This class is extremely time-consuming. I had no time whatsoever to focus on my other classes. The course says you only have to meet twice a week, but you're gonna want to go to lab every day of the week to catch up on experiments. There are a lot of experiments. After lab you're gonna have to upload data and meet up with your team to work on assignments from both the lecture and the lab portions of the class. The class has essentially 10 units worth of work.
The class is enjoyable if not frustrating from the weight of all the work. You'll get to cultivate some pretty cool bacteria.

This class isn't hard but workload is huge. This is probably the most work-intensive lab I have ever had at UCLA. In a sense it's easy to get an A, if you just do all the work - which is a lot. This class will easily take up 90% of your time. There's weekly homework, presentations, papers, keeping the lab notebook up to date, etc. so there are no breaks whatsoever.

Dr. Parker might seem strict on the outside but she can be lenient where it counts. I would suggest talking to her, asking her questions, and getting to know her so that you stand out as a student. She might be snippy with some of her answers but don't take it personally. She doesn't have answers to everything though so you should just ask your TA. Your TA is key, they do most of the grading and are the ones overlooking your project. Talk to them, be friendly, be casual.

My tips for this class are : 1) keep on top of your lab notebook. Everyday after lab update it with pictures and results. DO NOT fall behind on the notebook. This is rule número uno. 2) communicate with your group. Always. Start strengthening the group dynamics early so that everyone is comfortable talking to each other. It makes coordinating the project a lot easier. Also make sure all group members have lab results. Once you start splitting up duties for the project you will need to keep everyone up to speed on procedure, results, pictures, etc. 3) DO NOT procrastinate your midterm and final papers. Start that at least a week in advance. They will be at least 10 pages long. I stayed up over 24 hours because I only started two days before the due date. Just do a little each day. Trust me. 4) take advantage of her extra credit opportunities. If you do all her extra credit, you can get 50 points max. That's a lot. 5) participate in lecture. It might look like no one is keeping track of participation, but they are. Your TA is writing down who is asking questions and answering them.

I got an A in this course even though my notebook and final paper were terrible, but I did all the extra credit. I admit I did have fun in this class and it has prepared me for any future experiments because of all the lab work. There will be moments of panic where your results will be contradictory or something won't work and you think that your experiment is a failure, just remember everything will work out in the end. That I can promise.