DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. In Spring 2022, we were promised virtual lectures on Tuesdays and then meetings either in person or on zoom on Thursdays. There were 2 or 3 Thursday meetings all quarter, and otherwise, there were very very few opportunities to meet with the professor and fellow students to discuss and debrief the material. The professor also accused us of attempting to cheat when we tried to organize a study group in the class GroupMe. The tests (which make up the entirety of your grade) are insanely hard, and no matter how much time I spent studying for them, the questions were always out of left field. With a terrible grading scheme and unprofessional conduct by the professor, this was the single worst class I have ever taken at UCLA. I will say it again: save yourself, and DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

I took this class Spring 22 and I loved it! I think the material gets more interesting as the class goes by and in my opinion the material is very important for people to know since it is relatable to our daily lives. I loved Dr.Shirinyan, he was funny, approachable and understanding of his students and he gave a 5 point extra credit assignment as well! The tests are mostly multiple choice questions and there are some true/false questions as well. I do think his tests are hard because they were extremely detailed in lectures and you have to remember his every word but if you follow his own recommendations for mastering the material you will be fine!I would totally take this class again!

Dr. S is a great lecturer! I thoroughly enjoyed the course content and learning from him. This quarter the format was 3 exams, you just had to pay attention to and take good notes on the lecture- referring to the textbook when needed to clarify concepts. Couldn't recommend this class more!

This Professor is the best. He truly cares about his students and tries to make the material as transparent as possible. My TA was Lindsay Laughlin and she was my life saver this fall quarter. I do not particularly take well to science, however I was able to pass with an okay grade due to her weekly reviews, which you should definitely attend or watch on your own time (she records them all)!!!

For the three tests, take VERY VERY detailed notes of the professors' lectures and the TA's review sessions. Do not skip a thing. He allows you to use them on the tests. I recommend organizing them on a document so that they are easy to look over when taking the exams.

As someone who has never studied psychology/psychobiology in the past, I was slightly intimidated to take this course. However, the entirety of the course (though online at the time) was so engaging and intriguing. Professor Shrinyan is also one of the most down-to-earth and caring professors I have ever had during my time at UCLA. Though a good chunk of the content requires a lot of memorization of obscure terminology, the professor allowed us to use our notes during exams. The tests themselves were very manageable as well--solely multiple choice questions. Overall, I would definitely recommend this course to freshmen or sophomores in need of a science inquiry GE fulfillment.

Professor Shirinyan was great. The class was supposed to be where we watched the lecture videos he made in the spring of 2020 during covid and we go in once a week to discuss it. He ended up having a health problem that made the class 100% asynchronous. So, we would watch 7-14 lecture videos per week (that range in length from 2-20 min.) and take notes on them. We were also assigned textbook readings, and he gave us the textbook for free. Personally, I just watched the lecture videos once and paused it a lot of times to take really thorough notes. I did not read the textbook. I got a 92 on both midterms and a 94 on the final and with the extra credit I was able to get an A+. Do not listen to the bad reviews, as the tests were entirely based on the lecture videos and a couple from the textbook. I had time to scroll through the textbook and my notes throughout the exams, so it is really based on your notes. People rating him poorly probably just did not take good notes on the lecture videos. Even with a health problem, I feel he did his best and I recommend this class. I hope I can eventually take a class with him in person.

Professor Shirinyan is definitely one of the best parts about this classes and I appreciate how he uses his personal experiences to further the significance of the topics taught in class. I also appreciate how empathetic he is to his students and making the class as passable as possible.

I personally didn't think the class was that difficult, but maybe it was just because it was online. There were only 3 grades for the whole class which were just the three tests we took and I also liked how the final wasn't cumulative. Everything was multiple choice but be careful because a lot of people failed the first test because they just assumed it was going to be easy. I personally got a 86 on the first test and then a 96 on the second one because I studied a ton more and I also felt the information got easier.

Our TA Lindsay was super helpful in basically reteaching the information of the lectures every single week in office hour so definitely attend those or just listen in for efficient reviewing. I recommend skipping the textbook and just rewatch the lectures over and over again and taking good notes you can use during the open-notes test. The youtube lectures were good bc of how concise they were and straight to the point. I do feel like the content of week 1-3 was the hardest and then it got easier but take that with a grain of salt.

ALSO reminder that this class ins't about psychology at all. It's more about neuroscience so we learned a lot about neurons, chemical reactions in the brain, sleep disorders, drug abuse, and consciousness.

Loved the class, the TA, and the professor! Though I wasn't initially interested in psychobio, this class has made me. The professor's videos are so insightful, sprinkled with little bits of humor (his video gushing about raspberries has to be the best thing I've ever seen). It was a very lax class, and there was at no point that I felt lost. Just take notes on his lecture videos, attend office hours, and you're golden.

My TA was Lindsay, and she was super knowledgeable and helpful. Her office hours and review sessions were what allowed me to do well. If you're in PSYCH15, review sessions are a must -- they prepare you super well, and some questions even appear on the exams. As long as you paid attention to his lecture videos, the exams were smooth sailing. Don't be daunted by the fact that the class is only graded based on your performance on two midterms and one final -- the exams have no curveball, super trivia-esque questions.

What I appreciated the most is that the class and the instructors want you to succeed. While Professor Shirinyan said he didn't give out extra credit, there was an optional extra credit assignment given during Week 11 in case you needed it.

Would take this class again if I could!

I really loved this class not only because the subject matter is fascinating but professor Shirinyan made it easy to understand and enjoyable to go to. His lectures were funny but informative and he has a lot of real world experience. The class is not easy but, he makes you want to learn and doesn't sugar coat what we know and don't understand about the neuroscience of psychotic disorders.

//professor//
- Professor Shirinyan is kind of psycho, but in an endearing way. (and I say that after taking a class on schizophrenia with him).
- He is clearly passionate about the course material and the neural mechanisms by which certain drugs affect the brain. He's so passionate about this that he told our class that one of the ways to truly study this material is to actually take the drugs we discussed in class, which he admitted that he'd done (weed, molly, meth, etc.). A+ for dedication for this mans.
- he genuinely cares about student well-being which is refreshing so if you talk to him about any issues you're facing, he will accommodate you.

//grading//
Class is worth 130 points total with a light curve if needed.
100 points - midterm and final exam (non-cumulative, 50 points and 50 questions each). The exams are fair and generally pretty straight-forward if you've studied his slides, which generally contain all the information you need to know.
25 points - paper. A fairly easy 3 page paper that you have to write on a specific sub-topic within schizophrenia research. You email your proposal to the professor so as long as you put in minimal effort and produce a decent quality paper, you should get full credit.
5 points - paper presentation: You are put into groups and each member writes about a something related to the overall sub-topic (the paper described above). For example, if the topic is stress and schizophrenia, then one member might write about stress/schizophrenia in adults, another in teens, and another in the elderly. As a group, you present about your topic and your individual papers to the class. If you have slides and decent public speaking skills, you'll receive full credit.

//material//
Course material is pretty interesting. Each lecture basically covers how a drug can model the effects seen in schizophrenic brains (animal and humans). So each class you basically discuss a different drug and how it can model schizo symptoms.

//overall// cool/nice professor, low/easy workload, and interesting course materials makes this a good psychobio elective.