I really enjoyed Professor Phelan's videos, they were always concise and entertaining. However, if you've taken AP Biology, or probably any sort of biology class, the content is going to be very repetitive for you. Because of this, I didn't put in a lot of effort into the class. I got a B- and a B on the midterm and final, respectively, and still got an A, so as long as you score well on the other assignments you should be fine. Not to mention, there is a pretty good extra credit opportunity (up to 30 points of extra credit) if you find yourself in a crisis.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great.

This class definitely did not make me like science. I still don't like science, and this was still just a science GE. However, the workload was pretty light so I highly recommend that you take this class if you need a life science GE.

Professor Phelan is everything you could want for and more in a college prof. After having taken biology several times his was the only class I can truthfully say I enjoyed. He made it very apparent from the get go that teaching this class is his favorite thing to do, and it showed in nearly every aspect of the course. He puts a lot of effort into his lectures, which are awesome and feel less like "lectures" and more like him just talking to you about whatever comes to mind pertaining to the topic. Incorporates many real life examples and stories to make some difficult concepts more accessible. He is very approachable and personable, and is incredibly responsive to emails or questions, even the night before the final. All that said, the workload is not the lightest nor the tests that easy, but if you put in the work you'll get the grade you deserve. Would definitely recommend LS15 if you're looking for a science GE.

Dr. Phelan is the best!! He is a great professor, funny, and very engaging. The class is also very interesting and is an easy A (you don't even have to put in that much effort to do well). Would definitely take Dr. Phelan & this class again!!

PSA: This class is asynchronous besides discussion sections. It's listed as online on MyUCLA, which is why I signed up for it but the lectures are entirely pre-recorded and you won't interact with Professor Phelan outside of the 15-minute weekly introduction he does. I personally didn't like this class because I found the grading to be very inconsistent. Answers that would give me full marks on quizzes would get me marked down on midterms because they would be graded by different TAs. Additionally, you're required to participate in two graded group assignments, one being a problem-set question presentation and the other being a debate, both of which felt a bit ridiculous doing over zoom during COVID. It was stressful trying to reach out and schedule things with my groupmates when everyone is in a different time zone and schedule. The lectures and material were pretty engaging, but even though I studied the textbook and material very thoroughly before the midterm, I felt ridiculously out of my depth. I ended up getting bumped from an A- to an A because of the curve, though. Discussion sections also felt fairly repetitive of lecture material and dragged on forever because they are 3 hours long. This class was a decent way to fulfill the life sciences GE requirement, but I wouldn't recommend it for those who aren't prepared to be at least a bit stressed out.

Class was great; selling Mean Genes book. Text me at **********

Selling the textbook:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/**********032866/

The exams for this class are very difficult and require a lot of studying and a good understanding of the material. However, lectures are super engaging and fun. This class also requires a lot of participation in section for a variety of projects. This is good backup for other easier GEs.

Professor Phelan was an extraordinary professor. I did not consider myself a 'science person' until professor Phelan completely changed my perspective. He was very engaging and his content was so interesting- which is a very hard this to maintain doing online school. other than the class itself, we was a very approachable and friendly person that helped me relate more to the professor and interact more.

Prof. Phelan is an amazing lecturer and super funny guy in general. The class was asynchronous and he posted video lectures every week that he intentionally made shorter than the allotted class time. His videos were very engaging and entertaining, and he does his best to explain biological concepts using examples in popular culture or just interesting examples in general. At the beginning of every week he hosted a 15 minute live session to engage with his students and go over the week's breakdown. The textbook notes are a lot of work and very time consuming, but I'm honestly not sure if you even have to do them to do well in the class. I don't remember the exact grade breakdown but we had a midterm, final, participation during section, weekly quizzes during section (lowest grade dropped), weekly problem sets (not too difficult), a problem set group presentation, and a group debate (sounds daunting but was actually pretty fun). He also offered an extra credit music video project. The midterm and final's multiple choice sections were not very difficult. The long responses on both exams were a little confusing and had a bunch of parts, but not too bad either. I took this class as an easy science GE (I took IB Bio during high school) and would highly recommend to any non-STEM majors.