Doctor Friscia is a great lecturer, his exams are fair, and he cares about his students learning. This class has weekly quizzes, one midterm and a final (quizzes were super easy, midterm and final were doable and not tricky). For the lab portion, we had 2 presentations instead of practicals. I would recommend taking any classes with doctor Friscia, he is one of the best professors I ever had in undergrad.

This class is a common pre-req if you're planning to head to grad school for an allied health field. This class was definitely tough, I STUDIED A LOT, but Dr. Friscia is a really good teacher. I found that I was super on top of studying for the midterm (like started studying about 2 weeks in advance) and then struggled a bit more with staying on top of it for the second half. I didn't need to end up taking the final but that was only because it became optional when classes shifted online due to covid-19. I found it helpful to see breakdowns so here were mine:
Midterm: 94%
Practical 1: 100%
Practical 2: 93%
Final: - didn't take-

The midterm and first practical are on the same day, which was really stressful but I genuinely think it helped because there was some lecture material on the practical. The final was a week after the second practical so I didn't review lectures to prepare for the second practical which made the exam a lot harder. Overall I really enjoyed this class and if you work hard it'll pay off! Also the LAs are amazing resources!

This class is challenging, but Dr. Friscia makes the material very engaging and easy to understand. The most challenging part of this class was identify the muscles and remembering the actions, origins, and insertions. Make sure to go to the lab before the practical to practice identifying each muscle and to examine the bones. Overall, I enjoyed this class and learned a lot.

Would definitely recommend taking this class with Dr. Friscia.

Dr. Friscia is an amazing professor. He’s friendly and charming and truly cares about his students, but don’t underestimate the class by the reviews, it’s a lot of work! The first half of the class we learned development, connective tissue, bones, and muscles. While the last half of the class was composed of neuroanatomy, organs, epithelia, and pathways. You don’t have to read the book because he provides all the information you need on his slides. He reads off slides and Bruincasts his lectures, but I recommend attending class because he writes out charts and diagrams of the concepts which becomes helpful when reviewing the for the exams. In lab, you study models and human cadavers which was an awesome perk to taking anatomy at UCLA instead of at community college (I’m a transfer and anatomy at my cc had cat cadavers). Our Lab TA Trong, was nice and helpful. I would recommend going to lab office hours because just looking at the models during lab time is not enough time to study. I heard Dr. Friscia’s office hours were also helpful but I was never able to go.

Here is information about the exams since I found the previous review very helpful when I took the class.

Midterm Practical (20%): 102.5/115 (before recalculating grades 96.5/115)
5 points extra credit were possible. There were around 30 stations and each station had 3-4 questions. The stations consisted of cadavers and bones with pins or stickers on them. This practical was difficult for me despite studying A LOT. Make sure you spell everything correct and you always include whether it’s the right or left side of the body or you will lose points. Also, know your insertion and origins of the muscles because some of the cadavers may be arranged in positions you haven’t seen before. Lastly, don’t doubt yourself! I did and ending up missing a lot of questions I knew.

Midterm Written (30%): 87.5/100 (before recalculating grades 82.5/100)
10 point extra credit were possible. He provided a study guide with 30 questions to help guide our studying. Some of the questions on the midterm were from the study guide. The midterm consisted of multiple choice, fill in the blank, free response, and true and false. He gives you 4-5 short answer questions and terms to define and lets you pick 2-3 of each that you want to answer. I studied tremendously for the exam but didn’t do as well as I wanted too. The exam was fair and most students did really well.

Final Practical (15%): 99/100
4 points of extra credit were possible on this. This practical was harder than expected because he incorporated some lecture material which many students hadn’t started studying for yet. The practical was the same amount of stations but slightly fewer questions each. A lot of the questions were about neuroanatomy so make sure you know that well. The final practical was way easier than the midterm practical imo.

Final Written (25%): 99.5/95
The final was not too difficult, most of the questions were on the study guide he provided us about a week before the final. He gave us the full three hours to take the final, yet most finished within two hours. 13 points extra credit were possible, which helped my grade tremendously.

Quizzes (10%): 78/80
We had quizzes each week which through CCLE. He gave us two attempts and 25 mins for a ten question quiz. The quizzes are not the same with each attempt but they are not difficult if you study the lecture notes.

Final grade before he recalculate midterms: 92% A-
Final grade after he recalculated midterm: 94% a solid A!!:)

As you can see he wants his students to succeed and I’m so grateful that he recalculates the midterm grades if you improve on the final. I was literally about to drop the class after midterms, but I talked myself out of it because dropping a class because I might get a B is pretty dumb and I’m so glad I didn’t drop! I read on a previous review before taking the class that says he recalculates grades if you perform better on the final, but he never mentioned it to our class. He’s seriously an angel. I would recommend him to anyone taking Physic 13<3

Grading Scheme:
Quizzes 20%
Written Exam 1 20%
Written Exam 2 20%
Practical Exam 1 22%
Practical Exam 2 18%

Professor Friscia:
Dr. Friscia is a great professor. Very charming and funny and also very clear on the material. Lectures are always engaging and he makes the material fun to learn. In lecture, he expands on the course material by using real world applications. Textbooks aren't required, but they can be helpful. Though I never used one. This class is not curved, but the instruction and the many extra credit opportunities in exams give you a great chance to do well in this course. He says that he teaches this class in a way so that you actually retain what you learn so that many who are in the class for grad school can take it all with them. I'd say he was pretty successful.

TA Ymi Ton:
Labs were 3 hours twice a week, but sometimes it ended early. You need to buy the lab manual, which isn't too expensive - $13. Throughout lab you'll be filling in labels for diagrams of organs/muscles/etc. The beginning it basically filling out the lab manual and the end is actually going over what was covered with models/specimens. Any leftover time can be spent reviewing more, or you could go home. It's pretty cool to see the specimens! You have the opportunity to touch some of them as well. Ymi was a great TA in my opinion. She was very clear and labs were always organized.

Quizzes Grade: 70/70
8 quizzes were given on CCLE about once a week. The lowest grade is dropped. Each consists of 10 multiple choice questions. As long as you refer to your notes, you should get 100% every time. Sometimes questions from previous quizzes also pop up. He'll let you know which material each quiz will cover.

Written Exam 1 Grade: 104.75/105
Written exams consist of every type of question - multiple choice, true/false, matching, short answer. They're only focused on things covered in lecture, so you don't need to worry about the more in depth stuff you learn in lab. The questions are pretty straightforward, so if you study it shouldn't be a problem. Shouldn't be a time crunch either. I did not get this high of a grade when I initially took it. He has this formula to boost your midterm score if you do better on the final, so that's really helpful.

Written Exam 2 Grade: 111.5/102
The same deal with this one. The final wasn't cumulative, but there are some foundational elements you still need to remember. On all the exams, he offers extra credit questions. For this one, 13 extra credit points could be earned. These questions really help boost your grade, as you can see.

Practical Exam 1 Grade: 110.425/115
For this session, we had 33 stations in lab. Each station had a specimen/model/printout and a set of 3-4 questions about them. Usually there's a pin/sticker on it that requires you to identify structures and then other questions about function, etc. You write down your answers on the blanks on a sheet of paper on a clipboard. You have 3.5 minutes at each station before you have to rotate. You can't go back to a station, so if you're stuck, write down some details so you can mull it over later. You either can answer all the questions really quickly and are bored waiting for time to be up or you get stuck and don't have enough time. There were 3 rest stations thrown in there so you can go over your answers. You have to be as specific as possible when giving your answers, as they'll mark you down for incompleteness. For this practical, really study the origins and insertions of the muscles! There are a lot of questions on those, and I didn't study them enough and got a lot wrong. My initial grade was a 107/115, but I was boosted by my final practical score. There are some extra credit questions here too, and they can relate to stuff learned in lecture. But focus mainly on lab material and really utilize open labs to review the models/specimens. I didn't go to office hours, but those are also a good opportunity to go over models and ask questions.

Practical Exam 2 Grade: 99/100
This practical was the same format. This is also not cumulative. It was significantly easier than the musculoskeletal system, as this practical goes over the systems - cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, urogenital. Overall, the second half of the course had easier material.

Final Grade: A+
I really enjoyed taking this class. Not only was the material really interesting and relevant to what career I want to pursue, but Dr. Friscia was a really great professor with a fair grading scheme. Highly recommend taking this course over the summer if you need to take it for grad school.

This was probably my favorite class at UCLA. Professor Friscia explained and presented the topics SUPER clearly. And despite how long the lectures were, they passed by surprisingly fast because the lectures were so engaging (or there was just so much information that I was super focused lol). Out of all of the professors I've had at UCLA, he presented the material the most clearly. The class is A LOT of memorization, but it's not that bad if you give yourself ~2-3 good days to memorize and review the stuff.

The exams were fair and honestly pretty easy lol. There were no trick questions and as long as you memorized everything, you were fine. There was plenty of extra credit on the midterm and final, so getting 100%+ on the written portions were definitely manageable.

I also want to mention that he presents some of the clinical applications of some of the anatomy you memorize, which makes the experience much more memorable and valuable. The structure and nature of this class made it the best ever. I don't have any other anatomy classes to compare the experience to, but I really do think the quality of this class with Friscia was definitely one of the best.