Mark Strauss - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Professor: Mark Strauss

Department: Psychology

College: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Dr. Strauss is a pretty good professor and is class is an easy GPA booster. Although your whole grade is determined by his exams, he provides a lot fo opportunities for extra credit each week. His lectures tend to get a little bit boring, but developmental psych is definitely worth taking.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Dr. Strauss is a good prof for developmental! His lectures were good and he used some really funny and cute examples. He also told some good stories from his own work and seems passionate/knows his stuff. You should pay attention in lecture and study for the exams and you'll do well, i never bought the book. Great guy!!!!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: DEVM0120
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Dr. Strauss is obviously a really experienced guy as he has been on ABC news and more. Take VERY good notes in class and mark down things he says in class as it is just 4 multiple choice tests with no final. He drops lowest test grade which is nice. Overall a doable class and fairly interesting for a Gened

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I never opened the book, everything is from lectures. He's a good guy, but class can get kind of boring, it's hard to pay attention sometimes. He gives extra credit at the beginning of class to people who present a relevant article, and if you're in class the day after a test, he gives you the answer to one question on the next test.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Strauss' lectures. The course itself is very interesting and Dr. Strauss' personal stories are inspirational. You do not need to use the book as long as you attend all lectures and take notes. 2 points of extra credits are given to 2 people who present an article related to dev psych at the beginning of each lecture.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Lectures were fairly interesting, but it is very easy to get distracted during his class. He's a nice guy, but kind of boring. 4 tests each 45 questions all based off his lectures which he posts online and he drops the lowest. Overall, pretty easy.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Very easy, but pretty boring class. Lectures are very consistent, but not super exciting. Four tests, no final, and each test comes straight from his PowerPoints. If you study for a couple hours, every test should be an A.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Dr. Strauss is a nice guy and means well but his lectures do get pretty boring sometimes. He likes to ramble and you really have to pay attention to what he's saying. The final grade is based on an average of your 3 exams (you get to drop 1) so not much room for movement. Overall not bad, if you really study and understand the material you're fine

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures are extremely boring and the tests are hard. He makes it hard to fail but also hard to get really good grades on the exams. He is not the worst but far from the best.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Had him for Developmental Psych. Class was extremely boring but he is very respected in the world of psychology and his class is overall easy, just study lectures online. There are only 4 exams, no final, and the lowest exam grade gets dropped, no extra assignments. Very straightforward, overall a good class that doesn't take much effort.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's well known in the field of developmental psychology, and has interesting anecdotal stories to supplement his lectures. However, his class is based off of the grades of three exams, all of which are extremely specific questions regarding EXACTLY what he said in lecture, right down to how he worded something. Advice; take incredible notes.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The entire course is graded on the average of 3 exams, and the TA's make the exams. The class is an easy B (about 80% of the class got an 80-89 on all three exams) but if you go the occasional office hour and to all of the classes and take detailed notes, an A is achievable.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The entire class is graded by only three exams which makes it difficult if you do not do well on any of the three of them. It is very much just a lecture class, you come and sit for the time while he speaks. Sometimes there are short clips of videos that accompany the lecture. He offers a small opportunity at bonus but it's very difficult to get.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Whole grade consists of 3 exams. They are tricky and he is very uptight about sticking to his grading policy and makes NO exceptions. Exams are tricky, I would not take this class again.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Dr. Strauss is a solid choice for Dev Psych. The only issue is that our final grade is just an average of three exams, so there really is no room for error. That being said, the exams are pretty straight-forward, and he allows you to present current events to the class for extra credit. Exams are based solely on lectures. Easy B/B+, study for an A!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PSY0010
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

His Honors Intro to Psych class was pretty interesting and enjoyable. A lot of writing, but only take-home tests, which I really liked. I think this class encourages you to think critically about the material instead of just memorizing a bunch of stuff, which leads to less stress and better learning.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

if possible, take anyone else but strauss. all he cares about is research and its clear when 3 scantron tests makes up your whole grade. he doesnt even proof read his questions making many of them unfair and refuses to give back points when he knowningly makes a mistake. a lot of questions arent even on dev psych.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PSY0310
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Lectures are very entertaining because he talks about his funny life stories and also shows a lot of videos. Your grade consists of 3 exams and no final and he allows students to present articles at the beginning of class for extra credit throughout the semester. You definitely do not need the book.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PSY0010
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I did a lot less in Honors intro psych than all my friends in regular intro psych. We had no exams at all and just wrote a few one page essays, and the midterm and final were 10-15 page papers. I wrote the essays by basically just copying my lecture notes and got easy A's. If you dont mind writing i'd go for the honors bc theres no studying.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: INFANCY400
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

One of my favorite professors at the university. He's actually here to teach students and it shows.