Bennoun is an interesting man, and don't worry about his accent: you will understand.
Textbook: he gives you a pdf of a textbook, so no, you don't have to pay for that and I never even used it.
He has lectures with mandatory attendance (taken with Clicker questions, but he gives you extra credit for going to 16(?) of the 20 lectures. The clicker questions are pretty helpful to get a good grasp of what you're learning in class. For iPad/tablet users, he has a pdf of the day's notes on Canvas that he fills out throughout the lecture, which made the class engaging. He also stops frequently to ask if anyone has any questions and tries to get the class to participate, which I thought was really nice, but then again, he is an overall nice guy. He also does record lectures, which are helpful if you missed a class or want to revisit something.
There's one weekly 8-question homework assignment, though I *heard* that his 9am lecture got fewer problems because he was doing some sort of experiment, but I'm not sure how true that is. However, after the midterm, everyone did end up getting 8 questions for homework. I think the only time he didn't assign homework was week 10.
Content-wise, if you took AP Calc AB, or some sort of calculus, this class should be a breeze. If not, it's still doable as long as you know how to do basic math (adding fractions, which, surprisingly, a couple didn't know how to do). There's some new content either way so you will still be learning something new, even if you took calc before.
One midterm and one final; he posts 3 practice exams for them, which you should definitely do, as they're good practice for the actual thing. I thought they reflected the content on the actual exams pretty nicely, but you really have to pay attention to the wording of some questions. I also liked that he gives partial credit for questions, so even if you have no clue what to do, just write something remotely related to get any points you can. They are doable, but you have to dedicate time to doing the practice exams and past homework assignments. And don't leave all your studying to just one or two days before the final. Just don't. I'm not 100% sure if he curves, but I know he will round you up to the next grade (so like B to B+) if you are SUPER close to it, which is why I recommend doing the extra credit.
Labs are 1 hr 50 min, mandatory attendance, and they are soooo unrelated to the actual course content, but python is a pretty good skill to learn. You do have to pay just under $18 for it, but it's a required part of the class. Even so, they are tedious and annoying, but you work in groups so you can and should work together. You often finish before the class is up anyway and get some practice problems at the beginning of class that actually look like what you've been learning in class. For written questions in the labs, be as thorough as possible. I know it's annoying to describe something so clearly obvious but describe everything to get full points. You can also always ask for the TA and LA for help. I'm not sure about other TAs, but I had Ajay C. and I have no complaints about him. He was super helpful.
Another thing I recommend in going to office hours, whether to the TAs' or Bennoun's. I'll admit I only went once like the day before the final and I still got an A in the class but they were actually so helpful and you get to meet other students that way too.
He has two grading schemes, and apply whichever of the two gives you the higher grade.
I can't say anything about how useful this class was for LS30B since I didn't end up taking it, but I have to say I agree with everyone else that says this math is made up because it's so stupid and even though he gives you examples of real world applications, you will probably never use this again.
Overall, I'd highly recommend his class, especially over Shevstov's (I heard her class was hard).

Do NOT listen to the grade distribution for this class. I was honestly so deceived when I was planning out my classes at orientation. The class seems okay when you start doing fine on homework and in labs, and the lectures are alright to follow... until the midterm hits you like a TRUCK. It was SO much harder than the practice exams he provided, you're better off studying from the homework and re-doing those problems. Luckily, the final could replace your midterm if you absolutely bomb it, weighing about 60% of your grade instead of 25% midterm and 30% final. I studied extra hard for the final, went to office hours weekly but even more so during final season, and had additional tutoring outside UCLA. I went into the final and THOUGHT it was much more fair than the midterm, until I got my grade back and it was barely higher than my midterm, fucking over my whole grade because of the strict grading. Thank God I had the labs and homework as a buffer though. Bennoun himself is an okay lecturer and is helpful during office hours, but don't expect to get much help because they're always packed. Right now I'm taking 30B with the same professor so let's pray I don't get fucked over again. Fuck the 30 series fake math bs and rip any hope for a 4.0.

Take Bennoun if you can! His lectures are clear and engaging but I will say this class will be hard if you haven't taken calculus before. I enjoyed the class but it is difficult to get a good grade since the midterm and final are worth so much. Class content was interesting and I like how the math is applied to science and real situations. Wish I had him for 30B this quarter.

Professor Bennoun is a very clear lecturer. He posts unannotated slides before lecture, and annotated slides after lecture. He uses iClicker for attendance and lectures are quite engaging. Homework was due every Monday at 11:59pm. The homework is really helpful-- its repetitive and can sometimes be difficult, but once you get one concept you can do the rest. For the midterm, the practice material they provided was much easier than the actual midterm. The midterm seemed really difficult, but they give generous partial credit (I got an 83%). But Bennoun's grading scheme allows your grade for the final exam to replace your midterm if you score better on the final. I studied a lot more for the final exam. I think the practice material they provided was pretty similar to the final. I thought the final was easier than the midterm, but that could have just been because I studied harder. I ended with an A in the class. I would highly recommend this professor.

This class was super easy and I loved my TA

I, like many others, came into this class thinking it would be a better choice than the 31 series. The first few weeks of the course were manageable, but towards the end it just felt like complete nonsense. the concepts were so abstract and unrealistic. I felt like I was at times arguing for things that have no relation to anything science OR math related. It was busy work and I didn't take away much from the course. The coding is easy, but sometimes time-consuming and in my opinion was also useless. They try to connect it to what we are learning in class but it vaguely correlates. The bonus points do nothing because it is only worth 0.5% of your grade. Seriously, it doesn't do anything. Homework was helpful but I found it to take a really long time. Not based off of correction, but off of work, explanation, and how close you are to being right (if you get a part wrong). I got 100% on the HW but I know that TAs liked to take points off very often so keep that in mind. I did good on the MT (higher than most of the people around me at least) and thought I would be okay for the final, but man was I wrong. Graders were much harsher and it seemed like they were either giving all the points or none, even if there were some portions explained correctly. The second grading scheme ended up not helping me and I had to use the first one, even though many people on BruinWalk said that the second scheme saved them.
TLDR: this class was the bane of my existence. if you can do calculus save yourself the pain and take 31A instead
Stats:
MT: 90%
Final: 83%
100% on all other categories

I came into this thinking it was going to be an easy A+ like many of the other reviews and it was nothing like it. To be fair I only took AP stats in high school and no AP calc so I felt behind to learn some of the rules and solving mechanisms towards the end of the year. I recommend having a study group, tutor, or PLF sessions because the concepts are hard to grasp and the tests were long and confusing. I really wouldn’t take this class again but I think if you study a lot, go to office hours (which get insanely packed within the first 5 minutes), and do practice problems non stop you should be fine. :(

I’ll let others go into the specifics of the class itself but let me just say, you should strongly reconsider if you are planning on taking this class. Only take this class if you don’t plan on using math AT ALL in your entire life, are CERTAIN you want to be a life science major, are confident you don’t want a minor/double major outside of life sciences, and only care about an easy A instead of learning anything. The math taught in this class is completely made up and is not at all useful in real life despite what the professor tries to tell you. If you ever want to leave life science or do a double major/minor outside of the life sciences you have to take the math series so please just save your future and don’t take this class. The professor is great, the problems I have are with the course itself.

I would say that if you are looking for a typical calculus class, this is not the class to take. I would also say, that if you have not taken calculus before this, you might find it more difficult than it already is. I was lucky to have had a strong calculus background, so when we spent one day on derivatives and one day on integrals, I was not lost. However, the course does not explain conceptually what derivatives or integrals are very well, and it is assumed that you should get it very fast which may make the rest of the class extremely difficult if you don't.

As for the content of the class, it was a LOT of modeling. There is very little calculation, really, in this class. Which I disliked. I found that it was super conceptual. I don't have problems with conceptual math, but there was almost never REAL math to back it up. So, you either get it or you don't.

Something that I found odd was that I almost always came out of the lecture feeling good about the content, but when I went to do the homework I was completely lost. I would go to Professor Bennoun's office hours but they were PACKED because everyone else was just as confused. I went to multiple TA's office hours, too, and some of them told me how to do a problem totally wrong. So I would say to get your homework help directly from the professor if you can.

The midterm was DIFFICULT. I went in having done all of the prep material given to me. The main issue with this class is because since it is unique to UCLA, there is no additional prep material you can find online beside the homework and other practice problems given to you. Since the midterm felt totally different from the practice problems, I walked out of the midterm feeling quite unprepared.

One saving grace was the two grading schemes, which allowed your grade to have the final and midterm weighted evenly, or have the final weighted 65%. I did well on the final (definitely easier than the midterm) and ended up with a great grade in the class.

I think the key for this class is understanding EXACTLY how they want your answers written for short answer because the grading is very strict.

Also, for the labs, I don't feel like I learned any python. It was a more of a fill in the blank type thing and I often had to ask for help on every question.

I really did like Professor Bennoun, though. He liked to crack jokes in class, and he gave helpful clicker questions to help with understanding. I found that his explanations in class made sense, and he cared about us understanding the material (even if we did not, lol). He is super genuine and always made sure that if I asked a question in office hours I understood the material. What I disliked about the course had nothing to do with Bennoun, just the course itself. If you are going to take this course, I 100% recommend trying to get into one of Bennoun's sections!!!

I decided to leave the LIFESC 30 series and I am switching into MATH 3B because I have AP calculus AB credit because I think that learning more in depth calculus will be more helpful for me.

I just want to preface this with the fact that my issue lies not with Prof Bennoun, but with the 30 series as a whole. This class is fake math with unreasonably hard tests on concepts that have practically no relevance to anything in life. I think I did a grand total of 3 derivatives and 2 integrals all quarter in a class that's allegedly "calculus-based." Prof Bennoun was alright. I would say he's marginally better than the alternative, but at the end of the day we all take the same tests so the professor you get isn't that important. If you're familiar with calculus, take the 31 series. Don't waste your time here.