Ronald H Cooper
Department of Physiological Science
AD
2.7
Overall Rating
Based on 21 Users
Easiness 2.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.7 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.9 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.5 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
  • Tough Tests
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
29.3%
24.4%
19.5%
14.6%
9.8%
4.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

24.2%
20.2%
16.1%
12.1%
8.1%
4.0%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

22.1%
18.4%
14.8%
11.1%
7.4%
3.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (16)

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Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: P
Aug. 25, 2019

I never wore my seatbelt while driving to school because I wanted to die before making it to this class. It is the absolute WORST. The exams are IMPOSSIBLE to pass because they require you to answer everything word for word. If you slightly misspell something you get points off. I got points off for forgetting to add an adjective before my answer.
I didn't listen to the reviews here and thought I would pass by studying hard but it is indeed as bad as everyone says it is. Save yourselves and your mental health.

Helpful?

5 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: B
Aug. 1, 2019

Didn't expect something like this at UCLA. I've taken many hard classes at UCLA including CHEM153A, CHEM153B, CHEM153L, MIMG101, and MIMG102, and gotten A's, but I've never taken a class like this. The material is so god awfully taught and the professor does not teach ANYTHING RELEVANT. He is the most useless slide reader with little artistic ability yet he chooses to painstakingly draw out pictures that can be found directly on his slides. Some stuff in his lecture slides are WRONG and it pisses me off to have to remember and learn something his way or else I will lose points on the exam for that. He will mark you down if you do not say EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMN point in his answer key, some of which are obscure and are not taught during his lecture but are in the slides that he skips over. What's worse is that there is little space for learning anything long-term in his class. You will forget everything aside from the fact that you regurgitated all of the load of crud he feeds to you. In the summer when everything is more condensed, you have little room for error in your grades. There is one midterm (~45% of your grade), one final (~45%), and extra irrelevant assignments (~10%) so you must be very careful when you take this class. I know most of you need it as a pre-req for professional school so I will warn you about the pain you will feel from this class. Not only do you have 450+ slides (80% are filled with 100+ words) to remember, you will have to regurgitate almost all of it, word for word, and he will unforgivably mark you down if you miss even the slightest word. It was a huge pain studying for this class and it was a huge pain dealing and talking with this professor. Yesterday during the final review, he stood in the front of the class with back leaning on the table anchored by his elbow and said, "so I've made you come all the way here for a Q&A session." When a girl asked a clarification question about cross-bridging for the sliding-filament theory, this dude had the audacity to say, "oh, this was in the slides. You should check it" instead of just ANSWERING THE QUESTION. You do know how many times he said "check the slides" during the Q&A. After 20 minutes, everyone just left. It boggles my mind why this guy is teaching at UCLA. This was a scam. I paid $1,500 for tuition and $1500 for rent only to get shammed by a useless professor who made me and at least 10 other people who I talked to go through this painful, ineffective, and incompetent course for the past 6 weeks. You will receive no value from this class other than a letter grade and a check off of your pre-requisites, I promise you that.

On a side note, PHYSCI 13 (anatomy) was night and day compared to this class. Rana Khankan is lit, but she may seem like she talks too fast in the beginning. Take her for your anatomy pre-requisite, but DO NOT TAKE COOPER for your physiology pre-requisite if you can avoid it. I recommend taking it at Santa Monica College or your local community college. That way you will not only be saving money but you will actually be putting your money and time to good use.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: B+
Aug. 23, 2019

Ditto the person below me, save yourself $$$ and take it with another professor or at a community college.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Jan. 6, 2014

Took LS 2 with Cooper and Fain
(SELLING LS 2 TB - *************)

Honestly, although the class TRULY sucked. Cooper was the better of the two professors.

He's a pretty fast paced yet fair professor. His powerpoints are way better than Fain's. His test questions are impossible.

Basically, study your ass off. Take notes on his powerpoints, go back to the book and go over everyyyyyyyything and study study study. If you're lucky you might get an A.

I mean he's a nice guy, but not my cup of tea.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 27, 2011

I had him for Life Science 2.

Professor Cooper is a great professor. I took him when he was co-teaching with Professor Simmons.

He is very straightforward and explains the concepts well. He tests off his slides and the notes and diagrams from lecture, so make sure to go to lecture. So, know all of these like the back of your hand. The textbook isn't 100% required for his class, but was a GOOD source to read to clarify some difficult concepts.

I thought his test questions were fair. He doesn't try to trick you, but rather to see if you understand the main ideas of the material. During lecture, he does give hints of possible test questions, so another good reason to go.

As a professor, he is definitely friendly and approachable. He cares for his student's learning. According to a friend who went to his office hours, he is willing to explain concepts step by step from the very beginning, which is definitely helpful. I know some in other reviews say his accent is incomprehensible, but I thought it was completely understandable. It really wasn't a problem. He does talk softly though, so I can see why some people fall asleep in class.

Overall, I definitely recommend Cooper!

Helpful?

1 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2023
Grade: A
Aug. 15, 2023

Don't be discouraged by the low rating he has! I was discouraged at first thinking this class would be extremely difficult since the rating was so low, but I ended up doing ok. Overall, I thought he was an okay professor, but here are my tips to succeeding in the class:
1. During the discussion section before each exam, the TA, Ali, goes in extreme detail as to what are common exam questions and the specific way they should be answered. This was extremely helpful and a lot of questions he mentioned were the same as the ones we were tested on for the short answer questions, which is part of the reason why I scored so well on the exams, so make sure to take good notes when he does this. Pay attention to the specific way Ali says you should be answering these short answer questions.
2. To study for the multiple choice, fill in the blank, and T/F portions of the exams, just make sure to take the time to understand each slide on his powerpoints and you should be set. Make sure to study early before exams to memorize these slides because it can be a lot of content but this part of the exam literally just tests on memorization.
3. He doesn't record lectures, so what I did was just record myself on the Iphone voice memos app and 2x sped it. This helped when it was difficult for me to pay attention during lecture. I recommend redrawing the sketches he does during lecture (which he also doesn't upload) when studying for exams, since some short answer questions require sketches.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A
July 30, 2022

Professor Cooper was probably the driest and most boring lecturer I've ever had at UCLA. I cannot even describe how difficult it was to stay awake in his class. He is also extremely technologically challenged and would often accidentally show us the answers to the clicker questions and sub out the detailed graphics Professor Khankhan added with his own scraggly diagrams that made absolutely no sense. Do yourself a favor and try and get Khankhan or Esdin.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: B+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Nov. 30, 2021

I took this class over the summer remotely, so I'm not sure how it usually goes. I also wouldn't recommend taking this if it's not a requirement for you unless you just really want to learn more about human physiology, because it is taxing and not very enjoyable.

The lectures were all uploaded asynchronously and the discussions and labs were live over zoom, participation was required. The final grade consisted of the midterm (100pts), final (100pts), lab and discussion participation (170pts), and 4 weekly quizzes, the lowest score dropped (30pts).

The professor speaks slowly and sometimes was hard to understand, but I watched his lectures at 1.5x speed. I still spent twice as much time on each one, though, because he says a lot of stuff that isn't on his slides, and I took pretty comprehensive notes and redrew the diagrams from lectures and discussions. The labs and quizzes were doable, and the exams were open note.

I was pretty happy with my B+ because this class had a lot of content and I was worried I'd do worse, but it definitely requires a lot of time and studying, even with the open note exam arrangement. Not sure how to advise on how to get an A in this class because I did my best.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 10, 2020

Make sure to listen to his lecture and copy down EVERYTHING he says because his test answers are super specific AND you will lose points if you ONLY write what's on his slides. His lectures are super dry, which is why most people just 2x speed or look at his slides instead. However, there is absolutely no way you will get an A in the class unless you copy down everything he says + try to understand big ideas and piece together his poorly organized slides. He ended up curving the class a few percent so that was pretty nice of him. Although I must mention that our midterm 1 average score was 68%. Overall, I wouldn't recommend taking this class unless you have absolutely no other choice. I have never felt so concerned about my grades until this class. I almost got a heart attack after his first midterm because he made us answer 8 short responses in 1 hour :)))))

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 7, 2020

I straight up did not have a good time in this class. Can confirm that all of the reviews about how unfair it is are true! This is hands down the most frustrating class I have ever taken at UCLA, in that the material was not even that hard or new (mostly 7C and AP Bio stuff, so a lot of it was familiar), but the grading was extremely unfair and nitpicky, which is what made this class so dreadful. Even if you know the concepts, this class does NOT test your understanding of the subject - it just tests your ability to regurgitate and you really have to explain EVERY SINGLE DARN STEP/CONCEPT POSSIBLE because apparently you have to assume that some very simple concepts are not implied if you don't state it explicitly. You also have to use very specific words/phrases that the professor only mentions maybe once or twice during his lectures, which are already so painful to listen to because he just reads word-for-word from his wordy and excessive amount of slides for 1-2 hours. I took this class online and the tests were open-book, but even then it was still not lenient. His grading for tests is ridiculous in that our class average for the midterm was a 67%, not to mention that nearly everyone ran out of time to finish the free response section, but he still thought that the test and time limit were fair because one person happened to do well. Just my personal opinion - that test average might be more reasonable for maybe physics/a traditionally curved class, but this is a life science/intro to physiology class! I took this at the same time as PhySci 13 with Prof. Khankan, and while that class had a heavier workload with brand new unfamiliar information, I actually feel like I learned something useful and interesting, and more importantly it was MUCH more fair. A lot of people take this class for opt/pharm/PA/etc programs, so I really recommend taking physio at a CC instead with a reasonable professor and grading to save your money and stress. This has been the wOrSt TrAdE dEaL in the history of trade deals, maybe ever.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: P
Aug. 25, 2019

I never wore my seatbelt while driving to school because I wanted to die before making it to this class. It is the absolute WORST. The exams are IMPOSSIBLE to pass because they require you to answer everything word for word. If you slightly misspell something you get points off. I got points off for forgetting to add an adjective before my answer.
I didn't listen to the reviews here and thought I would pass by studying hard but it is indeed as bad as everyone says it is. Save yourselves and your mental health.

Helpful?

5 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: B
Aug. 1, 2019

Didn't expect something like this at UCLA. I've taken many hard classes at UCLA including CHEM153A, CHEM153B, CHEM153L, MIMG101, and MIMG102, and gotten A's, but I've never taken a class like this. The material is so god awfully taught and the professor does not teach ANYTHING RELEVANT. He is the most useless slide reader with little artistic ability yet he chooses to painstakingly draw out pictures that can be found directly on his slides. Some stuff in his lecture slides are WRONG and it pisses me off to have to remember and learn something his way or else I will lose points on the exam for that. He will mark you down if you do not say EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMN point in his answer key, some of which are obscure and are not taught during his lecture but are in the slides that he skips over. What's worse is that there is little space for learning anything long-term in his class. You will forget everything aside from the fact that you regurgitated all of the load of crud he feeds to you. In the summer when everything is more condensed, you have little room for error in your grades. There is one midterm (~45% of your grade), one final (~45%), and extra irrelevant assignments (~10%) so you must be very careful when you take this class. I know most of you need it as a pre-req for professional school so I will warn you about the pain you will feel from this class. Not only do you have 450+ slides (80% are filled with 100+ words) to remember, you will have to regurgitate almost all of it, word for word, and he will unforgivably mark you down if you miss even the slightest word. It was a huge pain studying for this class and it was a huge pain dealing and talking with this professor. Yesterday during the final review, he stood in the front of the class with back leaning on the table anchored by his elbow and said, "so I've made you come all the way here for a Q&A session." When a girl asked a clarification question about cross-bridging for the sliding-filament theory, this dude had the audacity to say, "oh, this was in the slides. You should check it" instead of just ANSWERING THE QUESTION. You do know how many times he said "check the slides" during the Q&A. After 20 minutes, everyone just left. It boggles my mind why this guy is teaching at UCLA. This was a scam. I paid $1,500 for tuition and $1500 for rent only to get shammed by a useless professor who made me and at least 10 other people who I talked to go through this painful, ineffective, and incompetent course for the past 6 weeks. You will receive no value from this class other than a letter grade and a check off of your pre-requisites, I promise you that.

On a side note, PHYSCI 13 (anatomy) was night and day compared to this class. Rana Khankan is lit, but she may seem like she talks too fast in the beginning. Take her for your anatomy pre-requisite, but DO NOT TAKE COOPER for your physiology pre-requisite if you can avoid it. I recommend taking it at Santa Monica College or your local community college. That way you will not only be saving money but you will actually be putting your money and time to good use.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: B+
Aug. 23, 2019

Ditto the person below me, save yourself $$$ and take it with another professor or at a community college.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Jan. 6, 2014

Took LS 2 with Cooper and Fain
(SELLING LS 2 TB - *************)

Honestly, although the class TRULY sucked. Cooper was the better of the two professors.

He's a pretty fast paced yet fair professor. His powerpoints are way better than Fain's. His test questions are impossible.

Basically, study your ass off. Take notes on his powerpoints, go back to the book and go over everyyyyyyyything and study study study. If you're lucky you might get an A.

I mean he's a nice guy, but not my cup of tea.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 27, 2011

I had him for Life Science 2.

Professor Cooper is a great professor. I took him when he was co-teaching with Professor Simmons.

He is very straightforward and explains the concepts well. He tests off his slides and the notes and diagrams from lecture, so make sure to go to lecture. So, know all of these like the back of your hand. The textbook isn't 100% required for his class, but was a GOOD source to read to clarify some difficult concepts.

I thought his test questions were fair. He doesn't try to trick you, but rather to see if you understand the main ideas of the material. During lecture, he does give hints of possible test questions, so another good reason to go.

As a professor, he is definitely friendly and approachable. He cares for his student's learning. According to a friend who went to his office hours, he is willing to explain concepts step by step from the very beginning, which is definitely helpful. I know some in other reviews say his accent is incomprehensible, but I thought it was completely understandable. It really wasn't a problem. He does talk softly though, so I can see why some people fall asleep in class.

Overall, I definitely recommend Cooper!

Helpful?

1 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2023
Grade: A
Aug. 15, 2023

Don't be discouraged by the low rating he has! I was discouraged at first thinking this class would be extremely difficult since the rating was so low, but I ended up doing ok. Overall, I thought he was an okay professor, but here are my tips to succeeding in the class:
1. During the discussion section before each exam, the TA, Ali, goes in extreme detail as to what are common exam questions and the specific way they should be answered. This was extremely helpful and a lot of questions he mentioned were the same as the ones we were tested on for the short answer questions, which is part of the reason why I scored so well on the exams, so make sure to take good notes when he does this. Pay attention to the specific way Ali says you should be answering these short answer questions.
2. To study for the multiple choice, fill in the blank, and T/F portions of the exams, just make sure to take the time to understand each slide on his powerpoints and you should be set. Make sure to study early before exams to memorize these slides because it can be a lot of content but this part of the exam literally just tests on memorization.
3. He doesn't record lectures, so what I did was just record myself on the Iphone voice memos app and 2x sped it. This helped when it was difficult for me to pay attention during lecture. I recommend redrawing the sketches he does during lecture (which he also doesn't upload) when studying for exams, since some short answer questions require sketches.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A
July 30, 2022

Professor Cooper was probably the driest and most boring lecturer I've ever had at UCLA. I cannot even describe how difficult it was to stay awake in his class. He is also extremely technologically challenged and would often accidentally show us the answers to the clicker questions and sub out the detailed graphics Professor Khankhan added with his own scraggly diagrams that made absolutely no sense. Do yourself a favor and try and get Khankhan or Esdin.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: B+
Nov. 30, 2021

I took this class over the summer remotely, so I'm not sure how it usually goes. I also wouldn't recommend taking this if it's not a requirement for you unless you just really want to learn more about human physiology, because it is taxing and not very enjoyable.

The lectures were all uploaded asynchronously and the discussions and labs were live over zoom, participation was required. The final grade consisted of the midterm (100pts), final (100pts), lab and discussion participation (170pts), and 4 weekly quizzes, the lowest score dropped (30pts).

The professor speaks slowly and sometimes was hard to understand, but I watched his lectures at 1.5x speed. I still spent twice as much time on each one, though, because he says a lot of stuff that isn't on his slides, and I took pretty comprehensive notes and redrew the diagrams from lectures and discussions. The labs and quizzes were doable, and the exams were open note.

I was pretty happy with my B+ because this class had a lot of content and I was worried I'd do worse, but it definitely requires a lot of time and studying, even with the open note exam arrangement. Not sure how to advise on how to get an A in this class because I did my best.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A
Aug. 10, 2020

Make sure to listen to his lecture and copy down EVERYTHING he says because his test answers are super specific AND you will lose points if you ONLY write what's on his slides. His lectures are super dry, which is why most people just 2x speed or look at his slides instead. However, there is absolutely no way you will get an A in the class unless you copy down everything he says + try to understand big ideas and piece together his poorly organized slides. He ended up curving the class a few percent so that was pretty nice of him. Although I must mention that our midterm 1 average score was 68%. Overall, I wouldn't recommend taking this class unless you have absolutely no other choice. I have never felt so concerned about my grades until this class. I almost got a heart attack after his first midterm because he made us answer 8 short responses in 1 hour :)))))

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B+
Aug. 7, 2020

I straight up did not have a good time in this class. Can confirm that all of the reviews about how unfair it is are true! This is hands down the most frustrating class I have ever taken at UCLA, in that the material was not even that hard or new (mostly 7C and AP Bio stuff, so a lot of it was familiar), but the grading was extremely unfair and nitpicky, which is what made this class so dreadful. Even if you know the concepts, this class does NOT test your understanding of the subject - it just tests your ability to regurgitate and you really have to explain EVERY SINGLE DARN STEP/CONCEPT POSSIBLE because apparently you have to assume that some very simple concepts are not implied if you don't state it explicitly. You also have to use very specific words/phrases that the professor only mentions maybe once or twice during his lectures, which are already so painful to listen to because he just reads word-for-word from his wordy and excessive amount of slides for 1-2 hours. I took this class online and the tests were open-book, but even then it was still not lenient. His grading for tests is ridiculous in that our class average for the midterm was a 67%, not to mention that nearly everyone ran out of time to finish the free response section, but he still thought that the test and time limit were fair because one person happened to do well. Just my personal opinion - that test average might be more reasonable for maybe physics/a traditionally curved class, but this is a life science/intro to physiology class! I took this at the same time as PhySci 13 with Prof. Khankan, and while that class had a heavier workload with brand new unfamiliar information, I actually feel like I learned something useful and interesting, and more importantly it was MUCH more fair. A lot of people take this class for opt/pharm/PA/etc programs, so I really recommend taking physio at a CC instead with a reasonable professor and grading to save your money and stress. This has been the wOrSt TrAdE dEaL in the history of trade deals, maybe ever.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 2
2.7
Overall Rating
Based on 21 Users
Easiness 2.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.7 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.9 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.5 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (9)
  • Tough Tests
    (8)
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