As I had both Dr. Braybrook and Dr. Maloy, I will be putting this review under both of their names. (TDLR; Do all (if not extra) prep work before lecture, study learning outcomes/previous classwork, read AOL questions carefully, and do extra credit. Also go to office hours/CLC if you can)

Personally, I found this course's content to be similar to what I learned in AP Biology, which I took junior year. The flipped classroom format just meant that I learned everything in the textbook beforehand and then reviewed it in class. Because of this, I found the homework very time consuming, but I was making my own notes in addition to the reading guides assigned. The lectures were relatively easy to understand because I did that extra work.

Dr. Braybrook and Dr. Maloy both clearly care about their students, and they are also excellent teachers. I can't say much about how they are in a smaller group setting like office hours since I never went (lol), but I do think that they would be willing and able to answer any question. In lecture, their explanation for iClicker questions and content in general always made sense. Clicker questions are quite easy compared to the AOLs, and they aren’t graded on correctness. Discussion sections are definitely helpful, especially if you are confused on something from the lecture, so I’d highly recommend going.

Each of the three AOLs had two parts, the individual score and the group score. In the tests themselves, there were quite a few questions that would be meant to trip you up, but theoretically, you could do horribly in the individual but somewhat well on the group portion. However, the improvement from the group score will definitely depend on who you're working with.

When I studied for tests, I usually started by reviewing iClicker and PALs. Afterwards, I would write out all the learning outcomes needed for the AOL, plus all the necessary concepts needed to answer that outcome. Then I would review the CLC worksheets, recorded review sessions specific to the particular AOL, and any new graphs we learned (this last part definitely helped out a lot). Going to CLC sessions and office hours (which I rarely did) throughout the quarter would probably be very beneficial, so I'd go to those as often as you can.

Grading in this class was a point system that was quite fair (mostly based on AOLs), but take advantage of extra credit so you have some buffer. Hope this was helpful, and don’t worry too much about this class if you need to take it, you’ll be just fine!

I took LS7A with Professor Maloy and Professor Braybrook, who switched off every week. HOWEVER, LS7A is extremely standardized, with every professor teaching the exact same material in an extremely similar way. Thus, the professor you have does not matter as much as other classes.

Maloy and Braybrook are great, they have an amazing chemistry and bounce off one another very well. Maloy also brings his dog Toby to lecture every day so don't take him if you get distracted by dogs easily cough* cough*. Anyways, they teach the material really clearly and help you understand how different processes relate (very important for 7A). Their office hours are REALLY helpful, as they answer your questions and reinforce your knowledge by going over practice problems. These two professors are also unique in that they offer non-content student hours; these can be very helpful if you're new to the university. During these hours, they find a really nice area on campus and talk about things completely separate from the course, including the learning assistant program and how to find research (as well as other things). Having these two professors was a blast, and I'd recommend taking 7A with either of them.

The coursework can be pretty tough if you're new to flipped classrooms. Essentially, you have to learn the material on your own (thus professors don't matter too much), and during lecture, your professor/s will give you practice problems and help connect the dots. It is important to keep on track with the weekly readings and try your best to attend lecture, but this can be difficult with the menace known as Achieve (the textbook). If you are behind, it is not worth it to attend lecture, because the professors do not review the reading in depth.

The course and grading rubric is honestly very fair. There were 2 MCQ midterms (the first worth 12% of your grade and the second worth 16%) and an MCQ final (28% of grade). Exams are asynchronous and you are given a day to take the individual phase of the exam. The next two days is the group phase of the exam, where you will meet up with your group, share answers, come up with the correct answers, and retake the test. The group phase is the exact same test as the individual phase, meaning your group phase score will almost certainly be higher than your individual phases. These exams were not memory based, instead testing our understanding and application, and I think they did a fair job.

Finally, here are my tips for doing well in this course:
1. Understand the content and be able to explain everything.
2. If you're behind on content, skip out on your professor's lecture and attend a different professor's lecture after you've read the material.
3. Do the extra credit! This class gave out 2.8% of extra credit which doesn't seem like much but because of it I went into the final with a grade over 100% and thus took it pretty easily.
4. Don't memorize, understand. Very few questions will ask you to recite a basic fact and most of those questions will provide a diagram that has the information. The exams are about understanding and application.
5. Consider changing lecture/discussion. Put simply, you want to be in a group where you're not the smartest one so someone else can carry you. Don't be afraid to change discussions in the first couple weeks to try and roll for better teammates.
6. Don't take this class during a TA strike because the professors may or may not flake out.

Key things to know:
- LS7A is standardized so if you don't get the professor you want it's not the end of the world. I will say that if I had to choose again I'd 100% go with Professor Maloy because he's good at lecturing and has a really cute dog that he brings to class.
- There are a lot of assignments that do not necessarily take a lot of time but are easy to forget about if you're not on top of things. The points add up, and even if the professors are generous with the grading system, it's good to learn how to manage your time.
- The exams are application based. Review clicker questions and discussion worksheets, attend CLC sessions, and go to office hours. My TA was so so helpful and gave the best advice.
- Do not take this class unless it's a major requirement or you really like Bio.

Maloy was great! Definitely take this class if you could, his lectures are decently engaging.

The professor that you pick for the LS7 series doesn’t matter in terms of difficulty, but they definitely matter in terms of engagement and how likely it is you’ll turn up to lecture. I found Professor Maloy and Professor Braybrook to be engaging, so I tried not to skip lectures (I also had a really good learning pod that I sat with, which definitely helped). The assignments were really easy for this class, but the exams were much more difficult. The first two AoLs were manageable, but the final was unreasonably difficult. The professors also didn’t really reply on Campuswire when students had concerns with the final. Honestly, the professors kind of gave off fake woke vibes with how much they emphasized student mental health but then ignored everybody for a week… but they were still okay I guess.

took this class when both maloy and braybrook were teaching. it was an easy quarter because they changed the grading system for just this class this one time, where it would serve as P/NP but with the letter grades so A/F. you would just have to receive a total of at least 900 out of 1300 available points to receive an A. it took the stress off of scoring really well on exams (still mandatory to take and pass), and emphasized self-learning as there were questions and reading guides to turn in for points.
this class was hard to remain engaged in over zoom so the switch to in-person for lectures and discussion sections was so much more worth it.
professors cared so much about student learning, held office hours about 4x a week and also brought in 2 grad students for "student support times" as well as offered LA Problem Solving Sessions for extra practice on the material.

Honestly, I have no clue why people like this professor. I took this class twice because I failed it the first time. The lectures are absolutely useless, I cannot for the life of me understand why people like them. It is very easy to get lost during lectures and the professor wastes a lot of time. Launchpad is also completely worthless. The first time I took this class I studied the launchpad obsessively and could barely learn anything. The professor issues an absurd amount of homework at seemingly random times, with short due dates. Assignments' weightings are unfair. The extra credit sucks and is not related to the class at all. I went to PLF sessions for this class; they were extremely helpful. They taught me much more than the actual class and lecturer did, shout out to Allison Wang. The discussion sections are pretty good. As far as I can tell, nobody else could grasp much from the class either from either of my learning pods (two total, one per quarter). The exams are extremely difficult with confusingly worded questions, and as far as I can tell there's no way to know whether you got a question right or wrong except for going to office hours afterward.

Professor Maloy is great! For winter 2022, he made LS7A a course such that as long as you pass, you get an A. I can't see how anyone could have failed that class (basically, how anyone could've NOT gotten an A-- literally all you had to do was pass). Launchpad (used for all the LS7 series) is EXTREMELY boring and ridiculous and was my least favorite part. I personally hated how the course followed a flipped classroom structure, but Maloy himself is a good professor and is extremely fun to be around. I'm selling all my notes (in-class and reading notes) for $15! Hmu at ********** if interested

I definitely would recommend this class because it is very well structured if you are into flipped classroom style of learning. The material is very much a review of AP Biology. I took it with Dr.Maloy and Dr.B which was really cool because they would switch off lecturing and pick topics that they were passionate about. It is easy class if you are into Biology.

Take Maloy! I took his class my freshman year and it was great! He is super kind and helpful. This class is also the easiest one of the LS series. There are a ton of extra credit opportunities, and you also have a chance to increase your exam scores. It's almost harder to get an F than it is to get an A on exams. The tests are mostly straightforward and similar to practice problems. But after each exam (2 midterms and a final) you take it a second time with a group, and the 2 scores are averaged together. Super nice!