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!!

The LS classes are all very similar in format (Achieve, exams, problem-solving sessions, etc.), so I'll focus on what the professor has the most control over, mainly lectures and office hours. Phelan was a pretty engaging lecturer. He went to UCLA as an undergrad too, and he often ties his own stories in his classes and labs to the content we're learning. As the sole lecturer for the entire course, I think he did a pretty good job of thoroughly covering all the topics (when usually the genetics and ecology section were split into two professors). The slides were also helpful and informative, though the copy he gives on Canvas leaves out a few slides he only shows during lecture. Clicker questions were supposed to be graded on participation, but with the Wifi issues this quarter he just gave everyone 100. Overall, his lectures felt worth to come to.

I only went to Phelan's office hours once (and I was the only person there) but they were also super helpful. He had the same engaging personality and clear explanations, so they are definitely a resource you should use. Plus he has some interesting backstory too, so come to office hours to find out!

This class isn't incredibly easy, but if you study and pay attention during lectures you will be completely fine. The midterm and final are all based on the lectures and the review sessions (these are key you should definitely go to them), and even if you get a bad grade their are tons of other assignments that factor in to the final grade. I never did any of the reading and I was completely fine so don't bother buying the textbooks. The class itself is super interesting and I still think about some of the things we learned about. It's easy to pay attention in class because the material is interesting so that makes studying when the exams come around a lot easier. There is a considerable amount of work for this class but again it isn't boring and its manageable as long as you stay on top of everything.

I think professor Phelan was a great lecturer always managed to engage to current issues. However, he never once responded to my emails which was difficult because if you had questions about grades he would never get back to us. He did hold review sessions for the final and midterm but I dont think thats helpful at all. Also when taking LS7B one should be aware that the formatted questions are to trick you. Really get to understand how to read graphs because most tests reflect on that, probabilities, nondisjunction, natural selection, realized/ fundamental niches, knowing how to cross genotypes. Just read questions carefully and good luck on your LS7B journey !!

This class really changed my perspective on biology. Look, I'm still not a huge fan of science but Phelan made its boring parts fun. He's engaging and makes watching lectures easy with his prerecorded vides (which felt like watching youtube videos). I was able to maintain a good grade in the class considering I did all the reading and took notes on his videos, but it's not just an easy A. You will need to study for the exams. They aren't insanely difficult, but his questions come from both materials. All in all i genuinely had a fun time learning in his class and Phelan really knows how to put on a smile on your face. I recommend taking it for your science GE as it actually does provide you will some useful knowledge. (Also, get the pdf copies of the books not the hard cover)