He is an amazing professor. The class average for the midterm and final were about 69-72 % (something like that). His class is a point based system, so a point on the final and midterm are the same as a point for participation in discussion. I did average on the midterm but got a B on the final, did all the extra credit, and was able to get an A in the class. I'm pretty sure I needed all that extra credit to get an A, but it was definitely manageable, and most of all FUN. I actually enjoyed his lectures and how he taught. He is a rare gem.

I LOVE this man!!!!! Jay Phelan is a truly amazing lecturer. He said once in class that he was always nervous before lectures, but honestly, he didn't need to be. He is my favorite professor that I've had at UCLA. I know that it's repetitive at this point, but there's just so much to learn from this man. He only teaches information that is useful to your life and gives a ton of interesting examples. In this class, we talked about evolution/natural selection, kindness (why we are kind, to who we are kindest, etc.), DNA (not too much on this subject, though), macromolecules, nutrition/digestion, hormones, why sex differences exist, neurotransmitters, how drugs work, culture, and happiness. So if any of these topics interest you, I highly recommend this class! Honestly, even if they don't, I still recommend it.

Grading is based on a point system. The workload for this class really isn't bad - there are four discussion posts for the entire quarter, and then one in-section debate you do with 1-2 other group members. This is worth 40 of the 656 points, but it really is not bad. I thought that my subject was interesting and my groupmate and I worked well. We got an easy 40/40. Also, there are four quizzes in total that you take in section. These take 10 minutes. Basically, before each of these quizzes, you receive a problem set in class. This worksheet is optional; however, each quiz is based on one question from these problem sets. So it's in your best interest to at least look at the problem set. There are a ton of quizlets online already for each. Just look at them beforehand, and you'll be fine.

There are textbook readings, but I did fine without reading anything assigned after the midterm. The midterm and final were both fair - no surprises. You do need to study for these in order to end with an A/A- in the class. Also, the top 5% scorers on the final exam get an automatic A in the class, but you shouldn't rely on this. Do all of the other work in order to ensure your chances of maximizing your grade.

There are a lot of extra credit points offered through easy, effortless tasks. You just need to remember to do them. You can get extra credit points by doing the pre- and post-class surveys, as well as ALL of the like 5 question quizzes he posts for the first four-ish weeks (whether your answers are right or wrong doesn't matter - it's participation based). If you do ALL of these, then you get additional points. There's also an opportunity to create a music video/movie trailer for up to 30 extra credit points. I didn't do this, but I did do the effortless extra credit described above, and I think it helped a lot.

Overall, as long as you go to lectures and discussions, it should be easy to at least get a B in the class without trying too hard. I regret not going to Jay's office hours simply because I wish that I had gotten to know him more... a letter of rec from him will probably open a lot of doors. Seeing how much he cares about his students (he literally took a class photo on the last day), I bet that he would really put in a lot of time and effort to give you a glowing letter. Really great guy.

HOWEVER, if you're banking on this class for the lab/demo pair, be aware that I don't think the lab has been offered in a few years. I was planning on doing the lab/demo pair for psychology major requirements but only realized recently that LS15L wasn't being offered. So keep that in mind - check beforehand.

This class made me change the way I view STEM as a whole. Professor Jay Phelan is a phenomenal lecturer who applies even the most abstract biological concepts in a way the average undergrad can understand. Think of it like 9th grade biology, but better. He's been in our shoes before -- the first day of class, he talked about how he was not a good student at UCLA and never went to a single office hour session. I only ever went to his office hours on the last day he was offering it, but it genuinely made me wish I went to more.

About the class itself: it is graded on a point based system. There's 656 points in all. He does offer extra-credit, most famously in the form of a music video (up to 30 points)! I managed to get the 30 points plus all the other extra credit offered, so that's 58 points in all (like an 8.8% boost if you think about it). I got 92.5/150 points on the midterm and 189/250 on the final. There is a debate worth 40 points, and some discussion board/participation points too. Professor Phelan gives an automatic A in the class to the top 20 scorers on the final regardless of how they did the rest of the quarter!

In all, I highly recommend this course for anyone needing it as a GE, prerequisite, or a space for someone to learn about biology in a fun way.

This has been my favorite class at UCLA so far. This class is so interesting and the professor is so passionate and smart in what he teaches. I wouldn’t say it is an easy A because you do need to go to class to have a good grade. But that didn’t matter, I didn’t want to skip one single class because they were all so cool. The days that I had this class were my fav days of the week. Super recommended.

Out of all the classes I've taken at UCLA so far, this was the only one I genuinely enjoyed going to. The professor is extremely engaging, and the material is actually interesting. The midterm and final are HARD--but the reviews that he holds the week of MTs/finals are very helpful. Basically he gives around 30 questions at the review sections that we should know the answers to, something like: "What are the effects of reciprocal altruism" and if you can answer and explain all the questions, you'll do fine on the final and midterm. I would call my mom and talk to her about all the questions and explain the answers to her and we'd have a discussion about them. She doesn't know the subject material, so it was like I was teaching the material to her, which really helped me piece it all together in my head, so I would recommend that strategy. Weekly quizzes were challenging at times, but only because the TA's are nit-picky. You do get a set of like six questions in lecture beforehand (optional, but one of them will be on the quiz so you should definitely do them), so it is not hard to prepare, just takes effort. Also, discussion sections are LONG but not a lot of work. You will have to do a presentation and a debate at some point during section, but as long as you meet together with your group beforehand and have a plan they're not that bad. The workload is doable, but it is kind of heavy. I didn't really read the textbook and I ended up with a B+, but like any other class, the grade you get will reflect how much effort you put in throughout the quarter. I went to/watched and took good notes on all the lectures, and studied a lot before tests, but still had plenty of time for my other classes. The slides are posted, but you'll need to either go to lecture or watch the BruinCast because he's not the type to write down all the information that you need on slides, usually it's just a diagram or picture and he'll explain it--which is nice, it's not like those classes where you take up 7 notebook pages copying notes from a board (boring). All in all, I would take this class again, and Dr. Phelan is my favorite professor of all time! He's really funny and passionate about what he's teaching, and he's and definitely in the top 5 favorite teachers I've had in my life.

what can i say other than i love phelan. i will literally add his name to my tombstone. HE'S AMAZINGGGG. i took this as a prereq but my god did i love it. he genuinely wants his students to succeed and pass his class so he offers extra credit that can give you up to 20 extra points. he does exam reviews and even automatically gives an A to the top 20 people who get the highest score on the final. this man is going to heaven

Take this class! -Especially psych majors!
This class is super engaging and professor Phelan is a lot of students favorites! (I know people taking his university studies seminar simply bc they loved him in Lifesci 15). At the end of the quarter there is an easy way to earn extra credit through making a parody video! Weekly quiz grades are somewhat TA dependent, but if you write out answers to all of the problems on the set he hands out, then you'll be fine (they pick one of the questions from the set and that is the quiz, they don't change anything about the question). I would highly advise going to lecture rather than watching recordings, it is super engaging and way more memorable. I thought the midterm was completely fair, the final was a bit more detail oriented, but still fair. Make sure to attend or watch his review sessions. He does a great job at connecting topics to real world scenarios, and you don't need to have a lot of biology background to succeed! I wouldn't call it an "easy A" GE like some art/humanities classes are, but I would argue it's A LOT easier than any other lifesci class that I know of (7 series, 30 series, etc), and if you put in effort, your grade will reflect it.

BEST class and professor! ever!!! I took this class fall quarter and I have to say I loved it so much. The professor is super engaging and the lectures are actually really interesting and fun. The material you learn is also super applicable to everyday life and it was actually cool to understand it. The workload isn't bad just make sure to do the "optional" problem sets so you can ace the quizzes. With the quizzes get good at being super specific in your answers so you can get a good grade. Study lots for midterm and final, not too bad but again super knit picky with short answer responses.

I loved this class! I'm usually not a bio person but this class was really interesting - in fact, he makes a point to make everyone realize that they are a "science person," no matter what their strengths are. The topics were very relevant to life, and Phelan always presents them in a way that is super engaging and entertaining. Dr. Phelan himself is really knowledgeable (all of his stories of the people he's met and the things he's done are absolutely bonkers, he's genuinely so cool) and he's also incredibly personable and funny. I honestly woke up wanting to go to his class because if I didn't, I felt like I was missing out on something. He literally gave me FOMO for LECTURES. All in all, a pretty easy class with a reasonable workload, definitely not effortless but entirely doable. Phelan is a really cool guy, and my one regret is not talking to him personally more, so if you take his class, do that!! Don't be scared, ask him about his research or something. Highly recommend this class!

As someone who took this course as both a psych prerequisite and a GE, I would recommend LS 15 to anybody! Of course, this is a STEM course, but I feel like the nature of it is a bit humanities-oriented (there's a decent amount of writing and a mandatory debate). Dr. Phelan is one of the rare professors who I feel truly understands HOW students learn and fully takes that in account when teaching the course. At its heart, this is an introductory course on evolutionary biology and human physiology. To some, this may seem boring, but Dr. Phelan is such an engaging lecturer and the content is so varied that I promise you it isn't!

I wouldn't necessarily consider this a difficult course, but you definitely need to put in effort and consistently study to succeed. The exams were challenging but fair. Some found the multiple choice more tricky while others struggled more with the short answer questions due to the level of specificity expected by the graders. No matter what, you need to know the concepts (as well as lots of examples of them) well if you want to do well. Personally, I found the midterm more difficult than the final; however, that was probably just because the final was fully MC due to the TA strike. As far as the discussion section quizzes, they are based on a single short answer question randomly selected from the week's problem set. At least in my section, I feel like the quiz questions and grading got progressively easier throughout the quarter (my first quiz score was like 9/15 lol but I scored 15/15 on the last three quizzes). While the discussion section presentation and debate (which involves very broad topics) may seem intimidating for some, in my experience they are graded quite leniently. I've heard he usually curves the course at the end of the quarter, but I'm not 100% sure. Nevertheless, if you stay on top of things and are a decent test taker, you're more than capable of doing well in this class!

As a whole, Dr. Phelan's teaching philosophy revolves around highlighting how biology is applicable to the real-world. In my opinion, he went above and beyond in accomplishing this. Yes, LS 15 does include some of the rote memorization necessary in any biology class, but the societal implications of lots of the concepts (reciprocal altruism, DNA fingerprinting, human emotions, etc.) is what I feel really makes the class content special. This is a meaningful, interesting, and thought-provoking course I think any UCLA student would find worthwhile!!