Im sure this class would be a lot easier in person, but if you are not willing to teach yourself all of the course material, I do not recommend taking this course. I think that because it's online she is making us learn it all by ourselves through the text book reading assignments. Class time is dedicated to clicker questions which she poorly explains. It really all depends on your TA. This material is difficult and she does not do a good job of explaining it.

Professor Lazazzera is not the best at teaching the curriculum, but she definitely does encourage student engagement. She asks students to explain their reasoning for choosing a particular answer for a clicker question, but I am not sure if she is attempting to engage students or if it is her lack of ability to explain the material clearly. She tends to ramble and mumble to herself, with her infamous line being.. “so ummm… yeah!” She also places us into breakout rooms which were honestly inefficient and a waste of time since half the students you are in a room with are half asleep and probably sleeping through the lecture. I eventually stopped listening halfway through the quarter because she was just not making any sense. I found her helpful towards the end of the quarter and her problem-solving sessions definitely did help with midterms and finals. The questions found on the midterms/ finals were sometimes found either directly from her problem-solving sessions or reworded.

I personally do not think that the professor you get for LS7A matters too much though. After all, it is the same exact curriculum and you get the same exact material. I know Maloy or someone had something called learning pods? That was one difference between our classes, but it is pretty much the same. Since I took LS7A virtually, I participated in Maloy’s/ Braybrook’s problem solving sessions before exams as well and they were extremely helpful! This could be an option if you do not understand Lazazzera as well. Definitely seek help from your TAs because they explain the material so much clearer and they cater to your needs. CLC sessions (learning assistant held practice solving sessions) were also superrrr helpful.. sometimes, if you are placed into the correct group lol. But the point is, there are so many other resources other than solely relying on Lazazzera’s teaching.

The grading is fairer than I thought it would be. Yes, the exams make up the bulk of our grades, but so do LaunchPad assignments, Bio&Me, CCLE reflections, extra credit, etc. Speaking about LaunchPad (basically our textbook that costs a little over $100), IT IS LITERALLY SO USELESS. We often read material that is not needed and they make the material much more complex than it should be… When I did not understand the material from LaunchPad, I went straight to Khan Academy! KHAN IS THE GOAT. But before reading LaunchPad, look over the learning objectives (provided in pre-class reading guides) and take note of exactly what you need to read!

As for preparing for exams, pay attention to the clicker questions, redo CLC/ TA discussion worksheets, go to problem-solving sessions + TA office hours, and make sure you fully understand all of the learning objectives! Best of luck <3

Mini review w/ pros & cons:

Cons

-It was a common consensus among the students that going to her lectures after Launchpad made us more confused than anything
-She DOES NOT answer questions clearly at all... she just leaves us more confused
-Going to her office hours was not useful (don't waste your time)
-Uses breakout rooms a lottttttt, so it's just luck if you get a good room (I did hehe)
-Going to class is mandatory bc of participation from Iclicker (you can miss one week I think & still get full credit)
-LAUNCHPAD was useless and went way too in-depth

Pros

-Hella extra credit y'all & DO IT!!!!!
-TA's are a lifesaver (especially Fernando!!!) and their review sessions were superrrr helpful
-She genuinely tries to answer your questions (but she just sucks at clarifying) and is super nice
-GO TO EXAM REVIEW SESSIONS... literally some of the review questions she had were on the final (go to Maloy's too)
-She's super woke lmao and you can tell she cares even though she isn't the best professor
-Clicker questions are similar to exam questions

How I succeeded in this class lmao...
I never took AP Bio so I was kinda behind but I would just skim Launchpad and mainly focus on understanding the diagrams and PEQ's but mainly I would watch YouTube videos to understand the key concepts (Shomu's Biology was the best def recommend).

Overall would not recommend to take her but if she is the only professor left than I think you will do fine :)

PANDEMIC CLASS. I don't think she knows how to teach online courses. Seriously. Any time she gets asked a simple question during lecture she laughs and does some politician like maneuver around answering the question, which forces the TA to answer in the chat, which isn't too great. Her tests are all mc or TF which is cool but it's not about memorization it's about applying concepts that you learn outside of class because frankly you don't learn much in class. highly suggest looking elsewhere in your ls7a adventures.

Beth is such a nice person but has a hard time with the online environment. She can be hard to follow but really does care about her students. The class was a pretty solid split between people who have taken bio and/or chem before "probably as an AP or IB" and those who have not. If this is your first bio course ever, then it will be a hard time. The tests and worded terribly and they really fail to reflect the actual content of the class. However, if you have some experience, it will be a breeze and the group phases of the tests are such a blessing. Overall, the class was engaging and the lectures are not as boring as other classes because of the active participation using the clicker questions.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH LAZAZZERA. I repeat, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH LAZAZZERA. This quarter was difficult because of the pandemic, which led to online classes. Lazazzera is a SWEETHEART, and I don't want to discredit her because she genuinely tried her best this quarter. BUT, she was not the best professor at really explaining the biological concepts we learned in our readings. She always had the habit of sending us into breakout rooms whenever a student asked her a question because we were all confused. For some, breakout rooms consisted of students interacting with each other, for others, breakout rooms were H*LL as students sat there in silence. If you need to take this class and Lazazzera is the only professor available, PLEASE actually read Launchpad and attend your discussion section/Office Hours. If you find yourself confused about the little things such as endergonic/exergonic, ASK QUESTIONS before it's too late. wishing you all positivity and mental stability after this course <3.

Professor Lazazzera is a decent professor. I can tell that she cares about her students and is definitely willing to help if you go to office hours and her review sessions. She has a lot of office hours even over the weekend so she's pretty much always available. Her lectures are not the clearest but I think she did a good job with the material.
The Launchpad material took me a while to go through sometimes. I personally took notes on it and tried to understand the concepts well before I went to class. The Launchpad quizzes are not that helpful for the tests though so I would recommend not spending loads of time on them. I got a C on the first Midterm but I still managed to get an A by studying the clicker questions in order to prepare for the 2nd Midterm and Final. The clicker questions are the key to doing well in this class.
Professor Lazazzera does provide good explanations for the answers in her lectures. She also provides many extra credit opportunities throughout the quarter so take advantage of them. There is a weekly worksheet in discussion that is pretty easy if the TA helps you through it and goes over the answers. That also gives a couple extra points to pad your grade, since grades are based on points not percentages in this class. Overall, Professor Lazazzera is a pretty good teacher. She's not the best but she's decent. I think she does her best and seems like a nice lady.

I liked this class. Good way to weed out the weak pre-meds who can't handle real science and sequester them away to psychobio.

I don't why people said she is a great professor. She has an attitude during office hours and she has a terrible office hours schedule! I don't her lectures are that precise and organized. During lecture she was out of breath the entire time and which made it super annoying she she would breathe super hard through the mic. Terrible professor! Went to her office hour about my midterm grades and she gave me an attitude. Her attitude just made me felt like i am super dumb and stupid!

Professor Lazazzera is the worst lecturer I have had so far at UCLA. She gets really nervous and is always out of breath when she lectures. If you are not a an MIMG major than do not take this class because it will most likely hurt your GPA. If you are going to take this class make sure you NEVER forget to do the assessments before professor Lazazzera's lectures. Not doing these could really hurt your grade and make the difference between getting the next letter grade.