Read the textbook and you'll be fine. I feel that she based it mainly on the textbook. To be honest I didn't really pay attention in lecture, but I got an A from just studying the textbook.

I just had Professor Johnson for LS3 Fall Quarter 2014.

I came into this class expecting it to be extremely hard, so I wasn't too surprised. It's not a terrible class, but just SO much memorization and comprehension of difficult concepts.

The first thing you should know about Johnson is that she DOES NOT CURVE. At all. She grades on a completely straight scale, which I found a little surprising, considering the difficulty of the course.

The average for the first midterm was a 78%.
The average for the second midterm was a 76%.
The average for the final exam was a 70%.

The thing that REALLY saves your grade in this class was her clicker questions, homework, and participation in discussion sections.

For her clicker questions, I recommend sitting near smart friends. Sorry, but it's the truth. Her questions are pretty tricky sometimes and they're graded for accuracy, not for participating. So you actually have to get the questions RIGHT to receive credit for them. So don't be afraid to ask around or use your laptop to look up the right answer, it'll help you out. If you ask around or sit near smart friends, it's not too difficult to get a 100% on your clicker questions for the quarter. And it's important to get that 100% because clicker questions are worth about 11% of your final grade in the class!

For her homework, she uses MasteringBiology, an online system that assigns multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions. I personally thought the MasteringBio was pretty difficult. I did it with my friends and also utilized the internet quite a bit, so I was actually able to get a 100% in that category too. Definitely use whatever resources you can! It's not timed, but you do get marked down for every time you answer incorrectly, so check with friends and be certain before you click submit. It's not too difficult if you utilize resources and take it seriously. It ended up being worth about 13% of your grade in the class!

For participation, you literally get 100% credit for just showing up to your discussion section. So show up! And that's worth 8% of your grade, kind of a lot!

For my specific case, I got 100% in the clicker, discussion, and homework categories. My scores on the midterms were 74% and 78% and my score on the final was a 74%. My strategy for the exams was to just rewatch every single lecture for that section. That's all I did, and I got decent scores (slightly above class average). My final grade in the class: B.

My recommendations:
- rewatch all lectures before exams
- do ANY extra credit or optional credit that is offered (she'll sometimes look at optional work if a student is on the border between two grades)
- take clicker questions seriously
- take homework assignments seriously
- show up to discussion sections

It might seem kind of intimidating to take LS3 uncurved, but it really isn't terrible. Her general rule of thumb is that whatever grades you average on the midterms and final, you'll get about one entire grade higher if you do well on the clickers, homework, and discussion. So if you average a C in your midterms and final, you can get a B in the class. Or if you average a D in your midterms and final, you can get a C in the class.

Not a bad professor. I feel like I learned a lot and I'm happy with my grade, considering how difficult the class is!

Best of luck!

This was a challenging class, but it was completely worth it. About 3 people got A+s in the class, but still- the class was absolutely amazing. She is an amazing lecturer, and you WILL feel lost in the beginning. Push through to the middle of the course, and you'll see why people are exalting Professor Johnson for her brilliance. I loved this class, and would take it again in a heartbeat. Amazing class.

Yes, she was difficult, but that shouldn't stop you from taking this class. She is fantastic at elucidating difficult concepts, and you'll gain a mastery of this class like no other. I highly recommend taking this class!

I had the pleasure and privilege of taking Professor Johnson Fall 2014, and I have to say that she was the most incredible professor that I have had the pleasure of learning under at UCLA, or anywhere for that matter. She is absolutely brilliant in her lecturing style, and she ties in all the concepts incredibly perfectly- never once during lecture was I not dazzled by the sheer knowledge she was bestowing upon me. I was absolutely enthralled and excited during each and every lecture. If you value your education, I highly suggest that you take her class! I wished that she would win a teaching award for all her hard work in helping her students as well.

Horrible, horrible teacher. She does not know how to teach. Lectures are very disorganized. Tests include questions not even mentioned in lecture and pick at those little irrelevant facts hidden within paragraphs and paragraphs of the textbook. Also, her curve isn't as helpful as other LS3 teacher.

I don't think she was as bad as the previous review stated. She mostly reads off her slides during lecture, which can get a bit old. She was nice enough to have all the lectures on Bruincast.

Since there were 600+ students between her two lectures, all the tests were multiple choice-- which she had never done before. The two midterms were decent, but the final did not match the style of the first two tests.

Broken into bits, LS3 is manageable, but there is a TON of information to know.

I just took her class this Winter 2014. I thought she was okay. Her clicker questions were pretty tricky and difficult to answer if you don't have a lot of smart friends in the class. They were based on correctness, not participation. She also doesn't allow for any missed clicker days so you better have friends to click for you if you're going to miss a day.

The 2 midterms and final were pretty much like the practice midterms she posted online (aka the previous year's midterms). There weren't really any surprises and the tests were based off her lecture slides (I never bought or read the book).

Discussions are mandatory and there's a worksheet you work on each week but it's graded based on participation. My TA didn't teach at all but honestly I didn't go to discussion to learn...

Her weekly CCLE quizzes. NOW THESE WERE HARD. wow. Call up all of your smart friends and google like crazy to figure out the answers... I think this was the hardest part of the class AND not even that helpful because the questions were SO different from her exam questions.

MasteringBiology was pretty basic stuff.. Not too difficult but it doesn't help to have friends to work on it with. (you can google most of the answers).

Overall the class isn't that bad. I rarely paid attention in class and crammed in all the podcasts the day before the midterms but still got A's. I don't think she curves but our averages were pretty high. I ended up with an A in the class thanks to the little bit of extra credit she offers. Good luck everyone!

Professor Johnson is an absolutely incredible lecturer. Like the person mentioned below, you'll feel completely lost in the beginning. That's okay. It won't hurt you for the midterm, and go to her office hours for any concepts that require clarification. Dr. Johnson is incredibly kind and caring, and wants you to succeed- she even found a way to give us a discount on the key for Mastering Biology, which is awesome since many professors just want you to buy textbooks for no reason. Trust me, if she could find a different way to get the textbooks for free, she would do it for you. Again, professor Johnson is absolutely incredible and I recommend the class to anyone. It was difficult, yes, but totally worthwhile. Take her class!

I am not a huge fan of Johnson. I thought she was a pretty terrible lecturer, as she broke up concepts in really awkward ways that didn't make sense. She seems nice enough, though. She grades with a bell curve so the top 20% get A's, etc. Honestly, the way I got through this class was with my peer learning facilitator (Jeffrey) and my TA (Melody Pai). They were so great, and they were the ones who literally taught me everything. The two midterms we had weren't too bad, but the when I was taking my final all I could think was "What the actual fuck is this?" She got really ambitious in her questions for that godawful final, getting all hypothetical and experimental on us. However, the material learned is really interesting and I ended up with an A- in the class. She's alright.