PHAM IS THE BESTTTTTT! despite taking this over the summer, the class didn't feel rushed at all and Pham is so understanding and patient with students. There are 9 quizzes throughout the class, 3(!!!) of which are dropped. There are also pre-class assignments and video quizzes w 2 attempts, like the other LS7 classes. There were also so many past exams available to study from (every quarter for the last 8 years)!! Before the 2 midterms and final, he released a practice exam that was pretty much the exact same as the actual exam which was so useful for studying. I was concerned that this class would be too much during the summer, but it's so manageable, the content is fun, and you have lots of flexibility with Pham. take this class with him you won't regret it!!! <3

Course: LS3

I tell you his goods and bads.

Goods: He is a pretty good lecturer. He explains well and his presentation slides are great. He enjoys teaching and he is a pretty approachable in office hour. You can ask any questions to him because he has a huge knowledge on LS3 and LS4.

Bads: He does not give good amount of A range (only 15-20%) and he set the median in B-. So if you are worried about the grade, then may take with other lecturers. He has a thick accent so if you have problem with accent, avoid him.

MCDB 60 is a relatively easy class. There was memorization required for both midterms and final, and he is a stickler for word-choice, but the tests themselves were very predictable. He gives you all the materials you need, and honestly, an evening of good study for each test will hold you in good stead. Creating a study guide helps with memorization of his mantras. There was almost no work, and the little work that we had was pretty interesting. Pham is a very passionate lecturer and encourages participation, and we had interesting discussions outside of class on topics such as race and intelligence. He is extremely compassionate, and while you may get very bored in lecture, you don't want to let him down. I'm a chemical engineering major, and I took this class for funsies my first quarter freshman year. It was honestly pretty easy. The juniors and seniors and pretty lazy, and the class isn't really curved so their performance one way or another doesn't affect you. For people who thought this class was hard or filled with work, they're probably the type of people who think that one hour of a homework spread out over a quarter is way too difficult.

This is class was not a easy GE course. I study hard for the midterm and and final and I got a overall grade B. The finals and midterms were all graded by the TAs so if you have a bad TA like me, you are in bad shape. Another thing about this class is that 12 hours of community service is require. So, if you don't do the 12 hour of community service it will be a big impact on your grade.

I took MCDB 60 with Pham in the spring and could not handle the work load as a freshman. Most of the people in the class were upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) so it made the class very hard to keep up with. The workload was somewhat intimidating and this left me studying for this class more than my other science classes. Pham himself is not the greatest professor either. He has a moderately thick accent which was hard to decipher at times. All in all, I would not recommend pham. If you don't have to, don't take him

So I took this class thinking it was going to just be a really easy GE... I was so wrong. I trusted people who said it was an easy A and now after my first year, I'm not surprised that ucla students are trying to give themselves a better advantage by screwing other people over. As someone who wants others to learn from the mistakes I've made- I am letting you know this class, especially for a freshman like I was, is not easy. This class honestly made part of my freshman year miserable. Please learn from my mistake...

Sorry, this system has no way to edit a post, but I submitted the previous evaluation and noticed an error. I took MCDB 50 with Pham during Fall of 2010, not 2011.

This course's workload was a lot more than I thought it would be. Seeing the statistics makes you fail to recognize it is still not an easy class. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the students dropped the course because it was very difficult and workload was a little too much. The exams were pretty unfair (meaning it was unclear what would and would not be on the exams) and his accent makes it very hard to understand him. I would avoid taking this class with him and try taking it with another professor if possible. I am a junior now and if you're an incoming freshmen I would highly recommend you save this course for another quarter once you are used to the quarter system, seeing how many of those who dropped were freshmen according to the professor. If you end up taking him, I wish you good luck.

I took MCDB 60 with Pham my freshman year. You would think a GE would be easier compared to upper division science classes, but this class proves that this is not necessarily the case. Pham's an alright lecturer, his accent is definitely thick and noticeable though. I had way too many seniors in my class and they were always the ones that set the curves for all the tests. There's no way to compete with people who have more experience than you. I would not recommend this class. As an MCDB major, I know that there are MUCH easier and many more do-able classes. Pham requires you to turn in written assignments that you spend so much time working and never get the credit you deserve. I worked my ass off for a B. This class is one of my lowest in all my ucla career. Such a joke to have a B in a GE class.

Classes taken with Dr. Pham: LS 4 - Genetics and MCDB 50 - stem cell ethics.

LS4 - Spring 2011:
Genetics is a tough subject. During the quarter I took it, it was either Pham or Merriam teaching it. Since Pham opted to only have 2 midterms as opposed to Merriam's 4 and drop 1 midterms, I took Pham. Pham is one of professors who are concerned with student learning, even though it might take him a few tries to get the point across. I find that this is the decent combination for me because I wouldn't have my hand held by the professor yet I could still ask him for help.

As the others have said, by the time people take LS4, they're all pretty smart. The curves were definitely not optimistic, but I hunkered down and got through Pham's class with a good grade.

MCDB 50 - Fall 2011:
Pham taught the second half of this course, the ethics portion. Again, he was concerned with student learning, but ethics required more teacher-pupil communication. I felt that his accent greatly hurt his ability to teach this class *well*, but that's not to say this class was horrible. Every quarter, this class is taught by a different professor and they keep changing the way the class is structured, so your mileage may vary. Having prior knowledge of genetics, embryology, or philosophy goes a long way in this class, but they are definitely not required to do well. It can be a tough class, definitely wouldn't recommend it as an easy A, but interesting material.

Overall:
Yes, Dr. Pham has a standard Vietnamese accent, but he has good teaching intentions, something that many professors don't have. I would take him if you want a challenging, yet entirely possible to get a good grade if you're willing to put in the work kind of class.