This class is one of my favorites that I've taken at UCLA. Every single lecture was so interesting, engaging, and fun. I seriously learned so much from this class. The exams were challenging, but totally fair and Professor Phelan is awesome! He helps with study techniques as well which have helped me out in my other classes. Take this course!!

Phelan is one of the good 7 series professors. If you have the opportunity to take a class in the 7 series with him, go for it. This class has all the normal complaints about launchpad and the tricky 7 series exams. Advice for the first midterm, go to the CLC workshops. Their worksheets are very helpful for all the genetics probability problems on the first midterm. Phelan's review sessions are like a mini-lecture with practice problems as opposed to other professors who do Q&A for their review sessions. I highly suggest you go to them. One complaint about the LS department is that clickers were still required, so people living in opposite sides of the world had to attend live lectures.

As someone who hated biology all through middle school and high school, I really really enjoyed this class. Professor Phelan's lectures are extremely clear and engaging, and he offers extra credit opportunities as well. I'd recommend thoroughly reading rather than skimming all the relevant material from the WIL textbook. Though it was long and tedious this really helped me understand the material. I also took notes on the textbook, which was very helpful.

Best LS class I've ever taken. I often find myself dazing off in most of my lectures, but not in this one! Phelan is such an engaging lecturer, and you can tell he loves what he does. He really didn't try to trick us. The only negative I have for this class was the time to complete the labs. We were given 15 minutes extra to turn them in but sometimes I went over this limit, luckily my TA was understanding.

Jay and his class are both AMAZING and this is coming from someone who used to hate biology (that was until I took his class). His lectures are engaging, he makes the content interesting, and teaches the course from a non bio student perspective which is nice.

Lectures: Because I took this class during COVID-19, lectures were prerecorded videos and overall were very engaging. He kept them organized, used examples, and his slides were useful (although he doesn't post them). He also kept the videos short which is nice.

Discussions: Discussions consisted of a weekly quiz (one of the problem set questions), review lectures, a group problem set presentation, and a group debate. These projects did require some prep time out of class but it wasn't unmanageable.

Homework/Reading: This class did have a fair amount of work, especially for a GE. There were weekly problem sets that were assigned, but weren't graded (except for one of the questions was chosen for the weekly quiz). We also had to write discussion board posts and create a music video (which was a lot of work but surprisingly helpful for studying). His books are optional but they are well written and help explain concepts further.

Exams: Exams in this class overall were fair, consisting of both M/C and short answer. The midterm was a bit time constrained and some of the short answers required more explanation to get full points, but the final was more manageable. Open notes due to COVID but could be different if taken in person. He doesn't post review materials which makes it tough, but as long as you understand the concepts and examples, you should be good.

Overall: TAKE THIS CLASS! Prof Phelan is a gem and you won't be disappointed! This class really changes your whole view on science and biology and you find out it is actually cool.

I took this as an easy A science GE and it was indeed an easy A science GE. It was easier than my freshman biology class in high school (never took AP Bio). I never read the textbook unless our weekly problem sets had a question on a section from the book, in which case I would read like 2 pages. Don't buy his book "Mean Genes"; I never read a page and got an A. Since all of the quizzes are open note and he gives the possible questions in advance, ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE and bring those answers in and you'll always get an A. Go to his midterm + final review sections and answer all the questions he gives you during that--have those notes out during the test and you'll be fine. I got a 93 on midterm and an 87on final and got an overall grade of 96; lots of extra credit and smaller assignments to raise your grade, and he seems really nice.

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Professor Phelan is definitely one of the better LS series professors. After 7A, I did not think the LS series was meant for me and I was not engaged during lectures. However, Professor Phelan not only made lectures engaging, but he taught and reviewed the material in depth. He even held useful review sessions before the midterms unlike the relatively unhelpful Q&A sessions the other LS professors hold. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the material in this class and Professor Phelan is very knowledgeable about 7B. He was extremely accommodating during this online quarter and did his best to make sure students learn. I would choose Phelan over other LS professors by far.

I took LS15 when everything was online so I never went to section or lecture in person, but rather on Zoom. A lot of people on Bruinwalk rave about LS15 and say that it changed their perspective on bio/science. I have to disagree and felt like LS15 was just a regular biology class. The content itself is pretty manageable and gets more interesting after the midterm in my opinion. I have prior IB Biology knowledge which I think definitely helped me out in this class and the pre-midterm content felt like more of a review. I scored within the average range on both my midterm and final but got the extra credit points from the assignment Professor Phelan offers which boosted by grade to an A. Section is pretty long and usually doesn't teach extra content, it's more like a review of the lectures. I didn't read the textbook at all but before the midterm and final I would answer the multiple choice questions at the end of each chapter to prepare for the tests and a couple of those questions came out, so I would recommend that study method. Best of luck!

Professor Phelan was probably the best professor to have for this class. If you're able to take 7B with him, do it . He's super passionate about the subjects you learn about, and it shows in his lectures . He's a really funny guy and keeps his students in mind with a lot of things, and he really wants you to succeed and enjoy what he's teaching so he's really good at it .