My fiat lux was based on the current school year's Common Experience, which was the book The War for Kindness. This book basically dives into everything empathy, from its biological basis to real-life experiences surrounding empathy.

I really enjoyed the class, and Professor Khankan is absolutely amazing. Each fiat lux will be different, but this one was low-commitment where we only read some chapters of the Common Experience book to guide our discussions as homework. Class consisted of different activities, primarily discussing empathy and how it works. I learned about how empathy is actually a skill one can work on, and I saw how there's actually a lot of research going on with empathy. We also did fun stuff like watching Inside Out 2. A really meaningful discussion also happened in the last class scheduled where we decompressed and applied the concept of empathy right after the 2024 election night.

Hopefully, you'll come out of the fiat lux courses taught by Dr. Khankan with perhaps even more curiosity about an initially cool and random topic you found on the class planner. If not, you'll still get lots of snacks, a free plant, and hopefully closer connections with your professor.

I have never put so much work into a class nor have I ever performed so poorly in a class.

this class dragged me through the ringer. the tests are the worst part in my opinion. There are terribly worded and MEANT to trick you. She recommends so many study strats but either way you're cooked. You need a PLF or a test bank. She also says she does not curve unless the grade distribution is really bad. Workload is the same as the 7A and 7B (2 reading gudies a week, 1 PEQ/PAL a week, 2 pcrqs a week). Time consuming and the lectures are so much better than the readings. Dr. Khankan is an amazing lecturer, however, even if I understood the lectures, I did badly on the tests. Master all the diagrams she gives you.

I took this class when it was taught by Khankan x cooper. Khakan was great, Cooper wasn't as great. Formative experience. The class is hard but there are opportunities to climb your way up there. I bombed the first midterm, studied really hard and sort of bombed the second midterm, and still managed to get an A in the class. Definitely recommend 1) going to the LA sessions 2) redoing your midterms and explaining why each answer is wrong or right.

Khankan is the redeeming quality of the entire 7 series. She is amazing at lecturing and make it super straight forward and engaging at the same time. Though she can be a little passive aggressive in the way she talks, she really wants everyone to do well. Doing this class in 6 weeks is a real struggle. You cover new organ systems every week and you have 4 PCRQs, 3 Reading Guides (sometimes with several chapters), and a test every other week. Midterm 1 was an eye opener for me and I decided to actually pay attention and actively participate and it made a world of a difference. MT2 and Final I ended getting an A and A- on respectively, which allowed me to get a comfortable A at the end. She offers EC through campus wire, myUCLA reviews (though she doesn't mention this), and mid quarter feedbacks. If she is available please take her. She actually makes you interested for once (as opposed to other 7 series classes). PEACE OUT 7 SERIES I HOPE I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN! <3

PROS: extra credit offered on campus wire + LA and prof feedback, TA's are the best people ever, rounded my grade from 92.8 to 93
CONS: campuswire EC takes a long time for only 3 points, tests are tough, discussion assignments take time and brain power and were graded on accuracy

Khankhan herself is a decent lecturer. She did abt half the quarter and cooper did the rest, he was pretty funny but not the best at explaining things.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend not taking this class unless you absolutely have to for your major/career path. If you do, however, don't worry too much. Do your work and take advantage of all the EC opportunities, go over clickers as practice questions and go to problem solving sessions!!

Khankan as a professor isn't the issue honestly, she rounded my grade up when protests and everything went down and was pretty understanding, but the tests are really difficult, a common theme in 7 series. This one especially, the content in class is engaging and I liked that part, but the tests aren't really about how well you know the content but about reading comprehension and "critical thinking" which really means that there are trick questions and it is frustrating.

Khankan is a great teacher who is clearly interested and involved in what she is teaching, but this is a hell of a weeder class. This professor did everything right during lectures, going over what would be tested, giving tons of Clickers during class, and supporting us with direct message on Campuswire and detailed Office Hours. Khankan offers 3 points of extra credit and at the end curves the class for a beautiful A distribution, but the work is painfully dense relative to 7A and 7B.

The structure of 7C hurt my grade with scores I didn't feel represented the effort I put into studying for the exams. Here, PCRQs are as long as exams and ask items never tested again. Two reading guides each week lead to 6-8 pages of homework on top of discussions and weekly recommended CLC sheets. I felt that this structure was ridiculous. Studying was like a part-time job. While in-person participation plays a big part of the grade, it does not compensate for getting Cs on exams.

Individual exams are weighed 85% over the 15% of group parts, and the final doesn't have a group portion, so you can only get an A if you do decent on the individuals. Tricky wordings hurt me every time. I got low Cs and low Bs on tests despite strategies from forming study groups to rereading the book to going to office hours to taking practice exams. There's too much supplemental material to go over.

If you're lucky, and pay attention to lecture, you can get an A. I couldn't, even though I could explain everything taught and consider myself a good student. I also know most people in this class were cheating, which I neither condone nor reject. I just wish whoever wrote these goddamn questions would remove all the insane grammatical logic that native English speakers can barely wrap their heads around.

Like the other reviews have mentioned, this class is by no means easy. It's very fast paced, material dense, and time-consuming. Aside from this, the material is not too hard to digest if you put in the work and don't get behind, but then there are the exams to consider. The first midterm is definitely the hardest, and produced the lowest exam score for me out of the two midterms and final, which seemed to happen with the majority. The issue with the exams is the questions are meant to trick you at a level that I've never had to deal with in my life. You can't avoid this, as the professors don't create the questions. In my opinion, the clicker questions and PALs don't quite prepare you for this trickery, as they're much easier than the actual exam questions. My best advice would be to:
1. have a detailed understanding of systems, processes, and literally all of the main concepts (problem solving sessions help a lot with this, GO TO THEM)
2. study and have a strong understanding of the diagrams/handouts referenced in lecture and discussion (the same ones or very similar ones get used on exams)
3. MOST IMPORTANT: sounds cliche, but read exam questions SO CAREFULLY. Oh my god I cannot stress this enough. They like to change one little word or two to make a statement false, or word things in the most unclear way possible for no apparent reason.
In terms of positives, there are a lot of points available other than the exams to provide some buffer, and I would recommend taking full advantage of them, as you should expect to lose points on the exams. There were also 8 points of extra credit available from feedback evaluations and campuswire participation, so that was also rather merciful of them.
Finally, I'd like to touch on the professor. Okay. Dr. Khankan is an excellent lecturer: she's well spoken, projects nicely, explains things well, and rewards participation in lecture. For these things alone, I would recommend taking this course with this professor. Despite this, I must point out that this woman can be kind of brutal when answering questions. I went to her office hours and listened to her Q&A review sessions, and she will either love or hate your question, and you WILL know if it's the former or the latter. There's another review on here mentioning how she has a condescending vibe to her, and I can say that she can make you feel little if she isn't a fan or doesn't understand what you're asking. At office hours, I've seen this professor respond as if she was almost mad at the student for asking about something... it's weird dude like that's literally your job. Anyway, I would still recommend her for her lecture skills lol.
Overall, I would try to take this course with other easier courses, as it will demand a lot from you. Be aware of wording on exam questions, be willing to work hard, and don't ask dumb questions I guess.

Professor Khankan is a really enthusiastic and helpful professor.
But for the class itself (standardized across the course, so same for all profs): 7C was so much harder than 7A or 7B, personally. And the exams were pretty hard; on the midterms, especially the second one, I felt really confident with all my answers yet I still did really badly on them. They're very understanding-heavy in a way 7A and 7B weren't. Honestly the only reason I kept an A in the class was because the material for the last few weeks/the final was about gene sequencing/editing which I enjoy and understand easily. Best of luck to y'all