He is a good professor, like most of the professors in the LS series. One thing about him I don't particularly enjoy is that he talks sooooooo sloowww. Good thing his lectures are pre-recorded so I can put it on 1.5 or 2x speed. He is clear, but I wish he would have in person Zoom lectures so we can ask questions in person.

My remote learning experience with Professor Esdin was great. This quarter, we were given full points for the final. I absolutely hated how I performed during 7A and 7B, but 7C was so much more interesting and useful. And I did well!

Launchpad was unavoidable. However, it seemed like the workload shrank in comparison to 7B and 7C. Also, we had to complete Lecture Participation quizzes each time a lecture was held. They were due the same night they were posted. We were only allowed to miss 4 points, which was equal to 2 quizzes. If you have an issue with timezone differences, make sure you are on top of it.

There were 3 extra credit opportunities: LA survey, mid-quarter survey, and GradeScope.

My only complaint this quarter was the structure of the first exam, but I do not blame the professor. I thought the time allotted was inadequate. The format was not the best in that there were time-consuming parts that were not the actual questions of the exam. If Professor Esdin were to teach 7C another quarter, I would ask him to ensure that the exam is fair before releasing it.

If you want to do well, you honestly should switch to taking notes on your laptop. Download the PDF and annotate directly as you watch his lectures... Pen and paper notes are ineffective in the LS7 series! This is because all of the content is saturated in the slides themselves. You can also go back later and add in clicker question slides to make your notes more complete.

Professor Esdin was the highlight of this class. His straightforward, engaging lectures made the material so much more interesting. He does a great job of answering questions in lecture, and I would highly recommend going to his office hours.

Overall, Dr. Esdin was very accommodating with the transition to remote learning. LS7C is so much more interesting and genuinely applicable than LS7B and I definitely enjoyed learning about the content so much more. We covered topics like body systems, cell communication, CRISPR, etc.

Although LaunchPad as usual is annoying, I found it to be much less of a chore compared to 7B. The last few weeks were mainly video lectures (which you honestly don't need to watch because they don't relate to what's covered in the actual lecture). Since classes were entirely online for this quarter, we still had 2 midterms, each of them with a FRQ portion and a MCQ portion. All are open-note. I feel that they made the MCQ portion easier than you would expect for typical LS7C exams, but the FRQ portion could be challenging (the answer key is very specific and the TAs could grade hard). Discussions are mandatory as usual and submitted on GradeScope.

For studying, I would definitely recommend going to CLC sessions – the LAs are all incredibly helpful! Take advantage of your LA's knowledge in discussion section as well, they're often more willing to guide you through the answers :) Also take advantage of CampusWire, it's a great resource and other students' explanations are always really helpful!

Coming into LS7C, I had some interest in the material - I wasn't particularly excited to learn about physiology, but also not opposed to it either. Dr. Esdin co-taught this course with Dr. Cooper during Winter 2020. Dr. Esdin taught weeks 1 and 7-10, and Dr. Cooper taught weeks 2-6. Like the rest of the 7 series, the material is more based on applying concepts rather than pure memorization (though I must say, 7C does require some more memorization than the other 7 series classes). Even though I came out of the class with not the greatest interest in the material, Esdin really made the class bearable and sometimes even enjoyable. His explanations to the clicker questions were generally pretty good, and he was always so encouraging. At the end of week 1, he told us that he'd miss us as he wouldn't be seeing us for 5 weeks until the start of week 7; you could tell that he really cared about students' well-being and was not merely teaching to get the job done. I enjoyed Dr. Esdin's portion of the course more, which focused on cell junctions, immune system, and human bio (DNA, CRISPR, etc).
In regards to exams, I really dreaded taking them. I didn't do very well on the first one (scored slightly below average) and also performed equally as bad on the second one. By the time the final rolled around, I felt kind of done with the class and just indifferent towards the material/my grade. In light of the COVID-19 crisis this quarter, the final was online and made optional. I took the final though because I wanted to improve my grade in the class and it was definitely very doable, better than expected.
When grades came out, I was surprised that I had gotten the grade I got; I punched in the numbers and I figured that Esdin must have curved/scaled people up. Bottom line is, don't give up in studying! Even with mediocre/sub-par midterm scores, I was still able to perform decently well in the class.

tl;dr - I definitely recommend taking this class with Esdin if you can!

Esdin is a pretty great professor. I took him when everything was going on with the super heavy rain and fires by the 405 along with the holidays. He was completely understanding about participation points by giving his students the clicker points when they didn't show up for those particular days. Yeah out of all my LS professors he was the best. :) Definitely take him if you have the chance.

Esdin is a great lecturer and you never have to guess what's on the exam. It's very straightforward what he wants of you from his lectures, clicker questions, and discussion worksheets. The homework helps somewhat, the questions are not too important but the reading is. Esdin is great at explaining class material and is very transparent and fair with grading. Exams are hard and requires you to think critically, but pay attention to discussion and the extra help hours and you'll be well off!

Esdin is a very engaging professor and made lecture entertaining. For the exams, focus on the material and questions that he covers in lecture. The pictures and diagrams are super important and he normally also chooses a small section to cover from discussion. The questions seem simple but are not necessarily easy, averages for both midterms were 82-84. Make sure you do the launchpad and clicker questions for the additional points if you are looking to get an A. I got an 84, 84, then 90 percent and ended with a solid A because of discussion/launchpad/clicker points.

Challenging class, but the professor knows his stuff. Attend lecture to get the iClicker points and go to the mandatory discussion, because the tests borrow heavily from those. Everything else you can learn from the book.

Understanding the diagrams and clicker questions is crucial. Unlike the other classes in the 7 series, I think attending lecture for this class is very helpful for the tests (especially the last three weeks when Launchpad is useless in terms of material, there's almost nothing on there). If you are considering Esdin, don't be discouraged if it is still an 8 a.m. lecture. He's a great professor and actually cares about his students. Also, take advantage of the small extra credit opportunities!