This was Professor Burton’s second year of teaching and I thought she was great. She is extremely nice and clearly cares about her students. This class has a ton of busy work and pre-lecture assignments that didn’t always help my learning but just added to my workload. I did relatively well on the two midterms because we had a group phase where we collaborated with peers, but the final was completed individually and I struggled, hence my B+ in the class. Overall, the class requires lots of studying and application of knowledge. I also do not come from a strong biology background and did not take AP bio so this class was more difficult for me than it was for others.

I would say that overall Professor Burton is a good lecturer who genuinely cares about her students. If you've taken AP Biology, this class will essentially be a review with a few short new concepts. Grading is fair, but I would emphasize studying hard for the final considering that it holds a good amount of weight in terms of the grade book. I wish I could have her for 7B!

Professor Burton is super sweet and approachable. I attended her office hours often, where she would draw diagrams to help explain class concepts. The lectures were well-organized, and while some of the assignments felt unnecessary and tedious, they did tie into the class objectives. It’s important to note that you can attend the office hours of any of the 7A professors, and they all use the same materials, including iClicker questions, slides, test questions, etc. The first two online midterms (AoLs) were divided into two phases–individual and group–but your grade ultimately depended on your group phase performance. Groups are randomly assigned during the first discussion section, and you sit together in lecture throughout the quarter. The in-person final (AoL 3) was cumulative, with an emphasis on material covered after AoL 2. Some of the test questions were debated among the professors, and as a result, points were given for multiple answers, but overall, the assessments were fair and aligned with the class material.

Since I took AP Biology in high school, I felt very prepared for this class. I highly recommend attending the weekly Problem Solving Sessions (PSS), as they let you practice the class content using past midterm/final questions. Overall, if you stay on top of the work and take advantage of the extra credit and resources available, you’ll do well. I’d definitely recommend Professor Burton to anyone.

I believe everything had a purpose in the student's learning and mastering of the course material but activities within the pod groups felt useless sometimes.

There is so much busy work so often it is easy to get overwhelmed during work. Oftentimes, I found myself becoming more confused during lecture than before.

She was an amazing professor that helped me learn a lot. All of the work that had to be done before the classes was very helpful in class and I enjoyed it a lot.

Fall 2024 - Pretty light/easy class overall, as the class is designed to ease life science majors into college coursework. Your LIFESCI 7A experience will pretty much be the same regardless of the professor, with all professors teaching from the same resources and slideshows.

337/747 (~45%) of the points available in this course come from "busy work," completion-based assignments (i.e. reading guides, post-reading quizzes with 1 retake, discussion assignments...). The Life Science Department also allows you to miss X number of assignments for each category, giving A LOT of leniency (i.e. skipping a couple lectures, reading guides will still give full points). A bit of extra credit is also offered throughout the course through LA surveys + "Biology and Me" Assignments, the latter asking students to make something creative in relation to the topics taught in class (etc. drawing, arts and crafts).

Participation in lecture is enforced by the use iClicker, an app that prompts students to respond to multiple-choice questions shown on the projector. These aren't graded on accuracy though, but I found them helpful to complete in class.

There are a lot of worksheets provided + TA-led learning sessions - I never used any of these resources and got an A very comfortably. If you have an AP Bio (or frankly any sort of bio) background, you should be more than fine by virtue of how the class is set-up. Good study habits/methods will probably also do.

For discussion sections, you are assigned to a "pod" (group) of ~4-5. The department makes you sit with your pod in lecture (due to in-class pod assignments - mini group worksheets). Also, you'll work with your pod on a discussion section assignment during discussion (more worksheets!). These tend to have similar charts/graphics as those that show up on the AoLs/tests, so make sure you understand them + do them with your group. The pod system is hit-or-miss overall, and team chemistry/each member's relative biology background can determine whether its chill or hell-on-Earth.

The first two "Assessments of Learning" (AoLs), 50 MCQs each - out of three total - have an individual and group phase. You first take the test yourself ONLINE on Canvas, and then the next day you can confer with your pod about the answers. This is where your pod comes into play. You are only graded by your group phase submission (after discussion with your pod and maybe others ;) ), so your pod could potentially be a good resource if needed (or you could be of big help to others). To change answers on the group phase (from what you originally put), you need to write a short explanation for the change. The third AoL is worth almost as much points as the first two, and taken IN PERSON (70 MCQs) - however, it was the same difficulty as the first two and didn't require that much in-depth knowledge (as long as you are familiar with most of the concepts taught in class, that should be fine - I actually did better on the final/AoL 3 than the first two).

A MAJOR CRITICISM of this class are how the AoLs are written - they are mostly straightforwards, but ~15% of the exam will have ambiguous wording, biological terminology that could refer to multiple distinct things, or have multiple "correct" answers. The department did give everyone full credit in response to some of these errors, but other times refused to compromise.

Andrea is honestly really nice and chill - she makes an effort to remember people's names, and tries her best to answer questions. However, her expertise is clearly not in the subject material being taught - she sometimes is unable to clarify or explain key questions/concepts and also has trouble pronouncing common biological terms (??). To reiterate though, the class is the same regardless of which professor you choose.

Andrea is a new professor here at UCLA, welcome 👏!
She's a nice professor and cares about her students for sure. However, her teaching could be improved a little more; I am not even sure what exactly distinguishes a good professor and an excellent professor, but I'd say the "excellent" professors have more engaging lectures and explain things more clearly, and Andrea could work on that. It's only her first quarter though, and I'm sure she'll get better. I heard that her office hours are really helpful, but I haven't checked those out. Would recommend her 8/10.