The thing with the LS7 series is that the curriculum is standardized so it really doesn't matter who you have as a professor and all you do in class is clicker questions; however, I did notice that Maloy's class got to take both midterms a full week after Pham's classes did, despite being at the same pace as we were. Professor Pham was a little hard to understand at times during lecture but when you rewatch the lecture, you can figure out what he was saying. He also doesn't really offer much extra credit and is not the most lenient with Launchpad mishaps. There was an instance where the date some review questions were due was different from the date it said in the title and at least half the class missed those points but he didn't really do anything about it and told us to be more careful and to not miss anymore. Overall, he was an alright professor. I didn't really like his office hours and he didn't really do much to prepare us for the exams but that's the same with most of the LS7A professors this quarter. The discussions for this class were completely useless, all we did were random worksheets that really didn't help much and we finished them a lot in advance but couldn't leave early. The pre-class worksheets helped a lot more in preparation for the exams in comparison. My TA Sean didn't really know what he was doing a good most of the time and therefore, couldn't answer most of our questions without consulting the internet. He also would not let us take notes over what we missed on the exams like the other TAs allowed so I remembered none of what I missed and there was no point in going over my exams when I couldn't even take note of what I did wrong or need to focus on. Our LA was great, on the other hand. Onto the exams, they were definitely not easy. If you did not take AP Biology in high school, prepare to have a bit of a tough time with this class. The exam questions were worded very weirdly most of the time and you have to be really careful while reading the questions. You need to get comfortable with the "if you change this, what happens to this?" type of questions because that is definitely the majority of the exams. I got a C- on the first midterm (this was because my text anxiety was through the roof and I didn't read the questions properly, it was not nearly as hard as the other two) and a C on the second midterm (this one was definitely harder). I studied crazy hard for the final like I legitimately ignored the fact that I had two other finals to study for. I put in almost 100 hours of work into studying for it and got a C+ (almost a B-) on the final, which was above the average. I felt this was easier than the midterms but most people told me it was the same, if not harder, so I feel like the small changes I made in my studying for this class made a huge difference. honestly, i really hated this class so i'm just glad it's over. good luck for anyone taking this class in the future.

Some advice for this class:
- yes, you do have to buy the launchpad thing, you really can't get out of it
- go over the learning objectives on the slides and really make sure you KNOW each one
- understand every diagram/model given to you because i promise it will show up on your exam
- when you're studying, go over the clicker questions and launchpad practice exam questions and understand why the correct answer is correct and why the wrong answers are wrong. don't bother with the launchpad review questions unless you have time.
- videos help a lot with the concepts. you really want to have a good overview of each of the concepts and videos help a lot more than just reading your launchpad notes
- the biggest changes i made in my studying for the midterms vs the final was that i did the pre-class worksheets and i took advantage of campuswire. campuswire was my savior and i honestly wish i had used it much much earlier. it helped so so much and you could find more practice material on it.
- BIGGEST THING: do not lose points on launchpad, the discussion worksheets, or the other assignments we have to do. every point matters and you want to have some wiggle room for the exams. definitely do all the extra credit opportunities given, you think that two points won't make a difference but it can and it will.

Pham is a great professor --he's a sweet guy, very approachable, funny during lectures, and always encourages students. That being said, your success in the class is not very dependent on what professor you have, but rather how hard you study and understand the material. I never really attended office hours, but I did go to the LA workshops where they would give us little worksheets for more practice. (Shoutout to Shawn who was an amazing LA that offered very clear and concise explanations) Also reviewing and UNDERSTANDING the lecture slides, clicker questions, and practice exams helped me the most when preparing for exams.

I like him and I think he's both a good guy and a good professor. But I don't like the time consuming redundant stuffs in LS7A like those reflection videos and mindset control videos.

The homework consists of readings followed by quizzes about the reading. If done in totality it's quite a bit of work, but if you skip the readings and do the quizzes it's hardly any. Doing the readings are helpful in understanding the information, but it's way too detailed with a ton of unnecessary information. Both midterms and the final were challenging because it's a big transition from high school. On top of memorizing the content you really need to understand the connections between concepts because the exams are all about analysis. His lectures aren't super useful in teaching but they do guide you in what to study. For the exams I recommend going over the concepts listed at the beginning of each lecture and watching youtube videos on the ones you don't understand. After going over lecture slides, go over all the clicker questions he posts.

TBH, I feel like the way the LS7 classes are structured makes it so how you do in the class is more dependent on you than your professor. That being said, I sincerely enjoyed being in Pham's lecture this year. He's a nice and laidback teacher who seems to honestly enjoy teaching the subject.

However, in my opinion, doing well in this class is more dependent on you and how you study. I have many friends who tried to memorize everything in preparation for the exams, and I'm telling you now THIS IS NOT THE BEST WAY TO STUDY. Instead, make your studying interactive. Create your own diagrams, questions, go through past exams with other students, make sure you really understand the concepts and how one concept connects to the other. I didn't spend any time making study guides of all the material we learned. Instead, I went through the learning/class objectives and answered those questions instead.

Additionally, a large portion of the grade isn't dependent on exams. Attend lecture and discussion, finish your launchpad questions (some of them can be found on quizlet if you don't have the time to read through all the launchpad–which is lowkey useless in my opinion), and do the unrelated mindset surveys and questions that they make us do for points, SIMPLY BECAUSE THOSE ARE EASY POINTS THAT CAN MAKE UP FOR A QUESTION OR TWO LOST ON EXAMS. Don't get lazy and decide to not go to class or do a five minute mindset exercise, a good grade in this class is easily attainable.

Professor Pham was so amazing!! I would highly recommend taking this class with him, because he cares so much about his students and genuinely wants everyone to succeed. I don't think I've ever heard someone ask a question to which he didn't respond "Excellent question!" He will never be condescending in any way or make you feel bad about being confused. He encourages people to ask questions about deeper understanding and if you have super basic questions because you don't have a strong bio background, he's more than happy to go over those with you as well. His lectures are all slides and iClicker questions, and you get to talk over clicker questions with the people around you before answering. Professor Pham does a great job explaining the clicker questions, and even though he talks fast sometimes, you can totally follow along as long as you stay engaged. The tests in this class were pretty challenging, but very doable as long as you studied hard and went to office hours to clarify any confusions. I gained so much from office hours and Professor Pham really helped a ton when we had questions. Going to all the office hours was a huge reason I did so well in this class, because instead of letting topics that confused me pile up, I got them clarified right away and Pham was always excited to answer questions. Also, Pham is so funny and he cracks jokes throughout lecture that keeps the environment super light. He's such a great professor; I looked forward to this class every week and I would take another class with him again- no question. If you've taken AP Bio in high school, then this class is mostly review for the first half, and the test questions have similar style to AP questions, where it's testing your ability to analyze experiments and hypothetical situations, rather than being memorization based. In fact, you don't need to memorize much for this class because all the diagrams are given on the test. And if you haven't taken AP Bio- don't sweat it! It teaches you all the intro stuff you need to know and as I said, Pham is happy to go over basic questions with anyone who asks. I have many friends who haven't taken gen bio in years and still did fine. Just be prepared to do a ton of work! Launchpad took me about 6-8 hours every weekend to finish. The good thing though is once you get Launchpad over with in the weekend, you have no hwk the rest of the week. Trust me, it's manageable and for me it was a very enjoyable class.

Overall an easy class if you took AP bio in high school as it's basically all of AP bio squeezed into one quarter. Prof is really funny and super nice! People complain about his accent but it's not that bad. The slides are uploaded and the lectures are bruincasted but you need to show up for the clicker questions. 2 midterms, one final, all multiple choice. Midterms were easier than the final in my opinion. Don't worry too much, there are a lot of resources to support you in this course!

Dr. Pham is a great professor! The whole LS7 series is standardized so grading wise it doesn't matter which professor you get. Dr. Pham is extremely sweet and nice though, and it's very clear that he genuinely cares about his students and the subject, and he always makes sure to answer any questions during lecture. Would definitely recommend taking Dr. Pham for this class!

Pham was so cute and cared about his students' learning. People complain about his accent, but it isn't that bad... just pay attention and you'll know what he's talking about.
In general, I don't really like the 7 series, but the class is quite standardized, so don't worry TOO much about the professor. Read lecture slides, skim over Launchpad, DO Launchpad (don't miss out on easy points here), attend lecture (you don't have to pay attention to understand material, but just do the clicker questions), and make sure you really understand the thought processes behind the clicker questions.
I loved AP Bio in high school, but the 7 series will be different lol... regardless, just don't get too overconfident and sleep really well the night before the tests. Don't overthink the tests and don't dwell on challenging questions; go with your gut.
Also, study for the final. I did decently on the midterms but didn't study much for the final and it was significantly harder than the midterms for me. Could have been the difference in material too...

It doesn't really matter who you have for LS7A, as the class is standardized (everyone takes the same exams, has the same assignments, same text, lectures, etc.). So if I were you I'd pick the time that's most convenient rather than going for a specific professor.
The most important thing to remember about this class is that everything you do matters. Go to every discussion, don't miss a single assignment, and don't miss more than 2 lectures (you get two free absences) as there is no curve in the class and there are a lot of "non-exam" points, and you wanna optimize on all of these points since the exam can get quite tricky at times. I wouldn't say the material itself on the exams was difficult, there was minimal memorization and the concepts were pretty easy to understand, but the questions would get quite obscure and the wording was designed in a way to trick you at times. They key to doing well in the class is practice over absorbing material, if that makes sense. You have to get used to the way questions will be framed in exams. So focus on clicker questions and practice exam questions, and I'd also recommend going to the LA review sessions because they give you more questions to practice.
Pham specifically was alright tho. He definitely has an accent but you get used to is pretty quickly so it's not that bad. He's also very nice and willing to help you if you ask him.