Best Professor! Take this class he's the goat for real! Don't miss out, course is pretty hard but overall he wants you to pass the class with an A.

hes king tbh I might fail the final but he slays

definitely not an easy class; however, a class i would 100% take again. the work load is very manageable + your TAs are there to support you, so section was always fun :) partcipation matters here, but they're just going over the content + an assigned debate, but it's not bad as long as you prepare. there's a lottt of content (IMO), so you definitely should study, but professor phelan goes through it in great detail with care, so you have nothing to worry about

This class was very engaging and I enjoyed lectures. As for the assignments I think they were pretty manageable. I recommend always completing the problem sets and looking into the textbook for answers or examples. This will help on the quizzes because they are always one of the questions from the problem set, so it is always something you have seen before. The lowest quiz score will be dropped. The discussion post assignments were easy. As long as you answer completely and thoroughly you should be fine. For both the midterm and final the professor had optional review sessions where he gave out similar questions to the ones on the exam. I recommend answering every single one of those questions in paragraph form and maybe with peers to practice. If you can answer any of those from memory and think of examples then you will be prepared for the exams. Overall, I like how the class related to everyday life. I have learned some things that I will always remember and take into consideration now. This is a great GE and you are given all the resources to succeed.

This class is AMAZING! Phelan is an incredible professor. I went into this class with little enthusiasm because I never previously considered myself a science person. Now, I LOVE science and am often telling my friends all the cool facts I learned in this class. It is definitely not an easy A but if you put in the work, you’ll be happy with your grade. The midterm and final are pretty difficult tests, but Phelan writes prep questions before each test and if you really study them and understand the concepts, you’ll do well on the exams. I learned so much in this class, I highly recommend!

I can't say enough about how much I loved LS15. It really was the perfect class to take my 1st quarter here. Professor Phelan is the absolute GOAT. The class was dense and challenging at times, yes, but I learned so many things relevant to my everyday life. This is literally the most useful and interesting class I've ever taken. And take it with Tanner D. if you can - best TA ever.

Tips:
- Go to office hours for both Professor Phelan and your TA. But especially Phelan's. His office hours are in his office in a circle setting, where he talks about his personal life and is equally curious about yours. He's such a genuine and knowledgeable person, and attending his office hours was one of my favorite parts of the class.
- Make your notes really, really good, and add pictures from lectures (pictures of slides that he doesn't post) and/or the textbook. Some topics can be complex and confusing, and the more notes you have to work with, the better.
- If you can afford it/are willing to spend the money only: buy the textbook. I know this might sound crazy, but the textbook reading was VITAL to my success in this class. There's a few chapters each week to read, and though it does go way more in depth than what's covered in class, reading it builds your foundation/background knowledge substantially. It really helped me understand the class concepts better and let them sink in. But I wish I had a physical textbook to do this.

I definitely want to take more of Phelan's classes in the future. This is an excellent GE choice, though not the easiest - I think it's worth it because it's so valuable.

Don't listen to the reviews that say this class turns you into a science person. After reading the reviews, I was hoping the material would be super interesting, and even though the professor is funny and has interesting examples, all the work other than the lectures is so so boring. There's lots of busy work and the midterm and final are not easy. Save yourself the time and pick an easier and more fun GE.

Loved Professor Phelan. He was super insightful and I felt inclined to go to office hours because I just wanted his advice. He knows so much about the process of going through school and is just a genuinely nice and caring person. This might be the most useful and fun class that I have taken at UCLA in terms of every day life. TAKE THIS CLASS!

I also have both textbooks and I'll give them both to you for $10. Text me **********.

Really good class. I agree with most of the positive reviews here already. Professor is caring and enthusiastic about teaching. The class isn't necessarily an easy GE though. You need to do good in paying attention in class, taking notes, and reviewing. The class doesn't use a percentage breakdown grading systems, rather there are a totally of 656 points available and your grade depends on how many of them you get. A good thing in this class's grading system is that a 90%, which normally would be an A- in other classes, is considered an A in this one. So as long as you get above 90%, or 590.4 points, you'd get an A. Also the class offered up to 20-50 possible extras points. I got 22 and they were easy to get—simple practice quizzes for completion only. There is also a music video for extra credit at the end of the quarter that could be worth anywhere from 10-30 points. But I didn't do I and still ended up with an A. Let me recall...I believe the final exam was worth 250 points, the midterm 150 points, discussion participation 36 points, four quizzes 40 points, debate 40 points...yeah those were the main ones.

Content wise the class was interesting. It taught life science concepts—evolution, nutrition, etc.—that are very applicable in life. A great GE to take for students of all majors, really.

If you must take LS 15, take it with Dr. Phelan! His lectures were always engaging, and he always had a story to tell about his life that connected to what we were learning. I wouldn't recommend missing a lecture for this class, as he doesn't post the slides. You'll survive with Bruin cast, but being in the same room while he's teaching helps a lot. By week 9, the lecture hall was still almost full. This class consists of quizzes (based on problem sets you don't have to turn in), a debate, a midterm, and a final. There are lots of extra credit opportunities, which honestly saved me. This class isn't too bad as long as you really, really study for the midterm and final in ways that can help you apply what you've learned.