I know a lot of people say that this class is easy, but here's my opinion: if you are not interested in bio/chem and you are an international student who didn't take your bio/chem class in English in high school, DO NOT COME TO THIS CLASS. I chose this class because for me other classes in this quarter is super stressful, so for my fourth class, I decided to follow the comment and chose a "easy A class". However, this class turns out to be the hardest one for my quarter. Professor is indeed a nice and charming guy, however, you will find that going to the lectures is not enough at all. The questions in the mid term and final are from content in course reader, and the professor didn't cover everything in his class. So you still need to read that 100 something pages of course reader and remember EVERY SINGLE DETAIL. As an international student, I find it very hard to remember all those terms and it's not just me - almost all the other students from my home country were complaining about this during the whole quarter.

Overall easy GE for life science and lab requirement. Make sure to actually study and it'll be an easy A. However, course materials are a bit pricey (over $100 I think)

A total of 631 points in the class and 150 each from the midterm and final. Final is noncumulative which is nice. Questions are all online multiple choice with one or two freebies (what is 1+1? what is this test? etc) taken at a computer lab. The tests are really meh because they include specifics from the course reader so it really tests your memorization vs your conceptual understanding.

I screwed myself over in this class by expecting the first midterm to be super simple from prior reviews and not really paying attention in lecture and not studying and ended up scoring a little bit below the median. I studied for a few hours the day before the final and scored a few points above the median. My raw score in the class was about 88.9% and I finished with an A- in the class when I definitely could've gotten an A.

**My advice is that you actually put time in to read the course reader and take notes as all of the questions will test you on info from the reader

Labs are every other week and have worksheets and tests/experiments you have to complete. They're really easy so they're nothing to worry about, just make sure to go because there is attendance checks.

2 online lecture quizzes that you do on your computer at home that are open note and shouldn't be an issue.

Lecture attendance is checked. One day he took a sign in sheet from the back of the class and called out the names to see if people were actually there (if you weren't you got an email and no points for attendance). He checked if someone signed you in or if you just signed in and left early bc that was a pretty normal thing some people would do.

Lecture quality is decent, a bit boring, 9 am makes it easy to fall asleep. Taking notes will keep you engaged.

The project is a bit of work but should be no problem if you start early. Make sure to include all surpluses and deficiencies too bc I forgot two and lost points.

Workbook is really bs, its easy and they check for completion not accuracy (there's too many for them to grade for accuracy). It should take a few hours to do the whole thing if you leave it to last minute.

Course reader is mandatory to do well on exams. It's a bit boring to read at times and repetitive too but you should read and take notes to get good exam grades.

I feel this was a life changing course for me. Being a psychology major going into Pre-Med, this class was everything I needed to know. the information was fun and the way Dr. Esdin presents it is so clear and concise. The labs only meet once every 2 weeks and they're always a blast.

Esdin doesn't want to make the class about the grade so he does everything he can to help. This class was not hard. At all. And if you really want to learn all the cool stuff about the heart and other parts of your body (without it being LS), take this!!!!

We also have a lifestyle assessment, which is really cool because you can track your own diet and exercise habits for a whole week (and even longer, if you really do enjoy it).

You just need to take this class. Simply put. Professor Esdin is the most caring professor I've ever come across, and he has actually worked with me to help me succeed. He incorporates humor into his lectures, which made me look forward to my 9am's. He cares about his students a lot, and will always make the effort to have them do well in his course (if they show an equal amount of effort back). I just want to end it at this: if you have the opportunity to take PS5, do it. 100%. The best part of this course is that it's all actually information that you're going to use in your life all the time, and it's something you can take with you anywhere you go. Best decision I've ever made. Personally, I enjoyed this class 100% more than any class I've taken at UCLA because not only was it relaxed with an easy workload, it was fun learning about all these subjects and getting a head start on them by one of the best professors at UCLA!

MH

sell Course Reader for only $35,(the original price of a completely new one is about $100) There are also clear notes on it;
text ********** if interested

Selling coarse reader for 40$
text me if interested **********

Take this class and you will not regret it! Professor Esdin keeps lectures incredibly engaging and interesting even at 9am. Discussions only meet once every two weeks. Midterm and final are definitely doable if you keep up with course reader. Great class and you get to learn about something that can improve your health and lifestyle!

Class material was not too difficult, mostly memorization. Lecture lacked clarity but course reader was clear.

Grading Scheme:
40 points - 2 Lecture quizzes
30 points - 3 Laboratory quizzes
25 points - Attendance and participation in laboratory
30 points - Attendance in lecture
100 points - Lifestyle assessment report
100 points - Workbook assignments
6 points - Course evaluation
150 points - Midterm
150 points - Final

Professor Esdin:
Professor Esdin is a really great professor. He genuinely cares about the subject and his students, especially with this class. I've taken him before for LS 2, and I've enjoyed both classes with him. He's very knowledgeable. For this class, he went very slowly since this counts as a science GE. Being a 3rd year, my science background is pretty on lock, so the class felt even slower for me. However, this can be very helpful for non-science majors. You need to buy a course reader, workbook, and iProfile for this class at the course reader store in Westwood. It was altogether VERY expensive, like way over $100. But they're all pretty necessary so I can't find a way to get around that. Most of the information from this class will be in the course reader, with some additional information from lecture.

TA Asif Razee:
There was only 1 TA for this class, and he is a pretty chill guy. He talks very authoritatively, which was a bit intimidating at first for me. But the labs that we do in this class are "fun" in the sense that it's not any serious work. Labs are mandatory, but they're only every other week.

2 Lecture Quizzes Grade: 40/40
These were on CCLE 2 random times in the quarter. They were both like less than 10 questions. He gives you a specific chapter of the workbook to focus on for the quiz and I think he gives you 10 minutes to complete it. It's really easy, just search for the keywords in the questions in the workbook while taking the quiz. No prior reading really necessary.

3 Laboratory Quizzes Grade: 30/30
These aren't really "quizzes" either because it's open note. For each lab, your TA will send you something to read and he'll give more details in lab. You'll basically use that information to answer the questions.

Attendance and Participation in Laboratory Grade: 25/25
Like I said, attendance is mandatory, and you just need to do all the activities in lab to get full marks.

Attendance in Lecture Grade: 29/30
So in the beginning of every lecture, he passes out sign-in sheets to put your ID and initials. I probably missed like 1/2 the lectures, but for the most part had friends sign me in. I had about 1.5 weeks unaccounted for. Once when I wasn't there, there were so few people there that he had everyone write their name and ID on a slip of paper and hand it to the front, then he randomly called some of them to see if they were actually here. So he's pretty serious about attendance, but you can get past it easily for the most part.

Lifestyle Assessment Report Grade: 100/100
So this assignment was pretty annoying. Using iProfile you had to record ALL of your activity and diet for 1 week, accounting for a full 24 hours each day. Try to do this early on so you don't get stuck doing it right before the deadline. They give you this giant instruction manual for how to format your data tables and calculate values. Basically just follow that and you should be good. You'll also need to go to Wooden/Bfit to do various fitness assessments. Some of these will be collected in lab, but most you need to do on your own. You also need to collect some family history of lifestyle diseases. I recommend you doing all that early too. These data will be due sometime in the middle of the quarter. You have to just print it out and bring it to lab and the TA will quickly check if you made any mistakes to fix later. Then you have to discuss and make recommendations for every piece of data. This took a bit longer than I expected, so just plan accordingly. The work is pretty easy, but it can be much. This is due in Week 10.

Workbook Assignments Grade: 100/100
The workbook covers most of the chapters of the quarter except for the last couple. I recommend working on it as you go through the chapters in lecture to not leave it until the very end of the quarter when it's due. Questions are multiple choice, fill in the blank, T/F, and short answer. As long as it's completed, I don't think they check too much for accuracy.

Course Evaluation Grade: 6/6
Just do it.

Midterm Grade: 143/150
So he told us the midterm would be 50 multiple choice questions, but it ended up being less, so I dunno how he calculated the final grade to be out of 150 points. But anyway, the tests were pretty easy. He asks some very particular questions from the workbook though, so I recommend condensing the workbook into notes and combining it with lecture notes to study from. I only started reading the workbook the night before the exam and studied it from then until the exam at night, and I did well. Just be sure to pay attention to every detail.

Final Grade: 147/150
As with the midterm, REALLY know the workbook. It was 50 multiple choice questions, and I remember one asked about something that was literally mentioned in one sentence in the workbook and nowhere else.

Overall Grade: A+
I felt like this class was very relevant and useful. If you want to learn more about how to live healthier and why, take this class. There is a lot of work in this class, but it's easy if you keep on top of it. The exams can be tricky, but if you literally take note of EVERYTHING in the workbook, you should do well. I highly recommend this class with Esdin.

PHYSCI 5 with Dr. Esdin is an easy science GE for less science inclined students. The class is manageable - lecture 3 times a week, and the lab is only held 4-5 times over the entire quarter, so it's an easy way to get lab credit. The midterm and final are tough but if you know what to expect (extremely detailed questions directly from the course reader) you can do well on them. The course reader is necessary for the midterm and final, and the workbook that comes with it gets turned in towards the end of the quarter. There is one project that is tedious but easy. The class is interesting because you learn about healthy habits in terms of diet and exercise, and how different habits affect your body and health. Dr. Esdin cares about his students and sometimes gives answers to test questions for showing up to class, as well as the points you get for showing up to lecture and signing in. However, sometimes the lectures and slides seem pointless because they are not nearly as detailed as the course reader, and course-reader level detail is necessary for the exams. The midterm and the final are both 50 minutes - there are three groups depending on what lab section you are in. Overall, and interesting and fair class!

Let me just say I thought the course reader was very poorly written (no flow, poor English, random facts, lots of fluff). It was a pain to read.

I'm not sure what the word "easy" entails, but this class demands a lot of effort. You will be tested on random and specific details from the course reader. Because each question has five answer choices, which are typically quite similar, you'll probably guess it wrong.