MCD BIO C174B
Advanced Topics in Cell and Molecular Biology: Molecular Biology of Cell Nucleus
Description: Lecture, two hours. Requisites: courses 100 or 165A, 144, Life Sciences 4 or 107. Recent developments in fields of molecular, cell, and developmental biology. Animal cell nucleus regulation of cell metabolism. Structure/function relationships, nuclear-cytoplasmic exchange, DNA replication and gene expression. Concurrently scheduled with course C222B. Letter grading.
Units: 2.0
Units: 2.0
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Most Helpful Review
Actual course taken: LS2 Professor Phelan is, without a doubt, one of the best professors here at UCLA. Though his exams are difficult(to do well(above the average), you need to know how to apply concepts instead of blatant regurgitation), his personality and great lecturing make up for it. His lecturing style is really refreshing and you'll never fall asleep as he applies the lecture material to interesting everyday life events. You can tell he really wants you to learn and really get something out of this class and UCLA. As for how is class is structured... His class has no powerpoint slides, so you have to write down everything he has in class, which can be a pain sometimes since there's a lot of information. However, he does this because by writing down information, it helps you retain it better. He podcasts his lectures, which is very helpful if you missed anything or need to miss class. He has 2 midterms, 1 cumulative final. He can be very detail oriented(i.e the glycolysis and electron transport chain). His take-home messages are a bit broad, so be sure to learn how to apply those concepts, instead of just knowing the outside layer. He also uses the book, which you NEED to read because there are details in there that you need to know. This is a class that mixes both lecture and the book so be ready to study your ass off! Jay Phelan is one of the most down to Earth professors there is. He really relates to his students and talks about his old days at UCLA where even he struggled with school. He knows what it was like to be on academic probation and is willing to talk to and counsel any struggling students. He is a film buff and watches movies 24/7. Instead of being an intimidating professor, he's a guy that you feel comfortable talking to like a good friend. At his last lecture, he gave a little spiel/speech that left a lasting impression on me. He wants you to grow as a student AND as a person. Instead of just focusing on your science/premed courses and other courses that are required, he recommends taking a class that you're just interested in, such as CS, history of rock and roll, etc. By doing this, you expand your horizons and will grow as a PERSON instead of being just a fine tuned premed. In addition, he welcomes his old students to come back to office hours just to talk or if they have an issues with school. Bottom line: Professor Phelan is AMAZING. You could not ask for a better LS professor. DEFINITELY TAKE HIM!!!
Actual course taken: LS2 Professor Phelan is, without a doubt, one of the best professors here at UCLA. Though his exams are difficult(to do well(above the average), you need to know how to apply concepts instead of blatant regurgitation), his personality and great lecturing make up for it. His lecturing style is really refreshing and you'll never fall asleep as he applies the lecture material to interesting everyday life events. You can tell he really wants you to learn and really get something out of this class and UCLA. As for how is class is structured... His class has no powerpoint slides, so you have to write down everything he has in class, which can be a pain sometimes since there's a lot of information. However, he does this because by writing down information, it helps you retain it better. He podcasts his lectures, which is very helpful if you missed anything or need to miss class. He has 2 midterms, 1 cumulative final. He can be very detail oriented(i.e the glycolysis and electron transport chain). His take-home messages are a bit broad, so be sure to learn how to apply those concepts, instead of just knowing the outside layer. He also uses the book, which you NEED to read because there are details in there that you need to know. This is a class that mixes both lecture and the book so be ready to study your ass off! Jay Phelan is one of the most down to Earth professors there is. He really relates to his students and talks about his old days at UCLA where even he struggled with school. He knows what it was like to be on academic probation and is willing to talk to and counsel any struggling students. He is a film buff and watches movies 24/7. Instead of being an intimidating professor, he's a guy that you feel comfortable talking to like a good friend. At his last lecture, he gave a little spiel/speech that left a lasting impression on me. He wants you to grow as a student AND as a person. Instead of just focusing on your science/premed courses and other courses that are required, he recommends taking a class that you're just interested in, such as CS, history of rock and roll, etc. By doing this, you expand your horizons and will grow as a PERSON instead of being just a fine tuned premed. In addition, he welcomes his old students to come back to office hours just to talk or if they have an issues with school. Bottom line: Professor Phelan is AMAZING. You could not ask for a better LS professor. DEFINITELY TAKE HIM!!!
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Most Helpful Review
Ignore what was stated above. The course I took with Dr. Shipe was LS 1, but it wasn't included in the list, so I just clicked on some random class. Dr. Shipe was a very fair professor with a nice personality. Although her lectures are about the drier half of the course, I still found some of them to be very interesting. The beginning felt like a review of AP Bio, so it wasn't too bad. But the course got a lot more detailed towards the end, especially the animals section. However, the exams were very fair. Dr. Shipe's exams are multiple choice, and 90% of her exams are about the material covered in lecture. There were only a few questions on the exams that was about the reading, so don't worry about reading too much. Make sure you study the lecture notes--the textbook is just a supplement to reinforce the concepts Dr. Shipe taught in class. The only downside to the multiple choice questions was that some questions have choices that could potentially be correct answers, so choosing the correct one is confusing. At times, Dr. Shipe even said that one question could have more than one question. o_O Other than that, LS 1 isn't as bad as everyone puts it to be. Dr. Shipe was very fair, and as long as you go to lecture, pay attention, and take good notes, you'll do fine on the exams.
Ignore what was stated above. The course I took with Dr. Shipe was LS 1, but it wasn't included in the list, so I just clicked on some random class. Dr. Shipe was a very fair professor with a nice personality. Although her lectures are about the drier half of the course, I still found some of them to be very interesting. The beginning felt like a review of AP Bio, so it wasn't too bad. But the course got a lot more detailed towards the end, especially the animals section. However, the exams were very fair. Dr. Shipe's exams are multiple choice, and 90% of her exams are about the material covered in lecture. There were only a few questions on the exams that was about the reading, so don't worry about reading too much. Make sure you study the lecture notes--the textbook is just a supplement to reinforce the concepts Dr. Shipe taught in class. The only downside to the multiple choice questions was that some questions have choices that could potentially be correct answers, so choosing the correct one is confusing. At times, Dr. Shipe even said that one question could have more than one question. o_O Other than that, LS 1 isn't as bad as everyone puts it to be. Dr. Shipe was very fair, and as long as you go to lecture, pay attention, and take good notes, you'll do fine on the exams.
Most Helpful Review
I took EEB 110 with this professor and I have to say this is one of the best courses I've taken here at UCLA. Dr. Van Valkenburgh is an expert in functional morphology and an amazing lecturer. If you're looking for an easy A, EEB 110 is definitely NOT what you're looking for. You have to take two lab practicals and three lecture exams (one of them final, but none of them is cumulative) for this course. You have a 5-hour lab every week and that could be kind of painful. The lab practicals take forever to study for because it's a lot of memorization, while the lecture exams are more about concepts. I really like how the lecture and lab materials come together and help you understand the concepts better. I'm usually not the kind of person who takes a class because it's "rewarding," but this course is definitely worth the time. I had Patrick Green as my TA and he's always very helpful & he knows exactly what he's talking about; I'm sure it's the same for other TA's. If you're a bio major looking to fulfill upper division requirements, definitely sign up for this class.
I took EEB 110 with this professor and I have to say this is one of the best courses I've taken here at UCLA. Dr. Van Valkenburgh is an expert in functional morphology and an amazing lecturer. If you're looking for an easy A, EEB 110 is definitely NOT what you're looking for. You have to take two lab practicals and three lecture exams (one of them final, but none of them is cumulative) for this course. You have a 5-hour lab every week and that could be kind of painful. The lab practicals take forever to study for because it's a lot of memorization, while the lecture exams are more about concepts. I really like how the lecture and lab materials come together and help you understand the concepts better. I'm usually not the kind of person who takes a class because it's "rewarding," but this course is definitely worth the time. I had Patrick Green as my TA and he's always very helpful & he knows exactly what he's talking about; I'm sure it's the same for other TA's. If you're a bio major looking to fulfill upper division requirements, definitely sign up for this class.
Most Helpful Review
I took eeb 153 with this prof. Not listed on the eval so disregard mcdb. AWFUL CLASS. Maybe him & his wife USED to be easy/nice but now they are both RIDICULOUS. The whole class basically failed the midterm because it was all essay and they didn't even tell us how they would grade; pretty much everyone got C's and below written in their blue books. Their lectures are really bad too; always off topic; and all over the place. It's up to students to make the connection about how their slides are even relevant to what we are studying. The final was the worst. They didn't even tell us the essay questions and we were asked to write full length essays on command in addition to fill in the blank and t/f questions. We were given no study guide, no old exams and not even any hints as to what would be on the exam. Cheryl Ann said only 1 question would be from Dick's section (1/2 of quarter). WRONG there were a good chunk of questions on the final from his section. Overall, this class was ridic! Way harder than eeb 100 and other eeb classes. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. NOT an easy A or B for that matter
I took eeb 153 with this prof. Not listed on the eval so disregard mcdb. AWFUL CLASS. Maybe him & his wife USED to be easy/nice but now they are both RIDICULOUS. The whole class basically failed the midterm because it was all essay and they didn't even tell us how they would grade; pretty much everyone got C's and below written in their blue books. Their lectures are really bad too; always off topic; and all over the place. It's up to students to make the connection about how their slides are even relevant to what we are studying. The final was the worst. They didn't even tell us the essay questions and we were asked to write full length essays on command in addition to fill in the blank and t/f questions. We were given no study guide, no old exams and not even any hints as to what would be on the exam. Cheryl Ann said only 1 question would be from Dick's section (1/2 of quarter). WRONG there were a good chunk of questions on the final from his section. Overall, this class was ridic! Way harder than eeb 100 and other eeb classes. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. NOT an easy A or B for that matter
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