This class was cap. It was dry, materials cost over $100 in total, discussions were boring, and as someone who is relatively interested in fitness and health, this course was not engaging. It is easy and not too much work, however, for someone like me who became easily bored with the course, I couldn't stand it. I would not recommend.

This class is easy in terms of workload. You have lecture quizzes you need to take on the same day (3 points each). I got full points the whole quarter except in week 10, as I was slacking and ended up missing a lecture. But in the end, he gives you a week's lecture worth of free points. My advice: TAKE GOOD NOTES. Even if you're confused, just write down word for word so you can look back on it. What's tricky: the wording of his questions (coming from someone who scored perfect scores on all his lecture & lab quizzes). I ended up getting 88/100 on both the final and midterm, which isn't terrible but I was quite struggling during the exam because the wording.

Also, I did not buy the course reader. You do need the iProfile for the project, but I paid someone $10 to use their account (you can make multiple profiles on the same account). So don't waste your money!

Esdin taught the third and fourth modules of PHYSCI 111A, which spanned weeks 7-10. Weeks 7-8 are motor circuits (lower and upper motor neurons; interneurons; cerebellum; basal ganglia) and weeks 9-10 are auditory & visual systems. I had him Winter 2022; all lectures were still on Zoom due to COVID-19, but discussions were in person.

I had Esdin for LS 7C too and so sort of had an idea of what to expect. This year he taught lectures at a slower, calmer pace than previous years, and as a result we had to skip a lot of topics that were supposed to be taught (I didn't really mind it, after all less content taught meant less content to study for the final).
Overall Esdin is a really nice and caring teacher. He wants to challenge us as students, but I think he also felt bad because our instructors for the first two modules of PhySci weren't the greatest and he sensed everyone was really tired. He made a ton of modifications to make our life easier, including keeping the all quizzes for his module online and open-note even though discussions had gone back to in-person, and his final was all T/F questions that were mostly extremely straightforward. He asked a lot of questions about experimental designs, so take good notes on the main experiments he presents in class.

Discussions are mostly the same across all modules. There will be two quizzes and two critiques in his part of class. I wrote down some tips for writing critiques in my review for Ketema Paul, who taught module I of PHYSCI 111A, if you need guidance on how to write them.

This class had a fairly light work load, 3 lectures to watch a week with 3 point lecture quizzes, lecture tests, lab tests, a final project, and the midterm and final. I took notes on everything the professor said but even when studying off the notes and course reader, his test questions were vague and poorly worded. They also were timed so it felt rushed. The lecture quizzes were easy points as long as you watched the lecture. Overall, this class was a lot of memorizing, and the tests were difficult but Professor Esdin is really nice, and his lectures were interesting. I’m selling the course reader, IProfile, and the notes for this class.
Email: @************* if interested.

this class was online for the entire quarter which was convenient for lectures because they were posted synchronously. you would need to watch them and take a lecture quiz (for participation) by 10pm that same day.
this wasn't an entirely difficult class, and the labs were basic knowledge for the most part. labs were every other week and attendance was mandatory. esdin was an engaging prof and very compassionate, but didn't hold office hours so you would need to turn to your ta.
if you took anatomy at any point this is pretty much that with more emphasis on diet and the cardiovascular system.
the lifestyle assessment project was so easy but it's just lengthy. managed to do it all in one night but there was literally no point in that except being a procrastinator. you just gotta overwrite almost everything and be very redundant in your report to show the ta you are putting a lot of effort into the lab.

I took this class as an easy A and I can confidently say that the only reason I passed with an A was because the tests were online. The lecture material is a bit droning, but you have to pay attention for the lecture quizzes due each day (these are not graded for completion but rather for accuracy which sucks). The midterm and final were extremely difficult, and again, if I would have taken them in person then I do not think any amount of studying could have gotten me an A. The project was kind of easy but just a lot of work and very tedious. The prof and my TA (Ingrid Cely) were really great at responding to questions or concerns you might have, but other than that, I would not classify this as an easy A.

The general consensus with everyone I spoke to in this class was that we all took the class expecting it to be super free and it ended up being harder than expected.

I’ve realized that a lot of the highly-rated reviews that this course has are from a few years prior when Esdin’s exams were open-note and/or online, and this quarter they were closed note and in person. With that being said, the exam material wasn’t insanely difficult, but getting an A required A LOT of studying—much more than I had anticipated for a GE that was rumored to be easy. If you’ve taken AP bio or another anatomy/physiology class, you’ll be much more prepared for this class and it honestly might not be too bad, but as a non-stem major I definitely studied more for this class than any of my others this quarter.

As far as the professor goes, Professor Esdin was clearly super passionate about what he was teaching and it was really interesting! I feel like I learned a lot of practical information about my body and the food I eat. On the other hand, I had Jocelynn as my TA and she wasn’t the most helpful or kind… Luckily, the lab slides get posted on BruinLearn and the lab quizzes are really straight forward. Another big 100 point assignment is the Lifestyle Assessment Project, which is just a lot of tedious busywork but if you follow the guidelines you’re almost guaranteed to get full credit. Also haven’t mentioned this yet but the two lab quizzes are online and proctored and the second one was pretty much extra credit (one simple question)—god bless Professor Esdin for that.

Anyway, my general advice would be this: Take this class if you are genuinely interested in the course topics and prepared to seriously study for the midterm and final. This class is by no means an “easy A” but I’m a music student who has never taken AP bio and I managed to get an A through embarrassing amounts of studying. Professor Esdin is very nice and lowkey wholesome—I had this class 3 days a week at 9am and he was always in a good mood which was nice.

***ALSO attendance is graded. You have to answers a few IClicker quiz questions at the end of each lecture to get your daily attendance and you can have up to 6 absences and still receive full participation credit.

Selling my textbook! Message me if interested. *************

I took this class a long time ago, but from what I can remember, it was a really chill course. There is a quarter long project where you track your exercise, calories, etc., and it's tedious but easily do-able in 3 days (coming from experience). There is also a midterm and final that were take home and not proctored. He might've changed this since I took the class. Overall, the content was interesting and even though I wasn't a stem major, I would totally take this class again!

Esdin teaches the last four weeks of Phy Sci 111A, and his module covers sensory organs (eyes, ears) as well as sensation in general (basal ganglia, cerebellum). This module in my opinion was more dense than the others but because it's tested in a way that mostly relies on memorization, it's not too difficult. Esdin teaches the class like it's a 7C lecture, and you can see that in the slides that he uses. I would say he's a very satisfactory lecturer for this class.