Phelan is absolutely amazing. He is the most engaging, entertaining professor, always incorporating his life stories into every lecture in a meaningful and relevant way. I loved going to lecture, and sometimes didn't even want it to end, which can't be said for most classes. You will learn very applicable and memorable lessons in this class. It is easy, but not an easy A. There is very little work and generally easy concepts but the exams are hard. There are quizzes in each discussion but he gives you the questions beforehand so they are not hard. There is one midterm and one final which require quite a bit of studying and are not easy, but he gives a pretty large curve. Not too much reading, and it is interesting. Take this class!!!

Professor Phelan is cool, and makes the materials (that would otherwise be boring) very interesting and logical!

I am also SELLING Text Books + Weekly Question packets! Text **********

Happy to answer any questions.

Professor Phelan is absolutely phenomenal. He really cares about his students and is passionate about what he does. His lectures are so engaging, I was never bored. I looked forward to every lecture. He makes science actually relevant to your life and the things I learned from his class still impact me today. I understand the world better, which is something I thought straight biology couldn't ever do. His class did have a decent amount of workload though, you have to prepare for weekly quizzes, one debate with a partner, a midterm and a final. It's writing intensive for a bio class. Highly recommended. This man will change your life.

This class is decently difficult, not because of subject material, but because of tests and how they are graded. I ended up with a B- overall and actually tried really hard/understood most of the concepts. But I also don't care because Jay Phelan is dope and so are his lectures and everyone should take this class regardless of the grade they get.

Selling Mean Genes for 9$, willing to negotiate, email me @ *************

Just take the class, trust me on this.

Selling textbooks: Mean Genes ($7) and What is Life ($15). What is Life is not the required edition but the difference is minimal. Text me at ********** if interested.

Definitely go to office hours! Dr. Phelan is super interesting and willing to engage with students, and my only regret with this class is not going more often.

The class itself is really interesting, but the tests can be pretty hard since a large part is free response. Lecture slides aren't posted online, so going to lecture is pretty necessary, but they're super interesting and straightforward so taking notes is pretty easy. Just review those notes and be familiar with that and you'll be fine for the midterm/final.

TAKE THIS CLASS.
It changed my life, and he is an amazing lecturer.
If I could I would recommend this class to every undergrad that still needs a life science GE.
It's incredible. He's incredible.

Phelan is AWESOME. He is such a cool/nice/smart guy. His lectures are interesting and fun. The only work in this class is reading the book really. There are weekly quizzes but they aren't a big deal because they aren't that many points, he gives you the questions the week before, and you can just get the answers from someone who took the class last quarter. On the midterm I got below the average and was predicted to get a C. For the final, he had a review where he listed 35 questions to know. He said if you know the answers to these questions you'll get an A. So i wrote out the answer to each question and got and A in the class. He says that the top 5% on the final get an A in the class no matter your grade on the midterm (which I think is what happened to me). The material is very interesting and applicable to your life. Take this class for sure.

Jay is my favorite professor so far at UCLA! He wrote me a letter of recommendation, and I really enjoyed his class. I'm taking the lab for his class right now and I'm really enjoying that too. My major is in the life science department, and I hope I'll have the chance to take another class with him. Go to office hours (they're actually fun), do the online quizzes, go to discussion, and you'll do well.