***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.

We stan Dr. Pham, the sweetest professor I've ever had! Extremely accommodating exam windows (open 36 hours), ample practice materials (he uploaded exams from every quarter/year as old as 2004 when this course was still LS4! although you'd be better off practicing from later exams after 2016 bc the material and exam format aligns better) and SO MUCH extra credit PER exam (yes, not just once, but per exam!!)!

class is taught like the typical flipped classroom in the LS7 series where you watch pre-lecture videos and do reef clickers during lecture time (graded on participation, not accuracy). even if you hated 7B (like I did lol), give genetics another chance because the material here is a lot more straightforward and Pham does a wonderful job of explaining the material. he always reminds us that we're all here to learn and help each other, and always takes his time to go through each concept thoroughly to ensure no one is left behind :") no one ever tells u "no question is a dumb question" once u get to higher education but Dr. Pham always says that and it's really reassuring even if it's a simple gesture haha

courseload felt pretty light imo: we had pre-lecture videos per week along with a pre-lecture quiz (~13 total because he added more so that we can drop more scores, ended up only counting your 7 highest scores, weekly quizzes (9 total, 2 lowest dropped), weekly discussion worksheets (no submission necessary, just attend discussion for participation credit), two midterms and a final.

MT1 avg ~91% (gave us 5 pts extra credit opportunity though post-exam quiz), MT2 avg ~81% (initially 6 pts ec quiz, but then created an additional 5pt ec quiz just bc we asked for more during lecture) and final (idk the avg but 10 pts ec quiz). MT1 and 2 was 40 questions in 2 hours, and the final was 50 questions in 3 hours. I felt pressed for time during MT2 but generally the material was easy to understand as long as you put in the effort to do the weekly discussion worksheets and practice exams (practice exams were especially handy for the final, so make sure you take advantage of the plethora of old exams he releases and study ahead of time)!

if I could take this course again, I would, simply just to have Dr. Pham as a professor again. he's really nice, you won't regret taking the class with him! :D

This class was one of the easiest classes I took at UCLA! The exams in this class are doable, and professor Pham gives lots of extra credit opportunities which is very helpful. The lectures were some times confusing, but as long as you go to the discussions, and understand how to do the problems you can easily get A.

ill preface with: dr. pham, if you read this, you are AS good, if not more!, of a person as your brother!

dr. pham was thorough, respectful, and an exceptionally kind professor. he would make time to answer ALL of our questions, send in extra recordings of slides he couldn't get to, and hold extra office hours just to help us out. although he's bound by LS7 series standardization, i really did enjoy my time in his class.

attending lecture is required. launchpad is hell. the ls7b labs are tedious and long for no reason at all. i felt like i was completing a 2nd grade worksheet.

this class was graded on a points scale out of 782 points.
midterm one: 120 points, 8 points extra credit
midterm two: 120 points, 8 points extra credit
discussion: 135 points (15 points each section worksheet, you can lose up to 15 points and get 100%)
iclicker: 72 points (4 points each lecture, you can miss 2 lectures and get 100%)
launchpad: 45 points (5 points each week, can lose 5 points and get 100%)
pcrq from launchpad: 45 points (same as above)
peq from launchpad: 45 points (same as above)

there were 32 points of extra credit.

He is very enthusiastic about teaching this class and is very helpful when answering questions. Overall I really enjoyed having him as my professor for this class!

Professor Pham is soooo amazing. I love him so much. He makes the cutest jokes and feels comfortable to talk to his students about his life and he makes little silly comments that break down the formal walls between students and professors. He is an amazing professor and will answer literally every single question asked. His exams are insanely easy. I almost wish the class was a bit more challenging than it was, considering the first five weeks was just review from LS7B. But as a professor, Pham is the way to go.

Dr. Pham is very nice and does a good job covering the material! He always sent us emails reminding us of assignment due dates (which saved me multiple times). the labs for 7b kind of suck and are long and annoying, but that isn't Dr. Pham's fault since he isn't really in charge of course design.
He does a good job covering the material, but he ran out of time for slides every week. We kind of got stuck in this awful cycle: He'd run out of time, so he'd post a recording of the remaining slides. But then in class next week, he'd go over those slides anyways in class. But honestly, I prefer that to him rushing through slides, since he always explained the clickers and concepts well.
(and Gabi is an awesome TA)

The material covered is very interesting, but the pacing and the flipped classroom model is very tough with no A-levels/AP background in biology. I would highly recommended trying to get Maloy he is very composed and engaging as a lecturer I would sometimes do the Pham clicker questions then attend Maloy's lecture and found it clearer. Pham is a very nice person but not the clearest teacher even if he insists you stop him to ask questions that obviouslt doesn't quite fit the format of a 400 person lecture. Overall the lecture is porbably the least important part of this class, try not to fall behind on launchpad (easier said) and attend discussions and you should be fine regardless of who you get.

I got an A+ in this class, so what else is there to say? Hung Pham is the goat. Take Genetics with him!