Disclaimer: Took this class during Covid so this class was all online.

Prof Phelan is a very helpful and caring lecturer at UCLA. He presents his lectures passionately and you can tell he wants his students to actually gain something from this class that can help them not just in school, but in life as well. In addition, he feels very relatable as he includes funny stories about his life and never makes the topic seem boring.

Class Breakdown:
Midterm Exam (MCs and SAQs)
Final Exam (MCs and SAQs)
Discussion Section (Weekly)
- Participation
- (Group 1-3) Debate
- (Group 1-3) Problem Set Solution Presentation to Section
- (Single SAQ) Quiz (5 quizzes; lowest score dropped)
Discussion Board Assignments (5 Posts; Not including responses to other posts)
Extra Credit (Music Video/Movie Trailer-Promo)

- Overall, I really enjoyed the class and the prof was pretty flexible and accommodating to the students as much as he could. Asking for our opinions (ex: to stay online or go in-person for the 2nd half of the quarter) and gave two options when to take the final exam. The format during this whole quarter was asynchronous in that the lectures were (very high-quality!) pre-recorded videos, a "week ahead" short zoom at the beginning of the week to discuss that week, and office hours that was on zoom and then in person later on. He also held an online review session before the midterm and final to give questions similar to what we would need to know on the exam. So make sure to write down the questions and answer it on your own to study!
- The material itself was not too difficult as a good chunk was content you would have learned before in AP Bio or a similar class. The new content was not too complicated at all either, so as long as you took pretty good notes on the lectures the exams were easy to pass. For the midterm and final, I found the time given for both exams was enough as long as you managed your time. I used up all the time, but by then I was mostly editing my SAQs at that point. The final was harder than the midterm for me, so try to score higher on the midterm to buffer that final. Although the class is curved at the end depending on how low the class average is. The quizzes like others said before, is one question from the (not graded) homework Problem Sets given every week. So as long as you did all the questions beforehand, you can basically copy and paste your answer making it hard to mess up. You have to do one debate and presentation in this class, but I don't think they grade it that harshly, just try to get it done early. Discussion posts are usually around one paragraph.
- I definitely learned some interesting tidbits from this class that could apply to real life, although I would not exaggerate to say it was life-changing. I found this to be an easy prereq and GE especially since it was online, but you definitely need to put in some work to balance all the assignments and a bit of studying. There are two textbooks with this class, personally I did not extensively read the books, and only skimmed it to answer some questions for the PSets and before the exams. I also had a couple of friends in the class and section to study with, and made doing the debate, presentation, and EC way more fun so that helped a lot with this experience. Lastly, if you do end up taking this class which I recommend if you're looking for a good GE, I highly recommend to go to office hours for questions and just to talk to the prof!!

Honestly, I was a little surprised to get an A- in the class. The material is really really basic (think high school intro biology). Like we went over the basics: punnett squares, evolution, etc. You can read the other reviews of the grading of the class, but I just wanted to say that I guess the class isn't as easy as you'd expect (esp considering that the material is easy). I'm not sure if it was just the graders on the midterm/final being picky, but like I always got really good scores on the MC and then the free response they'd take off points for the smallest things.

Absolutely loved this class. I am not a stem person at all and took this as a GE and I learned to literally love bio which is huge for someone like me. I forced all my friends to take this w Phelan after I took it lol

Prof Phelan is one of the best lecturers here. He is so passionate about the subject and that is contagious. Honestly I used to hate biology but I loved every minute of this class. By far my favorite class at UCLA. Prof Phelan is so enthusiastic, sweet, funny and relatable that you love listening to him.
The class basically explains certain human characteristics and why things happen in certain ways by using evolutionary biology. For eg why are humans more drawn to foods that are loaded with fats and calories, why is it that we are more likely to help relatives than non-relatives, why are people more willing to donate when they get badges etc all explained using genetics and evolution.
Please take notes of the examples the professor discusses in lectures as several questions in exams are about specific examples or require you to write short answer responses explaining the answer by using certain examples. When prof Phelan talks about some animal as an example in lecture, pls instantly note it down and highlight it.
This class was easy for me because I took it in Winter 2022 when things were online and exams were open-book however my notes were very extensive and I needed to turn to them to answer pretty much most questions.
The class requires some work and time but you will enjoy it and love what you learn.
This is one of those classes where I used to talk with my mom every week about something cool I learned in lecture though the content taught in the first 3 weeks is not that interesting however the content in the second half of the class and quarter is very fun and interesting.

Never read the textbook or studied and ended with a B (def a me problem!) LOVED Jay he's an awesome guy who cares a lot about his students. We got "problem sets" each week with 7 questions on average and one question would be chosen at random for our weekly quiz. There were also two group assignments within the discussion. Tons of extra credit opportunities. The class was formatted to where we watched the (very entertaining) lecture videos on our own time and we would meet once a week for 10 min to discuss what we need to do for "the week ahead" (attendance for this was optional.) I would recommend this class and professor to anyone but don't tell yourself getting an A will be a piece of cake! reading the textbook is apparently necessary to get an A lol

WE STAN JAY PHELAN IN THIS HOUSEHOLD. He was truly a fantastic professor who clearly put a lot of effort into this class even though the lectures were online. He really cared about making it interesting and provided fun opportunities for if you went to the weekly "week to come" short lecture (I won a dozen Diddy Riese cookies from him). The midterm and final are long but they are not hard and almost all the information comes from his lectures (a few came from the textbook which wasn't a hard read anyway). The projects in the lab section were good if you had a solid group. And he provided a really fun extra credit opportunity at the end of the quarter where you could make some kind of video about one of the topics in class. Overall, if you want a good life science GE or this class is a prerequisite, I strongly recommend this class.

I honestly was going to P/NP this class, but I ended up taking the letter grade and passing. (Keep in mind, the whole course was online due to COVID. I'm not sure how it will be when we get back to in person.) The quizzes for discussion was always a single question that was taken from the previous week's Problem Set so as long as you do those, you'll probably do well on the quiz. Both the midterm and exam were open notes and Professor Phelan allowed a flexible schedule for them. I did really well on the Midterm, and I would suggest that you do the short answers first before doing the MC part. The SAs took a lot longer, and I ended up using the full time for both the midterm and final. For the Final, it was a bit harder than the midterm and I ended up getting an 89% on it, but Phelan does offer a lot of EC points. Mean Genes isn't really needed, but the textbook was helpful in providing more info and also study material for the exams.

Learned valuable lessons from this class! However, I would not take it because the stress it caused. I looked for an easy GE and although I read reviews saying it wasn't, everyone around me recommended it. If you're looking to dedicate and put work in, then definitely take this class. His lectures are fun but the reading was unbearable. A lot of people didn't end up reading the textbooks and did well, but to me it was crucial for the PSet and exams. I received an A: 90% on midterm and 86% on final. Phelan was super accommodating and allowed all lectures, discussions, quizzes, and exams to be held online. Also, Phelan's lecture/video productions are on another level! He's a professor who truly cares about teaching, learning, and his students!

I loved Phelan and this class! Really engaging professor that makes the content interesting, and the content already is! It focuses a lot on real world circumstances and is very applicable, a class that makes you think outside the class! Totally recommend this course!

I think a lot of people have already wrote things about the class itself, like its format or whatever, so I'll add my perspective as a psych major: this class definitely makes sense as a pre-req for this major. Someone has already written that the class changed the way they thought, and I definitely second that. I plan on becoming a therapist one day, and a lot of the topics covered made me change the way I approach human behavior—we truly are made of cells and our actions are heavily influenced by our genes (but we are not completely controlled by them and there are ways of "tricking" them). I only realized after a couple weeks into the class that I didn't have to take it because of my AP Bio test, but I definitely do not regret enrolling and would 100% take again. If you have the chance, take this class with Professor Phelan. Even during online, his lectures were engaging, and so was the textbook. I cannot recommend this class enough.
Tips on people who do take the class: I thought the textbook was really helpful but if you need to save time, you can get by just taking notes on the "take home message" but really focusing on the "This is how we do it" section. A lot of quizzes and problem sets are based on this section, so don't just skim it!