I'll start off by saying this about Esdin... he is an amazing lecturer, he's very eloquent, speaks slowly and clearly, and hes a very nice guy. He explains the material about as well as anyone could, but he only teaches half the course the other half was taught by arnold, i just took it this past winter (W15) . dont bother buying the textbook youre never going to open it.

Theres 2 midterms, and the negative thing i will say about esdin is this however. he grades HARD. for the midterms theres a multiple choice section and a free response section. for the free response, he wants very specific things written that are drawn straight out of lecture or his powerpoints. it doesnt matter that you put down the general idea, he wants a very specific phrase within your answer to get your points. for example there was a question on the first midterm asking to describe amino acids that was worth 6 points almost everyone in my discussion got 3 points or less because we didn't put the phrases he wanted in the answers. i can not emphasize this enough... HE WANTS VERY SPECFIC PHRASES. not knowing this i didnt do so well on the first midterm, but with this knowledge for the second midterm i did a lot better. the final was culmaltive all multiple choice, but ive heard some years they do free response on the final so i guess it just depends on what he wants to do.

overall: its a lot of memorization (as all bio classes are) its actually quite a difficult class as i had to study a lot to get a B+ (the first midterm really hurt me) so study up. i will say that if you are going to take LS 2, take it with esdin youre going to learn a lot, and you'll probably develop good study habits. (trick for the class make sure you record his lectures and give them a listen after, the class isnt podcasted so listening to him reiterate points will help you focus your studying)

Looking to buy lectures that someone has recorded for esdin Arnold LS2 winter 15 txt me at **********

From what I have heard, LS 2 is the easiest of the 4 LS classes, with LS 4 being the hardest, then 3, then 1. However, LS 2 is not as easy as anyone said it was going to be. Here are the averages for my class:

Midterm 1: 72%
Midterm 2: 72%
Final: 68%

That being said, I find that Dr. Esdin made LS 2 extremely bearable. Sure, there are a million things to memorize, but frankly, it's best to have a head start especially if you're premed. Of anything, these concepts are a definite and will be covered on the MCAT.

Dr. Esdin is amazing simply because he teaches you everything you need to know without you needing the book. He and his powerpoint slides are the equivalent of the biology book that you are "required" to read. Going to class is the surest way to obtain all of the information you need in order to pass his midterms. I'd also recommend recording him, and listening to his lectures at least once just to cover anything you might have missed. Just be sure that if you are recording with your laptop, be sure to tell everyone around you to shut up, or else you are going to get caught up listening to other people's gossip.

His office hours are nice, but they can get a bit crowded. I only attended one just to see what kind of a person Dr. Esdin is like, and he is in fact very nice and extremely approachable. (I feel like I'm describing a caged animal #pooruclaprofessors). If you have any dying questions for him however, I would recommend emailing him; he responds within a few hours. He is honestly one of the nicest professors I know, and he genuinely cares about how you are doing in the class.

Oh! A word of advice. This is not the type of class to procrastinate in and to be unorganized in. Also, try your best not to miss lecture. Using a friends recording should not be a substitute for attending lecture. You would just be setting yourself up for failure.

Finally, a word about grading. If you fall one standard deviation above the mean, than you got an A on that exam. For example, the average is 72% and if the standard deviation is a 15%, than anything above an 87% is considered an A. Basically, the class is curved.

I blissfully got an A in the class. Gosh, it really does feel fabulous. Good luck everybody!

XOXO, Gossip Girl

(HAHA just kidding it's Gary)

The reviews are accurate: Esdin is an excellent lecturer. He taught the first class of LS 2, and honestly, he explains concepts so well (with anaologies) that I felt like I did not really have to go to office hours or ask him questions after class. That's how good he is.

I did go to office hours once, and he got my questions answered, although he kind of cut me short once, which is annoying. Nonetheless, he answered my questions.

His exams are fair yet somewhat challenging. You do NOT need the book at all. The key to succeeding is RECORDING his lectures and PRINTING out his lecture notes. Don't be a cheapstake; just do it. I re-listened to all of his recordings after class and wrote down everything he said, and after doing this, the material really starts coming to you.

There is a course reader you have to buy, but I thought it only includes the four articles you have to read for quizzes. For the quizzes, read them well, but I think those screwed me over a bit. I got an A- rather than an A, but considering my course load (LS 2, Organic Chemistry in the 30 series, Physics in the 1 series, and Linear Algebra) it's acceptable.

Yang taught the second half of the course, and she's not bad, but she's no Esdin-level lecturer either. Overall, she was decent and seemed nice.

All in all, I definitely recommend Esdin. He was a great professor who let me transition well into biology since the last time I took it was in 9th grade. Most importantly, he taught me that biology was pretty cool.

For LS 2 Esdin is as good as you can get. There is no one else better that I know of. Unfortunately Esdin never teaches on his own. He is always paired up with another professor for some reason. The other professor usually pales in comparison to Esdin because he's so great. I'm taking this class right now and I'm probably gonna get an A+. Here's what I did to do well in the class.

-Don't read the textbook, its a waste of time. Esdin bases his tests on his lecture and powerpoint.
-Which brings me to my second point. Record the lectures. Just do it. At first I didn't because I thought it wasn't necessary but I was greatly mistaken. You have to relisten to those lectures if you want an A.
-For each midterm, I relistened to each lecture once. Took good notes and went of them once. And lastly I went over the powerpoint once. That was my formula for success, but everyone's different.
-Office hours can be helpful for elaboration but its not necessary unless you really want to.
-Understand the processes and big picture ideas. Esdin's multiple choice will have trick questions and there's nothing you can do about it in many cases. Sometimes you can see through it and sometimes you can't. Worry about the free responses because knowing the big picture and the processes very well can greatly alter your score. For the multiple choice, more studying usually doesn't yield as many points as studying for the free responses.

The class it generally curved by like 4-5% for the final grade s raw score of 88% should get you an A. Esdin writes very good letters of recommendation so if you are looking for one, you should definitely go to his office hours and kiss up lol. It's very obvious who is looking for a rec letter during office hours lol. They will generally ask about his personal life and his background and pretend to care when they really don't. It was kinda funny, but if your looking for a rec letter, you should definitely be one of those people. There's not too much shame in kiss up lol.

Dr. Joseph Esdin is truly a wonderful lecturer. His lectures are really engaging and among the best that I have experience in my life.
One down side: his tests are too hard. I have never felt insecure about a college class like this before. He is really caring about learning, so his tests are really detailed.
So study hard. Like real hard (but don't be socially awkward, I am looking at you premeds, LOL!). It is really worthwhile to take the class with him. I mean: you will not be guaranteed an A. I risked having my GPA dropping but it's worth it. I never regret taking his class, even though I know biology is not my strongest subject anyway. He gave me so much more than just biological details. He taught me how to be passionate about biology and how to strive and excel in such a hard but enjoyable topic.
Thank you for being a wonderful teacher, Dr. Esdin!

I really enjoyed Dr. Esdin's course last Spring. The first half was taught by Dr. Bok and that was pretty slow but the material was just really basic. But the part that Esdin covered was really rich/detailed and plus he's an amazing lecturer.
To do well in Esdin's class, I'd say focus on the powerpoint slides and record lectures. I think I listened to the lectures two more times and took notes that I had missed in class. Also relistening to lectures gives u time to come up with your own questions...which can be answered in office hours (: Dr. Esdin's office hrs are well structured and u will get ur questions answered!
Just immerse in the ls 2 material and it'll just come to you. The class was definitely not easy but the material really grows onto you and I hope u like the material and Dr. Esdin as much as i did!

in the post below, that email contains an underscore after the c

As others have said, Esdin is a brilliant lecturer.

Style: very detail-oriented. I suggest recording the lectures and replaying them after class to make sure you caught everything on your notes.

Goes at a decent pace, not too fast, not too slow.

Got an A, so manageable.

A brilliant lecturer, the second best I have had at UCLA (to Corbin). He will help you understand the material as best as he can; however, he tests are difficult and very detail-oriented so watch out.