I took LS1 with Professor Halpin Winter of 2009. She is a pretty decent teacher when it comes to LS1. She assigns clicker questions to make sure you come to lecture (slightly annoying). But it's an easy 10% of your grade (you don't have to answer any correct or all, just one during the lecture to show that you were there; so you can come late as well if need be) Her tests are not that long (2 hours for the midterm, 3 for the final). I did them in a half hour/ hour. Most of the people I asked were 15 to 30 min above that... So, you have LOTS of time... However, because her tests are shorter, it seems that one question is worth A LOT of points (especially short answer for me, it really freaked me out sometimes that 1 short answer question was 16 points out of 70.) Her tests are based pretty much off of the lecture slides, and she posts them online for easy studying. You may have to go into the text for supplement reading if she posts to read or what I did was I used it to review for the experiments done because she usually has 1 or 2 questions about it on the tests. She also is pretty nonchalant and fair. She tries to be funny (and actually succeeds often) and tries to make the class interesting. The labs for LS1 though are pretty mundane although ridiculously easy, so again easy points for that A! Overall, if you put in the effort, you'll do well. Just know that it is a pre-req for all Life Science majors, so pretty much you'll be dealing with a ton of pre-meds (I'm one too) and the class curve is pretty high. Luckily it's a straight curve, so just do well for yourself. Also, the material may be boring and a lot at times but give yourself approx. 3 good days and you can memorize it all for the midterm/final no problem. Overall, Professor Halpin is a really good professor and (non-sequitor : marine biologist). I would take her again just because I know, at least she's fair and tries. Also.. Mac user.