**SOC GEN 5**

I took this class during fall quarter of 2014, when Landecker taught the first half and Lynch-Alfaro the second half. Professor Landecker is a nice lady, but her lectures are incredibly dry. I fell asleep in every single lecture no matter how hard I tried to stay awake. Landecker's quizzes and midterm were arguably harder than the ones given by Lynch-Alfaro. Most people in this class are pre-human biology majors, but I'm a political science major who took this class as a GE. It was really easy, though, especially if you took AP bio in high school. I ended up with an "A+" in the class with minimal effort. I'd recommend the class with Professor Lynch-Alfaro instead.

Actual class taken: Society and Genetics 5

Dr. Landecker taught the first half of the course and Dr. Lynch Alfaro taught the second half.

Just as the other reviewers said, Dr. Landecker is a very kind person. However, she is a very boring lecturer and I struggled to stay awake during her classes.

Grading Breakdown
20% Midterm
20% Essay
20% Participation
20% Quizzes
20% Final

The midterm was during Dr. Landecker's part of the class and was far more difficult than most of us expected. The average was in the mid-70s. This was definitely the most difficult part of the class.

The essay was seven pages consisting of a 1 page introduction to the issue (antibiotic resistance or the microbiome) and then 2 separate 3-page testimonies to Congress about the issue. It's easy as long as you don't wait until the day before its due to start.

Participation is simply doing the weekly standing assignment (involves reading 2 articles, writing key terms, a quick summary, and asking one question for each article) and occasionally speaking during discussion. Easy points.

5 quizzes, all during the the last half of the course. The lowest gets dropped. The readings are irrelevant for these, just review your notes.

The final was given by Dr. Lynch Alfaro and was a bit easier than Landecker's.

Overall the class was not too difficult. Plenty of opportunities for easy points to bring your grade up. That said, there are definitely easier GEs for you to take. If subjects like antibiotic resistance, the microbiome, and reproduction rates/techniques interest you, go ahead and take the class.

I took Soc M164 Politics of Reproduction with Landecker (this is not an option you can pick when rating the class on bruinwalk). She is really sweet and and you can tell she is interested and passionate about what she is teaching. This class in itself was super interesting, and is one of my favorite classes that I have taken so far. There are 4 or 5 easy quizzes, a midterm, a final, and a term paper. Everything is graded fairly and I ended up with an A!

I actually took Society and Genetics 5 with Professor Landecker.

Professor Landecker is extremely knowledgeable and very passionate about what she teaches. She does a really good job of explaining the concepts and articles for the class.

Basically, this class is very interesting for people interested in social and biological problems like antibiotic resistance and diabetes and obesity. The course gets repetitive and the lectures are boring, but if you do the reading and keep up with the assignments you will be fine. There's a a midterm, a paper, and a final. Make sure you are specific for all of these. The TA's are pretty picky in their grading. If you're looking for an easy GE, this is NOT it. It's way too much reading so you're better off taking something else. If you need to take this as a major requirement, keep up on the work and really just try to please your TA.