Firstly, if you are taking this class because it seems interesting and you don't want your average to go down, then don't take it.
This is a fun course, it teaches basics about the most important Mental Illnesses today. Dr. Day is a great professor. He posts lecture slides + voice recordings...

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Don't just memorize the answers to the Sample Quiz questions. They are somewhat different on the test.

This course is very interesting and gives good insight to different types of psychological disorders, but it is not one of those "bird" courses. There is a lot of information that is not just common knowledge and therefore actually going to class and doing the readings for this course is pretty important, just keep in mind that the readings are kind of long and some of the topics get very dry and detailed. Dr. Day is a really good professor, he makes little jokes, explains things well, and is easy to talk to. He also posts all his lectures online, which is good and bad. You end up not going as much as you should since you know the lectures are online, but it kind of screws you in the end. I believe he splits the marks by doing two midterms and then one final exam, which are all multiple choice. Overall, if you have an interest in psychology and have taken various psych courses in the past and done well, this class is fine for you, but if you haven't and want something to maintain or boost your average, don't take it. Dr. Day teaches this class as well as personality psych class which is really good and a little easier, but I believe that is an 8:30 class so this one might be better if you aren't a morning person.

Most of Dr. Day's questions really emphasize the prevalence of the presented mental disease so I would highly recommend focusing on knowing those!

I found this course pretty hard. Lots of statistics to memorize, and his test questions can sometimes be vague (ie more than 1 answer seems right). Read the textbook!

Can anyone provide some insight on the difficulty of this course in comparison to other courses taught by Dr. Day? So far I've taken Personality, Positive Psychology, and Forensic Psychology and have done well in them. For anyone who has taken other Dr. Day courses, how much harder/easier is Abnormal Psych?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by tasneem.11

Can anyone provide some insight on the difficulty of this course in comparison to other courses taught by Dr. Day? So far I've taken Personality, Positive Psychology, and Forensic Psychology and have done well in them. For anyone who has taken other Dr. Day courses, how much harder/easier is Abnormal Psych?

Thanks!

I'd also like someone's opinion on this as I am in the same boat.

Can anyone provide an updated review as well? Thanks.

I loved the content of this course - as I came away with more understanding of disorders like Schizophrenia, Autism Spectrum, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, etc.

Dr. Day podcasts every lecture, so you can watch them if you miss class. Most people attend lecture anyways because he is a very interesting and clear lecturer.

There were 3 guest lectures this year - one was an upper year McMaster student who shared her experience with Depression & Anxiety, and the other two shared their experiences with Schizophrenia. Very interesting lectures to attend that provide deeper insight into the experience of these disorders. Material from these lectures appeared on tests.

Assessment: 2 midterms (30% each) and 1 final (40%).

The class averages for each test were in the high 60s - which is pretty good for a psych course. I got 75 on the first and 85 on the second. They are honestly not bad at all because there are QUIZ BANKS MADE BY DR.DAY. They are on the Psych 2AP3 website and are honestly so helpful - half of the questions show up on the tests so I recommend doing at least 100 questions after you review the material and before you take the test.(which can take you less than an hour).

My one complaint for this course and the only reason I did not do better on the midterms or exam is the stupid textbook questions. Firstly, the textbook is so tedious to read. Dr.Day said he only takes things from the text that he doesn't talk about in class. So he actually chooses the most random possible questions. Despite reading most of the assigned readings, this is where I lost my marks.

The lecture content is mostly straightforward and requires you to memorize and make connections - it is interesting enough that this does not feel tedious. BEWARE OF THE TEXTBOOK READINGS - they will make or break your mark (especially because this material is not covered in the quiz banks).

Overall, a good course. Didn't require too much effort because you just study the lecture material - there are no assignments or participation requirements. If you want a 12 you need to read the textbook in your sleep.