After reading the reviews for this class, I was so excited to take this class because I saw two recurring comments from student reviews: dummy easy science GE and a life changing course. To be completely honest, neither are true in my opinion. The reviews made this class seem like I would have a profound change in my life just from taking this class. The lifestyle assessment was pretty impactful though. This project has you record the foods you eat for the week in an online nutrition journal that gives you a detailed summary of your vitamin/mineral/fat intakes. From there, you make recommendations on how you can improve your health. However, the large bulk of the class, the lectures, the labs, the readings etc. were just about standard physiology. Let my clarify, this IS NOT a bad thing, it was just something I wasn't expecting because the reviews online made the class seem like it would be something else. I really enjoyed this class, despite it being different from what I expected. It was a dumbed-down physiology class for non STEM students that rarely even talked about diet or exercise. We talked about things like body systems, lipid/carb/protein absorption and digestion, and lifestyle diseases. I thought the class would have more practical, everyday type knowledge other than textbook knowledge. I totally recommend this class to anyone who might be interested in these topics. I feel like this is a more accurate depiction of the class (at least how the class is during covid). Another misleading part of the reviews was the easiness of the class. The class definitely was not insanely difficult by any means, but reviews made it seem like I could close my eyes while taking the final and still get 100%. I actually had to put effort into studying so I could maintain an A. You can only lose like 34 points out of 490 to still get an A. After week 5, I had already lost like 22 points. Multiple choice questions are typically worth 2-4 points each and these tests make up 200 points. The multiple choice questions were also stupidly or vaguely worded, so I lost stupid points over poorly structured questions. Luckily, esdin made the project, final, and last quiz very very easy. Some people also said esdin was really unaccomodating for students. Apparently he wouldn't let kids retake quizzes even if they had power outages during the ten minute window for taking the quiz, so some people instantly lost 15-20 points. I never emailed him or had any sort of electronic issue, so I don't have anything I can personally say. For anyone who made it this far, I'd recommend this class. The class was sometimes frustrating, but it was pretty interesting and not the hardest GE in the world.

Honestly I am astounded. Even though I am a first year, I have so much respect for Professor Edsin. He did not let the transition to remote learning and the BLM movement effect his ability to educate and his humanity. He genuinely cares for the wellbeing of his students (which aligns with the subject he teaches)- both physically, mentally, and emotionally. STEM prof are often a win or loose situation, he is undoubtedly a win. I've taken basic anatomy classes before, and so the topics of the lectures were interesting to me. The class comprises of Labs, Lecture quizes, Lab quizes and a final project. All of which were quite easy and were geared to accomodate for your self benefit and health (yes, it is an easy A). Edsin's character exemplifies what it means to be an educator and what true academica stands for. It would be a mistake to not take this class.

Summary: became smarter, became healthier, got a GPA boost, and had an amazing human being as a professor

If you don't have any GEs that are interesting to take, TAKE THIS CLASS. Professor Esdin is really helpful and talks to his slides in a consistent manner. Make sure to attend class as iclicker and attendance counts for your grade. His assignment breakdown is as follows:
-Exam 1 (online on Canvas): 100 pts
-2 Lecture Quizzes: 40 points
-3 Lab Quizzes: 45 pts
-Attendance and Participation in Lab: 25 points
-Attendance Lecture: 40 points
-Lifestyle Project Assessment: 100 pts
-Final Exam: 100 pts
-Mandatory eval: 6 pts
-2 extra credit survey: 3 pts
Total pts: 459/456 pts

Make sure to start the final project early and don't procrastinate pls :sob:. Also, I recommend to make friends before or during this class to help pay for the textbook and be each other's support for reviewing the exams and the Iprofile Nutrition program ($100 for both :skull:).
As for the exams, they are easy to follow and all of the questions are MCQs and most of them can be found throughout the slides and your notes. Anyways, this class is an easy GE :D

***COVID-19 REVIEW***
I recently took PHYSCI 5 with Dr. Esdin and had a very positive experience! Dr. Esdin is an incredibly passionate instructor. His extensive knowledge about the course material is evident. He does a great job verbally breaking down the content into simpler ideas by repeating key points in lectures and coming up with helpful analogies. The required course reader is basically an outline of the recorded lectures, but it does cover some specific ideas that aren’t mentioned in lecture, so I would suggest you read it and take notes on those points in case they pop up on a quiz.

I feel that Dr. Esdin structured the class very well because although the class was asynchronous, you couldn’t actually fall behind; we basically had a 12 hour window to watch the lecture each day and take the participation quiz which kept me accountable. Those quizzes were easy points, so as long as you take good, detailed notes on the lectures, you’ll never miss a question.

In terms of the grading in this class, points were distributed among smaller assignments. We had the daily participation quizzes, 5 lecture quizzes, 5 lab quizzes, a midterm, a final, and the lifestyle project. This definitely decreased my stress levels and made sure that I took the time to master the material. The phrasing of the questions on the lecture quizzes and the midterm were a little subjective/misleading at times, so I feel that was the reason why I lost points, not because the material was difficult. The lifestyle report is easy, but very tedious. I’d recommend not waiting until the last minute to start it.

In terms of the bi-weekly lab sections, I had Alice as a TA and she was great! She did a nice job explaining concepts that would be tested on lab quizzes and giving feedback before turning in the lifestyle report.

Overall, I believe that PHYSCI 5 will end up being one of the most relevant courses I will ever take at UCLA. Dr. Esdin is an awesome professor who really cares about his students. Getting an A in this class is totally doable if you put in the work. More than anything, the class will change your outlook on diet and exercise for the better.

This was such an easy class to fulfill the life science GE. It's basically like ninth grade bio but easier. Professor Esdin is so considerate of the current time, and clearly just wants people to learn something from his class. There are weekly quizzes, the lowest one was dropped, and a final project which takes in total about 4ish hours, but if you spread it over the quarter it should be fine.

Pros:
Very doable, no homework, tests are not proctored, slides are helpful, but not posted.
Lecture participation quizzes are easy and keep you from falling behind. Exams are multiple choice, and information is easily found in the course reader/lectures.

Cons:
You have to buy iProfile and the course reader which are kind of pricey, and iProfile pretty much sucks. I'm not even sure it works right because according to my diet analysis I'm deficient in everything and should basically be dead. But that's beside the point.

If you have any interest or background in nutrition and/or exercise, this class will feel pretty boring. The information is pretty common knowledge in my view, so I'm not sure if all the people who said this was life-changing just didn't take biology in high school or needed a refresher. Still, would take again, as it was reasonably interesting enough and an easy A.

Selling fall 2017 course reader along with the workbook and iProfile, text me for pricing **********

I hated 7B so much, but this class was infinitely better. It was interesting, and the first 7 weeks were really fun to learn about. I loved my TA Zac, and my discussion was small, so we were able to ask questions and dive deeper into the material. The LA CLC sessions are also super helpful, so I definitely recommend.
As always, Launchpad is annoying, and only slightly helpful. To study, I made one page study guides for each chapter and went over clickers. For each test, I studied the night before and it was sufficient.
My class was joint with Cooper, and he wasn't as engaging as Esdin, but still a good professor.
I believe our class was curved by 1% which bumped me up a grade.
Overall, I would recommend these professors, but as we all know your professor doesn't matter much for the 7 series.

I felt this class was a little misleading. Content was basically biology, very boring and the only real physiology component was the project which actually was interesting. Professor is a nice guy but the questions on all the daily quizzes, biweekly quizzes, midterm, and final were awfully worded. Felt I understood all the material but constantly had to guess on all the vague questions. Class is overall manageable and a light workload, just not interesting and annoying based off the questions.

I didn't even need the GE credit, I just took it with my roommates for fun, and it turned out to be a great life decision. If you have a light quarter and can fit some extra learning in, this could be an auspicious investment in your health, giving you a basic toolbox to help you eat healthier and exercise more. For instance, I now find myself able to parse nutrition labels on random foods and snacks, opting for the ones I know will be better for me in the long run, and it feels good to be able to make these kinds of informed decisions.

Tips n tricks:
- Lectures are recorded, but you can miss up to six or so classes before you get participation points deducted. You should go to lecture anyway because Prof. Esdin is pretty engaging.
- No homework, just the occasional online quiz. Review the material and you'll do well. Same for the online midterms/final, which are just longer quizzes.
- Lab/discussion attendance is tracked, it's usually only an hour, not the allotted two hours.
- There's an overarching "Life Assessment Project" that, if you put a bit of effort in, will help you make better decisions about your long-term diet and exercise habits. It's not hard, maybe a little tedious. Fun to do with friends.

Prof. Esdin is an inspiring dude for sure. He puts into practice the content that he teaches and is very kind and compromising to his students. Overall this course is probably one of the most enjoyable, useful GE's you can take at UCLA.

So, you don't know what class to take. Its been 20 minutes now and you're still scrolling through bruinwalk wondering:
"Whats a FUN GPA BOOSTER?"

This one! It's easily the easiest class i've taken thus far and, here's why:
(1) The content isn't very difficult-- the most difficult thing you will be given is a project, a project where you must assess your own health. Yes, it's kind of boring but, truth be told I did it in 3 days lol. Nonetheless, you're probably wondering: well, how are the tests tho? My friend, the tests are essentially given to you if you just: (1) Go to the lectures and, (2) take the quiz at the end of each chapter of the course reader -- I kid you not, some of those questions will be reworded on the exam. So, I recommend just finding someone to do these with so you get that A+.

(2) He genuinely cares for students in his class. This guy actually noticed who and when students did and did not go to class, he wasn't mean at all about it, in fact made a few jokes about it :P Furthermore, if you are taking this class because you are genuinely curious about how to be healthy, I guarantee he will take the time to hear you out and answer any questions or concerns regarding your or your loved ones health.

(3) This class is about how to be healthy. Regardless of where you came from, what you believe in or who you are, you are bound to have some questions about how to be healthy. This class answers those questions. This is easily the only class where memorizing a lot of the content is actually useful as it will literally help you and your loved ones all throughout your life.

So, it's up to you to choose whether or not to take this class. Regardless, have a wonderful day and, if not: life.