took it first quarter here and it's genuinely so light. if you've taken AP bio before it's nothing new -- prob easier than ur high school class. content might be a little tricky but the tests are set up so that there's an individual phase and a group phase, and the individual is pretty much identical to the group with just a couple things switched around, so as long as you understand the group phase you're set for the solo test. basically if you know the iclickers from the lectures, the tests are the same thing so there's nothing new. there's also lots of grade buffers with other assignments. lazazzera ngl is not a good lecturer and i always tuned her out during lecture to do my homework instead. she's nice and can help in office hours but just don't expect to be learning anything much during lecture. overall the whole lifesci series is sort of a joke and you don't learn anything, but as long as ur locked for the group phases and understand them enough for the individual phases clutching an A is pretty easy.

If you're looking at these reviews, I'm guessing you most likely have no choice but to take this class for your lower divs. But if you don't, and for some strange reason have decided to take this as a GE, then buckle up. I look at this class as the first half of AP Biology, covering topics from Chemistry of Life, Cell Structure and Function, Cellular Energetics, Cell Communication and Cell Cycle, and some Meiosis. So if you ended up taking AP Bio in high school, you are very much well prepared to do good and possibly even excel in LIFESCI 7A. The work is broken down into the following:
Pre-class reading guides (PCRGs - due semiweekly before the respective lecture starts) which were basically 2-3 pages of worksheets that you regurgitate information from the textbook onto, Pre-class reading quizzes (PCRQs - also due before each lecture) which you had 2 attempts to do and were pretty easy, and weekly PALs which were basically mini quizzes that you could only do once. There are 3 "phases" for the exams. You take the Group Phase midterm first with your lab group from discussion and a couple days later, the individual. This repeats twice until the third time, when you take the group phase and the cumulative final. The assignments were pretty simple on their own, but what got most students in the end is that every small point lost during these assignments added up. A couple of 0.5-point losses every week could actually put you in a difficult spot by the end of the quarter if you're not doing well on your group and individual finals. Attendance is basically mandatory since iClickers are used during lectures, and only a couple of extra credit opportunities are offered. I highly recommend paying attention during lectures and using the PCRGs to study for midterms/finals. A lot of the times, it felt like the professor wasn't even needed due to it being a flipped classroom style, so I relied on studying independently, with peers, and asking a lot of questions in discussion, either privately or during the actual discussion. Again, the work for discussion was also fairly simple, but I definitely thought some parts of the exams were challenging because of the wording and how they intentionally try to trick you. Lazazzera seemed pretty chill as a person but was not the best lecturer, so I always ended up doing work during lectures and only paying attention when I really needed it. She's nice, and I've heard that going to her office hours can help, but just don't expect to learn much during lecture that you can't learn on your own. Honestly speaking, this class isn't nearly as bad as the next classes in the LIFESCI series get. Several of my peers who didn't take a single biology class in high school apart from basic freshman bio did well and even got As. Pray you get a good group, lock in during lectures, do all the assignments, don't take a single point for granted, and you should be fine.

The grade you get in this class is almost entirely dependent on your group. I'm very bad at biology, but I had a good group, so I was fine. Lots of busywork, but that's true for every professor. The 7 series makes me very unhappy, but there's not much we can do about it. perhaps the real 7 series were the friends we made along the way.

Also take Julie Ko if you have the choice.

If you are on the fence about whether or not you want to be pre-med, then I definitely recommend taking 7a. There is a lot of work that has to be done on your part, and most of the class is just iClicker speedrun. I think I would have enjoyed the class more if it was not in a flipped classroom setting, but the class is basically the same for the seven series, no matter what professor you get. The class has two midterms, one with an individual phase and one with the group, and the final was in person. Like I said before, it is a lot of work, but it is very, very easy to get a passing grade in this class. It's on a point-based system, so just rank up as many points through extra credit, small assignments, PALs, etc, as you can, and you will probably end with a low A or a high B.

This professor is completely unclear. She does not take accountability when she is wrong and you have to suffer because of it. This entire series is a giant project in which you will be asked to fill out a Google form 3 times throughout the quarter to explain how you feel about it. In a meeting with her, she mentioned that I would need a certain grade on the last test in order to receive an A when that was not true. Mind you she told this exact thing to multiple people. When we emailed her about it she acted like it wasn't our fault we ended with a B when we got the exact score she told us we needed in order to receive an A. Somehow in the meeting about a zero I got she "forgot" I had a zero and miscalculated. HOW DO YOU FORGET I HAD A ZERO IN THE MEETING ABOUT ME HAVING A ZERO??? Don't recommend find a better professor.

Like the rest of the 7 series, the professor doesn't matter too much. However, from the few interactions we had with her before the course shifted online, she seems like she cares about teaching students and is very friendly and approachable. 7a has a lot of extra credit and leeway when it comes to things getting marked off and the midterm and finals are not overly difficult and don't make up a huge part of your grade (on the individual phase), so it's very doable to get a grade you want in this course. If you've taken AP Biology, you could honestly get an A without paying attention to any of the lectures and simply doing the assignments and doing mediocre on the exams.

Dr. Lazazzera is a really kind and caring person who prioritizes student learning. When visiting her during office hours or calling her into my pod's breakout room, it was very apparent in the way she talked to us that she really cared about us and our learning. Dr. Lazazzera would often allow you to skip the class period and do the assignment later in the day if you were feeling overwhelmed by the protests that happened this quarter. That being said, she is a pretty average lecturer who is a little bit slow and often has trouble saying what she wants to say. Overall, not a bad choice for LS7a.

I found myself going to other professors' office hours to get help because she wasn't a good lecturer. I would recommend taking this course with Dr.Maloy or Dr.Pires. All of the professors use the same slides, textbook, and homework questions on launchpad, so it really boils down to who teaches the course that determines how you'll do. Unless you're really good at self-studying and teaching yourself the material, I would not recommend taking her.

All i have to say is launchpad is the reason i switched majors. I felt like Lazazzera’s lectures were pointless and didn’t help further my understanding. It was a waste of time in my afternoons, I often skipped, and if i miraculously showed up, I spent the hour drawing otters on my iPad. The other professors were said to be better so if you can get Malloy. Was this class hard? Not really. I could’ve gotten an A if the class didn’t annoy me so much and deter me from trying. If you do the work its fairly easy to get an A but god did I dread this class.

Sorry this was dramatic but it was my experience and I’m writing this to heal from it.

I really liked the material of this class it was very interesting and it aligned fairly well with what I already knew about biology. A lot of my friends who had taken AP Bio in high school said it was basically the same exact thing. The workload was pretty decent. We had "launchpad" which was basically the online textbook with modules consisting of reading and videos as well as short quizzes that count towards your grade. The labs were very easy - you just work on a worksheet with your pod members which are groups of 3-5 students. Lectures were pretty boring since this class is a flipped classroom so you learn all of the material when you do the launchpad before lecture and Lazazzera doesn't really elaborate or explain any of the material much more than what is on the slides. You use iclicker to show participation and attendance but you don't have to be in the lecture to log into iclicker and follow along with the questions. There are two midterms and one final and the tests get harder as you make your way through the quarter. Lazazzera gives lots of extra credit opportunities for extra points which is cool. She's a sweetheart n what some might call a cinnamon roll but she just can't teach all that well so you have to teach yourself a lot of the concepts or attend TA office hours. I will say I had the option of Lazazzera or Maloy and I would definitely go back and choose Maloy but its over and I did fine with like medium effort put in. HAVE FUN!!