John Abela - McGill University

Professor: John Abela

Department: Psychology

College: McGill University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PSYCH1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Just read some very sad news that Professor Abela died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 39. I didn't know him personally but seems he had already had a very positive impact on his students and the field of psychology.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I loved this course - Dr. Abela is an outstanding lecturer who brings material to life through the use of stories from his clinical work, popular films, and media. He genuinely cares about his students and goes out of his way to help those who ask for it. Best course I took at McGill to date.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PSYC409
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great professor - Very dynamic and engaging lecturer - Very available to his students. I loved this course!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Great professor - genuinely cares about his students - course material is presented in a lively and engaging manner - evaluation is a refreshing combination of term papers, short essays, and multiple choice. One of the few courses at McGill I actually enjoyed going to.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PSYC409
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was the most amazing class I have taken at McGill. Dr. Abela goes out of his way to get to know his students which is a rarity at McGill. The material covered was challenging but it was explained very clearly. This was one of the first classes I actually looked forward to going to.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PSYC3333
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PSYC409
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was the best course I have taken during my four years at McGill. Course was heavily focused on experiential learning - discussion topics in class (i.e., gratitude, forgiveness, etc.) and then applying them in our lives. I grew a lot personally from taking this class! It was life changing.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PSYCH528
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Abela is a great lecturer. He is available to students and hosts a weekly coffee hour in which he meets with students to talk about anything other then course material (playing uno or jenga is the norm). These coffee hours allowed me for the first time to feel like a professor got to know me. Course is demanding but I learned a lot!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PSYC413
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This course was awesome. Dr. Abela is a very animated and engaging lecturer. The material presented in this course was among the most advanced I encountered in my psych courses at McGill. Evaluation methods involved papers and short essays in addition to the standard multiple choice - refreshing! I highly recommend this course

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was the BEST class that I took during my 4 years at McGill. Dr. Abela is an OUTSTANDING professor who brings material to life and who genuinely cares about his students. I highly recommend this course.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Way overrated. His is obsessed with his own research, which is all you will learn in a month dedicated to childhood depression. Take Abnormal with Dr. Pihl, then look up the stats about kids.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Completely overrated. He's okay, but just okay. The material is uninteresting and presented in a non-engaging manner. It's basically a fluffy abnormal psyc class with some statistics about kids thrown in, and the bodies are research are overgeneralized. The exams aren't terribly hard but the papers are dumb. Take 337/338 with Pihl. Skip this one.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was my favourite class that I have taken in my four years at McGill. Dr. Abela is extremely passionate about his field of study and his lectures are full of high energy and contagious enthusiasm. I loved going to class despite the fact that this class started at 8AM!!!! Exams were hard but fair. I HIGHLY recommend this course.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PSYC528
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

great class!fair amount of work for a summer class and really interesting material.if ur looking for a good psych class, take it!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Best professor I had at McGill - extremely energetic and engaging. EXTREMELY helpful to students - genuinely cares about his students and goes out of his way to get to know them -. The material is among the most challenging I have encountered in a course at McGill but his clarity and articulate nature make it not seem so daunting. HARD TESTS!!!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: DICD412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

This was such an interesting class if you like to learn about mental disorders.He is an amazing Prof and explains things really well.Class attendance is mandatory however and the book is boring and tedious. He is not an easy grader and there is a lot of work during the semester.the perk is that there is no final exam.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This was the most interesting class I've taken in psyc. The exams were hard, but the assignments were alot of fun. Even though I did not do to well with the exams, I would definitly take this class again. Prof. Abela really makes the material interesting

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

an easy A but a giant waste of time. if you want to learn real abnormal psych take 337/338. this is the dumbed-down version. and the textbook is a nightmare !!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PSYC412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Abela is a nice guy, but the quality of teaching varies wildly between subjects he doesn't research and that which he does (depression). The textbook is the WORST psych book I've had at McGill - not worth the paper it's printed on. This class isn't worth the tuition!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: 412
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Took the class suring the summer. Very engaging and worth waking up early! He is extremely interesting to listen to and the movies are very intense! I got an A in this course, without putting too much effort. Best Prof at McGill!