I took PhySci 5 with Esdin Fall Quarter 2020. This is an extremely practical and useful course and I recommend everyone take it. Professor Esdin does a good job explaining the content and connecting it to practical steps to improve lifestyle choices. Some of the lectures aren't super organized, but if you are ever unsure the Course Reader covers all the content in greater detail so definitely study that. Grading was very fair, a large portion of the grade is a lifestyle assessment project that is very straightforward to score full points on, and there are points for easy quizzes and discussion participation. Great class!

The class is very fun, just that you have to memorize quite a lot. I pull an all nighter for the finals and get 95% on it despite only a few hours memorizing everything. However, I think it is my second hardest GE, but it is worth it!

This class is great for people who wants to know more about their diet and what measures they could take to improve their health. As someone who has a less than stellar diet, I could say I learned a lot about what I need to watch for in the future. It is a very informative class.

The professor was very nice and considerate. He seems like the type that you could approach, ask questions, and get a very complete and accurate answer. His lectures and very well-paced, but be sure to take complete notes as he doesn't upload notes.

The grading is simple. There are points for showing up to lecture and discussion, so show up to lecture and discussion. There are lab quizzes in discussion that are simple to do, pretty much a certain 100%. There are also open-book CCLE quizzes which also are easy to do if you have a basic familiarity with the topic. There is a project and workbook due near the end of the quarter. Be sure to space your work out appropriately, it would make your life so much easier. The midterms are finals are also pretty simple and memorization based. You could cram, but I feel that spacing the material out made me remembered them better for both the exam and the future, so I definitely recommend that.

Esdin is a very engaging professor and made lecture entertaining. For the exams, focus on the material and questions that he covers in lecture. The pictures and diagrams are super important and he normally also chooses a small section to cover from discussion. The questions seem simple but are not necessarily easy, averages for both midterms were 82-84. Make sure you do the launchpad and clicker questions for the additional points if you are looking to get an A. I got an 84, 84, then 90 percent and ended with a solid A because of discussion/launchpad/clicker points.

This was a really interesting class with a great professor. Dr. Esdin is very knowledgeable and passionate about the topics and he is an engaging and funny lecturer. The lifestyle project is extremely doable, just follow the instructions and rubric carefully. The exams are straightforward, but at times questions ask VERY specific things that may have been mentioned in a single line or phrase in the course reader. If you take this class, just try to go over the course reader as many times as possible so you can catch those small details. He sometimes gives hints about exam questions during lecture so be sure to attend class. With the specifics of the exam, while the exams are very straightforward and doable, it is extremely easy to mess up and not do well in the class as most of the points come from the exams.

Professor Esdin is a pretty cool dude who's really knowledgeable in his field. The course reader is required and expensive (like $105) but if you're good at memorizing think about it as investing in your GPA. It's not hard to get an A in this class if you memorize the course reader and show up. There are quizzes in labs based on what you did that day in lab (easy), and 2 online quizzes based on the readings. The midterm and final are entirely based on the reader so if you can learn it, love it, and live it by weeks 5 and 10, you're golden. The professor is a funny guy and likes to joke about how terribly we all eat (you learn how right he is in this project on your individual dietary habits). In my experience, I didn't have to go to the TA's or his office hours as everything you need can be answered in an email or in the book. I recommend this course for the easy GPA boost but must warn that it is in no way "easy" given the amount of time you have to put into memorizing.

100% would take this class again. Professor was always engaging, helpful, kind, and you could tell he was there for the benefit of his students. Probably my favorite class taken at UCLA thus far. Highly recommend this for a science GE and a lab credit.

First and foremost, you need to spend $102 on the textbook, workbook, and online profile together. You CANNOT get out of it because you need to turn the workbook in at the end of the quarter. Edsin is very enthusiastic about what he teaches. I don't consider myself good at remembering any kind of science, but his class made me genuinely interested in the body. I really felt like I learned something. The quizzes are short, but they're extremely easy. In addition, the midterm and final reflect the material he talks about. As long as you take notes of what he says and at least skim the main topics of the textbook, you'll be okay. He even gives you a study guide of what exactly will be on the midterm and final.

Esdin is a great lecturer and you never have to guess what's on the exam. It's very straightforward what he wants of you from his lectures, clicker questions, and discussion worksheets. The homework helps somewhat, the questions are not too important but the reading is. Esdin is great at explaining class material and is very transparent and fair with grading. Exams are hard and requires you to think critically, but pay attention to discussion and the extra help hours and you'll be well off!

Coming into LS7C, I had some interest in the material - I wasn't particularly excited to learn about physiology, but also not opposed to it either. Dr. Esdin co-taught this course with Dr. Cooper during Winter 2020. Dr. Esdin taught weeks 1 and 7-10, and Dr. Cooper taught weeks 2-6. Like the rest of the 7 series, the material is more based on applying concepts rather than pure memorization (though I must say, 7C does require some more memorization than the other 7 series classes). Even though I came out of the class with not the greatest interest in the material, Esdin really made the class bearable and sometimes even enjoyable. His explanations to the clicker questions were generally pretty good, and he was always so encouraging. At the end of week 1, he told us that he'd miss us as he wouldn't be seeing us for 5 weeks until the start of week 7; you could tell that he really cared about students' well-being and was not merely teaching to get the job done. I enjoyed Dr. Esdin's portion of the course more, which focused on cell junctions, immune system, and human bio (DNA, CRISPR, etc).
In regards to exams, I really dreaded taking them. I didn't do very well on the first one (scored slightly below average) and also performed equally as bad on the second one. By the time the final rolled around, I felt kind of done with the class and just indifferent towards the material/my grade. In light of the COVID-19 crisis this quarter, the final was online and made optional. I took the final though because I wanted to improve my grade in the class and it was definitely very doable, better than expected.
When grades came out, I was surprised that I had gotten the grade I got; I punched in the numbers and I figured that Esdin must have curved/scaled people up. Bottom line is, don't give up in studying! Even with mediocre/sub-par midterm scores, I was still able to perform decently well in the class.

tl;dr - I definitely recommend taking this class with Esdin if you can!