The class is all about diet and exercise! It's fairly easy, and even if you do poorly on the midterm and final you should still be able to pass with AT LEAST with a C. That's if you really just did not get the midterm and final. There are a lot of easy points to get, and the TAs grade very easily. The TAs are really there to help you out the most. I did very poorly on the only midterm (I believe it had roughly 100 questions) and the final was not easy for me either (44 questions). However, the professor is really sweet and everyone there is just there to help you out because they know it's just a GE, so don't be afraid to ask questions for any clarifications! Tips: Do the workbook, it does take awhile to find them in the book and you should do it the week you do the chapter in lecture, but it is possible to pull an allnighter the night before it's due (I didn't do that but it is possible!). The project also takes awhile, but he gives you a guideline on how to do it so just follow that and honestly you'll be fine. You can do a rotation for signing in people for lecture because it is required, and just make sure to go to section and try on the quizzes. The TA gives full credit if you're pretty much close and try on them, and it's open notebook and he gives you all the answers before. Good luck!

I think this class is just a way for Professor Esdin to make money. Like how else would you have 300 kids pay $100 for a textbook that is only useful for this class? But hey, the class is pretty easy overall so I can't complain. However the tests are, if not difficult, definitely not easy and very detailed-oriented. Make sure you're in an easy class. I got an 88% and got curved to an A. My friend in another quarter got a 92% and got a A-. Esdin is okay as a professor. Not my favorite but he isn't bad. The projects and quizzes are not too hard though so they shouldn't be a problem.

Honestly, a really tough class and not an easy A.

Esdin is wonderful though. He is very organized. The class is flipped, meaning you will watch online lectures and go to lecture to supplement your knowledge. While this may be more work, I actually found it really helpful to be able to go back to any lecture you want to study/review.
Participation is very important. A good chunk of your grade will be based on attendance in discussion and clicker questions in lecture. The clicker questions are scored based on participation, not accuracy, which is nice because the questions can be challenging. After each chapter of video lectures (about an hour or so), you will take video quizzes, which are 5 points. These should be fairly easy and are meant to help you, not hurt you. Basically, video quizzes, participation, and discussions are easy points to help you.
But oh my god. His exams are not easy. I study very hard just to get the general material down because there is A LOT of memorization in this class. It was hard for me to memorize so much information, hence my invested time in studying. If you're good at memorization, that's better. But, this class is not just memorization. It is VERY application based. While extremely rough, he is preparing you for standard exams like the MCAT.
I did above average on all the exams, not by much but about 5 points or so. The curve and all the easy points are a savior.
Esdin is great. This class challenges you, but he does it to prepare you. My mistake? Probably not attending any OH. He is very willing to help and clarify anything because he is so passionate about biology and teaching, which makes him that great. Honestly, if I got a lower grade, I still wouldn't regret taking the class with him because he is phenomenal. Definitely take it with him if you can!

Let me just say I thought the course reader was very poorly written (no flow, poor English, random facts, lots of fluff). It was a pain to read.

I'm not sure what the word "easy" entails, but this class demands a lot of effort. You will be tested on random and specific details from the course reader. Because each question has five answer choices, which are typically quite similar, you'll probably guess it wrong.

Difficult but very entertaining. Make sure you go to all the lectures, get 5/5 on all video quizzes, and go to all of the discussions - You will later regret for not attending to one class(a 3 pointer) you decided to skip. Every point counts. For exams, literally memorize every single thing he said on the video and during the lecture. TAs are helpful too. But to score in the high range, it would be wise to review some MCAT biology questions as he tends to use questions from there.

PHYSCI 5 with Dr. Esdin is an easy science GE for less science inclined students. The class is manageable - lecture 3 times a week, and the lab is only held 4-5 times over the entire quarter, so it's an easy way to get lab credit. The midterm and final are tough but if you know what to expect (extremely detailed questions directly from the course reader) you can do well on them. The course reader is necessary for the midterm and final, and the workbook that comes with it gets turned in towards the end of the quarter. There is one project that is tedious but easy. The class is interesting because you learn about healthy habits in terms of diet and exercise, and how different habits affect your body and health. Dr. Esdin cares about his students and sometimes gives answers to test questions for showing up to class, as well as the points you get for showing up to lecture and signing in. However, sometimes the lectures and slides seem pointless because they are not nearly as detailed as the course reader, and course-reader level detail is necessary for the exams. The midterm and the final are both 50 minutes - there are three groups depending on what lab section you are in. Overall, and interesting and fair class!

Grading Scheme:
40 points - 2 Lecture quizzes
30 points - 3 Laboratory quizzes
25 points - Attendance and participation in laboratory
30 points - Attendance in lecture
100 points - Lifestyle assessment report
100 points - Workbook assignments
6 points - Course evaluation
150 points - Midterm
150 points - Final

Professor Esdin:
Professor Esdin is a really great professor. He genuinely cares about the subject and his students, especially with this class. I've taken him before for LS 2, and I've enjoyed both classes with him. He's very knowledgeable. For this class, he went very slowly since this counts as a science GE. Being a 3rd year, my science background is pretty on lock, so the class felt even slower for me. However, this can be very helpful for non-science majors. You need to buy a course reader, workbook, and iProfile for this class at the course reader store in Westwood. It was altogether VERY expensive, like way over $100. But they're all pretty necessary so I can't find a way to get around that. Most of the information from this class will be in the course reader, with some additional information from lecture.

TA Asif Razee:
There was only 1 TA for this class, and he is a pretty chill guy. He talks very authoritatively, which was a bit intimidating at first for me. But the labs that we do in this class are "fun" in the sense that it's not any serious work. Labs are mandatory, but they're only every other week.

2 Lecture Quizzes Grade: 40/40
These were on CCLE 2 random times in the quarter. They were both like less than 10 questions. He gives you a specific chapter of the workbook to focus on for the quiz and I think he gives you 10 minutes to complete it. It's really easy, just search for the keywords in the questions in the workbook while taking the quiz. No prior reading really necessary.

3 Laboratory Quizzes Grade: 30/30
These aren't really "quizzes" either because it's open note. For each lab, your TA will send you something to read and he'll give more details in lab. You'll basically use that information to answer the questions.

Attendance and Participation in Laboratory Grade: 25/25
Like I said, attendance is mandatory, and you just need to do all the activities in lab to get full marks.

Attendance in Lecture Grade: 29/30
So in the beginning of every lecture, he passes out sign-in sheets to put your ID and initials. I probably missed like 1/2 the lectures, but for the most part had friends sign me in. I had about 1.5 weeks unaccounted for. Once when I wasn't there, there were so few people there that he had everyone write their name and ID on a slip of paper and hand it to the front, then he randomly called some of them to see if they were actually here. So he's pretty serious about attendance, but you can get past it easily for the most part.

Lifestyle Assessment Report Grade: 100/100
So this assignment was pretty annoying. Using iProfile you had to record ALL of your activity and diet for 1 week, accounting for a full 24 hours each day. Try to do this early on so you don't get stuck doing it right before the deadline. They give you this giant instruction manual for how to format your data tables and calculate values. Basically just follow that and you should be good. You'll also need to go to Wooden/Bfit to do various fitness assessments. Some of these will be collected in lab, but most you need to do on your own. You also need to collect some family history of lifestyle diseases. I recommend you doing all that early too. These data will be due sometime in the middle of the quarter. You have to just print it out and bring it to lab and the TA will quickly check if you made any mistakes to fix later. Then you have to discuss and make recommendations for every piece of data. This took a bit longer than I expected, so just plan accordingly. The work is pretty easy, but it can be much. This is due in Week 10.

Workbook Assignments Grade: 100/100
The workbook covers most of the chapters of the quarter except for the last couple. I recommend working on it as you go through the chapters in lecture to not leave it until the very end of the quarter when it's due. Questions are multiple choice, fill in the blank, T/F, and short answer. As long as it's completed, I don't think they check too much for accuracy.

Course Evaluation Grade: 6/6
Just do it.

Midterm Grade: 143/150
So he told us the midterm would be 50 multiple choice questions, but it ended up being less, so I dunno how he calculated the final grade to be out of 150 points. But anyway, the tests were pretty easy. He asks some very particular questions from the workbook though, so I recommend condensing the workbook into notes and combining it with lecture notes to study from. I only started reading the workbook the night before the exam and studied it from then until the exam at night, and I did well. Just be sure to pay attention to every detail.

Final Grade: 147/150
As with the midterm, REALLY know the workbook. It was 50 multiple choice questions, and I remember one asked about something that was literally mentioned in one sentence in the workbook and nowhere else.

Overall Grade: A+
I felt like this class was very relevant and useful. If you want to learn more about how to live healthier and why, take this class. There is a lot of work in this class, but it's easy if you keep on top of it. The exams can be tricky, but if you literally take note of EVERYTHING in the workbook, you should do well. I highly recommend this class with Esdin.

Dr. Esdin LS 2 class follows a reverse class room, where you watch the lecture videos he posts on CCLE and in lecture he just goes over some important concepts and do some clicker question. I find this method extremely effective as I get to pick the setting of my learning and I can fast forward things I already know or rewind back to things I find confusing. His exams' wordings can be confusing but are very fair. Just go through the lecture slides detailedly and rewatch all his lecture videos you will do well.

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good!