Honestly Phelan was an awesome professor and the lectures were entertaining to me. However, like always any LS7 class, the work/tests suck. Tests kicked my ass, but I definitely did not study a lot due to mental health issues. I always had trouble deciphering what the question was asking. If you put in some effort you'll do fine in the class, overall.

The content was really boring IMO bc I'm not the most interested in ecology and evolution but the prof managed to keep the lectures interesting and engaging. Attendance was mandatory in lectures through clickers but you could miss two (or have a friend tell you when the clicker questions were). Your enjoyment in the 2-hour lab/discussion is solely based on your TA and classmates. My classmates were mid and my TA was god awful so I dreaded going to discussions. You do get a drop lab though so one free skip. The tests were online on CCLE so they were easy but I probably would not have done as well if they were in person. You also have to buy Launchpad if you didn't already during 7A.

Professor Phelan is a wonderful lecturer. He know how to get the entire class's attention, and keep it. Most of the time the lecture was not boring (obviously sometimes it was bc it's a boring bio class but in general the prof is cool to listen to). The content of the class gets easier towards the end of the quarter, but at the middle of it is when it gets hard (pedigrees and probabilities and that stuff). I went to every single CLC session/ LA workshop and that def helped. Also, you can find a LOT of resources online to help for this class, so use them! I used quizlet to study and that def helped me.

Launchpad though? The most annoying and boring thing ever. You use it for all the LS7 series, it's awful-- for that part, good luck. You can get by most of the time if you just read the highlighted/bold terms, but if it doesn't make sense then def read the chapter.

Professor Phelan is a great professor though so if you can take him you most certainly should, he did study sessions with/for us before midterms and finals-- he cares about his students' understanding about the material. He's a cool guy with cool piercings.

PS: I'm selling all of my notes (from both the readings and the lectures) for $15, so hmu on ********** if you are interested!

I'd like to mention to take the Spring 2021 reviews with a grain of salt. A lot of people were angry and dissatisfied with with course because it doesn't fit into their pre-med track, it's required for 7C which does fit into pre-med, and most people aren't going to go into ecology. The course being online probably didn't help those grievances. I'm not sure how common this is year by year, but the GroupMe was constantly trashing the professor and the course materials. To each their own, but this class was easy and straightforward if you're not going into this class already hating it.
I personally love the topics of genetics, evolution, and ecology so I loved the course material. I'm a junior social science major with almost no science background besides 7A and I managed an A-, so a good grade is really doable. It's so much easier than 7A!!! I can't stress that enough! And 7A material isn't really needed after the first couple weeks. Even then not really.
Class structure is similar to 7A except no group exams, but honestly you don't need it. Phelan is really funny and interesting and he loves this stuff which makes it that much more interesting. His lectures, while lacking in specific detail, told you which sections of the LP readings you should focus on which is KEY.
Labs were fun for me, but again I'm passionate about this topic so I enjoyed it. A lot of people hated it because we had a couple really long labs where we were learning a ton of material on animals and plants. But we were not tested on it!! And the lab grading was very lenient! So it's basically free points!
Overall, pretty easy class, low stress (or rather about the same as 7A but with easier content). Highly recommend this class with this professor.