TAKE THE CLASS. Dr. Goff is the BEST professor you will have at UCLA. If you have a passion for the subject, you will find the class incredibly rewarding. There were two exams (MCQ, open-note, online, not proctored) and three writing assignments, two of which were more of a "personal story".

Grading scheme for this class is: exam 1 - 40 points, exam 2 - 40 points, exam 3 - 40 points, in class written assignments (12 of 15) - 60 points total, final paper (2 pages double spaced) - 20 points. The exams were all MCQ and pretty fair, but some questions were trickily written in a way where multiple answers could be genuinely aruged as correct. Exams are not cumulative. Dr. Goff records audio only of lectures and shows a lot of videos in class that are tested on exams. She also requires attendance through a short written assignment at the end of each class meeting (I believe she also mentioned that she tracks the location of where the assignments are submitted from) so there's not really a way to skip this class and I would really recommend attending in person. She provides 10-15 minutes in class to get the assignment done. There weren't really any readings for this class. The first midterm was made online due to the LA fires and the final was online as well (no lockdown browser or proctoring.) Dr. Goff is a wonderful, engaging lecturer and I think she's really approachable/easy to talk to. This class is pretty easy and relatively interesting, and it doesn't require an insane amount of work to get an A. I would recommend taking it.

I thought this class was extremely interesting and just challenging enough to be academically stimulating but not overly difficult. There is a fair amount of neuroscience in this class (more so than the average psych upper div) but as someone who struggles with science, it was not bad/difficult at all. Grading scheme is - 6 short written exercises on course material - pass/fail, participation - 10 points, final paper on a film (500 words) - 25 points, exam 1 - 75 points, exam 2 (not cumulative) - 50 points. There are readings but exams only test on material that comes directly from lecture so there is no need to do them if you don't want to/don't have time. Exams are all MCQ. I thought the difficulty was fair but occasionally questions were written ambiguously in a way where one could argue that any 2-3 choices could be correct. I believe Dr. Goff ended up giving points back to the class for some of these questions or accepting multiple correct answers. She is a very nice, friendly, approachable person who is easy to talk to/ask questions to. Also, Dr. Goff shows a LOT of films/videos in class but only records the audio for lectures. She tests on these films on the exams, so I would really recommend going to class so that you can watch the films and don't have to seek them out on your own. There were also many issues with uploading the audio recordings (cut off halfway through class, she forgot to record, etc.) so you really should try not to skip this class if you take it. I really enjoyed this class, feel like I learned a TON about the impacts of early life adversity on brain development/structure/function, and would highly recommend it to anyone. It is not overly difficult and really is quite interesting.

Best psych class I've taken at UCLA. The lectures are so interesting and engaging, she uses her kids as examples when she teaches making it so much easier to understand the material as you get a real world example of what she is teaching. Discussion was usually just a review session and the homework was just a weekly review about the lecture so it was easy enough

Professor Goff is funny, passionate, and personable. Some material was a little confusing but if you show up and pay attention you can get an A with ease. Participation is recorded through iClicker. Midterm was slightly more difficult than final exam. Would take her class again!

Professor Goff was a very engaging lecturer. Lectures were well organized, very informative, and completely comprehensible. She clearly cares about student understanding. I think the weekly written assignments were helpful for understanding course material. The workload was great---no busy work, just work that was useful. I also liked the format of the exams and thought they were a good measure of material understanding.

I very much enjoyed this class. I have been wanting to take this class since my first year and was very excited when I actually enrolled for this session. Everything was incredibly interesting, and the professor was beyond helpful throughout. I loved the transparency with everything that was discussed, whether it was course topics or even personal information in regards to future career planning. The exams are very straight forward, readings and assignments are all relevant and helpful to gaining a deeper understanding of the topics. Everything about this class was amazing. It was absolutely amazing to learn from Professor Goff and I hope to work more with her in the future! This was one of my favorite classes I've taken at UCLA.

Dr. Goff is an incredible professor. She has really engaging lectures and has a lot of open conversations with students in class. She also has a lot of respect for her students and is super accommodating and understanding. There's a short reflection assignment after each lecture but it was really simple and usually just about relating your own experiences to course material. Exams were very straightforward and drew directly from lecture material.

Bonnie Goff is one of the best professors I have ever had at UCLA. This class was super manageable! She made the class so engaging and fun for everyone. There were three exams in total and four overall homework assignments. The exams and homework assignments were pretty simple. Overall, I totally recommend taking this class as a psych upper division elective. It has been one of my favorite classes I have ever taken at UCLA.

Take this class!! Not only are there no readings but the professor makes the information super digestible and she is engaging and clearly cares about her students. She drops your lowest midterm and gives extra credit for I-clicker questions. She is super fair and makes any question on the exam that over 50% of students got wrong extra credit instead. One of my favorites at UCLA, looking into taking more classes with her in the future!