Great class and great professor. I highly recommend it. It's not as easy as some people make it out to be. Attending lectures will help a lot and reading the course reader and study guide will help too. Esdin is very easy and interesting to listen to. He's a great professor and the class is very interesting! Definitely take it!! The TA Daniel was excellent too!

Course Taken: LS 2

I had Esdin/Bok for LS 2 and even though Esdin spoke VERY quickly with his heavy accent during lectures, he was a good professor overall. I thought his exams were alright, some of the questions were a little ridiculous but the averages came out to a 70%. In lecture, the best way to take notes is to save the lecture slides that he posts online and then type notes directly onto them.

The lab portion of this class (which they are omitting in the future) was a HUGE portion of our grade, and since everyone did so well in it, I'm not sure if the class was actually curved in the end. The best way to study for his exams is to organize his lecture notes since your notes from class might be difficult to follow and just memorize them. The TA's even admit that this is one of the heaviest LS classes with regards to the amount of information you have to know, so just know the slides by heart. Study the slides and you'll be fine.

--LS2--

So this guy is fantastic - clear notes, exams strictly based on lectures instead of that gargantuan book - it's all good.

LS2 is normally regarded as a difficult class by the general populous, but he makes it easier. If you want to learn, write out all of his slides into conceptual pictures (e.g. process of the digestive system), and you are sure to get a good grade. His first exam is bad, but the second one is extremely fair. Study lots for the final, though not cumulative, it can get fairly detailed. Very personable, excellent professor.

Dr. Esdin is a good lecturer, he explains things well and his slides help. He doesn't post them consistently though. He'll post slides from certain weeks but not others. If you're taking PhySci5, it's a lot of memorization and really important to know all the little details both in the lectures and reader, but if you do know them, it's pretty easy to do well on the midterm and final which are both multiple choice.

10/10 WOULD TAKE IT AGAIN

*Course: LIfe Science 2.* Spring 2012. Bok/Esdin.

I really enjoyed having Prof. Esdin! He seems like a good guy and he lays out the material very nicely in lectures. In my first year at UCLA, he would definitely rank in my top 3 favorite professors. I would definitely recommend trying to get into his class. I wish I had gone to his office hours and, according to my roommate, he is very helpful if you come prepared with good questions.

I had both Bok and Esdin for LS2, so the first midterm was all of the intro/basic bio that I was really familiar with that Bok taught, but then the second midterm was four chapters of material that Esdin taught. I would say that both tests were fair, but I did a lot better on Bok's test, even though I found his lectures to be boring. The final was not cumulative. If you take Esdin, he writes the questions so that you truly have to understand the material AND can apply it to a situation that you haven't necessarily thought of before. For example, we were asked on the final something like: what are the effects of hyperventilation on the body? After studying the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, we were supposed to connect the dot and apply the various concepts to the question.

You should give yourself plenty of time to study for LS2, regardless of which professor you get. I took Biology Honors and AP in high school, which helped a lot, and made it more like a review in the beginning, but the is still a TON of information to be absorbed in 10 weeks. Do not let yourself fall behind, especially if you haven't taken advanced biology in high school.

The take home message for doing well in LS 2 is:
---learn the material based on the lectures. (Esdin will only test what he lectures on- its a good idea to print and bring his lecture notes to class)
---Use the lecture schedule as a tentative study schedule, so you don't end up cramming right before the exams.
---*RECORD* Esdin's lectures!!! (this is very, very important. He does NOT podcast, at least during my quarter, so bring a lap top/ recording device. The lectures go FAST, so take notes in lecture, then re-listen and take notes in a different color at home... I did this before the final, and I generally only got down half of what he said during the actual class. The exam questions are detail oriented, so definitely listen to his lectures again)
---Try to go to discussion prepared. (I think you probably will get more out of it if it feels like a review...and that way you can ask your TA questions. I really liked my TA, Brian Mullen. I was in his third discussion of the day, so he always had coffee by the time we got there, but he does a great job condensing the material)
--- Figure out a study method that works for you, and do it. (This may seem obvious, but if you don't do so well on the first midterm or whatever, do something differently for the next exam)
--- Try to find a good study group... Even though asking question to the prof and TA is great, if you find a couple fellow classmates to digest and review the material, it will help a lot. I know I liked studying the material first on my own, and then talking through everything gave me a good grasp on the details.

Dr. Esdin is a great professor. He makes all of the material really accessible and easy to understand in his lectures. As long as you attend lecture and read the course reader before the exams, you'll do well. I think he is more than a fair professor and I highly recommend taking the class. His exams can be tricky, but he gives you a lot of opportunities to improve your grade and review slides to study that are *debatably* helpful.

Best GE ever. An easy-A if you do the work! An interesting and valuable course too. 2 midterms and a final, homework,participation, and a project. But all work is very straightforward and easy! Overall, great class.

This class was super interesting but it does take a lot of memorization and work. I've heard that it's harder than it was before when my friends took it but I still got an A- so its all good.

Email me if you're interested in buying my course reader for this class. It's in LIKE NEW condition. Absolutely no markings, tears, or notes in the course reader. Spring 2013 edition, the brand new one he just introduced last quarter (bright pink cover). Would also be willing to include my project for the class (worth 1/4 of the grade), called the Lifestyle Assessment Report. That report takes a long time, it really helps to have an example and I got a 98 on it. I also have saved screenshots of the online quizzes that I'd include in the purchase. Save yourself the walk to Westwood (the only place that sells it, not sold in UCLA bookstore)

Sorry, my post is below and my email is *************