I loved this class! The content was super interesting, challenging and I feel like I have learnt a lot from it. Dr. Maloy is an amazing professor. He cares so much about his students it’s crazy. He explains things so well and sparks a great interest in the subject. He also holds a lot of review sessions and office hours, which are super helpful.

While I did enjoy this class, I do have to acknowledge that LS 7A as a class has a lot of issues. To begin with, Launchpad is a horrible resource. While the idea of a flipped classroom is great, Launchpad is just not the resource for it. It gives you so much unnecessary information and is a waste of time. Secondly, I had half the class with Dr. Lin who I learnt nothing from. Thirdly, the exams for this class is quite tough and it can be difficult to know how to prepare for. Of course, you can succeed if you put a good amount of effort and work smart.

Overall, despite certain issues I highly recommend taking LS 7A with Maloy. You can succeed in this class if you focus on the lecture slides, clicker questions and go for office hours and review sessions.

Also shout out to my TA Jensen. This guy was the real MVP of the class. He helped us so much and was honestly even better than Maloy. He is the only reason I survived the Lin period.

Maloy is a great professor! His lectures are engaging, informative, and helpful to review when preparing for his midterms and final. Moreover, he provides a lot of assistance during his office hours. For Maloy's exams, you don't need to memorize anything, just be able to apply the knowledge you've learned in class; you'll be asked many critical thinking type questions. Be prepared, as the LS 7 series courses are inverted classes with your grade based on a point system. Inverted means that you'll learn most of your material on your own through LaunchPad (which make up a significant amount of the points in the class), only coming to class to reinforce what you've read/learned. The points refer to how many points each part of the course is worth out of a total. Make sure to snag the easy points like LaunchPad and discussion participation. Be sure to manage your time and ask Maloy questions throughout the quarter.

I would definitely recommend his class and this professor! I found him to be a clear, concise lecturer and I really appreciated the many review sessions he held before midterms and finals. I would really, really advise people taking his class to take advantage of all the office hours and CLC sessions, both of which are super useful (way more useful than Launchpad) in understanding the material and preparing for the exams. Dr. Maloy offers a lot of these, so if I could go back and do this class all over again, I would probably go to more office hours!

However, like many other students, I found Launchpad and the whole idea of the flipped classroom to be pretty annoying, and oftentimes the material in Launchpad doesn't really correlate with what's being taught in lectures. Launchpad has a lot of extra information you don't really need, and although I took notes on Launchpad at first, it's not super helpful. I would recommend just skimming through Launchpad and only taking a few notes on the most important concepts or on the quizzes.

If you're taking this class with another professors other than Dr. Maloy, make sure to check out the other professor's reviews as well! I took the class with Dr. Lin and Dr. Maloy teaching together, and although I love Dr. Lin as a person, his teaching wasn't the most clear and I had to basically learn all of the second midterm's material on my own.

tl;dr Launchpad isn't important, take advantage of office hours/extra credit, and make sure to check out the second professor's reviews!

This class most definitely was not a breeze. Every week we had several assignments due and readings. The tests were also unnecessarily difficult and it did not matter how much you studied. It did not in any shape or form test knowledge rather it was more about how well you take tests and critical thinking skills. This was most probably why the class was difficult as the tests are unpredictable and every time you come out of the exam you have no idea how well you did. My words of advice is to just try your best and hope things turn out your way. Overall though Dr. Maloy was a great professor and he hosted several office hours/q&a sessions to help prepare for exams.

This class genuinely challenged me, but it was worth all the work that I put into the class. They gave a million resources (LAs, TAs, CLC, CampusWire forum, preclass worksheets (optional), clicker questions, practice exam and review questions, and practice tests on Launchpad). They know that the style of testing is new (it's like similar to the ACT science portions based on diagrams, charts, etc.). The first midterm is weighted way less than the second midterm, knowing that it will be the first test in this style that many students will be taking. There was extra credit and a curve. Prof. Maloy pushed me to work hard and I appreciate it. I think it will push me to work just as hard in my other classes, such as in the rest of the LS7 series!!

This was a deceptively hard class. I thought the material was simple enough but it was difficult to get used to the exam questions (we have 2 midterms and a final). They are application based and kind of weird. However, I put in a lot (a LOT) of time into this class and ended up doing well. Flipped classroom and launchpad suck, go to office hours and CLC sessions to learn the material. If you don’t have to take this class, I’d recommend against it just because it took way more time and effort than I thought it would.

This class is HARDCORE. Taking this class as an incoming freshman, I was immediately made aware of the academic rigor of UCLA. This class is extremely fast-paced and you have to remember so much material it is insane.
Maloy definitely cared about his students and hosted plenty of office hours, especially before midterms and the final. He was very engaging, and whenever he taught the class, I felt like I learned so much. He made 7A kind of bearable.
IIf you want to survive this class, make sure to always stay on top of it, and attend office hours!!! The exams are monsters so make sure you really study your ass off.

Like everyone has said, Launchpad sucks! It's $105+ for the access code and a complete waste of money. However, you must purchase it because almost 1/3 of the class points come from Launchpad activities. It is extremely time consuming and expect to spend 3+ hours a night on homework. The two midterms and final aren't even based off Launchpad, so don't expect your hard work to pay off. They are application questions that are worded weirdly and are extremely hard to answer. Attendance to both lecture and discussions are mandatory. Lectures are solely clicker questions (you do need a clicker for the class that's about $50) and you don't learn any material, just review what you briefly learned through Launchpad. Overall, Maloy was a great professor. He was super enthusiastic during lectures and had a ton of office hours to assist students. He is genuinely one of the best professors you'll have at UCLA and you can tell he's passionate about teaching but is constrained by the format of the LS7 series. If you don't have to take this course for your major, DON'T, it definitely isn't an easy GE. But if you do have to, try to take it with Maloy.

Maloy really cares about his students and often holds really helpful office hours. If you are not understanding the material, I HIGHLY recommend going to office hours to ASAP because the class is pretty fast paced and it is easy to fall behind. Though this class was a lot of work, Maloy made it really engaging and interesting. But if it's not required for you, honestly take another easy GE.

Maloy is awesome! I am really into the course material and the flipped classroom setting allow me to think of more problems and do more online research about the details. Maloy also tells about many interesting researches and applications.

We are seated according to discussion sections making it easy to form stronger bond, and I am very glad to meet so many great people!!

The exams are kinda hard compare to homework practice questions. I think the main trick is to go to all of the 4 office hours before the exam weeks. Even you don't have questions, Maloy always comes up with very 'interpretive' practices that allow you to connect knowledges across chapters.

For TA, I am very fortunate and super grateful to have Liz. She makes the sections very interesting and clear and knows the concepts very well.

One last note: don't put in way too much time in the class, or your other courses may not have good grades. Ask questions instead of stuck on them all the day.