PSYC 2700

I took this class as a CS integration elective and it was very low stress and enjoyable. I had taken a psychology class here at UVA before so this class was very similar. Professor Vaish is very understanding. Each midterm is worth 20% and they are not cumulative. In addition, you get 2 quiz drops at the end of the semester.

#tCFS24

A wonderful course! It actually made me want to have a kid, beware of the amount of baby videos shown in class. Overall I learned a great amount about human development and so many things made sense that hadn't before! I loved learning about the intricacies of language development, motor skills and communication as you go through child development. Professor Vaish was very passionate, engaging and a wonderful lecturer! Highly recommend this class. No work outside of the periodic exams, which weren't overall too difficult compared to biology exams.

Prof Vaish was so understanding and overall a great lecturer. Her lectures could be a little boring at times but overall they were pretty interesting to someone interested in psyc. She provided helpful lecture slides and it wasn't hard to keep up as she frequently asked if we needed more time on certain slides while we took notes. Exams weren't hard to do well on as long as you take notes in class and read the textbook. I found reading the assigned chapters to be extremely helpful because the exams contained questions about textbook material that wasn't covered in-depth during lecture, but you could get by without doing those readings if you weren't aiming for an A. Overall a great class and would recommend to anyone.

PSYC 2700 was a pretty good course. As a psych minor, I found the material to be unchallenging but still interesting. I was able to study by simply reading through my notes a couple of times and still do really well on the exams. Compared to classes like Willingham's Cognitive psychology, it lacked a lot of the complex theories and instead taught a lot of factual knowledge. But it was cool to learn about children's development and the intriguing tidbits of information about their minds. Who knew that newborns can tell the difference between any speech sound, but then lose this ability after a few months? Professor Vaish was a good lecturer and clearly very kind. She cut us some slack a few times with the post-class quizzes (which were already extremely easy). The only work other than the tests and quizzes were the readings, which weren't bad. Also, the videos and movies we watched were super adorable and interesting. I recommend this class, but I wish it challenged me a bit more.

I loved this class! Vaish is an amazing professor and does a great job of organizing her slides and points. There is a good amount of reading but definitely worth it in my opinion. Your grade is comprised of 25% 3 or 4 question quizzes after each lecture (super easy if you paid attention and took notes), and 3 midterms each worth 25%. The midterms were extremely fair and I thought I was well prepared for them. I would recommend making flashcards for the midterms. I absolutely loved having so many guest lecturers who were all so passionate about their work and made all of this material so fun! Lots of reading for this class (definitely go slow and take notes, then go back and review material mentioned in class, although you should be familiar with everything from the textbook before the exam). Definitely possible to do well in this class! The no electronics policy was strange to me in the beginning but she was extremely polite about it and I think it helped me learn. 10/10 recommend!

This is probably my favorite psychology course I have taken while at UVA. I am a psychology major and this is one of the few required courses. Professor Vaish is a great teacher and while it sounds cliche she is always available to help students. We spent 15 minutes of the last lecture talking about our semester in general especially since the beginning of it was still marked by weird COVID restrictions. The material learned in the course was pretty interesting and I found most of it to be new from other classes I've taken. Overall I'd say about 60-75% of what Professor Vaish talked about in lecture was discussed in the reading, so if you read before lecture things will make a lot more sense. The grade in the class is determined by 3 midterms worth 25% each and short 3-4 question quizzes after every class, and for us the lowest 2 were dropped. For me studying for exams was never difficult, it's very attainable to get an A if you read and show up to lecture.

Don't take this class if you are looking for an easy A. It may come easier to you if you are a Psych major but otherwise I would steer clear. Your whole grade is based on multiple choice questions: 75% for 3 mc exams + 25% for post-lecture quizzes. The lectures are rushed because they cover more information than they should. Interesting class with helpful parenting tips, but not a grade booster by any means.

This class was definitely not an easy A as I had expected it to be based on older reviews. Prof. Vaish was super nice, but she went pretty fast in her lectures which made it hard to absorb the material in full. The lectures were also relatively dry, as she would pretty much just read the bullet points on the lecture slides with some added information. I definitely felt much more engaged during the couple of guest lectures with Dr. Stern compared to Vaish's lectures. As other reviews mentioned, she got rid of iClicker points, which meant that 100% of the grade was made up of exams (3, 25% for each) and short quizzes after each class (25% total, worst few dropped). It was definitely hard to follow her at times, especially in the first section of the course which went over a lot of material very quickly. The first exam was also a lot more difficult than I was expecting, which (due to the new grading scale) made it impossible to get anything above a B. #tCFspring2022

This class is a lot harder than people initially thought!! The exams are difficult because they are meant to trick you. Also, Professor Vaish is such a sweet person but she talks incredibly fast and it's hard to write everything down that she's saying. If you're taking this as a filler class, I would suggest something else.

Alright, for all you CS majors out there who are trying to cruise with the humanities/unrestrictive elective, be warned. This class is not as easy as all the other reviews make it out to be. If you actually do some talking with people who have taken psych at UVA, all the psych classes are not as easy as they seem to be. I took intro to social psych thinking that it would be easy, and it was actually quite tough even though the reviews said otherwise. I should've learned my lesson the first time, but I took a risk in taking yet another psych class, and now I'm regretting it. I think for this class in particular, it seems easy cause in the past, the professor had clicker points as such a big part of the grade. But now, this entire class is made up of the quizzes and midterms, so if you mess up one, it's gonna be extremely hard to get an A. I took the first exam and it was much harder than I thought it would be. Every review was like "Oh, study for one hour. Briefly look over the slide and know the terms in the textbook." The midterm is entirely knowing every single vocab word that appears and knowing the specific studies and videos the professor shows in class. I do agree with the reviews that say if you study super hard for this class, it's easy to get an A. But I know that most people are taking this class to get an easy A without studying. So, unless you have a dying passion for psych, don't take this class. CS majors be warned.

I took this course online during COVID so keep that in mind when reading my review. Professor Vaish is such a sweet and positive professor. Although I found her lectures to be a bit repetitive seeing as how she simply restated what was written in the textbook readings, she did include cute videos about the topics and studies she discussed which were cute. Her exams were really straightforward. I recommend that you take notes on the lecture slides she provides and properly skim through the textbook whilst looking at the bold words and highlighted theories. What I would do before each exam is use the textbook practice quizzes under the summary section of the textbook, they were a good way to check my understanding. Her course was based entirely on exams and lecture quizzes. We had 3 exams (each worth 25%) and two lecture quizzes per week (which all summed up to 25%). There was no final in this course. I don't know how she will format her quizzes when her class is in person, but they were only 3-4 questions (super easy). The content of the course itself was also very interesting, we talked a lot about infant and child development, the many theories surrounding the different development processes, and the negative factors that can lead to underdevelopment or issues in adulthood. I highly recommend taking this course with Professor Vaish. I found that this was one of the easier, more fun and less stressful psychology courses UVA has to offer. Good luck :)

honestly, Prof Vaish is like the sweetest professor I have ever met. She is so passionate about child psychology and you can really see her love for children and the topic itself in her lectures. she was very accommodating for the pandemic and zoom meetings, and everything was prerecorded. quizzes and midterms were released a certain time and to be completed within the day. I ended up with a B in the class, but honestly if you really study hard and know the material, it is certainly an easy A. This class has inspired me to take more psyc courses and continue to pursue the psychology major. so if you are interested at all in learning about child behavior and development and want an easy, lowkey psychology/humanities class, this is it for you right here. #tCFspring2021

Honestly loved Vaish, she was really nice! This class was a bit dry if you've taken intro psych, especially in the beginning, but as the semester goes on you learn about some really interesting stuff, like the development of morality in children (which she's done research on that's published in the textbook). I'd get the textbook because there are questions she asks that she doesn't cover in lectures, they're also not too bad to read. The grade consists of 25% clicker questions (so show up to class) and 25% per exam (3 exams total). There's no final. The exams are multiple choice, non cumulative, and 40 questions long. They're quite easy if you know what she's talking about well. I'd recommend making flashcards for anything that you don't know. Office hours wise, she was really hard to come by as her office hour times were kinda inaccessible, and the graduate TAs were a total joke, didn't do anything or help review even though they were supposed to host "review sessions." Overall though this was a really applicable class thats useful even for non psych majors on how to raise your children. Easy A for the psych major too #tCFspring2021

This is an easy class and you can easily get an A- or A without reading, but you may need to do the reading if you want an A+. It’s even easier if you took PSYC 1010 (intro psych) but you’ll be fine even if you didn’t take intro psych. Professor Vaish is easy-going and really loves the topic. She encourages us to take breaks during lectures and also has guest lectures from other professors and the class TAs. This was her first semester teaching this class online, and she changed the format from in-person to asynchronous pretty well. There were three non-cumulative multiple choice exams, each worth 25% of your grade. The other 25% of our grade was daily reading quizzes (4 multiple choice questions). We had a 48 hour window to complete the quizzes and the lowest 2 quiz grades were dropped. You can also get week-long extensions on two quizzes, no questions asked. It takes about one week to grade exams and you know your score, but you don’t know which specific questions you missed unless you ask your TA. You can see your quiz grade and the correct answers as soon as the 48 hour window is over. Interesting, easy class that’s great if you’re interested in child psych!

Easy exams, interesting content, nice prof, baby videos before exams. What more can you ask for?? Don't take it with anyone else, trust me.

Also, the biggest thing I took away from this course is that babies are smarter than I thought they were.

This class was a breeze compared to any other UVa course. Prof. Vaish had clicker questions which motivated me to attend lecture. Otherwise, I feel like I would have never attended lecture and still would have done fine in the class. She is not out to get you and her exam questions are very fair. The baby movies that you watch in class seem like a waste of time, but they were quite entertaining. Overall great class if you need an extra elective or a psych class.

One of the easiest and best classes I have taken at UVA. Professor Vaish is so approachable and really wants her students to do well. She does have clicker questions which require you to attend the class. Her class moves quickly and typically has a lot of videos and fun conversations about child psychology. If you want to take child psych, wait until Professor Vaish is teaching it! The spots move quickly so prioritize this class and go on the waiting list if you can. 10/10 class!!

The first thing you need to know about this course (other than that it's overhyped) is that the grade is made up of ONLY 3 exams and clicker questions! There are no exam drops for this class, meaning that if you mess up one exam you really need to study your ass off for the other two. In addition, don't skip class because some days she'll give 1 clicker question and some days she'll give 5. That being said, the class itself is extremely easy. If you've ever taken psychology, you will know basically all of the concepts that are gone over. The material is very dry and you need to memorize some stupid things like names of psychologists and ages where a specific thing takes place. Professor Vaish is a very nice person and she definitely knows what she's talking about, but her lectures have made me fall asleep multiple times just because of how obvious the material is. The textbook for this class can be found online as PDF, but I stopped reading the chapters after the second exam because they're long and tedious (and have also made me fall asleep) and because you can find the important material in the chapter review at the end of each chapter. Other than that, I like how she gives a 5 minute break in the middle and I really support her no technology rule. If you can take this class for an easy A you should (especially if you are a CS major because this is an integration elective). Even if you're on the waitlist, give it a few weeks into the beginning of the semester!

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.

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

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.

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.
・・・
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.
・・・
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.
・・・
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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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!

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.

Awesome course! 10/10 would recommend. Unlike most psych classes, this one isn't boring or a waste of time. Professor Vaish is a wonderful professor who is very knowledgeable about the subject. She's also chill in general and does a great job relating to her students. She explains things very well and gives a very thorough and comprehensive review of the material covered in the textbook. You learn so much about babies and children that you never knew before. You also get to look at pictures and videos of cute babies for most of the semester! She has movie days and guest lecturers which keep things fun and interesting.

You have textbook reading (it's really not that and), iclicker questions, and midterms, but no final. Her tests are designed well and are reflective of the material taught over the course of the semester. They're very straightforward. She doesn't try to trick you.

Amazing class! The information is so interesting and relevant and Vaish teaches it in a very interesting and straightforward way. She uses i-Clicker questions (20% of final grade) but if you are listening at all to her lecture you will get them right. The tests (2 25% and 1 30%) are comprised of questions from lectures (similar to simple i-Clicker questions) and a few from the textbook. If you just skim the chapter after her lectures you should be good to go since a lot of the information is common sense or straightforward. This class was definitely an easy A and my favorite class this semester! So interesting, fun, and allowed me to connect this information to real life!

tldr; take it for the easy A gpa boost. don't take it if you're looking for an interesting class. Professor Vaish is super nice and can be funny in lecture.

I took this class after hearing about how easy it was in order to boost my GPA. Easily got an A by attending every lecture, making educated guesses on clicker questions, and reading the textbook/lecture slides 2 days if not the day before the exam. (This is the only class I have taken where 100% of a 300 student lecture hall got the right answer on clicker questions, multiple times.)
Clickers-You can miss up to 10 clicker "points" and still get a 100% for the clicker portion of your grade which makes up 20% of your final grade. Each question asked is 2 points-1 for participation and 1 for accuracy. She asks 3-4 questions per lecture, so depending on the lecture you can miss 6-8 points if you skip. The other part of your grade is 25% midterm 1, 25% midterm 2 and 30% midterm 3 (the noncumulative final which is taken on the last day of class). There is literally no outside work for this class besides studying for 3 noncumulative exams.

If you have taken AP psych before, a lot of this class will be review and you will probably find the lectures incredibly boring. Things like Piaget and Kohlberg's stage theories you will have already learned and the fact that babies don't walk until they are like 1.5 years and identify as their own gender until 2 years seem to be common sense/not very interesting.

Professor Vaish is super cute and likes to make small jokes in class; sometimes she is a savage. Only downside to this class is having to go to lecture and not being able to use technology as per most psychology class rules.

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROFESSOR VAISH!! She is amazing and really wants her students to do well. I had a lot of friends take child psych from professor Lillard and thought the class was really hard, but professor Vaish's class is not hard! As long as you pay attention, attend lectures, and answer the clicker questions you will do well. She does not try to trick you like some professors with the clicker questions. They are very straightforward as well as her tests. The class is also extremely enjoyable and you learn a lot about child development by watching movies and from prof Vaish's lectures. 10/10 would definitely recommend this course with her.

I LOVED this class. Amrisha is such an engaging lecturer, very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic. The 3 tests (3 midterms, no final) are not too difficult, but it is necessary to read the textbook as well as attend every lecture, as there are I-clicker questions worth about 20% of the grade at the beginning, middle, and end of every class, but they are very easy. But I had no problem with going to every class because I enjoyed it and felt I learned so much every time. I would definitely recommend this class if you have any interest in children or psychology!!

This class is fascinating. You learn about so much that explains children and their development. Reading is pretty light, and only a couple of test questions come from the book. Professor Vaish also has her TAs and (occasionally) Professor Lillard do guest lectures that are also equally fascinating. Notes are a little heavy for each lecture, but you can use them on the clicker questions. Test averages were consistently above 90, and overall, it's a pretty easy and awesome class. Definitely recommend.

Definitely recommend this class! Professor Vaish presents the email super clearly. She has multiple clicker questions for every lecture though so you have to go to class, but the questions are super easy and a definite grade booster. There were three midterms (25%, 25%, 30%) but no final. The clicker questions counted as 20% of the grade as well. There's reading assigned almost every lecture but it's not too bad. The reading is also the same content she covers in lecture so if you don't read it's not the end of the world. She also gives a brief break in the middle of the lecture which is nice and breaks up the 75 minutes. If you're looking for an easy psych class and think you'll go to every class so you get the points for the clicker questions, then I strongly recommend.

This course was very interesting and Professor Vaish is amazing. Lecture is very clear and easy to understand and she takes the time to clarify in lecture if there are any questions. The tests are by no means bad and they correlate exactly to what was taught in class. There are no surprises with this class you go in expecting to learn about child psych and thats exactly what you come out with. If you go to class and pay attention (which you have to bc clickers are graded but they are very straight forward) then you should get at least an A- if not an A. Would highly recommend this class with Professor Vaish.

Professor Vaish is an amazing professor. She explains the concepts extremely well and her tests are pretty straightforward. You'll do great if you attend the lectures regularly and are up to date with the readings.

This is a great psychology class-- the professor is interesting and makes the class decently relaxing. It isn't a hard class if you pay attention and read the textbook. I know some people who didn't read the textbook and were able to do fine (I think they got an A-), but if you put in some effort you can end with at least an A-, if not an A or A+. Professor Vaish is a reasonable person and the tests are not bad by any means. I would definitely recommend!