Professor
David Campbell
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - Dr. Sellami co-taught this with Dr. Campbell, and they each taught half of the course. I believe she handled all of the logistics and grading, though, so the only part of this review that applies to Dr. Campbell is the "Lectures" section. As People I didn't go to their office hours, but they seemed nice. A lot of communication occurred through the Piazza discussion forums, and that was a great resource through which the students, TAs, and LAs (undergraduate assistants) collaborated to get questions answered. The professors didn't answer as many questions as they could have, but they provided input on our most pressing questions. Materials Launchpad: $120 if you buy from the company *Don't buy/rent the textbook. You'll have readings, but you won't be studying from them. If you do want it, rent it from Amazon for $20.* Grading Midterm 1 100 Midterm 2 100 Final 200 Discussion 100 Clickers 78 Reading 100 Launchpad 100 Straight scale (90=A, 80=B, 70=C). No curve, but "I rounded generously (so more than mathematically correct...) in students' favors as much as I can justify[.] generally, if you were less than half a percent off from the better grade, you got the better grade[.]" Lectures She made lectures mandatory through clicker questions. You got 1.5 points just for inputting answers, and another 1.5 for getting three right (0.5 each). There were usually a lot of questions, which served as useful checkpoints. That being said, she was good at engaging us and speaking clearly. Dr. Campbell, not so much. He was your stereotypical professor who had little charisma. I tried giving him my full attention, but his voice was just too soft and disengaging. They both used PowerPoint uploaded onto CCLE, so a laptop was helpful. Discussion Instead of having a TA drone at you for 75 minutes, we did worksheets in groups, which allowed us to stay engaged and work at our own pace, making the material easier to digest. Homework Launchpad was a pain. A typical weekly assignment consisted of textbook pages and a quiz, videos and a quiz, and a simulation. They typically took a couple of hours per week, and were always due on the first day of class for the week. Even if there was a midterm on Monday, it would still be due then. I'll admit that the simulations made some concepts clearer to me. Exams 50 MC for the midterms, 100 MC for the final. Although there were a fair amount of memorization questions, the others were tricky because she focused on applying the experiments that we learned about. For example, we all know that DNA is the genetic material rather than protein. In class, we'd learn about the experiment that led to that conclusion. On the exam, she would describe an experiment like that one, but change the results so that they would suggest that protein was the genetic material instead. That would be the correct answer. So, you cannot rely on just pure memorization. The medians are listed below. Midterm 1: 82 Midterm 2: 84 Final: 152 (76%) Tips - Don't read the textbook thoroughly. It won't help for the exams. Just do enough to ace the reading quizzes. - Only study from lecture and discussion. The discussion worksheets always have questions that will appear in another form on her exams. - Sometimes you'll overthink a question, but most of the time you won't be. The wording is very important. tl;dr Dr. Campbell was a painfully average lecturer, but the first midterm, which covered his part of the course, wasn't too difficult.
Spring 2016 - Dr. Sellami co-taught this with Dr. Campbell, and they each taught half of the course. I believe she handled all of the logistics and grading, though, so the only part of this review that applies to Dr. Campbell is the "Lectures" section. As People I didn't go to their office hours, but they seemed nice. A lot of communication occurred through the Piazza discussion forums, and that was a great resource through which the students, TAs, and LAs (undergraduate assistants) collaborated to get questions answered. The professors didn't answer as many questions as they could have, but they provided input on our most pressing questions. Materials Launchpad: $120 if you buy from the company *Don't buy/rent the textbook. You'll have readings, but you won't be studying from them. If you do want it, rent it from Amazon for $20.* Grading Midterm 1 100 Midterm 2 100 Final 200 Discussion 100 Clickers 78 Reading 100 Launchpad 100 Straight scale (90=A, 80=B, 70=C). No curve, but "I rounded generously (so more than mathematically correct...) in students' favors as much as I can justify[.] generally, if you were less than half a percent off from the better grade, you got the better grade[.]" Lectures She made lectures mandatory through clicker questions. You got 1.5 points just for inputting answers, and another 1.5 for getting three right (0.5 each). There were usually a lot of questions, which served as useful checkpoints. That being said, she was good at engaging us and speaking clearly. Dr. Campbell, not so much. He was your stereotypical professor who had little charisma. I tried giving him my full attention, but his voice was just too soft and disengaging. They both used PowerPoint uploaded onto CCLE, so a laptop was helpful. Discussion Instead of having a TA drone at you for 75 minutes, we did worksheets in groups, which allowed us to stay engaged and work at our own pace, making the material easier to digest. Homework Launchpad was a pain. A typical weekly assignment consisted of textbook pages and a quiz, videos and a quiz, and a simulation. They typically took a couple of hours per week, and were always due on the first day of class for the week. Even if there was a midterm on Monday, it would still be due then. I'll admit that the simulations made some concepts clearer to me. Exams 50 MC for the midterms, 100 MC for the final. Although there were a fair amount of memorization questions, the others were tricky because she focused on applying the experiments that we learned about. For example, we all know that DNA is the genetic material rather than protein. In class, we'd learn about the experiment that led to that conclusion. On the exam, she would describe an experiment like that one, but change the results so that they would suggest that protein was the genetic material instead. That would be the correct answer. So, you cannot rely on just pure memorization. The medians are listed below. Midterm 1: 82 Midterm 2: 84 Final: 152 (76%) Tips - Don't read the textbook thoroughly. It won't help for the exams. Just do enough to ace the reading quizzes. - Only study from lecture and discussion. The discussion worksheets always have questions that will appear in another form on her exams. - Sometimes you'll overthink a question, but most of the time you won't be. The wording is very important. tl;dr Dr. Campbell was a painfully average lecturer, but the first midterm, which covered his part of the course, wasn't too difficult.
Most Helpful Review
SUBJECT = LS3 ( I couldn't find it on the course listings ) I think professor campbell is a decent professor. He seems to pause a lot during his lectures, but I think he explains things well. I had to watch his podcasts after lectures because he speaks fairly quickly, and I found it easier to just listen and absorb the information during lecture, then take notes when I watched the podcast. Seemed to work well for me! His exams can have a few pretty specific questions, but everything you need to know is straight out of his lecture!!
SUBJECT = LS3 ( I couldn't find it on the course listings ) I think professor campbell is a decent professor. He seems to pause a lot during his lectures, but I think he explains things well. I had to watch his podcasts after lectures because he speaks fairly quickly, and I found it easier to just listen and absorb the information during lecture, then take notes when I watched the podcast. Seemed to work well for me! His exams can have a few pretty specific questions, but everything you need to know is straight out of his lecture!!
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I took LS3 with Dr. Campbell. Lets start with the positives. Dr. Campbell is very nice and he tries really hard to be a good professor. He grades quite leniently which is nice. His tests only test on lecture slides and they are very fair. His final is not cumulative which saved my life in that class. The midterms and finals are weighed evenly so it could be a good or bad thing. Also, he podcasts, so you don't have to go to lecture which is nice. I listened to podcasts so I can go at my own pace. Now the negatives. Dr. Campbell is quite boring to listen to. He's not even close to being the best lecturer in the ls department. I rarely went to lecture, but when I did, I fell asleep. His lectures are the best treatment for insomnia. The material itself is extremely boring. DNA/RNA crap for 10 weeks is just way too much. I've never been so sick of a science topic in my life. The textbook is really really bad, but you don't have to read it cuz he tests on lecture material. His test questions sometimes are worded very strangely and can be confusing. Overall, class with Dr. Campbell isn't the best ls class, but its not the worst. I think molecular bio is pretty tough and boring itself so I can't really blame the professor.
I took LS3 with Dr. Campbell. Lets start with the positives. Dr. Campbell is very nice and he tries really hard to be a good professor. He grades quite leniently which is nice. His tests only test on lecture slides and they are very fair. His final is not cumulative which saved my life in that class. The midterms and finals are weighed evenly so it could be a good or bad thing. Also, he podcasts, so you don't have to go to lecture which is nice. I listened to podcasts so I can go at my own pace. Now the negatives. Dr. Campbell is quite boring to listen to. He's not even close to being the best lecturer in the ls department. I rarely went to lecture, but when I did, I fell asleep. His lectures are the best treatment for insomnia. The material itself is extremely boring. DNA/RNA crap for 10 weeks is just way too much. I've never been so sick of a science topic in my life. The textbook is really really bad, but you don't have to read it cuz he tests on lecture material. His test questions sometimes are worded very strangely and can be confusing. Overall, class with Dr. Campbell isn't the best ls class, but its not the worst. I think molecular bio is pretty tough and boring itself so I can't really blame the professor.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Professor Campbell really does try to connect with his students and be engaging, but unfortunately, lectures can still be really boring. I had ls7a with both him and Maloy, and when Campbell was teaching, I definitely found it harder to pay attention to his lectures. Also, sometimes his explanations were a little ambiguous.
Spring 2021 - Professor Campbell really does try to connect with his students and be engaging, but unfortunately, lectures can still be really boring. I had ls7a with both him and Maloy, and when Campbell was teaching, I definitely found it harder to pay attention to his lectures. Also, sometimes his explanations were a little ambiguous.
Most Helpful Review
LS 3 A lot of material, watch videocast and take very detailed notes. Format and difficulty of the tests: First midterm: 90 true/false, 1 point each. Pretty straightforward and easy. Second: 63 T/F (1 point each), 34 (A,B,C,D) MC, each MC worth 2 points. Harder, much harder, but still everything was from the notes. Final: ~40 T/F (1 point each), ~40 MC (still worth 2 points each), 4 short answers (worth 16 points total). Not cumulative. The final was easy as well. However, this could be because I didn't do too great on the second midterm so I killed myself studying for this one. Really straightforward, no tricks. He gave a few practice questions for exams. Understand them because they show up on the exam in some form. He saves a class day on the Friday before the Monday exam just for review. Go, make sure not to ignore it. A bunch of questions come from the reviews. Makes sense, he already made the final so he knows what to review. A good number of answers came from the reviews. He's really nice, go to his office hours if you have questions, he takes plenty of time to make sure you understand it there. He accepts questions during class too, but this gets really annoying especially during reviews where he's basically handing out answers and people take up his time and we don't finish. His lectures weren't the most entertaining, so videocasts will take some effort to get through. It wasn't really him, it's the material. And there's a lot of material. Plan for 2 hours of videocasts for each 50 minute class. Overall - great guy, easy midterm 1, hard midterm 2, easy final. Non-cumulative exams. Generous curve at the end.
LS 3 A lot of material, watch videocast and take very detailed notes. Format and difficulty of the tests: First midterm: 90 true/false, 1 point each. Pretty straightforward and easy. Second: 63 T/F (1 point each), 34 (A,B,C,D) MC, each MC worth 2 points. Harder, much harder, but still everything was from the notes. Final: ~40 T/F (1 point each), ~40 MC (still worth 2 points each), 4 short answers (worth 16 points total). Not cumulative. The final was easy as well. However, this could be because I didn't do too great on the second midterm so I killed myself studying for this one. Really straightforward, no tricks. He gave a few practice questions for exams. Understand them because they show up on the exam in some form. He saves a class day on the Friday before the Monday exam just for review. Go, make sure not to ignore it. A bunch of questions come from the reviews. Makes sense, he already made the final so he knows what to review. A good number of answers came from the reviews. He's really nice, go to his office hours if you have questions, he takes plenty of time to make sure you understand it there. He accepts questions during class too, but this gets really annoying especially during reviews where he's basically handing out answers and people take up his time and we don't finish. His lectures weren't the most entertaining, so videocasts will take some effort to get through. It wasn't really him, it's the material. And there's a lot of material. Plan for 2 hours of videocasts for each 50 minute class. Overall - great guy, easy midterm 1, hard midterm 2, easy final. Non-cumulative exams. Generous curve at the end.
Most Helpful Review
I took Campbell for LS3 and I loved it. I completely understand how students are always looking for the easiest professor to take a class with, but you need to understand that this is UCLA and this is no joke. You are expected to perform. So stop wining and work hard. This class is doable, just make sure you know what he goes over. It is that simple. There are no tricks and he is very fair. Stop complaining and challenge yourself. I worked hard and got an A+. The only way the people above will say something nice about a professor like Campbell is if he was a joke. No, he was a great professor in that he challenged me, I learned A LOT, and I WON. Some people just don't want to work.
I took Campbell for LS3 and I loved it. I completely understand how students are always looking for the easiest professor to take a class with, but you need to understand that this is UCLA and this is no joke. You are expected to perform. So stop wining and work hard. This class is doable, just make sure you know what he goes over. It is that simple. There are no tricks and he is very fair. Stop complaining and challenge yourself. I worked hard and got an A+. The only way the people above will say something nice about a professor like Campbell is if he was a joke. No, he was a great professor in that he challenged me, I learned A LOT, and I WON. Some people just don't want to work.
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Fall 2018 - The content you learn in this class is very interesting malaria, leishmaniasis, worms etc. However, the content is overshadowed through the dry lectures, tiny details, and little help from outside resources as most of the science learned in this class is very experimental and thus not very extensively studied or made available. Campbell was a very dry lecturer, his portion of the class was very detailed and memorization based so you have to know everything. I would recommend taking this class if you like learning about diseases, the average for the final was a 54% take that as how tedious this class could be. At least the tests weren't cumulative essentially it was 3 midterms, there are better MIMG electives to take in the winter.
Fall 2018 - The content you learn in this class is very interesting malaria, leishmaniasis, worms etc. However, the content is overshadowed through the dry lectures, tiny details, and little help from outside resources as most of the science learned in this class is very experimental and thus not very extensively studied or made available. Campbell was a very dry lecturer, his portion of the class was very detailed and memorization based so you have to know everything. I would recommend taking this class if you like learning about diseases, the average for the final was a 54% take that as how tedious this class could be. At least the tests weren't cumulative essentially it was 3 midterms, there are better MIMG electives to take in the winter.
Most Helpful Review
*ls3 I took his class in spring 2014 and got an A. His tests are straightforward for the most part, but there are a few that are impossible for most people, like there's only one way to prepare for them and that is test bank plain and simple. If you know these difficult problems and the master all the basic stuff you're good to go. He tests just from slides so don't bother with the book at all. Just memorize every little tiny piece of every single slide and you will get an A.
*ls3 I took his class in spring 2014 and got an A. His tests are straightforward for the most part, but there are a few that are impossible for most people, like there's only one way to prepare for them and that is test bank plain and simple. If you know these difficult problems and the master all the basic stuff you're good to go. He tests just from slides so don't bother with the book at all. Just memorize every little tiny piece of every single slide and you will get an A.
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