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.

***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.

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!

Professor Pham is the goat. His accent is a little strong but its easy to get used to. He truly cares about his students and just an overall nice guy.

For Launchpad I recommend taking handwritten notes on the material, it makes the class 10x easier although it may mean having to spend more time doing launchpad.

The tests for this class are kinda tricky but if you know the material well they're very straightforward. The only reason bio is hard is because of the vocab (and taking notes on launchpad will drill that vocab into your head).

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.

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 *************

Pham is hilarious! I loved being in class with him. He is a little slow paced with lectures, which makes preparing for exams difficult. I learned a lot and made a good grade in the class, but I made Bs on all the exams (two midterms and a final). Pham knows what he is talking about and is extremely helpful during office hours.

Yes, Pham has an accent. It's obvious. BUT this in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM HINDERS STUDENT LEARNING. Pham is so nice to his students and stays hours and hours during his office hours so that everyone can ask questions, even the dumb questions. Although, I felt that this course was easier than AP Bio and was less about actually knowing/memorizing information than it was about interpreting graphs and data of provided scenarios. The material in the online Launchpad 'textbook' that costs over $100 isn't really even the main focus of the class, and it's only used to complete weekly practice review questions or practice exam questions (which, may or may not be on Quizlet for your convenience). What you really should study are the clicker question slides and learning objectives that are found in the lecture powerpoints. The exams (2 midterms and a final) are all multiple choice and it's common to get a B or above. As always, the more studying you put into it, the better result you'll receive. Anyway, Pham is very passionate about molecular bio and I definitely recommend him as a professor.

Lifescience 7a was harder than I thought it would be in weird ways. After the first test I felt extremely confident about my grade and understanding of the material however I was really surprised with the grade I got. Pham is a nice professor and he was willing to answer questions in office hours but there were very very limited resources for studying in that class and all he would recommend is studying clicker questions and handouts which again were extremely limited resources. Also there was an extremely heavy amount of homework online through launchpad which could take anywhere from 2-3 hours to finish on a given day. The midterms didn't feel hard but had tons of tricks and extremely questionable wording and the final exam was really challenging.

You'll probably hear a lot of life science majors tell you that the 7 series isn't something you need to stress about, which is fair to some extent, but this is just about my personal experience. I didn't take AP Bio in high school and felt very behind and frustrated during the first few weeks of the course. I did poorly on the first midterm and was pretty discouraged, but I proceeded to work my butt off and I religiously attended professor and TA office hours, as well as the CLC problem-solving sessions (super helpful imo!). Don't be afraid to take advantage of all the resources you have, there's nothing wrong with struggling or needing help. That being said, I did pretty well on the second midterm, but the final was pretty hard. I didn't do great on the final (B-), but with all the launchpad, clicker, and extra credit points, I was able to get an A. Pham is a really sweet and genuine guy - very dadlike if you will - but I honestly didn't feel like he explained a lot of concepts and ideas well. I even went to Maloy office hours with friends because he tended to explain things better. It's all about what you make of it!