Dr. Kane is by far my favorite professor at UCLA next to my homeboy Dr. Lavelle. This quirky and adorable professor is very engaging and teaches the concepts really well. In order to succeed in this class, you need to do all the assigned work, read the book, and go over her lecture slides. Before her class, I thought the study of evolution and ecology was going to boring, but I ended up loving every minute of class. She shows us really cute videos in and it's really obvious that she loves what she does. Just take this class seriously, do the work, and I guaruntee that you will get the grade you deserve. Her exams are more than generous and tests you mostly on concepts rather than rote memorization (I'm looking at you Dr. Esdin...) The averages for the exams were as follows:

Midterm 1: 88%
Midterm 2: 81%
Final: 84%

Dr. Kane is absolutely phenomenal. I am so glad I enrolled in her LS1 course as opposed to Dr. Pires (I heard Pires is extremely effective, but is evil/unfair when it comes to exams). Kane, however, is extremely fair when it comes to exams, and she is extremely effective, like…she will nail all the information you need for LS1 into your head #fantastic.

Also, she is extremely passionate about biology, and that type of enthusiasm coming from a professor really helps students become more engaged with the course material. To say it in short, you won't get bored in this class.

Professor Kane is definitely in my top 10 favorite professor lists because she genuinely cares about her students, and wants them to do well. She will go the extra mile to ensure that you understand the material. For example, she will have students watch funny yet educational videos during lecture. Additionally, she is very responsive with emails and she will usually reply within the hour or the following morning (She will not let you down, trust).

If you have the opportunity to take this algae-loving professor I would highly recommend it. Absolutely fantastic.

Here are the averages for my class:
Midterm 1: 87%
Midterm 2: 81%
Final: 82%

The class may not be curved, but, as you can see from the fairly high averages of the exams, there not need be a curve.

Oh Oh!! My only complaint is that it took forever for us to get our final grades, but it's all good. It was worth the wait.

You rock professor Kane!!

Final Grade: A

Good luck future LS 1 Students!

XOXO Gossip Girl….

JK It's Gary ;D

Tonya is great. Even though she only reads off the slides, that's about all you need since the material is some of the easiest you will ever encounter for a South Campus class. This is the first A I have ever gotten in a science class and I worked fairly hard. Doing the readings each week really helped since the entire course is basically all memorization and common sense. I can tell she's not all that excited about teaching, but she's is a funny and kind lady. Her office hours are helpful if you have a question. The hardest part was sometimes finding something I didn't understand to ask her for clarification.

Overall, easy class if you put in the time to read the book and pay attention in class. There are tons of free points in online quizzes and clickers. Average for the midterms and final probably will be between 80 and 90. The median is usually a bit higher (I think 50% of the class got 90 or above on the first midterm). And she also grades on a straight-scale unless the average dips below 75% (which she said will probably never happen in one of her LS 1 classes).

Dr Kane tends to just read off of her slides, but she is organized enough where it's really easy to follow what she's talking about in lecture. She is one of the few professors who DOES NOT LIE when she says you will only be tested on material we learned in demo or lecture. Midterms were very fair and every question was doable. Actually doing readings helped a lot, and the busy work (online quizzes and demos and lab write ups) was not all that hard. Attendance makes up for 75 points and online demos (graded on completion) make up another 75 points on a 900 point scale, so just showing up to every lecture and doing the online demos gets you about 17% of your final grade... Midterms are each worth 140 points, final is 200 points, lab quizzes and assignments are 180 points, and reading quizzes are 90 points. Basically, there are quite a few easy points to earn and everyone has a good chance at getting an A. Half my class got 90 or above on the first midterm... Demo section/lab wasn't that bad. Once again, it's not hard to get full credit on most assignments.

LS1 Course Reader

It's the customized UCLA version of

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity
Principles of Life

by Hillis, Sadava, Heller, Price

$20.00
-very good condition, no hilighting inside, pages super crisp

*************

I personally really liked her. She's very quirky and really enjoys what she's teaching. She does generally read off the slides, but her tests are really fair. All of the information that she tests you on is in her lectures. So I basically went to class and wrote every single word she said down for each slide, and then I just studied the lecture slides for tests repeatedly. I got an A-, I probably could have done better if I didn't procrastinate with the first midterm. Definitely recommend her though!

She honestly just reads off the slides.

Professor Kane was pretty chill and nice, the class itself was a little challenging but if you spend a decent amount of time studying the tests shouldn't be much of a problem. Labs we were pressed for time usually but also weren't too bad.