Experimental Psychology: Perception and Attention · Psychology
3 cumulative HARD tests (approx. 500 pages of reading for only a few detailed-oriented questions). There were 4 lab reports (not so bad but time consuming)
Workload: Various paper write-ups (aobut 3 or so), plus a group research project with write-up. Knowledge of statistics will help a lot.
It is pretty heavy. You have to read a lot and work in a group to create and implement research. Not an easy grader and not an easy A class.
This class is probably the worst I have taken at Columbia. The lectures were long and dry (even the TAs fell asleep) and the tests were impossible! While the textbook may be the best one on the subject, it is difficult to read because it VERY long and because of the author's pretentious verbosity. The amount of material covered on the tests were unreasonable and listening to Professor Cooper's raspy voice over the body mic she repeatedly dropped was excruciatingly painful. Although she may be a brilliant researcher, Lynn Cooper has no place teaching a class.
Hilton is new at teaching, and lacks confidence in front of a class. THe subject matter isn't the most interesting, as well... In general, he's an easy grader, but still is relatively strict on what he wants.
Ok lets get one thing clear, Ochsner is amazing at what he does and has accomplished many things. So, there are two people. One is the type of person that success does not affect them in any way shape or form. The other type is the one that inflates their ego. Unfortunately he tends to side with the second type of person. HOWEVER, this is Columbia University and the man knows his things! You're in an Ivy not in high school where "everyone is important and must feel warm embraces every time they open their mouths." Yes he is a bit egotistical but he never made any students in the class I was in feel badly about themselves. With that said, if you are the typical young student who thinks they're the best thing since sliced bread and you raise your hand to not ask a question but to simply try to impress him like many young CC students do (I'm GS), then he will very quickly make sure his class isn’t interrupted by someone who is a showoff. This is amazing! It keeps the class going smoothly. He loves it when the class participates and will ask many questions throughout class. He expects students to participate. You will learn a lot. Please take into consideration the workload. He assigns many published articles of which he wrote many. You don’t have to read them all as they are impossible and even the TA's will tell you that but those that he or the TA's say to read, you must read.…
Lots of reading, 3 exams, and a about 3 or 4 lab write-ups. If she allows the TA's to give a review session before the exam, the exams are fair, if not, they are a bit difficult.
Professor Cooper is the perfect example of the great researcher who comes to Columbia for research but gets stuck doing teaching. She is the worst teacher I have ever had in my life. She was never prepared for the class. She would try to use power point or the projector sometimes and they never ever worked! Cooper has a horrible and condescending attitude and doesnt even pretend to care about the students. I dont know what I would have done if I didnt have such a great TA for this class. The lab portion was fine...nothing too interesting.