Professor

Joseph Esdin

AD
4.2
Overall Ratings
Based on 579 Users
Easiness 3.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.5 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.1 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.1 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (579)

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Feb. 27, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

By far one of the easiest GEs in my opinion, definitely would recommend it.

- Slides and recorded lectures are posted online, but attendance is taken with iClicker
- As far as I remember you can miss up to about 6 days for lectures and still receive full points for the attendance grade; discussion/labs attendance is mandatory but it's not burdening at all
- Midterm and final exams are online on Bruinlearn, about 30 to 35 MCQs. Super easy for the most part (especially if you buy the course reader), but some questions were based on things the professor mentioned once out loud (rather than the content being on the slides) & some questions were worded in a way that makes it difficult but not too big of a problem
- A few quizzes, but also online and open book -- the time limit made it slightly difficult but overall not bad
- The course reader and the iProfile thing that we had to buy were expensive; I bought those two for a little over $100 -- I heard some people share their iProfiles, so I would recommend that if you can. The course reader helps for quizzes and tests but honestly the exams are doable w/out the book if you take good notes and listen attentively to the lectures.
- The project seems extremely tedious at first sight, but it's not difficult at all. All the instructions are given and easy to follow; it's long but very repetitive in terms of what you have to write. The time given to do the project is also very reasonable.

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Feb. 14, 2024
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A

So yes, Esdin was the most personable of the three 111A lecturers, yet for some reason I feel like the past bruin walk reviews hyped him up too much as the professor "which saved and redeemed 111a". The content of his module objectively was the most interesting to me, yet his exams weren't as easy as both bruin walk reviews or himself claimed it would be. Nothing crazy with the exams though, just not necessarily as easy as people say. But overall, def manageable to get an A.

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Jan. 31, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Prof. Esdin is the GOAT. His class is extremly helpful and also easy.
Grade break down follows:
- Midterm exam- 100 points
- 2 Lecture quizzes (20 points each) - 40 points
- 3 Laboratory quizzes (15 points each) - 45 points
- Attendance and Participation in laboratory - 25 points
- Attendance in lecture - 40 points
- Lifestyle Assessment Report - 100 points
- Final Exam - 100 points
- Course evaluation -6 points
Total: 456 points

All quizzes and exams were online on Bruinlearn, and it was very easy. The report was somewhat tedious, but it was super easy. You can get near full marks if you just ask your TA for help with the report. If you can't get an A in this class, you should reevaluate whether or not you should be in this school. This is not only an easy GE, but the content is very helpful. I personally learned a lot from this class about my body and how it functions. The only drawback is that the course reader and iProfile are more than $100, which felt overpriced, but it is vital for the course as his lectures are based on the course reader.

Overall, I would 120% recommend this class. Easiest Life Science GE.

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Jan. 30, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Highly reccomend!!! Professor Esdin was such a great professor who's passionate in teaching students how to be healthy through diet and exercise. In terms of easiness, it doesn't get much better than this. The quizzes, midterm, and final were all online :). There was one lifestyle overview project that wasn't hard, but moderately time consuming. The only thing is that you need to buy the textbook and login for the diet tracking website, however, if you have a friend that took it, you can just use theirs.

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Jan. 29, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

I would definitely recommend taking this class—especially as a GE. Professor Esdin is super nice, and the workload is very manageable. There's really no homework outside of class except for the main project, which is pretty time consuming/tedious but easy. I would advise against taking this class if you're triggered by diet talk/calorie counting, because the final project has you log everything that you eat for seven days straight and you have to analyze your diet & calorie intake. The labs are every other week, and they always get out early. The lectures also usually get out a few minutes early, and there's always a couple of iClicker questions at the end, but you're allowed to miss up to six classes worth of questions. There are a few short, online quizzes dispersed throughout the quarter, as well as an online midterm and final. All quizzes/exams are multiple choice. The main downside is you have to buy a course reader and iProfile software, which is kinda pricey (I believe it was around $70 total), and even though I never opened the course reader, I don't think there's an option to buy them separately. Overall, this class is very manageable, and the content is interesting if you enjoy learning about nutrition!

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Jan. 18, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A+

Overall, I recommend taking this class, especially if you need the science GE with lab credit.
Content is generally interesting, Professor is great, very helpful, responds to emails quickly and is very understandable
Workload is super manageable and the exams and tests are easy to do well. I allocated some time to read through and understand the content for a while before taking it.
Lectures are recorded but you can only miss like 6 lectures as he uses iClicker to track lecture attendance and have points to it.
Biggest drawback is the requirement to purchase the coursereader (which is super useful for doing well) and the online platform for diet and nutrition tracking for your report (that is a substantial amount of points). Selling my coursereader for a very discounted price! Text me at ********** for it.

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Jan. 12, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

This class was great. It was actually awesome. The textbook was expensive, but you could learn everything you needed to know out of the textbook (aka, if you’re not in the mood, you dont have to go to class). All the quizzes (not too many) were take home, and the final was take home. Easy peasy. Prof. Edsin was great.

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Dec. 31, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A-

definitely would take as an easy GE since there is very little work and the prof is very nice. plus, the midterm, final, and quizzes are all online. as long as you put in a decent amount of work, you should be able to get a pretty good grade.

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Dec. 29, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Simple class. I got the course reader but only really used it to study for the exams. Not a stressful class. Project seems more complicated than what it really is.

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Dec. 27, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A-

Prof: Esdin is exactly what you would think if you thought about a really good stereotypical college lecturer. He’s witty throwing in occasional jokes, he has good pace and explains concepts very well (and a cool accent that is fun to listen to but does not interfere with understanding). He makes good analogies to tangible concepts to us and explains the content very well. He is a very engaging lecturer and not the kind of lecturer that you would fall asleep to in class. Some say he has a bit of an ego, but I don’t mind that. That being said, this is the LS7 series, what are you going to learn in class that you haven’t already done in the preclass readings. The class is structured so that he’s just going to put up clicker questions (which is not his fault) and is going to answer them, that’s just the way the 7 series is. He’s never going to actually teach you that much because you learned it already. However, he’s the best professor you can get for the way the class is structured.

Class:
It’s the 7 series, what more can I say about it. The structure sucks. You learn it yourself with all the preclass assignments and come to lecture to answer clicker questions. The midterms are tricky as always with very carefully chosen wording. There is a lot less extracredit in the class compared to 7A. I would say content-wise it’s the most interesting but exam-wise its the most difficult. I can only assume you are premed and you are finally learning content you are interested in. But I would say the exams are the most tricky out of all the 7 series, especially the first exam. If you are reading this, heed my warning, the first exam is the hardest of all the exams. So many people do not know what to expect and absolutely bomb it. And because of that one, despite how they do on the final and on midterm 2, they end with a B+. So really prepare yourself for the first midterm. Most of the diagrams they show on Midterms 1 and 2 are ones they went over in lecture so make sure you know those inside and out, every little detail. Every little detail. Everything.

Overall: Take Esdin if you can, he’s a really nice guy and he is very engaging and super helpful.

Extra Notes: One small thing I heard, I’m not sure this is true, but it could effect you decision, but if you are deciding between Khankan and Esdin, Esdin releases the midterm answers after the scores come out so that you can learn from it and use it to study for the final. One my friends who had Khankan in the past said that Khankan did not release the midterm answers after she took it.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Feb. 27, 2024

By far one of the easiest GEs in my opinion, definitely would recommend it.

- Slides and recorded lectures are posted online, but attendance is taken with iClicker
- As far as I remember you can miss up to about 6 days for lectures and still receive full points for the attendance grade; discussion/labs attendance is mandatory but it's not burdening at all
- Midterm and final exams are online on Bruinlearn, about 30 to 35 MCQs. Super easy for the most part (especially if you buy the course reader), but some questions were based on things the professor mentioned once out loud (rather than the content being on the slides) & some questions were worded in a way that makes it difficult but not too big of a problem
- A few quizzes, but also online and open book -- the time limit made it slightly difficult but overall not bad
- The course reader and the iProfile thing that we had to buy were expensive; I bought those two for a little over $100 -- I heard some people share their iProfiles, so I would recommend that if you can. The course reader helps for quizzes and tests but honestly the exams are doable w/out the book if you take good notes and listen attentively to the lectures.
- The project seems extremely tedious at first sight, but it's not difficult at all. All the instructions are given and easy to follow; it's long but very repetitive in terms of what you have to write. The time given to do the project is also very reasonable.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 111A
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A
Feb. 14, 2024

So yes, Esdin was the most personable of the three 111A lecturers, yet for some reason I feel like the past bruin walk reviews hyped him up too much as the professor "which saved and redeemed 111a". The content of his module objectively was the most interesting to me, yet his exams weren't as easy as both bruin walk reviews or himself claimed it would be. Nothing crazy with the exams though, just not necessarily as easy as people say. But overall, def manageable to get an A.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Jan. 31, 2024

Prof. Esdin is the GOAT. His class is extremly helpful and also easy.
Grade break down follows:
- Midterm exam- 100 points
- 2 Lecture quizzes (20 points each) - 40 points
- 3 Laboratory quizzes (15 points each) - 45 points
- Attendance and Participation in laboratory - 25 points
- Attendance in lecture - 40 points
- Lifestyle Assessment Report - 100 points
- Final Exam - 100 points
- Course evaluation -6 points
Total: 456 points

All quizzes and exams were online on Bruinlearn, and it was very easy. The report was somewhat tedious, but it was super easy. You can get near full marks if you just ask your TA for help with the report. If you can't get an A in this class, you should reevaluate whether or not you should be in this school. This is not only an easy GE, but the content is very helpful. I personally learned a lot from this class about my body and how it functions. The only drawback is that the course reader and iProfile are more than $100, which felt overpriced, but it is vital for the course as his lectures are based on the course reader.

Overall, I would 120% recommend this class. Easiest Life Science GE.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Jan. 30, 2024

Highly reccomend!!! Professor Esdin was such a great professor who's passionate in teaching students how to be healthy through diet and exercise. In terms of easiness, it doesn't get much better than this. The quizzes, midterm, and final were all online :). There was one lifestyle overview project that wasn't hard, but moderately time consuming. The only thing is that you need to buy the textbook and login for the diet tracking website, however, if you have a friend that took it, you can just use theirs.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Jan. 29, 2024

I would definitely recommend taking this class—especially as a GE. Professor Esdin is super nice, and the workload is very manageable. There's really no homework outside of class except for the main project, which is pretty time consuming/tedious but easy. I would advise against taking this class if you're triggered by diet talk/calorie counting, because the final project has you log everything that you eat for seven days straight and you have to analyze your diet & calorie intake. The labs are every other week, and they always get out early. The lectures also usually get out a few minutes early, and there's always a couple of iClicker questions at the end, but you're allowed to miss up to six classes worth of questions. There are a few short, online quizzes dispersed throughout the quarter, as well as an online midterm and final. All quizzes/exams are multiple choice. The main downside is you have to buy a course reader and iProfile software, which is kinda pricey (I believe it was around $70 total), and even though I never opened the course reader, I don't think there's an option to buy them separately. Overall, this class is very manageable, and the content is interesting if you enjoy learning about nutrition!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A+
Jan. 18, 2024

Overall, I recommend taking this class, especially if you need the science GE with lab credit.
Content is generally interesting, Professor is great, very helpful, responds to emails quickly and is very understandable
Workload is super manageable and the exams and tests are easy to do well. I allocated some time to read through and understand the content for a while before taking it.
Lectures are recorded but you can only miss like 6 lectures as he uses iClicker to track lecture attendance and have points to it.
Biggest drawback is the requirement to purchase the coursereader (which is super useful for doing well) and the online platform for diet and nutrition tracking for your report (that is a substantial amount of points). Selling my coursereader for a very discounted price! Text me at ********** for it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Jan. 12, 2024

This class was great. It was actually awesome. The textbook was expensive, but you could learn everything you needed to know out of the textbook (aka, if you’re not in the mood, you dont have to go to class). All the quizzes (not too many) were take home, and the final was take home. Easy peasy. Prof. Edsin was great.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A-
Dec. 31, 2023

definitely would take as an easy GE since there is very little work and the prof is very nice. plus, the midterm, final, and quizzes are all online. as long as you put in a decent amount of work, you should be able to get a pretty good grade.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSCI 5
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 29, 2023

Simple class. I got the course reader but only really used it to study for the exams. Not a stressful class. Project seems more complicated than what it really is.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 7C
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A-
Dec. 27, 2023

Prof: Esdin is exactly what you would think if you thought about a really good stereotypical college lecturer. He’s witty throwing in occasional jokes, he has good pace and explains concepts very well (and a cool accent that is fun to listen to but does not interfere with understanding). He makes good analogies to tangible concepts to us and explains the content very well. He is a very engaging lecturer and not the kind of lecturer that you would fall asleep to in class. Some say he has a bit of an ego, but I don’t mind that. That being said, this is the LS7 series, what are you going to learn in class that you haven’t already done in the preclass readings. The class is structured so that he’s just going to put up clicker questions (which is not his fault) and is going to answer them, that’s just the way the 7 series is. He’s never going to actually teach you that much because you learned it already. However, he’s the best professor you can get for the way the class is structured.

Class:
It’s the 7 series, what more can I say about it. The structure sucks. You learn it yourself with all the preclass assignments and come to lecture to answer clicker questions. The midterms are tricky as always with very carefully chosen wording. There is a lot less extracredit in the class compared to 7A. I would say content-wise it’s the most interesting but exam-wise its the most difficult. I can only assume you are premed and you are finally learning content you are interested in. But I would say the exams are the most tricky out of all the 7 series, especially the first exam. If you are reading this, heed my warning, the first exam is the hardest of all the exams. So many people do not know what to expect and absolutely bomb it. And because of that one, despite how they do on the final and on midterm 2, they end with a B+. So really prepare yourself for the first midterm. Most of the diagrams they show on Midterms 1 and 2 are ones they went over in lecture so make sure you know those inside and out, every little detail. Every little detail. Everything.

Overall: Take Esdin if you can, he’s a really nice guy and he is very engaging and super helpful.

Extra Notes: One small thing I heard, I’m not sure this is true, but it could effect you decision, but if you are deciding between Khankan and Esdin, Esdin releases the midterm answers after the scores come out so that you can learn from it and use it to study for the final. One my friends who had Khankan in the past said that Khankan did not release the midterm answers after she took it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
44 of 45
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