Current instructor

James Li

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.94/5 from 17 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

PSYCH 510
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Li was one of my favorite psych teachers at UW Madison. The course requires effort, but as long as you do the readings and attend lecture it is manageable. He is very caring towards his students and is quick to respond to any questions. Learned a lot out of this class and was super interesting/engaging. Highly recommend!
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PSYCH 510
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Li was OK, but I didn't care for his grade cutoffs. They were unnecessarily high and the coursework and tests were made harder than they needed to be. The overall vibe was not as pleasant as other classes.
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PSYCH 510
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Reading the reviews of Dr. Li I was a bit skeptical going into his class. However, despite being a bit fast, I found his lectures to be incredibly interesting. They introduced a lot of new topics but in a way that made them easy to understand and learn. I can see where people think tests are hard but Id you study appropriately youll be fine.
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PSYCH 601
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Li was a great lecturer and really helped me get a better understanding of behavioral genetics. All homework facilitates a better understanding of the material. One group project for a "completed vs no completed" grade. 2 oral pre… Read full reviewShow less
Li was a great lecturer and really helped me get a better understanding of behavioral genetics. All homework facilitates a better understanding of the material. One group project for a "completed vs no completed" grade. 2 oral presentations are required at the end of the semester, so if you don't like public speaking, I'd avoid this class.
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PSYCH 501
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Very cynical about the field. Bad aspect: Discourages career pursuit by relating his story of dropping out of med school. Good aspect: worthy psychological critiques. Tough tests, papers. Doesn't seem interested in you as much as his research. Lectures are fascinating. Learned a lot. Put more time in term paper than any paper in college, got a C.
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PSYCH 510
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
I loved this class with Professor Li! His lectures take textbook information and apply it to real life, questioning how things are and how they can be better. Exams are tough but lecture and discussions give you all the materials you need to do well (short answer is based on discussion activities). Not an easy A class but definitely worth taking.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with James Li

PSYCH 621 is a mentored research and seminar course where students design and conduct research to extend current understanding in a topic area.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

PSYCH 691 is an undergraduate thesis course focused on conducting research and completing a thesis, recommended for students intending to pursue graduate work in psychology.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

PSYCH 699 is a directed study course involving independent mentored study with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

A graduate proseminar discussing current topics in clinical psychology through the lens of ongoing faculty and student research and recent journal articles.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2025
PSYCH 990

Research

1–12 credits

PSYCH 990 is an independent research course involving experimental, observational, or statistical investigation under faculty supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026COUNPSY/EDPSYCH/PSYCH 995Predoctoral Internship
Fall 2026PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Fall 2026PSYCH 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026PSYCH 691Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2026PSYCH 699Directed Study
Fall 2026PSYCH 704Proseminar in Clinical Psychology
Fall 2026PSYCH 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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