I had Esdin/Arnold for Winter 2017 Quarter. This review is only for Esdin. Professor Esdin taught the first half of the class, while Professor Arnold taught the second half. Professor Esdin lectures using PowerPoint slides, which you can follow along with during the lecture. He is one of the best lecturers/professors I have had at UCLA so far because he is so passionate and energetic while teaching. Even though the material may get boring at times, it is pretty easy to stay engaged while Esdin is teaching. To do well in his class, you should really pay attention to what he says during lecture and add those points to the lecture slides to study them afterwards. The midterm was basically from his lectures, so you do not really need the textbook. The average for his midterm was 74, which he thought was pretty good. The class is based on a curve, so just try to do better than the averages.

Dr. Esdin has been by far my favorite professor at UCLA. His "flipped-classroom" approach to lecturing is extremely clear and helpful. He is very knowledgeable and explains things really well. This class, however, is definitely not easy. His questions are challenging and require a real mastery of the material as they are not about memorization but more about application and understanding. With his recorded lectures to go back to however, it's possible to master the material if you really put the time in. I have retained more from this class than any class I have taken thus far and would definitely recommend Esdin.

Right now I'm taking LS 2 with Dr. Esdin teaching the first half of Winter Quarter 2017 and Dr. Arnold teaching the second half. Now that the first five weeks are done... here are my thoughts on Esdin.
This quarter's teaching style to the "flipped classroom" method I've read about in some recent reviews on Esdin's LS 2 class. I think this is because Dr. Arnold is teaching with him, and so he decided to revert back to his original grading rubric:
40 points - Reading Quizzes you do during discussion
100 points - 1st Midterm
100 points - 2nd Midterm
10 points - Discussion Attendance/Participation
180 points - Final Exam
I thought Dr. Esdin was a great lecturer. He's funny, and has this great accent (I can't tell what it is...) and often makes applications of the material to real life examples. I don't think this was included in his fall quarter class but he decided to cover a section about diseases/conditions which I found really interesting. I have a pretty good foundation with biology so I didn't find his class too fast or too slow. He likes to explain things with keywords (which is crucial to do well for the free responses). Something I really liked is that he would often explain the general concept first and then delve into details and different situations. Though I felt his lectures were general at some points, everything he says in lecture was sufficient enough for the exam. That being said...
What I've heard from the previous method of teaching is that there were different tests too. Before it was purely multiple choice, but our midterm was a mix of fill in the blank questions, T/F, free response, and multiple choice. Like I said, he likes to test on key words for the free response. I guess the way TA grade is if you have the key words associated with a certain process (for example, active transport associated with expenditure of energy) like a very particular set of words he'll associate with the concept you have to mention in the FR to get credit for. This is why so many people record his lectures and listen to them again to update their notes further and make sure they don't miss anything. You don't have to memorize every single little detail, you do have to know the concepts he emphasized in lecture heavily on. You'll know it's for sure on the test if he spends a lot of time on it (he will even tell you). I found the midterm pretty tricky (I got an A but still). His MC is tricky in terms of the wording. They aren't difficult concepts to memorize, but how you apply the concepts to the question makes you think about it in a different way. His fill in the blank and T/F are pretty basic questions, definitely the easiest part of the exam. The average was a 74%, which he thought was pretty good.
Discussion quizzes are basically quizzes based on the readings you have to do on your own time. It'll be like a 8-10 pg article regarding some research on a certain topic you're learning in class. And it'll be basic questions about the reading. Just read/study them the day before and you'll do fine.
His office hours is a small room in Hershey Hall where basically he stands there and everyone in the room just asks him questions for an hour. This is just to get clarification and fill some open holes you missed during the lecture. You can even ask how much of some concept do you need to know for the test. He's a really nice person during his OH too so don't be afraid to ask questions!
I'm really sad Dr. Esdin isn't teaching the whole quarter. I don't know what Dr. Arnold will be like but I can definitely recommend taking a class with Dr. Esdin!

I really actually enjoyed this class and the professor. I feel like he's a pretty chill guy. He's really engaging and makes jokes. He is a very good lecturer, very good at teaching, very clear. You have to watch lecture videos (about an hr, more or less) and then do a 5 question video quiz before almost every class. I thought this was really helpful because you can pause anytime he is lecturing to be able to write down any notes you need and go at your own pace. In class, he has required clicker questions, but he gave you full credit if you did it. In lectures, he expands on the topic and explains more about it. They're really helpful to go to because the clicker questions and everything, gives you some experience about how his tests are going to be. He's very organized. You don't need any books for this class. Everything you need is on CCLE. All the slides and videos are on there. The discussion sections are mandatory, but it's worth it and really helpful because they also expand on the topic. The two midterms and exam are all multiple choice, but the thing is, they are difficult. It's because it's biology, and wording is always going to be maybe confusing. You have to try to think like he thinks. You don't know if you're gonna be overthinking the question or you're supposed to think a lot about the question. If you know your stuff, that's what's going to make you do badly on the exams, so just hope you do well. I really liked this class though. I highly recommend this teacher for LS2.

Holy crap that final was so hard.

Dr. Esdin was for sure one of my favorites during my first year.

As the LS 1-4 series is being phased out, the department is trying out a "flipped classroom" style of teaching. What this entails is watching video lectures before you come to class, and then having more of a discussion than a lecture in-class. The videos are essentially what you would have seen on Bruincast for Esdin's past LS 2 classes. In class he uses different slides to reiterate the most important concepts from the videos and expand upon them with examples, which could be in the form of clicker questions, mini discussions, and/or worksheets. LS 2 is also changing in that it's shifting from memorizing all the details to understanding concepts and applying them in new situations.
Both changes worked out great for me since I was able to focus much better on the videos than the textbook (which is good for reference but isn't really necessary) and I'm not a memorization machine like many who take this class.

Now onto Esdin himself: He's a great lecturer who really knows his stuff and more importantly knows how to engage his students. On top of that he can be pretty funny at times and he's definitely approachable if you have questions. LS 2 contains a lot of info, and a good number of students have seen a lot of it before in AP Bio (as I did) but Esdin conveys the information well enough that it shouldn't be a disadvantage not to have taken it. If you are someone who really cares about the grade that much (no judgment here, I am one such premed) then take Esdin's class over the summer if possible. One look at the grade distributions should tell you, but he is a self-proclaimed "softie" during the summer as far as the curve goes. During the summer the exams are all multiple-choice and very manageable if you know the fundamentals well enough.

TL;DR: Take Esdin for LS 2, I don't think you'll regret it. For added grade security take him during the summer.

Oh Esdin, the man I love and hate. Took LS 2 with him one year ago and ended up with C-, seriously the hardest class and the worst grade I have ever had. And here I am, sitting in his LS2 class again and surprised about how much his lecturing styles has changed. A decent lecturer as always, he now applies a strategy called "flipped classroom" and asks us to watch lecture videos at home. During normal lectures he goes over those concepts by having us discuss with neighbors and answer clicker questions. He no longer requires us to memorize all the info on slides (he even provides figures from slides on exams!) but encourages us to understand those concepts from real-life applications. His exams are way easier than those I took last year, the average of midterm last year was 70% and now it is 84%. And he even gives out extra credits if you give any feedback on his video lectures (which bumped my grade from A- to A).
TL;DR: Take Esdin for LS2, especially during summer sessions lol.

Do whatever you can to take LS 2 with Esdin. He is the most effective professor I have had at ucla, I will not forget the material. He also bumped up my grade from A- to A. The tests are all real life application problems which get tricky but he gives you everything you need to be prepared. And take it over summer if you can because he is much more lenient. He loves teaching and tries very hard to make sure his students understand everything.

Materials
None!

Grading
Midterm 1 100
Midterm 2 100
Final 180
Quizzes 40
Discussion 10
There was a slight curve in our favor. I got a B+ with an 84.4% total. According to the syllabus, the rough distribution is as follows:
20% A
20% B
40% C
10-20% D

Lectures
Dr. Friscia's lectures were audiocasted, but Dr. Esdin's weren't. Everything tested was from the lectures. Friscia's lectures were boring, but he got the job done. Esdin, however, was a god. I loved listening to him, since the way he organized his lectures was impeccable. Each lecture felt like a narrative. Not only that, but he gave many examples to make this biology relevant to us. You could tell that he was truly an expert and lover of biology. Re-listening to his lectures before an exam did wonders for sorting out all of the information in my brain.

Discussion
We had four papers to read throughout the quarter and were tested on them on even weeks. While the articles constituted light reading, I suggest taking them seriously because the quizzes were tough. They were a mixture of fill-in-the-blank, true/false, and multiple-choice. Since they were written by TAs, who have little experience writing questions, they were tougher than they needed to be. For example, there was a fill-in-the-blank where we had to write the scientific name of some drug. I got a 30/40, and I feel like this was the difference between my B+ and an A- (assuming 85% was the A- cutoff).

Exams
These were tough. A bunch of multiple-choice followed by some short responses. Friscia's questions were easier than Esdin's, so for him, it was more a matter of organizing the information. Esdin's questions were tough because of the all the details that could confuse you in the multiple-choice. His short answers were kind of regurgitations of what he said in lectures, such as list the steps in this process. One of them was missed by almost everyone, which asked for an application of one little thing that he mentioned during lecture.
The medians were:
Midterm 1 82
Midterm 2 74.6
Final 138 (77%)

Tips
- Although Friscia's lectures were audiocasted, you should still attend lecture because he wrote notes on the projector that he wouldn't say out loud. One of the diagrams he made appeared on the exam.
- Friscia provided chapter review worksheets after every lecture. Some of the questions on them appeared on the exams.
- Record Esdin's lectures and marathon them before the exams.

tl;dr I regard Dr. Esdin highly and would consider it a loss in your UCLA career if you didn't take him. Dr. Friscia was fair and somewhat easy. Unfortunately, the exams are tough and there is nothing that you can do about it.

Holy crap this class was hard.