Jay Phelan is an amazing lecturer. I always enjoyed going to his class and it was often enterntaining. You definitely need to to the textbook readings, since the content is not always covered in sufficient detail in class. It is a lot of reading but it is necessary for the tests. The TAs grade quizzes and short answer questions pretty harshly, and you need textbook definitions for those. Other than that, the tests weren't too hard as long as you study. Not many assignments otherwise, workload is pretty manageable. Lecture attendance is not mandatory, but discussion attendance is. I would recommend Jay Phelan if you have to take this class, but there are definitely easier GEs, so I wouldn't take it if it wasn't required for my major. He did curve the class at the end, so even though I got a 77% on both the midterm and final, I ended with an A because I kept up with all the other assignments.

Great professor! He truly makes class so engaging. TAs, however, are not the best. Tests and quizzes are graded very particularly, but overall the material is interesting and clear. Would take again

Honestly would not recommend taking this class as a GE. While I was able to get an A+, I had to put in way more work than I expected. The grading for quizzes is harsh. There is a lot of reading that was assigned but not helpful to the actual content of the course. The tests were really hard and the curve was pretty bad considering this is a GE. While the content is pretty intresting, if you are looking for an easy A to fulfill your GE credits, look else where. Don't mess your GPA up.

I didn't take any AP science class in high school except for physics and lowkey dreaded taking this class as a result, but I'm so glad I did! Professor Phelan is a phenomenal professor and makes the class so interesting and fun. The material was super fascinating to learn, and I found myself just quoting random statistics to my friends from the course. The quizzes were manageable as long as you memorized the problem set answers. I got a pretty low score on my debate, but it didn't even matter in the end for my final grade, so don't stress too much over it. I definitely recommend looking at test banks for studying for the midterm & final: the midterm & final had a lot of overlapping questions from previous years, so it was super helpful to look at earlier tests. The midterm was super light; as long as you go to the review session (or at least listen to it) and review your notes, you'll be fine. For the final, I think I spent around 7 hours studying for it, but in hindsight that wasn't that much lol. I just made sure I could answer every question Professor Phelan went over in his review session. Even if you're not a "science" person, I still think this class is super interesting and important to take, and you'll definitely learn a lot of useful information!

i LOVED this class. i took it for a GE req and it ended up helping me realize my major at the time wasn't meant for me and i transferred to psych. phelan is a super funny and engaging lecturer and the content is really fun, it's like a combination of biology, chemistry, and genetics. courseload is a decent amount so you have to stay on top of it. do the readings before lecture, worksheets, and in general just stay on top of your work and you'll do fine, i could've gotten an A- if i had tried a little bit harder honestly!

Very engaging professor, my TA Charlotte was incredible. I really learned a lot and would totally take his class again. Even as a non-science major, I really enjoyed the class and felt the content was easily digestible. Make sure to make flash cards and use the text book practice exams, also make sure to use all of the files placed in the home page!! :)

Overall, this was a great class. One of the most interesting classes I've taken. Professor Phelan is a great lecturer that really loves the subject and keeps students engaged. However, this is not an easy A GE like some people claim it is. There is a ton of content, and a lot of it is memorization. Some of it is fun, and some of it is very sciencey. There are 4 quizzes, some discussion boards, a midterm and a final and an opportunity for an extra credit video (only reason I got an A). Overall, I'd recommend taking this class because I learned a lot of interesting things. Also, the TAs can be very stingey. (One of them took off points on the midterm, when I argued my answer was correct, she agreed and then found another reason to keep the points off and then ghosted me.)

I really liked this class!!! The topics were really interesting ranging from DNA fingerprinting and genetics to nutrition and much more. This class definitely kept me curious and interested in my learning. Professor Phelan is a great teacher, very welcoming, and helpful but, the midterm and the final are tough exams. They tend to go more in depth on what is said in lectures and the textbook, needing to be specific with terms and names.
We would also get problem sets (worksheets), every week or every other week which later we would get quizzes based on 1 question chosen by our TA's. I wished that we would've gotten some type of credit for completing these worksheets. There wasn't really a difference compared to students who didn't do them so even a few points would've been nice to get.
A good thing is that their extra credit opportunities such as replying to discussion posts leaving a thoughtful comment and making a video at the end of the quarter about a topic that was covered in class.
To do well in the class, you really need to put in time and effort, going to office hours, reviewing notes, drawing diagrams, and studying with others.
Overall, it's a really interesting and rewarding class and the professor is really nice and willing to help us succeed in his class. The midterm and final were hard, but the material covered is great and Professor Phelan is an awesome professor

Let’s turn back time to a little over a week ago: it’s December 8th, 2025 and I am genuinely about to lose it over this class. About a month ago I’d gotten a 77% on my midterm (which was actually above average), and I’d just received the lowest possible score on what was supposed to have been a very generous extra credit assignment (10 points, when I could have gotten up to 30). I had showed up to lecture a grand total of 4 times that quarter, making a note to watch the recorded lectures but never really did. At this point it’s approaching 2am and my calculations tell me I need a 99% on the final to get an A (93%). There was just so much content to cram for and I’d only given myself about 3 days to cover all of it. I accepted my fate and went to bed.

Flash forward to after the final. I’m feeling fairly confident about the test, as entire FRQs had been recycled word for word from the previous year’s exam. We were also given 2 extra credit points just for drawing our favorite sea creature on the back of the test. Still, I knew getting an A was well beyond reach.

But guess what? One week later I’m here jumping with joy because I somehow secured an A in Jay Phelan’s LS15. I just tallied up the points myself and realized I’d gotten about 88% raw grade. I got a C on both the midterm and the final, gotten a 10/30 on the extra credit, a disappointing B on the debate which I thought I’d demolished… but with that crazy curve I still snagged that A. I barely put in any effort in going to class (besides discussion which was mandatory), didn’t watch lectures until that last stretch before the final…. but anything is possible when the goat Jay Phelan is your professor.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

I will say though that this course is NOT EASY BY ANY MEANS. DO NOT take this class expecting a cakewalk….

DO NOT cram for this class like I did. You will have a very hard time during finals week. Simply dedicating just 2-3 hours a week for this class WILL save you a lot of future trouble.

If you have an existing foundation in Bio or Psych you WILL succeed. Luckily I’d taken Ap Bio and Psych and high schools and received a 5 on both exams, so some of the content (ONLY Some, about 15%) was review for me.

BE ATTENTIVE to Phelan’s definitions. Your current understanding of evolutionary fitness from high school biology may be very different from Phelan’s definition. Unfortunately, TAs are very adamant about accurately using Phelan’s definitions, so try to memorize them as best you can.

Unless you really need supplemental help, FORGET THE TEXTBOOK. It will be of absolutely no help to you unless you want extra practice problems. Almost everything Phelan tests on can be found in lectures.

DO ALL THE PSETS. These weekly psets will make or break your grade. Although you are given questions in advance for your weekly quizzes, it is not uncommon for you to get about a 60% on some of these. Your lowest grade will be dropped, but try to put as much effort into these as possible. Review your PSET answers right before the quiz and you should be set.

TAKE NOTES on Phelan’s illustrative examples. He litters many of them throughout lectures and you must have a clear understanding of them. Otherwise you will get hit with a question about the Sauce Bernaise phenomenon and have no idea what he’s referring to.

I went to office hours 2-3 times before the exams to get clear cut explanations from my goat TA, Samiksha Deme. She is a strict BUT overall fair grader and knew how to explain concepts very well. I felt very comfortable in her sections and didn’t miss a single session.

LOOK AT PAST EXAMS. Phelan WILL reuse and take past mcqs / frqs and regurgitate on the final exams.

GO TO HIS REVIEW SESSIONS. He will tell you everything you need to know for the final and midterm. This is especially useful for crammers like me.

TRYHARD THE EXTRA CREDIT. Do NOT rely on anything besides your own creativity for this project, which will be a bio-themed parody or skit. Genuinely give it your all for this video, you never know how it could save you. If you’re doing a musical parody, make SURE it doesn’t get copyrighted when you upload it to YouTube.

Finally… TAKE THIS CLASS. Phelan is such an interesting and hilarious lecturer that it lessened the stress of cramming. Take this class, GO to lecture, pay attention, and an A is guaranteed.

omg so so good. i'll keep this short bc there's already so many great reviews and if you've read them, i'm sure you're not worried about this class. but if you still are, let me be the one to TELL YOU. zon't worry. this class is so slay. professor phelan ate. also what a fun class. okay now that you decided to take the class, let me warn you. you might get a lower grade on the midterm than you'd hoped. NO WORRIES. study hard for the final. you can fail the final (i did) and still pass the class with an a-. as long as you did all the extra credit. anyways this man is sent from the heavens and this class is not bad AT ALL do not worry. ps u don't have to read the book ever. don't stress about the debate it'll be fine (we prepared the night before). i didn't go to class as much as i should have and just uploaded the transcripts of the recordings to notebook lm and had it create a comprehensive study guide for me. worked like a CHARM but i also failed the tests so like?? did it really
anyways yeah