This was my first class at UCLA and it was accelerated so, admittedly, it was more difficult than a typical 10-week class. Aly was amazing and honestly set my expectations way too high for future professors lol. I can't say enough good things about him, as he clearly cares about his students learning, but also their wellbeing; he even made an effort to get to know everyone's name in our 50 person lecture. As for the class, it's 7 series, it's a weeder course--THE EXAMS ARE HARD!!! You'll see everyone else say too, that the exams are poorly worded and deliberately try to trick you. Use your podmates to your advantage and study together. CLC problem solving worksheets are the best things to study with for the exams. Definitely don't lose points on the homeworks either. But honestly, you can know the material super well and still get a poor test grade. It's all about problem solving and application of knowledge, so test-taking skills are your best friend for this class. Good luck!

Professor Aly was so helpful all the time! I was so worried about taking summer classes as it was my first intro to UCLA classes. He is so helpful and explains concepts in a way that is super easy to digest. If you took AP Biology in high school, the content is a lot of review. I think I would have performed better had I not taken it during the summer. There is a lot of reading for 6 weeks, but I still found it manageable and was not cooped up at home all day doing homework or reading. Make sure to ask if you need help. The entire learning team for the class is amazing and kind!

Aly is a super nice professor and pretty good at explaining topics. He teaches uses the flipped classroom model which means that we were first introduced to new topics during homework time on launchpad. Launchpad is expensive but necessary for the LS series. I personally found the launchpad textbook helpful for basic background notes and then the content covered in lecture helpful for studying.

Clicker questions, practice launchpad questions, discussion worksheets, and problem solving worksheets are the most helpful for studying since the tests are application of material and not based on memorization. Homework load (launchpad) felt like a lot to me, but since I took it during the summer we had a lot more happening per week.
An important note for grading is that launchpad material (homework and practice questions) makes up around half of the points (it's not a weighted average system) so just getting launchpad done will help keep your grade from tanking if you don't do perfectly on the tests. I got B+ on the first midterm and the final but still ended with an A in the class.

Even though I got a B for this class Aly is an exceptional professor and truly cares about whether or not his students are actually learning anything. Even during the COVID pandemic, he is extremely interactive and engaged with the students. He posts all his in-class "clicker questions" on his site as well as the in-class lecture slides. His office hours were flexible, to an extent, and even though the LaunchPad txtbook is a bit high you can keep it for the courses that follow so overall you save money with the one time purchase.

This was my first class at UCLA, and having Aly as my instructor was great! He is an amazing professor, and he really cares about ensuring that his students understand the material. All of his lectures are super interactive and engaging (even through zoom)!
The LS7A tests are quite difficult to make sense of at times, but Aly provides students with numerous resources that help develop a better understanding of the topics (office hours, weekly problem solving sessions, campuswire, clicker questions, exam viewings). The class requires a lot of self studying, but Aly is super easy to approach and speak with if questions do arise.
Overall, this class is a good introduction to what the Life Science classes entail, and it helps develop effective study skills for future science courses. I'm super happy to have gotten the opportunity to take this class with Aly, and I hope to have him as a professor again!

The LS 7 series as a whole was not too difficult, but 7C was definitely the hardest. There is far more information than the other two classes, and the concepts are less intuitive. However, the tests are still doable. My only gripes with the class were that the discussions were graded off of correctness, which made them an overall more stressful experience during a time where we should be practicing with the material. Also, Aly would rush through important material at times. Overall, if you're taking 7C, you know by now that to get A's, you basically need to teach yourself. This class is no different. Learning objectives and CLC sessions are a must!