“You’re never gonna hear ‘The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.’ I will never say that!”
—Professor Phelan

Before I delve any deeper, here is a brief summary of the class: Great professor, somewhat challenging workload, difficult midterm, easier final, fun lecture videos, a moderate amount of group participation, definitely not an easy A class but as long as you read and pay attention to the lectures, you should do well.

Professor: 5/5
Textbook: 4.2/5
Lectures: 5/5
Discussions: 4/5

The Professor
Professor Phelan is great. He is not only passionate about what he teaches, he is also very funny and – dare I say – relatable at times. He is able to break down the most complex biological concepts and make them very interesting and understandable. I was honestly terrified at the beginning of this class because I had a horrible time with AP Bio in high school and I didn’t want to memorize random bits of scientific jargon. But this class was nothing like any biology class I have ever seen. Phelan’s lecture videos were very well-made and surprisingly funny. He also cares a lot about his students and responds very quickly to emails. He knows what it’s like to struggle in school and he comes with a lot of unique life experiences. As much as I enjoyed learning about biology, I also really appreciated how he gave us study tips and strategies for better comprehension. He did a great job of preparing us for the tests. Probably my favorite professor this quarter :)

Was it fun?
Yes: LS15 was such an interesting class. You will learn topics that you had no idea were even connected to biology!

Was it hard?
Yes: This class will give you a decent amount of academic rigor so if you like that, you won’t be disappointed. The hardest part was applying the knowledge during discussions and tests. It was not the hardest class in the world though. If you stay on pace, you won’t fail or anything. Still, don’t expect it to be a piece of pie.

Life value
High: Goes beyond STEM knowledge with many practical life lessons in health, happiness, and relationships.

Highlight
The complete theory of kindness: This is something I still think about in my daily life. It really changed how I view friendships and interact with people.

Topics
Scientific literacy, evolution, natural selection, genetics, DNA fingerprinting, the nervous system, animal behavior, altruism, hormones, nutrition, happiness.

Textbooks
What is Life?
This was the main source of reading material for this class. For a biology textbook, it is written in a very digestible and simple manner. Great pictures and explanations.

Mean Genes
Not required to do well in the class but it is still a very fun read. I would highly recommend it.

Assignments
Discussion board: This was an easy discussion board post due every two weeks or so. We had to answer a prompt in 100-300 words and reply to at least one student. The more replies, the better. Make sure to actually give insightful responses though.

Discussion participation: You don’t have to talk at every discussion section but it is strongly encouraged. The talking points are not calculated for each person. Instead, it is more of a cumulative thing. Try to talk at least once per discussion and you won’t get called on.

Problem Sets: Not really an assignment but something that will help with the quizzes. They picked one question from the problem set and gave us a 20-minute quiz on it. Very chill and easy because you already have the answer.

Problem Set Presentation: We had a small 5-minute presentation on one of the problem set problems. Our group just made a Google Doc and a brief outline. It was very chill.

Debate: Okay, this was worth a massive amount of participation points so it is kind of a big deal. It is not as bad as you think though. The debate is about 30 minutes and your team of three goes against another team of three students. The debate topic is chosen from the syllabus, mostly things related to technology and biology (have humans transcended evolution? is technology good or bad?) You get some time to prepare for what you’re going to say but I recommend starting earlier than later. It was actually very fun.

Midterm: This was honestly very difficult. You have to be able to apply biological concepts, not just memorize. The format is multiple choice and short answer. Phelan does a midterm review session where he explains all the questions you will need to know for the test. I highly recommend going to it because it will really help you out.

Final: Easier than the midterm. He also did a review session for this and it was so helpful! The final wasn’t really cumulative and mostly focused on the latter half of the class after the midterm. It was still decently difficult so don’t expect it to be a piece of pie. Still, much easier than the midterm.

Extra credit: Phelan provides a fun extra credit assignment where you make a music video parody or movie trailer parody about something you learned in the class. He will give you 10, 20, or 30 points based on the entertainment and scientific accuracy of the content. The top 5 videos get 30 points. I highly recommend doing this. It can make a massive difference if you are taking the class for a letter grade. Very fun too.

Thank you for reading :)

Professor Phelan is such a great professor and he will tell you how much he loves teaching this class! This class pushed me to switch my major from Econ to the sciences. Lectures were super engaging and the course material and books are very interesting. This class, however, is not an easy A, you do need to study for the tests.
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I AM SELLING PDF VERSION OF "WHAT IS LIFE W/ PHYSIOLOGY 4TH EDITION" AND "MEAN GENES" Shoot me a quick email: *************

Truly an amazing course with interesting class material and passionate professor. I loved taking this course with Professor Phelan b/c you could just tell he really enjoy teaching about life science. Only thing I have against this course is the grading for midterm and final b/c it felt a bit too harsh.

Disclaimer, if you are looking for an easy A science GE, don't get tricked by the Winter 2021 grading distribution because finals were optional that quarter due to the beginning of Covid, hence the >60% A. Look at the other quarters' distribution and I think it looks fairly obvious that about only about 30% students get at least an A- or higher, which is NOT a good sign for GPA boost.
-Professor: Phelan was honestly an engaging lecturer, even if they were pre-recorded, and really super transparent and got to the point, and even gave pretty good examples.
-Exams: The class consist of a midterm and a final, which wasn't too bad if you've had experience in AP biology or any college bio classes, but the grading was RIDICULOUS. Half the time, I read the comments on my free response and it made absolutely no sense, and arguing for it back doesn't always help. Multiple choice is a little tricky, but I think if you know the lecture, you will be fine... it was just the FRQs grading that pissed me off the most. Our averages were both around a C and C+ for the final, which was pretty wack for a GPA booster.
-Class Layout: This class was a LOT of work consisting of quizzes that were graded super INCONSISTENT and ANNOYING (so you lost points for actually no reason and nitpickiness), a debate + PS presentation, and overall just discussion posts. It was a lot of work for a GPA boost classes, but it's not impossible and difficult work.
-OVERALL: I'm gonna be honest, this class material is pretty moderate/chill to pick up and learn, but the only thing that's really tough is the grading on the quizzes/exams. I recommend take another class if you want it just for the GPA, but the material taught in LS15 is very interesting and you can also get by with the amount of extra credit Phelan provides + he does a slight curve at the end without telling you. Other than that, this class structure was wack af, but the content and Professor is amazing.

Professor Phelan is engaging and the information you learn in this course can be applied to your daily life. His lectures are engaging and organized and I really enjoyed reading his textbooks.

I really enjoyed Professor Phelan's videos, they were always concise and entertaining. However, if you've taken AP Biology, or probably any sort of biology class, the content is going to be very repetitive for you. Because of this, I didn't put in a lot of effort into the class. I got a B- and a B on the midterm and final, respectively, and still got an A, so as long as you score well on the other assignments you should be fine. Not to mention, there is a pretty good extra credit opportunity (up to 30 points of extra credit) if you find yourself in a crisis.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great.

This class definitely did not make me like science. I still don't like science, and this was still just a science GE. However, the workload was pretty light so I highly recommend that you take this class if you need a life science GE.

Professor Phelan is everything you could want for and more in a college prof. After having taken biology several times his was the only class I can truthfully say I enjoyed. He made it very apparent from the get go that teaching this class is his favorite thing to do, and it showed in nearly every aspect of the course. He puts a lot of effort into his lectures, which are awesome and feel less like "lectures" and more like him just talking to you about whatever comes to mind pertaining to the topic. Incorporates many real life examples and stories to make some difficult concepts more accessible. He is very approachable and personable, and is incredibly responsive to emails or questions, even the night before the final. All that said, the workload is not the lightest nor the tests that easy, but if you put in the work you'll get the grade you deserve. Would definitely recommend LS15 if you're looking for a science GE.

Dr. Phelan is the best!! He is a great professor, funny, and very engaging. The class is also very interesting and is an easy A (you don't even have to put in that much effort to do well). Would definitely take Dr. Phelan & this class again!!

PSA: This class is asynchronous besides discussion sections. It's listed as online on MyUCLA, which is why I signed up for it but the lectures are entirely pre-recorded and you won't interact with Professor Phelan outside of the 15-minute weekly introduction he does. I personally didn't like this class because I found the grading to be very inconsistent. Answers that would give me full marks on quizzes would get me marked down on midterms because they would be graded by different TAs. Additionally, you're required to participate in two graded group assignments, one being a problem-set question presentation and the other being a debate, both of which felt a bit ridiculous doing over zoom during COVID. It was stressful trying to reach out and schedule things with my groupmates when everyone is in a different time zone and schedule. The lectures and material were pretty engaging, but even though I studied the textbook and material very thoroughly before the midterm, I felt ridiculously out of my depth. I ended up getting bumped from an A- to an A because of the curve, though. Discussion sections also felt fairly repetitive of lecture material and dragged on forever because they are 3 hours long. This class was a decent way to fulfill the life sciences GE requirement, but I wouldn't recommend it for those who aren't prepared to be at least a bit stressed out.