Note for anyone considering to take this class online: the 7B classes this quarter were not allowed to review their online midterms after taking them, so you can't see where you went wrong. Prof Phelan helped us out a little bit by having a review session after the second midterm and walked us through some of the commonly missed questions. The final was made optional in Spring 2020 (full points awarded to everyone), and we had the Week 10 lab become extra credit. LS7B with Phelan was ran pretty typically of LS classes. Launchpad work was the same as in-person lectures, but lab sections were a lot more tedious, essentially busy work. We had some weeks that were asynchronous lab sections when you just turn it in on your own, but I will say that the lab section were pretty unaccommodating for more time. Some of the online labs were super long (carrying on beyond lab time), but we always had a strict deadline of turning in by the end of lab. I had some tech issues in the first week with not being able to run Zoom/fill turn things in at the same time, but didn't even get the deadline budged by 15 minutes.

For professor Phelan, he was super nice and a great lecturer. He does take a little while longer to respond to emails and can carry on tangents when talking about course concepts, but he really cares and advocates for the students.

I am not a big fan of the 7 series, but Professor Phelan definitely made going to lecture enjoyable. He was very accommodating and kind about the situation in spring and made sure to make himself available. He is very funny during office hours as well. I highly recommend taking him for this class.

I am not a big fan of the LS series, but Professor Phelan made LS7B enjoyable. He is an awesome professor and genuinely cares about his students. Although I took his class online, I found him to be very engaging and his passion for education and the course material was very evident. I loved how he had "take home messages" for every lecture. He also held review sessions before each midterm which helped immensely. Overall, if you have the option to have Professor Phelan for LS7B TAKE IT!

I’m an ecology major, so I was excited for this class. Before I say anything else, I’d like to emphasize how AMAZING Professor Phelan was. He was honestly incredible. Aside from being super understanding and a major advocate for us students in quarantine/events related to racial injustice, he was a fantastic teacher through and through. He dressed up every single day and had a little studio sign; it was very clear he cared deeply about us and his job. He held multiple review sessions and recorded and posted everything. During lectures, he explained concepts super well, was interactive, and was engaging. As long as you got one clicker question in, he would count you for attendance. He was easily the best LS Professor I’ve had and for sure one of the best professors I’ve had here at UCLA, and I would strongly recommend any class with him.
In terms of structure, overall it was exceptionally standard and what I expected from a LS7 class. The format was identical to LS7A, so you should have a good idea of what to expect in terms of workload and homework. This time there was a lab, however, which was alright. I thought it was very similar to the discussions from 7A but were much more focused on the activity instead of going over concepts. The exams could be tricky at times, and had complex questions (like 7A). However, I thought it was reasonable for the most part.
Overall I would 110% recommend Phelan for 7B. You probably have to take 7B for your lower div requirement, but he was incredible and made it super doable.

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You only need "What is Life? 4th Edition with Physiology" for this class. Mean Genes is fun to read, but is not really "required" to do well in this class, so unless you're interested in reading more about it then you don't really need to get it. The actual textbook is pretty expensive, so I highly suggest buying the pdf version of the book. I'm selling it for only $5!

Professor Phelan is probably one of the better professors I've had taking the LS series. His lectures are both clear and interactive, and he does a very good job of not making me fall asleep. In this online quarter, professor Phelan went above and beyond to make sure people had proper resources and knowledge before taking finals: he did things like hold review sessions on the weekend (which he wasn't even obligated to) before exams.

In the wake of both the coronavirus and political turmoil caused by racism in the US, professor Phelan listened to marginalized and affected students and came up with excellent accommodation for people that felt like they couldn't take the test. People might view an optional final as lazy, but I personally view it as caring. I highly recommend taking this professor for this class.

I couldn't agree more with the review from Spring 2021 who states that he did not live up to his past bruin walk reviews for this class. If you look at older reviews, you will see all positive things about Dr. Phelan, but I was extremely disappointed when I took his class this quarter. Maybe he just wasn't able to convert his classroom setting to the zoom format so this was just a blip in his teaching years, but I found him extremely unhelpful in lecture and office hours.
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Last quarter for 7a, I had Khankan who would always answer our questions in the zoom chat, this quarter with Phelan, it seem't as though he was trying to ignore them, and by the end of the lecture the whole groupme would be blowing up about how they were still confused on the answer to a clicker question he didn't the answer to when people were asking in the chat. He also held office hours where he would tell you "don't even try to get points back on the exams, just read the syllabus about regrade requests". Even when he would agree with us that the questions were poorly worded. He doesn't write the midterms and finals, but the way he always dodged and came up with a bs explanation in office hours put a lot of us off.
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He also rarely responded to emails, I emailed him during the midterm to ask a question and never got a response ever. I also emailed him multiple times throughout the quarter with no response either, only getting one response when I said I wanted to have a 1 on 1 meeting.
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His clicker questions and lecture content does NOT prepare you that well for the exams, I eventually found out that Dr. Pires slides and clicker questions were better so I asked a friend in Dr. Pires lecture to send me their slides as they BETTER reflected the midterms and final.
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I still got an A in the class, but after getting a C on my first midterm, I decided to get Dr. Pires slides and clickers and that is how I pulled myself up (I even attended her lecture zoom link once). Overall, I thought this class was harder than LS7A because of this professor, even though "LS7B is supposedly the easiest in the LS7 Series".

I really wanted to like Dr. Phelan after reading all of the raving Bruinwalk reviews about him from previous years. A few of my friends had him for LS 15 and thought that he was very helpful and engaging as well. Thus, I am quite disappointed with my experience with Dr. Phelan in LS 7B. LS 7B is supposed to be the easiest class in the entire LS series, but I struggled in LS 7B much more than I did in LS 7A. Professor Phelan is a funny and kind-hearted professor, but I am always left wanting a little bit more from him. I really appreciated him carving out time to hold review sessions for us before each midterm and the final, but I wish he gave us more resources to adequately prepare for each exam. His slides are very empty and he often talks over pictures rather than having bullet points of information. This becomes a problem when you are studying for exams, as you're pretty much forced to rewatch lectures to fully capture everything he was saying. My friends in Dr. Pham's section showed me their slides and I thought that their slides were a lot more detailed and in depth than ours. For example, Professor Phelan did not cover kin selection in any lectures, but we were expected to know how to use the formula during one of the midterms which confused many people. In contrast, Professor Pham dedicated a few slides on kin selection and went over example problems in his office hours. I also wished Professor Phelan paid more attention to the chat and answered more of the questions in it. I often left lectures feeling confused and had to visit my TA's office hours to receive clarification.

In terms of the class structure, it is very similar to LS 7A except for the fact that we no longer have a group phase and both midterms are weighed the same (120 points each). After each midterm, we had the opportunity to do a reflection and a mini exam that gave us a maximum of 8 points back on our exam. Each midterm also had an extra question to buffer your score (so technically the highest score you could get was 123/120). The final exam is 200 points with no extra credit attached. We also had about 8 points of extra credit for random surveys throughout the quarter (do them because those points add up)! I honestly did not find lab sections very useful and the take home labs were busy work that took up a large chunk of time. Launchpad every week was also extremely long and tedious. I did read through and took notes on all of the Launchpad readings and it would take me almost 6 hours every week.

I did quite poorly on the first exam on genetics (got a C) which was a bummer because I would say that the first midterm is the most straightforward one out of the three exams we had. So, whoever is reading this in the future, please study hard for the first exam and do a lot of practice on pedigrees! The only reason I pulled away with an A is because I studied HARD for the second midterm and final. I rewatched lectures, made a giant document of all the PEQs and PCRQs and their explanations, redid midterm exams for the final, and watched through the lecture videos on Launchpad. I also went to CLC sessions every week and attended office hours. I managed to get an A- on the second midterm and the final, but I would say that the questions are a lot more ambiguous on both exams, so it's in your best interest to ace the first exam so you are not in a constant state of stress for the rest of the quarter like I was.

Overall, I had a mediocre experience with the course. I would not take this class again (because I'm not a masochist) and I would not suggest taking this class with Professor Phelan (at least virtually).

Professor Phelan was not the best professor for this course. His lectures were not helpful in learning the material. Instead, it all felt like a long story-time about his personal life. The lecture slides were not helpful and very vague. The tests were ok if you looked for study materials online, which is quite difficult in the LS series due to the way they tend to phrase questions. I would not recommend if there is another professor available. If he's the only option, you'll be fine.

Phelan was hands down the best professor I have had in the 7 series (just finished 7c this quarter). The man is extremely kind and genuinely wants to know his students if you go to office hours. The fact that he was a life science undergrad back in the day makes it even better

Okay now for the actually course. Despite everyone's disdain for genetics and evolution, 7B happened to be my favorite class of the series and im 100% sure it was because of Phelan. He was extremely engaging during lectures and explained concepts thoroughly. His tests were really fair in my opinion as Long as you put in the effort to practice all of the genetic charts and understand may concepts. Everyone didn't do so well on the first midterm simply because the material was a bit tricky but by the second midterm I aced my first (and only) 7 series exam.

I took this class during Spring, so when America literally caught on fire, and it was extremely stressful towards the end, but Phelan canceled the final