Richard Koestner - McGill University, Montreal, QC

Professor: Richard Koestner

Department: Psychology

College: McGill University, Montreal, QC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He was a lot of fun to listen to, the lectures were amazing!! The exams on the other hand didnt actually test your understanding of the material, they were more focused on the details of the stories he tells in class and the stories (not the material) in the textbook. Its easy to do well though, just study the stories and everyones names.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

BEST PROF IVE HAD SO FAR!!! Loved his class! Super interesting, funny guy, great lecturer. He clearly knows a lot about what he teaches about and gives tons of examples and funny life stories to exemplify concepts. Totally loved this class probably will take his other class because of how great a lecturer he is! There is a book to read - 320 pgs.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Koestner is hands down the best prof I've had. You have to know literally everything he says: his own opinions, his life story, the authors' views, etc. It's so worth it even though his exams are super detailed. Not hard to do well if you're really invested in it. The only class I actually remember almost all of the material from.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Koestner is amazing and by far my favorite professor at McGill! He made Pysc332 so interesting, and uses lots of his own interesting personal stories to make the material applicable and easy to understand. His tests are extremely specific, but it's totally worth it!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Such a sweet prof! So kind and funny. Makes lectures fairly interesting. The tests are normally multiple-choice. The exams are hard, you really have to take good notes (even on things you don't think are important!).

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

By far best class I've taken in PSYC, he clearly knows how to teach and plans his lectures perfectly, tests are way too detailed on both lecture and textbook material but it's honestly worth it - everything is super interesting and the examples he uses make it easier to remember. Prf. Koestner is simply amazing!

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332PSYC471
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Richard is the best prof. I loves both personality and motivation. Lectures really help you understand the material and are interesting to listen to! He shows a lot of videos and shares personal stories, which really helped me connect to the material and he tries hard to make it relevant to a university student population. Wish he had more classes!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Koestner's classes (332 and 471) are the best classes you will take at mcgill but you CANNOT half ass it or you will do poorly. Tests are 50% lecture 50% readings material, but 100% of the material is interesting. The reading material is easy if you read attentively, the lecture questions are hard but Keostner gives u all u need to do well

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Hes amazing. Passionate, caring, and loved by literally every other students i talked to. Make the 3h lectures enjoyable. The exams arent easy and you must engage with the material and take the time to really understand and remember the examples he gave. But worth it.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I found PSYC 332 with Koestner to be quite interesting. Although the material can sometimes be boring, he made sure to make it interesting. He is very sweet. Midterm was really easy, but the final was kind of hard; a lot of people complained and he himself said that it was going to be difficult. He ended up curving a lot of people's grades.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PYSC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Probably the best teacher I've had at McGill! His midterm was not easy because you really need to know details and read the books he assigns. Also make sure you know the details of his personal stories. However, he is great at lecturing, makes psychology really fun and class is never boring.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

- Amazing life-changing lectures - 3 books to read but they are extremely good: they are self-help psychology books so if that's your thing, class should be easy - Asks exam questions on the stories he tell in class so learn them well, don't just memorize concepts

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PSYC332
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

If you have an opportunity to take a class with Koestner, do so. He makes personality Psychology so much fun & interesting, adding his lovely life experiences to give examples. He is a very sweet man and is very understand of student's anxiety (he gives a fail-safe paper for students who did not do good on the midterm, and your final can count 90%.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

It's true that if you can't stand value judgments, you should probably stay away from this course, but saying that it's valueless is itself a value judgment. I'm not even a member of Koestner's personality cult, but humanist philosophy and self-determination theory are quite important stuff, esp. if you plan to have a career in applied psychology.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

When the material lacks substance and value, what do you do? Test on minute details, of course! Funny prof, seems like a nice person, but the course and testing is just terrible.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Even after 1 year I am still pissed for taking this class and pissed at McGill for not doing any quality-control and allowing this kind of self-help book nonsense to be served up disguised as a serious class. Look, prof is passionate and a good lecturer, but he should go do TedTalks, not teach in a university.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

One of the gems at McGill. Really sweet prof who puts in effort to make his lectures engaging. Of course it's a 400 level course so the material and exams are challenging, but it all ties in together and is applicable to real life in such an interesting way.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This class is overrated, I only learned useless info, you can just read the books without taking the class, the exams are just brutal

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PSYC471
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I was looking so forward to this class, I previously took personality with him and loved it, motivation however left me unmotivated the tests were much harder, ambiguous and very detailed.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: 332AND471
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Koestner's classes will CHALLENGE you & INSPIRE you. By far the best prof I've had at McGill. Both of his classes (332 & 471) are extremely interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking. He's a really nice person, too. *Advice: Take note of his personal anecdotes, they will be tested. Know how to apply the theories taught in class to real life.