Pham is great and he is what made this class bearable. He genuinely cares about his students and wants students to do well. The course itself is tough as the exams are quite unpredictable and hard to get used to. Can sell past worksheets and study guides I’ve found to be useful at *************

I'm so glad I took this class with Pham. I definitely felt like I learned a lot about genetics. A lot of the material builds off of the LS7 series and expands on topics that are learned there. There's not a lot of memorization, it's mainly problem solving and as long as you understand how to approach each of the problems (by doing all the practice midterms and finals that Pham posts on CCLE) you're set! And there's a bunch of extra credit as well.
Pham is so nice and such a great professor, but lectures are not too engaging. It's mostly just clicker questions. I mostly learn from doing problems in discussion and watching the online lectures that he posts. Overall, this is a good class. I would recommend it.

Hello, so I'll give a review of the 7A class itself first, and then get to Dr. Pham.
To let you all know, all LS 7A (and I believe the entire series) classes are given the same midterms and finals, so it really does not matter which professor you get for any LS 7 class. I was terrible at ap bio back in high school and I gotta say that the 7A class was kind of rough for me.
First, the entire series requires you to buy a $100 online textbook (called Launchpad) that you take notes on, and there are quizzes and short "exams" you must take in order to get points, if you find yourself struggling on these questions --> go to quizlet my friend, the answers are there. Based on my experience of 7A, please do not rely on Launchpad content and their quizzes to study for the midterms and exams, you do not need to know every little detail, only focus on the overall concepts and learning objectives, it will save you time and paper from taking notes. I forgot to mention that the LS 7 series is instructed like a "flipped classroom," where you learn & teach yourself the content before lecture, and during lecture your professors will simply review the content with you.
You will basically get tested on the content from lecture. This includes info from lecture slides, the small handouts you are given during lecture, and sometimes worksheets from discussion. To do well on the exams, focus on the lecture handout and go through the clicker questions one-by-one, and understand how to get the answer from the information given to you. If you don't know how to get the answer for a clicker question, go through the bruincasted lecture, find the specific question on the video, and see how the professor explains the answer. (this is how I studied for midterm 2 & the final and I was able to score 10% higher every exam using this method that a friend told me, & I completely failed midterm 1)
For 7A, you must go to lecture because you need to answer clicker questions for points, you get points for simply pressing an answer, you don't get deducted anything by getting a question wrong.
Now going on to Dr. Pham, this professor is a G. He made this class bearable for people new to bio (like me). He always has an answer to everything and he is VERY clear on explanations and concepts. I think students like him because he is willing to slow down the pace of the lecture and go through clicker questions step-by-step if students cannot understand what is being taught. He is even more helpful during his office hours because he will stand side-by-side with you, draw the handout, and explain every little thing on the handout with you. Even during lecture when he says something wrong or explains something weakly, he will admit to the students that he was at fault and then reexplain the entire question.
I took 7A with Pham and Lazazzera, and I am sure Pham was liked more than Lazazzera because he was just better at explaining things than Lazazzera.

You won't learn much in lecture, mostly just do the clickers. But the exams are basically a repeat of the old ones and you just have to put in the work to master all types of questions. Go to office hours and work with classmates and you'll get an A

Given that I took this class the first quarter of my freshman year here at UCLA, I definitely made dumb mistakes that prevented me from getting an A, however, Professor Pham is an amazing lecturer and explains everything very well. He's a funny old man and made lectures more entertaining. The required "textbook" where you complete the homework assignments and weekly quizzes on is called Launchpad and is just sooo expensive but the subscription lasts for at least a year, so you only buy it once for the whole series essentially. In order to do well, you need to make sure not lose any points that are easy to get such as in Launchpad, discussion, or extra credit points. The tests take some getting used to and are difficult, but comparable to the type of questioning in AP Biology. Overall, would recommend Pham to everyone!

Pham is incredibly sweet and humble; you can tell he's truly dedicated to every students' learning. The tests in this class are almost exactly like the worksheets, and both midterms and the final are super easy if you do enough practice problems, which he gives plenty of in the form of old exams. It is a flipped class structure with the weekly videos and quizzes, but what you absolutely need to know will be covered in lecture in the form of clickers. There's very little factual information in comparison to the LS 7 series, and it's mostly simple math and applying some key concepts here and there. Probability is a big part of the math when you're dealing with genetic linkage and pedigrees, but don't worry if you didn't understand it in 7B, because I didn't either and still got very comfortable and solid with the concepts. Easy upper div, take it with Pham!

Engaging and great professor. It's a flipped classroom format. You didn't have to read out of the book, you only had to watch prelecture videos but this was during Covid so that may change. You had to take prelecture quizzes based on correctness but he would drop some of them. For lecture, he would explain concepts and go over clicker questions which I found very helpful. Clicker questions were based on participation. Going to discussion was worth points but this was also based on participation. Weekly quizzes based on correction but he dropped some of them. 2 midterms and a final. First one was way easier. Second one was a little bit more difficult but the average was still a B. The final was worth two midterms. He also offered extra credit which can push you from an A- to an A. Best advice I can give for the tests is to double check the question and make sure you're solving for the right thing. Overall, a great professor who truly cares about the success of his students.

Dr. Pham was an amazing professor! I am a transfer student and I took this class during my first quarter at UCLA and if it weren't for his class I would have been so overwhelmed. I was taking two other difficult upper division courses, but Dr. Pham made it very easy to study his material by providing weekly worksheets and having a hybrid classroom. Attendance is mandatory, but you want to attend because he is very kind, funny, and his lectures go over practice problems in depth.

I had an awesome study group that helped a lot in this class. Pham gives tons of old exams that are super similar to the actual exam so it’s easy to study. He knows the material very well and is a very nice and awesome person. His lectures are engaging and even inspiring at times. 2 weekly quizzes that aren’t too hard and then 3 tests throughout the quarter.

This is a great and interesting class! Although the tests and weekly quizzes can be a bit challenging, Prof. Pham gives a ton of resources. There are many practice exams from past years for the midterms and final. Worksheets from weekly discussions as well as clickers pretty much give you exact models for exam questions. This class does require quite a bit of studying, but if you put in the effort it's easy to succeed.