Dr. Esdin is a sack of shit in disguise. His exams are not there no test you for what you know, but rather trip you into mistakes. His questions are worded horribly! I would not recommend this teacher to anybody, avoid at all costs. It seems as though only the people who got A's are taking the time to review him, please think of the other the other 98% of the class who did not leave with an A. Hard as hell.

I loved this class!! I'm a life sciences major, and I already know a lot of this stuff in detail, but it was SO USEFUL to learn about everything in a border context. Esdin is an amazing lecturer. It makes going to class every lecture fun (even though it is required and he has sign in sheets for credit, so it's essential that you go to lecture).

Also, the workbooks are really helpful with staying up to date with lecture and are a great guide for studying for the exams.

Dr. Esdin's class is very informative. He really lectures talking to students not at them. You can tell from the detailed powerpoints he has that he puts a lot of time into his lectures. Definitely attend office hours. They are so helpful and he is so welcoming. You never fall asleep in his lecture.
Physiology is very difficult but he makes it so simplified and easy to comprehend. He is also so generous with the grades. He gives about 35% of the students A range. Out of all the instructors at UCLA, you should take him. He is awesome. His exams are detailed, but if you take good notes, you will ace the exams.

Took LS2

Dr. Esdin is a smart, qualified professor. His accent was cute, and he put some pictures of attractive girls on his lecture slides sometimes to wake people up. He is funny without trying to be funny, which I appreciate. However, his tests are difficult! For example, if you don't know how the blood travels through the heart (naming all the valves and chambers and special vessels) before the second midterm, you might be curve-crushed.
Another thing I would like to impart upon his future students is that the tests are 100% from his lectures. Nothing comes from the book. So, if you are thinking about buying the LS2 book for Esdin's class, don't. You only need the lab manual. If you need to brush up on something that wasn't clearly explained in the lecture, go to Wikipedia!
Another advice: review the lectures and concepts right after lecture! And make a study guide for yourself of things you are iffy on, and stuff you think is important that might be on the test. Helps a whole deal when studying for midterms :)
P.S. He is much nicer (in terms of difficulty) during Summer Session C.

His class was very enjoyable.

I took Dr. Esdin's PS 5 class this past Summer and it was a great experience. He teaches you really well about how to lead a healthy life style. HE talks in details about nutrition and exercise and explains how food is processed in your body. His Life Assessment Project is an eye opener on how to lead a healthy life style. The exams for the course were straight forward. Take this class if you want an enjoyable as well as a rewarding experience. I recommended this class to all my friends.

Life Sciences 2 is a very difficult course. However, professor Esdin makes is so enjoyable. His lectures are really interesting and constructed differently than the textbook. They are so detailed and you do not need the textbook. In the textbook, there is a lot of details (outerlayers) that you have to go through to get to the core. In his lectures, professor Esdin takes all the outer layer away and focuses on what is important. Be ready to take notes in his class. He tests you on what he lectures on. Great class. He gets a 10+++++++++.

I would not recommend this class to anyone who does not have a strong science background. As a North Campus major, I struggled with the concepts and found the tests and quizzes unreasonable. I originally took this class off the great reviews Dr. Esdin has, but after almost a whole quarter with him I do not feel that he lived up to this reputation.

LS2

One of my favorite professors at UCLA. His accent is cool, you'll hear the phrase "take home message" about a billion times throughout the course, his email return time is pretty fast (same day, usually), and you'll learn a lot.

Now the material:
LS2 is a rough course, regardless of the professor. That being said, Esdin does a great job explaining it. Bad part, it's not podcasted, so either record it, find someone who recorded it, or take REALLY DETAILED notes. He doesn't use the book, all based off his notes. But the tests were kind of tricky. The class is not purely based on memorization, but it's also about applying the material. Here's the thing, the class is curved rather generously, so if you think the test was really hard, the class results will probably show it. It's just as much based on how everyone does too. Does this mean sabotage any friends in the class? Your call; if they do better than you, and you helped them, they'll get a better grade than you because you helped them. That pissed me off at the end of the class, kind of regret helping them now...

Don't put off studying for the last minute, there's a lot of stuff to know. Also, he takes off certain lectures from the final, so not all the material is on there. He gives a few questions on the test in lecture, so don't miss it.

Take home message - take him! But be prepared to work hard!!!

This is not an easy class at all. You will need to memorise the entire course reader word by word. Yes word by word. There are many trick MC questions in the midterm and the final asking specifics details from the course Reader that you are not aware of. I got an A in this class, but it took me a lot a lot of time to memorise the course reader.