Professor Manson was great. He was clear and gave us a fair chance to do good on his exams. I took this class as a freshman when I still didn't know time management so I would always try to complete and study the study guides only a few days before the exams. Bad idea. The study guides are long and require in depth answers but complete it with a friend, quiz each other, and you should be fine. The exams were exactly like the study guides. Of course not everything was covered which made it stressful when studying. For example, you got 50 study guide questions but only 25 would be on it. So study EVERYTHING on the study guides. If i had studied on time, i definitely would have gotten a much better grade.
Selling the textbook:
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It's pretty expensive. $160 New at the UCLA store. Selling for $100 flat. That's less than the used price in store. It's basically in brand new condition. Doesn't even look like it's been used cuz let's be real. As a freshman I didn't think it would be necessary but it definitely is.

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Professor Manson was super helpful inside and outside the class. He posted his slides, the class was Bruincasted, AND he gave in depth study guides for all of the tests. Nothing appeared on the tests that wasn't on the study guide. Discussion was mandatory and there were little homework assignments every week, but as long as you tried the TA pretty much gave you 100%. Super easy class and actually really interesting. I'd recommend going to his office hours, he's a really fascinating guy. He doesn't give extra credit and his tests aren't curved, but the grade cut off for an A is like 85%. You'd really have to try to do bad in this class. I wish I could take this class with him again.

As HBS taking this class for my major (I'm a 3rd year), this was by far one of the easiest, and most engaging classes I have taken. Professor Manson is clear with his lectures, especially since he gives out study guides with questions that explicitly frame the content needed to study for the exams. I have yet to see a professor who has written up such study guides for a class.
The textbook is helpful in not only presenting the material in a different way, but also giving further examples for the concepts Professor Manson presents in class. He is a great lecturer, gives apt examples, posts his slides online, and is a very fair professor. One concept in class, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, is even taught in a way to encompass students coming from all sorts of backgrounds - those in south AND north campus.
If you need help, go to your TAs or his OH. His OH are often empty, yet so welcoming not only to questions regarding the course, but also questions expanding on anything related.

He gives a study guide before each midterm and the final. THERE IS A PRE-SET CURVE AT 84%. I'm really not sure why Prof Manson has such bad reviews, the class was pretty easy if you studied and took notes. Very interesting also. Do the study guides and give yourself a couple days to study and you'll be fine. Just need to be very specific/detailed on tests/ make sure to study the fossil charts. You have 2 online quizzes each week (worth 5% of your grade) where you can keep answering questions until you get 100%. Section attendance/participation/homework is worth 15%. So you have a pretty easy 20%. Midterms are worth 25% each (there are 2) and final is worth 30%. Overall, not a hard class and the professor is really nice.

selling loose leaf text for $30. **********

Honestly dont take this class unless it is required for your major. This professor made the class unnecessarily hard for no damn reason. I am a human biology pre major and although i was able to do well in my other classes my lowest grade came from his class. Midterm is HARD ASF and its 40% of the grade long answer short answer and multiple choice. Final is the same but longer. They take off points for almost everything its bad. there are quizzes every week online and its worth 5% of the grade and then the rest of the points is for discussion which you have to go to to turn in homework. Do not take this class with this professor trust me it went from my easy A to my hardest class

This class, both the lectures and subject matter, were boring but easy. The lectures were just a regurgitation of the textbook, and while organized and clear, they weren't super engaging. A lot of the material was evolution, so take this class if you're interested in learning about evolution for the millionth time. Also we talked a lot about all the different kinds of monkeys, which was less interesting than you would think.

This class was way harder than it needed to be. His lectures are extremely boring. Take this class with another professor. Trust me.

This class was not that bad. My favorite parts were the homework assignments that had all the answers online (just Google the question and it'll come up) and the fact that he used Bruincast. I was able to put off this class in favor of other non-GE classes the whole quarter, except 5th week and finals week. Some of the stuff is extremely dull and other parts are pretty interesting, but nothing too hard. I do think the tests were graded kind of harshly, but the scale for final grades is generous. I got 78% on both the midterm and the final, 100% on the discussion and got an A-. I would recommend answering every single question on his study guide with a paragraph, because everything on there is fair game for the tests. He is extremely approachable in office hours, just don't expect to have anything regraded. The class is not bad, just a LOT of memorization.

Prof. Manson is super nice & knowledgable; it is clear that he cares about this subject as well as his students. However, it was a definite struggle to pay attention throughout each and every lecture. I printed the slides beforehand and jotted down some notes as he talked. I'd say either go to lecture or read the textbook; if you do at least one you will be good.

Most helpful tip: put all your energy in the study guides when studying for the midterm and final (he tells you what lectures and textbook page numbers to look at for the answer to each). I spent hours answering each question with at least a paragraph. The tests themselves seemed sooo easy after putting so much effort in the study guides