This class was quite literally the bane of my existence for the quarter. Dr. Khankan was a funny and engaging professor, but that was it. She only delved into the simple topics and rarely the more complex ones you will see on the midterms and final. I only ever went to her office hours once, and truly, they did not help at all. It only made me more confused and overthink the topics that I understood perfectly before. Most of the TAs were not helpful either and truly made the content only more confusing because it seemed as if most of them did not know the content in the first place. There was one TA, Ryan, who made me understand the topics very well. He is really passionate about the class and truly wants you to succeed. Besides Ryan, everyone else was not helpful, but I say would go to the PSS sections for help (in hopes there are better TAs/LAs) and to do the worksheet for weekly practice. The midterms and final were truly a fever dream, and what you learn in class is WAY easier than what is on the exams. You think you know the information before the exam, but then when you take the exam, you start to contemplate your answer and existence. Truly good luck to the future students.

This class was very interesting I liked it, overall the tests were very hard but still engaging and glad I took the class

Note: My review is not for Prof Khankan, but rather this is a review for the course because even if a prof is excellent, the terrible curriculum overpowers any benefits the prof brings to the class.

7C has been my least favorite course in the 7 series, and the 7 series overall has been the lower division requirement that I have thought to be the greatest waste of my time and non-conducive to my learning. As mentioned before, the multiple-choice format of the course causes biology, a fundamentally flexible discipline, to be taught in an extremely rigid, black-and-white format. I don't enjoy this course because I don't think any of the exams or assignments correctly test my understanding of the content. There is no wiggle room for an explanation, there is only: you lost a point because you selected A instead of B, or True instead of False. I am incredibly glad to be done with 7C and I hope that there are major improvements made to the course for future students, improvements that will actually allow students to learn biology in a way that gives them grace and the ability to think beyond five multiple choice options.

Standard LS series work but with graded iclickers. This class is very difficult as you go through almost every new system each week until the last 3 weeks which is about DNA editing. This class felt very applicable and interesting and the professor did everything she could to help and cared a lot about student learning and understanding the content. As expected, the exams are difficult and very conceptual. Going over every worksheet, iclicker, and PEQ isn't enough and I'm not sure what I could've done more. However. I was able to increase my score with each test and got an A so it is possible. I highly recommend finding a test bank as some questions were topics that were brushed over.

I can't tell you to avoid this class, because if you're reading this, 7C is probably a requirement for you. But I can tell you to prepare. If you've taken 7A and 7B already then you know what the workload looks like. So imagine that, but with concepts that aren't intuitive or familiar. You will have to study quite hard to succeed in this class, because you need both memory and really solid application of knowledge skills. The first midterm for my class was a joke. I think the average was like 55%. No one was prepared because it's simple enough to review the material, but when you open the test and realize that not a single question will be something that was directly said to you, things go downhill real quick.

Once you get the hang of the testing style and do a TON of practice problems, it's not so bad. You still get the free points from readings and PCRQs and all that, but the PEQs are much harder and the midterms and final takes up a larger percent of your grade, too. I only got an A- because I really locked in on the final and got over 95%.

Khankan herself is a really good professor and genuinely tries her best to make sure you understand the material. If you reach out to her she's really responsive and helpful. The lectures go really fast because of how much material needs to be covered, but she does a good job at explaining thoroughly and answering questions in a way that makes sense.

Good luck soldier.

no no

My fiat lux was based on the current school year's Common Experience, which was the book The War for Kindness. This book basically dives into everything empathy, from its biological basis to real-life experiences surrounding empathy.

I really enjoyed the class, and Professor Khankan is absolutely amazing. Each fiat lux will be different, but this one was low-commitment where we only read some chapters of the Common Experience book to guide our discussions as homework. Class consisted of different activities, primarily discussing empathy and how it works. I learned about how empathy is actually a skill one can work on, and I saw how there's actually a lot of research going on with empathy. We also did fun stuff like watching Inside Out 2. A really meaningful discussion also happened in the last class scheduled where we decompressed and applied the concept of empathy right after the 2024 election night.

Hopefully, you'll come out of the fiat lux courses taught by Dr. Khankan with perhaps even more curiosity about an initially cool and random topic you found on the class planner. If not, you'll still get lots of snacks, a free plant, and hopefully closer connections with your professor.

I have never put so much work into a class nor have I ever performed so poorly in a class.

this class dragged me through the ringer. the tests are the worst part in my opinion. There are terribly worded and MEANT to trick you. She recommends so many study strats but either way you're cooked. You need a PLF or a test bank. She also says she does not curve unless the grade distribution is really bad. Workload is the same as the 7A and 7B (2 reading gudies a week, 1 PEQ/PAL a week, 2 pcrqs a week). Time consuming and the lectures are so much better than the readings. Dr. Khankan is an amazing lecturer, however, even if I understood the lectures, I did badly on the tests. Master all the diagrams she gives you.

I took this class when it was taught by Khankan x cooper. Khakan was great, Cooper wasn't as great. Formative experience. The class is hard but there are opportunities to climb your way up there. I bombed the first midterm, studied really hard and sort of bombed the second midterm, and still managed to get an A in the class. Definitely recommend 1) going to the LA sessions 2) redoing your midterms and explaining why each answer is wrong or right.