Lazazzera definitely cares about how well the students do; her grading policies and tests are fair. However, you will be doing most of the learning on your own. The classes are more review than new material. Each week would begin with a reading guide and a multitude of Launchpad (online textbook) assignments, which often take many hours to complete, though completing them and knowing the material on them would prepare you well for most of the classes and discussions. The tests are very challenging, but the grading is very lenient. Each test, including the final, has two parts, a individual phase and a group phase. The group phase is taken in your learning pod (assigned groups of 4 students at the beginning of the year), and have the exact same questions as the individual phase. You essentially get to check and change your answers. Both phases are worth 50% of the entire test grade.

Lazazzera is a very mediocre professor. By no means bad but nothing outstanding. I found her lectures very boring and unengaging. She taught the material fine, but again nothing special or praiseworthy. Assignments are sometimes reading-heavy but if you can get through the reading the worksheets/quizzes are simple and quick. Lots of extra credit, too. Good class overall. Definitely try to get Maloy or Pham, but don't be discouraged if you end up with Lazazzera. Also definitely attend problem solving sessions before midterms.

I really enjoyed this class. Disregard the COVID reviews, she is a completely different professor in-person than she is online. I thought the lectures were engaging and by sitting with my learning pod I was able to ask questions when I was confused and clarify any information that I didn't understand from Launchpad. The TAs also go to lecture so it's really easy to ask for help if you're confused during lecture. The pre-class reading guides are your saving grace: do not skip those. Also as a note to anyone taking the 7 series: every single class has the same exams, homework, lecture slides, pacing, etc. Honestly just take whichever professor fits your schedule the best or a professor whose research you're interested in. I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot. If you haven't taken AP/IB Bio this class will probably be very fast paced and difficult, but if you've taken a decent amount of bio then it won't be too difficult.

Lazazzera clearly cares about her students, but the class itself is not great. Almost none of the lectures felt useful – the class uses a "flipped classroom", which normally means you learn the basics of the material ahead of time and then use classtime to go deeper/have discussions. However, in this class the flipped classroom feels more like an excuse to allow the lectures to achieve nothing. The lecture is just a review of the material you already had to learn, but it's often less clear and not at all engaging.

The grading scheme is extremely forgiving – she uses a points system and a lot of the points are based on completion, so doing well in the class shouldn't be a problem as long as you do okay on the tests. The tests are also very doable; you take the test twice (once on your own, once with a group), and your score is the average of the two.

Professor Lazazzera is not a bad professor. The problem is the course. The LS series is based on the "flipped classroom" philosophy where you should learn the material, all by yourself, and THEN come to class. Then, the lectures should be dedicated to answering most common doubts. It sounds okay in theory, maybe a lot of work, but in practice it was TERRIBLE. Everyone was on a completely different page and the materials we have to use to learn the content (Launchpad) are not helpful at all when it comes to exams. I would use almost everything BUT the textbook to take notes. Professor Lazazzera is alright, her lectures aren't bad (maybe a bit all over the place) but attendance matters. A lot of the class points come from the clicker questions and just signing into class. As a disabled student this was awful.

Also, the materials often were videos with no subtitles which made the course very inaccessible. Professor Lazazzera seems to care about making her class accessible and the things that were in her control weren't bad. The materials and the course structure itself were the awful parts. Materials were expensive, unhelpful, and inaccessible. The course structure made the material hard to master.

The most helpful parts of the course are for sure the problem solving sections and the TAs.

They don't really check the biweekly reading guides. I have friends who submitted theirs blank and got full credit.

I learned a lot with Professor Lazazzera, and I believe she is one of the most helpful professors I have had this quarter. She lends her time to students very often and the workload is not crazy. All of the work we do and all the lectures are very engaging and help towards getting good grades on the midterms. The discussions are engaging as well and all the information is spaced out so the class does not become overwhelming. She is a good professor and helpful when you are struggling, so I recommend taking this class 100%.

This class was very difficult for me. Lazazzera is a professor that definitely has her heart in the right place, but I feel she falls short in many aspects. There were many times where she would try to explain a question and her explanation would leave me more confused than before. I found I really began to understand the course more when she had students explain the clicker questions instead. The homework is just unnecessary in my opinion. LaunchPad felt like a bunch of busy work and sometimes there would be concepts in class that I did not recall reading at all for homework. This was especially frustrating considering it takes a few hours to complete the LaunchPads. I suggest reading the entire chapter for each week instead of relying on the assigned LaunchPad. It still requires a lot of time, however I feel it is much better for getting the bigger picture. Tests were also extremely difficult, but I do strongly feel like it would have been slightly easier had the tests been on paper. This is not through the professor's error, though. This is simply a result of online learning. Tests are first done individually, and within the next two days you are assigned a group to discuss the exam. You are also allowed to change your answers with explanation. However, there is no way of knowing whether your original answer or changed answer is correct. You will not see your results until after everything is done.

good professor. difficult material. dont cram for the exam. lots of opportunity for extra credit. I got an A in the class and never got higher than an 87.5 on the exams. Dont sleep on the office hours. go to ALL OF THEM listen to other peoples questions. you will be alright

Lazazzera is super sweet but she doesn't know how to teach in an online setting. Launchpad isn't helpful and includes a lot more information than you need to know for the midterms and final, but I would advise against just skipping through the reading to get all your points. Just read the titles of each textbook blurb and watch the animations, that's what I did. Use Khan Academy, especially for the DNA/RNA/cell cycle topics. Clicker questions are helpful, but I still think the midterm and final questions were harder than them. There are several opportunities for extra credit - do yourself a favor and do them. She does have good music taste though.

Although, Lazazzera is not the best at explaining questions and concepts during lecture I don't believe that should completely turn you off from taking the class. Since the class is taught in a flipped classroom style you essentially have to teach yourself most of the material on launchpad which I personally didn't find very helpful. She assigns a lot of Launchpad even during the week of midterms and finals so make sure to stay on top of it and don't fall behind. As has been stated in other reviews there are TONS of resources available which are very helpful and key to success in the course. There are many office hours throughout the week so if you have any questions or confusion from lecture, launchpad, discussion etc. make sure to attend them. The TAs are super friendly and helpful and I found they were able to better explain the lecture material than Lazazzera. My last tip would be to attend Lazazzera's midterm and final review sessions as she will likely go over material or content which she expects you to know for the exam but didn't go over in lecture.