the material covered in this class is so applicable to real life. There are plenty of opportunities to make your grade better- you can drop your lowest midterm and replace another one with a paper. This class is amazing

Taken online during covid. Three closed-note tests and a cumulative final. You could drop your lowest non-final test grade, and also replace one of them with an easy optional paper. Classes were synchronous but recorded, and participation wasn't required. He did pull some test questions from readings, so you have to do those, which was probably the biggest downside of the class since they could be kinda dry. I definitely recommend the class overall, though! Prof Allen is super passionate, nice, and knowledgeable about the subject. Lots of people showed up to the synchronous lecture even though you could have just watched the recordings later, which I think goes to show how many people actually wanted to be there.

This is the best course I have taken at UVA so far, and Prof. Allen is an amazing professor. I can tell that he really enjoys teaching and he cares about what his students learn. There are three exams (40 multiple choice questions and a short answer essay question) and a cumulative final (100 multiple choice questions). There is an optional paper that can replace one of your exam grades. The lowest exam grade gets dropped. Even though this course was online this semester, I felt like I was really engaged with the material. Prof. Allen is passionate about what he teaches, and it's definitely refreshing to have a professor that genuinely cares about the students. I really loved this course, and I would definitely recommend this class to anyone.

Loved this class, learned SO much and looked forward to lectures. Not very hard and lectures are not mandatory (but they are very helpful for exams).

This class is honestly the best class I've taken at UVA. This class looks into the backgrounds of what the adolescent period means, and why adolescents act and think in different ways as well as touching on a lot of subjects where many people have different views and experiences (school, work, peers, family, transitions, delinquency, abortion, racism, ethnicity, ethnocentrism, mental illness, etc.). Prof Allen was wonderful at describing many views objectively and separating myths from facts and from speculations. He creates a welcoming and respectful environment for all students and focuses on the learning and education of life (rather than stressing about grades). He is one of the best professors in the department!
The class has three midterms, of which one is dropped and the other can be swapped with an optional paper and one final. It's an in-person lecture-heavy class with a lot of readings. If you stay on top of the work and give enough effort, you'll be fine.

This course is super interesting, well-taught, and not very difficult. The lectures are great; Professor Allen is such a kind person and a great lecturer. Since I'm a psych major, this class wasn't super difficult for me, but I studied hard for the exams and I know some smart people who got B's on the exams. I didn't do most of the textbook readings and I did fine on the exams, just make sure to do the extra article readings he assigns because he does test on those. Your grade is made up from 2/3 midterms that you take and the final exam.

Great class. Professor Allen is extremely knowledgeable, and he's conscientious of his teaching. He engages the class well with interesting videos, poll questions, etc. despite the large size of the class. And the content is fascinating, especially because it allows you to think about how your adolescence went/goes in the context of all the info you're learning. You're guaranteed to learn something about yourself. The textbook readings were a little annoying because you had to wade through a lot of unnecessary details to get to the important stuff. But the lectures were great. And the exams were about the right level of challenge. But make sure you can answer those short essay questions. Overall, highly recommended.