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.

By now, you've probably gone through the 7 series and you are over the badly worded and weirdly written tests. 7C is definitely the hardest, but imo it's the most interesting of the 3 because it involves human physiology.

Pros
- You return to genome browser in Weeks 8-10 and it shows up quite a sizable chunk on the final. This could be a con if you hate genome browser, but I preferred the test questions involving genome browser compared to the body/organ systems.
- Esdin is very clear during lecture and he's engaging. I'm the type of person to not pay much attention during lecture, but Esdin managed to make me pay attention
- Some lectures are "buffers" where Esdin will talk about exam-related material (how to approach problems, examining diagrams)
- You can get extra credit for things such as Campuswire engagement and surveys
- The final is slightly curved in the sense that the total number of points (when you add all the questions) is different from what's put in the gradebook

Cons
- None for the professor
- The course in general is similar to 7A and 7B in terms of the structure - there's pre-class reading guides, PEQs, Clickers, discussion worksheets, etc
- Midterm 1 for 7C is usually the most brutal, but it definitely gets better. For me, in terms of difficulty, it went like this: M1 >>>>> M2 >= Final (the Final felt the most straightfoward imo, but ymmv). On Midterm 1, I got a C, but I got As on Midterm 2 and the Final
- There's a 2-part Group Phase for M1 and M2. First part is on Gradescope where you look back on 10 of the most commonly missed questions and try to revise your answer, while the Second part is a 15 minute Canvas Quiz. As you may guess, the 15-minute second part was high-blood pressure inducing.

Tips
- Go to Problem Solving Sessions and look at the Learning Objectives
- PAY ATTENTION TO THE HANDOUTS THEY GIVE DURING LECTURE

You will definitely learn a lot in terms of how to study for this class. It's a lot more of "If you did x y z, what would happen to this process" and "what are the effects if you removed something from the system". Make sure you understand the diagrams and what they're telling you - my advice for you is to have a general understanding of each system/process, but it matters more if you understand what that means on the diagram.

Worst class ever. Fk this bullshit life science.

Going into 7c, I was absolutely terrified because of how many bad things I have heard about this class, but I ended up really enjoying it. Is it the hardest of the 7 series? For sure. Is it nearly as bad as people say it is? Definitely not. As far as professors go, Dr. Esdin is my favorite life science professor. He explains things very well in a way that prompts you to think the way the exams want you to think, and he distributes time spent on topics very effectively. I think he's mainly a lecturer, so he actually is a really great teacher. I feel like I learned a lot in this class, and that is coming from someone who has taken 5 anatomy/physiology classes throughout high school. I definitely recommend going to office hours, especially Dr. Esdin's office hours since he is always happy to answer questions and understands what you're asking him. He actually listens to students and responds to emails quickly. He has a dry sense of humor, which some people appreciate, and some don't. I also recommend going to the CLC sessions since many of the exam questions are similar in how they approach concepts. Reading the textbook is pretty pointless, but Dr. Esdin's lecture slides have most of the information you need, so I used those to study and did very well. Overall, if you have to take 7c, take Dr. Esdin's class if you can manage three classes a week.

Professor Esdin is amazing. He is very supportive of all his students and takes his time to make sure that you understand the material. The class content in his course is definitely more challenging than the previous 7 series courses, but by doing the assigned work and keeping up with lectures, you can do very well. His lectures are clear and very thorough for all the material and you can tell that he cares about the success of the students in the class.

The tests are challenging and since they are standardized for the whole series, the professor you have doesn't really impact its difficulty. However, I can say that having taken the 7 series with a different professor each quarter, Esdin was definitely the most helpful and engaging. 100% recommend Professor Esdin for 7C.

Well what can I say….. the class was tough and the exams were impossible. Very difficult conceptual questions that were ten times harder then the clicker questions or the CLC worksheets. I felt very discouraged each time I got my score. No matter how much you studied you could never get a good mark. Esdin, while a good lecturer, had an an aura of arrogance which was hard to ignore and made students feel even worse. The class was divided in two: half of the students get A’s on exams while openly bragging about having access to old exams, colluding with others and using Chegg, and the rest of us who attempt it honestly and leave with the C.

The entirety of the LS7 series really upsets, frustrates, and discourages me. The exams are not a direct test of your knowledge of the material, the questions are convoluted, and there are often multiple ways to interpret a question. The readings were way too much (why am I teaching myself the material before learning it from the professor??) and the reading based quizzes are ridiculous.

I spent over 10 hours each week writing my notes and making sure I get everything. Thankfully, the final exam was easier than the midterms, and because of my extensive notes, I was able to find a lot of the answers in them-- I recommend you work really hard during the quarter, because that will allow the final exam to be a not-so-stressful experience (I personally did not study for the final exam thanks to the hours of work I put into the class prior, and got an A- on the final, and thus an A in the class).

I am selling my reading notes (170 pages) for $20 and my lecture notes (87 pages) for $15. I am also selling all my completed reading guides for $15. Contact me at ********** if interested, or if you have questions.

Good luck!

I cannot express how much I loved this class.
Professor Esdin is without a doubt the BEST professor I've ever had the pleasure of studying under, in regards to your typical STEM classes. I ended the quarter with a B but the professor wasn't to blame at all - I was working part time and he was very understanding of my situation. I felt like I learned so much in this class, and if there was anything I didn't understand, he took his time to explain it the best he could. And honestly, he made everything complex seem very simple.

Plus he talks to his students, which is always a great thing.

I highly recommend taking this class with him!

Professor Esdin and 7C were tough. Professor Esdin was funny in lectures at time, but being in a large lecture hall made it difficult to hear him at times. His lecture slides were not all descriptive so you have to pay more attention to what he says than what is on the PowerPoint slides. iClicker questions were important for participation credit as well as really helpful for the midterms and final material. Discussion sections were also graded heavily on accuracy with both independent and group worksheets working with your assigned pod groups. There are two midterms (wk 1-3 content and wk 4-6 content) and one final (focused on wk7-10 content, but covers a few content of previous weeks). I personally found the second midterm to be a lot easier than the first midterm, but both were relatively difficult. DEFINATELY, become familiar with the diagrams covered in lecture/discussion because 99% of the questions on the exams are linked to diagrams. His grading system is based on points (total of 680 points) which the points come from midterm scores, final exam scores, discussion worksheets, Achieve readings, PCRQ, PCQ, and iClicker. The reading on Achieve can be a bit long and a bit time-consuming, but the questions that follow do provide some help.

this class is extremley hard. the material is very heavy and it is very hard to understand everything. I thought 7a and 7b were super easy. I then took this class and was just hoping to get a B. the midterm 1 is so hard so i would study a lot.