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.

***I took this class during the COVID-19 pandemic in an online format.
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The short way to describe this class (and the entire LS series) is that if you took AP Biology and remember most of it, the class is pretty free. Otherwise, it's a lot of information to take in and learn in such a short amount of time, but certainly doable if you use your time and resources well. Dr. Pham is a great lecturer (and his accent really isn't a problem, anyone complaining about it is just using it as a scapegoat) who will not hesitate to answer any questions or clarifications. He responds to emails very quickly too, and is always very accommodating.
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The online textbook and clicker service must be purchased, but they're used throughout the entire series, so the price isn't terrible if you consider you buy it once for the whole year (still annoying though). LaunchPad can be a pain to complete, but spreading them out over the course of a few days before lectures certainly helps. The practice quizzes and PEQs on the LaunchPad are also great study resources. People disagree on what the best way to study is, but in general, clicker questions and PEQs seem to be many people's favorites. There's also weekly review sessions, plentiful office hours, and the LaunchPad textbook.
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Lectures are unfortunately mandatory, with attendance being taken via clicker questions. You can just click random things to get participation credit, but the questions are very similar to exam questions, so I would not recommend that. You can miss one set of homework and one lecture of attendance and still get 100% in the class.
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The points in this class other than the exams are all free. Discussions are graded, but you get all the answers from your TA if you are confused. Homework questions have 2 tries, and the practice questions are 1 try, but they're not meant to trick you. There's also some reflection assignments every other week or so, they don't take very long and are more free points. Extra credit is occasionally given for completing surveys, though to be honest, it's very unlikely that the EC will affect your final grade unless you are literally like three points away from a grade cutoff.
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Exams are reminiscent of AP Biology — there are very few calculation or recall type questions, most, if not all questions are applications of topics gone over in class. It's definitely not enough to just memorize things (like photosynthesis, operons, etc.); you really do have to actually understand processes. The tests are generally fair, just a bit tricky, though for the times where a question is unclear, if it really is unclear, Pham will adjust the answer key and give you the points anyway. Pham doesn't actually make the tests, all LS7 tests are the same across all professors, so when choosing between the professors, you're purely looking at lecture quality, and Pham is great in that sense. One final thing to note is that exams have an individual component at first, taken in a 3 hour period during a 10 hour window. Then, you're randomly (not really, they balance the groups based on individual performance so each group has one person from each quartile) assigned a group of 4 people where you're free to discuss and change answers, to get back 50% of the points on the exam.
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All in all, if you're looking at this review to decide between LS7A lecturers, Pham is a great choice. If you're considering LS7A as a GE, I'm assuming you're not a STEM major. If that's the case, and you don't feel confident in your biology knowledge, I would stray away from this class.

I found this class tough. Dr. Pham seems very nice. However, I don’t think it matters which teacher you have. I didn’t take AP Biology but I took Molecular Biology in high school. If I hadn’t learned most of the material before, I would have done horribly in this class. It is very fast paced and you basically teach yourself everything.

Launchpad and pre-class assignments are so annoying because they’re so long and they contain a lot of information you don’t need to know. Lecture is very confusing. I struggled with the flipped classroom format, especially because it takes so much time, which I don't have.

CLC sessions and discussion sections are very helpful. You learn stuff you need to know for the tests in these sessions that they will not tell you during lecture or on launchpad. Be patient with the LA’s. It may seem very annoying when they don’t give you a straight answer, but they aren’t allowed to give you a straight answer. This approach the LA’s take wastes a lot of time, but make sure you ask them what you don’t know. Having an understanding of processes is extremely important.

There’s no need to memorize anything in this class. The tests are difficult because they try to trick you. It felt like taking the SAT reading section all over again, which I hated. Read the questions on the tests very carefully as they rely on the wording to trick you. Everything is multiple choice. You don't really get to ask for points back in this class.

Overall, I did not like this class. Molecular biology is very interesting, but the excessive amount of busywork and trickery in this class made me very stressed and upset. However, I will try to not let my experience in this class interfere with my opinion on the subject of biology itself.