MCDB 60 is a relatively easy class. There was memorization required for both midterms and final, and he is a stickler for word-choice, but the tests themselves were very predictable. He gives you all the materials you need, and honestly, an evening of good study for each test will hold you in good stead. Creating a study guide helps with memorization of his mantras. There was almost no work, and the little work that we had was pretty interesting. Pham is a very passionate lecturer and encourages participation, and we had interesting discussions outside of class on topics such as race and intelligence. He is extremely compassionate, and while you may get very bored in lecture, you don't want to let him down. I'm a chemical engineering major, and I took this class for funsies my first quarter freshman year. It was honestly pretty easy. The juniors and seniors and pretty lazy, and the class isn't really curved so their performance one way or another doesn't affect you. For people who thought this class was hard or filled with work, they're probably the type of people who think that one hour of a homework spread out over a quarter is way too difficult.

Why take MCDB 60 as a GE class when there are so many other choices available? Trust me, it's not worth the effort. The workload for this class is pretty crazy, especially for a GE. I mean the exams are just pure rote memorization. To do well in the class, you have to memorize WORD FOR WORD ALL OF HIS POWERPOINTS, and there is A LOT to memorize. The only way you can do well in the class is if you get past exams and memorize everything. I mean Pham seems like a nice guy, but hey, that won't help your GPA. Avoid this class if you can.

This class is definitely no work up until the midterms, the paper and the final. No one does the readings because they are POINTLESS and DONT SHOW UP ON ANY OF THE EXAMS. To do well on the exams you have to MEMORIZE the slides he shows in lectures which are up online. MEMORIZE THEM WORD FOR WORD. Because the questions that show up expect you to answer directly from the slides and if you even miss ONE WORD you lose points. The professor has a THICK accent but it doesn't matter because his lecture does not help.
Having a good TA makes the ultimate difference because they answer all your questions.
And if you have old exams, the questions repeat over and over again.
To do well- memorize everything before exams, don't read a word of the course reader and approach your TA a lot.

I took MCDB 60 with Pham my freshman year. You would think a GE would be easier compared to upper division science classes, but this class proves that this is not necessarily the case. Pham's an alright lecturer, his accent is definitely thick and noticeable though. I had way too many seniors in my class and they were always the ones that set the curves for all the tests. There's no way to compete with people who have more experience than you. I would not recommend this class. As an MCDB major, I know that there are MUCH easier and many more do-able classes. Pham requires you to turn in written assignments that you spend so much time working and never get the credit you deserve. I worked my ass off for a B. This class is one of my lowest in all my ucla career. Such a joke to have a B in a GE class.

So I took this class thinking it was going to just be a really easy GE... I was so wrong. I trusted people who said it was an easy A and now after my first year, I'm not surprised that ucla students are trying to give themselves a better advantage by screwing other people over. As someone who wants others to learn from the mistakes I've made- I am letting you know this class, especially for a freshman like I was, is not easy. This class honestly made part of my freshman year miserable. Please learn from my mistake...

This course's workload was a lot more than I thought it would be. Seeing the statistics makes you fail to recognize it is still not an easy class. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the students dropped the course because it was very difficult and workload was a little too much. The exams were pretty unfair (meaning it was unclear what would and would not be on the exams) and his accent makes it very hard to understand him. I would avoid taking this class with him and try taking it with another professor if possible. I am a junior now and if you're an incoming freshmen I would highly recommend you save this course for another quarter once you are used to the quarter system, seeing how many of those who dropped were freshmen according to the professor. If you end up taking him, I wish you good luck.

I took MCDB 60 with Pham in the spring and could not handle the work load as a freshman. Most of the people in the class were upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) so it made the class very hard to keep up with. The workload was somewhat intimidating and this left me studying for this class more than my other science classes. Pham himself is not the greatest professor either. He has a moderately thick accent which was hard to decipher at times. All in all, I would not recommend pham. If you don't have to, don't take him