Best course I have taken so far. Everything you learn in this class is relevant and memorable after the class. There isn't a lot of work required for this class as a Life Science course and you can pass easily by just listening in lecture and passing the more than manageable weekly quizzes. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in learning something valuable at UCLA.

Best class I've taken so far at UCLA.
Dr. Phelan is phenomenal and really knows his stuff. Coming to lecture was actually enjoyable!
Normally I shy away from South Campus like a slug from salt, but I really, really loved this class - it was practical, informative, and - dare I say it - fun.
There is quite a lot of material, but if you put the work in you'll do fine. I ended up with an A.

Professor Phelan is by far one of greatest professor ever at UCLA. Being an undergrad himself at UCLA, he understands what students go through moreso than other professors. This guy can really make life sciences more interesting and applicable to life. Take his class. You won't regret it.

TAKE PHELAN! This man changed my life. Amazing class, amazing book, amazing lecturer, awful tests (but he can't be perfect, right?). I DEFINITELY recommend him for any LS class. Amazing.

Professor Phelan is a professor that I would recommend to ALL students thinking about taking life science. His lectures are very interesting and humorous at the same time. He explains things VERY clearly and makes lectures so fun that I actually WANT to attend lectures. I haven't missed any one of his lectures! I look forward to going to his lectures. The class itself (life science 15)is not too difficult. On my first midterm there wasn't a question that I didn't know, and he curves the grades generously! In discussions, the TA (his name was Asif) that I had was really lenient and not at all strict. We had quizzes every discussion but the quizzes were VERY easy. On lectures before the discussions, we were given a problem set packet with about 5 to 7 questions and any one of those questions was going to be the question of the quiz. So as long as you know the answer for all the of questions, you'll ace the quiz. And plus Asif went over all of the answers to the questions during discussion before the quiz so literally you can't not pass. Overall this class was really helpful and pretty easy to pass if you do the reading which isn't much, just one chapter after each lecture.

- Life Science 15 -
Best professor at UCLA.
He is so enthusiastic about the material and really knows how to teach it.
His book "Mean Genes" is great! Not only do you learn about science and fulfill a requirement, but his teachings are applied to REAL LIFE. He is amazing and taught me so much. Loved it.
The textbook was great too ("What is Life?"), but it's identical to lectures so I'd recommend you go to lectures and listen rather than read.
Very easy class and highly enjoyable.
HIGHLY recommended teacher! :)

I had LS2 with him over the summer. He's alright. Not worth all the hype though. He hardly goes into any detail during lecture, but ends each lecture 30 minutes early.

Probably good for LS15, a GE. If you want to actually learn the material in a detailed level, take it with Esdin instead.

I took Phelan for LS 2 during summer 2011. Honestly, it was fine.

His class is not that hard, especially if you took AP Bio sometime during high school. However, that's not to say that the workload was light, because it wasn't.

The material in LS 2 is not difficult, the hard part is just remembering the details.

Phelan is a great professor, if you have the choice between him and another professor, do everything you can to get into his class. I know a lot of people take Esdin for LS 2, but those people have no idea what they're missing.

If you're like most South campus kids and you've never had a good professor at UCLA, take Phelan.

Don't take LS2 in the summer.

There are only about 120 people taking the class and the Life Science department only gives a certain percentage of As to people. About 20 people dropped, bringing down the class to about 100 people, so not a lot of people got As.

LS2 is difficult. Not in the fact that the concepts are hard, but in the fact that you have to cram so much information. Which is another reason why you should not take this in the summer. Phelan said that he would not reduce the material just because it's summer. So we basically learned 10 weeks of material in a 6 week summer session.

Your grade consists of:

4 "papers" where you read articles and answer his prompt. Make sure you answer every question on his prompt.

5 labs, some of which are group ones. This also includes pre-labs quizzes. Be as detailed and as thorough as possible because your TAs will not be generous when they're grading these. Don't choose your friends as partners; choose people that are willing to work just as hard as you.

Participation points. Just go to discussion and ask questions, that's all.

Prep-U quizzes. It's an online program where you can take online quizzes on the book and they'll give you harder and harder questions as you do better and better. Do as many of these as possible, make sure you hit mastery level 8 on every chapter before a test. No, not because it guarantees your mastery of the chapter. But because Phelan's multiple choice on his tests basically all come from Prep-U. If you're familiar with the questions (cough memorize them) then you'll breeze through the multiple choice and you'll have a lot of time to answer the free response questions.

Two midterms and a final. They consist of a multiple choice section and a free response. Multiple choice is easy if you do Prep-U religiously. Free response is up to you how much you pay attention in lecture. You need to be very, very, very, very, VERY detailed in your answer if you want full points. Be prepared for an extreme hand cramp by the end of the test.

Overall Phelan really cares about his students and he really wants you to do well. He's a super nice guy and he adds little anecdotes in his lectures that make the class engaging. I'm never bored in his class.

I would definitely recommend him for LS2.

Firstoff, this has been the most enriching course I've taken thus far at UCLA. I expected to go to class and be somewhat bored, listening to someone read off a powerpoint, but this was not at all how his class was. He uses pictures, personal anecdotes, and random facts that make the lectures interesting and memorable (helpful for exams). I highly recommend office hours (he sometimes gives hints for exams) and he's just great to talk to as a person overall. Listen to every detail he talks about in lectures (this will help for exams) and use the book as supplemental material to his lectures. I came out of this class learning more than I ever expected, able to just natural apply course material to my life without even noticing/trying to. In sum, amazing professor, enriching class!