Dr. Khankan was one of the worst professors I've had at UCLA so far. The entire 7 series is so badly structured, but this class was the worst. It is completely packed with content, meaning that, if you don't have a great teacher, it's completely on you to learn everything from the textbook. This teacher didn't offer support to the students and when I reached out to her about some issues I was having, she completely disregarded me and was incredibly unhelpful. I think that professors should be people in your college experience that help you maneuver the whole situation and feel more comfortable, but obviously, that's not a given. All of my other STEM professors this year have been pretty bad overall, but Dr.Khankan really made my experience in this class a bad one. She gave off an arrogant and unapproachable feeling in class, and I would have felt silly asking her questions, so I didn't. She completely relied on the TA's for all student support, and even told me I should have talked to them before her. I understand that she's probably busy, but in choosing to teach a class, she is also accepting the role of leader and mentor for all her students, which I don't think she fulfilled. The people that did well in this class devoted a ton of time to it, did all the readings (with notes), studied for many additional hours on top of class assignments, and went to all the problem solving sessions. I understand that college level classes are more difficult and rigorous, but this level of workload is kind of ridiculous.
Despite the horrible structure of the class, a good professor would make it easy and even challenging in a way that motivates students. I know because I sat in on another lecture and was completely blown away by the difference. Dr. Khankan is unhelpful and was extremely rude to me when I tried to explain my situation to her. She basically accused me of lying to her, which wasn't the reaction I was expecting or hoping for from a professional. She refused to try to understand my situation and repeated the same things again and again in response. I did not feel like she cared at all about what I was trying to tell her, and it seemed like teaching was a burden to her. I would never choose to take another class from her, and I would never ever recommend her classes to anyone else. If you can avoid her, you should. The average grades in her class are way lower than they should be and this material can be so much easier with a better teacher.
Overall, the 7 series sucks and UCLA needs to find a better way to teach this material. I took IB biology for two years and had already learned it, and it was still a mess when I was trying to relearn everything. Biology at UCLA is so highly spoken of, but I was really disappointed after taking this class. It completely burned me out and I lost a lot of motivation and excitement about my major and experience at UCLA. Don't take her classes guys

The bottom line is that this class is hard. I honestly did not think that I would do well up until the final. I almost failed the first midterm, which was terrifying at the time. The content of the class is awesome - I think I learned a lot and would take it again - if there were no tests. Adding on to that, the tests were awful. Not the best experience. My advice would be to earn as much extra credit as you can. Every point does matter. I think that if you are able to do well in the other categories, it can bring up your grade immensely. Khankan is a good lecturer, but going to lecture isn't enough. Go to the CLC hours and do extra practice. If you actually study for this class and learn the content, you will probably do well in it.

Anyone planning to take this pretty much knows the 7 series by now and knows the things that make it frustrating and discouraging. This is the trickiest class in that series to be sure. The tests are worth a lot, and the first one is set up so that most people do poorly. I’m not sure if they’re just trying to teach us a lesson, but don’t be too discouraged if you don’t get the score you want on it, because the second midterm and the final were a lot better for most people. It is doable, but it often feels unfair, and it feels as though the assignments don’t actually test your understanding of the content, but rather your ability to read the test creator’s mind. You’ll probably have to work harder than in A and B, but you’ll be ok. Dr Khankan is a good lecturer and explains things clearly and completely. She does not control the content of the course, so I won’t hold it against her.

Where do I start, for the first biology class you take at UCLA isn't extremely hard. This course was pretty interesting but if you didn't do the reading/homework you'd get super behind due to the content and the quarter system as a whole. This professor was great, super interactive, genuinely cared, and made this course for me enjoyable. Though it doesn't matter which professor you get as 7A has the same coursework all across the board regardless. She's an amazing faculty and be a plus for your 7A journey but not needed! Most people say that the hw is tedious, however, I thought it wasn't too bad and for the most part not a difficult thing to complete. The weekly quizzes or "PALs" were annoying at best but nothing too unbearable when it came to difficulty. The true horror of this class comes from the AOL's which in my opinion is the reason many people find this course difficult. The questions are structured horribly and getting a correct answer is more about knowing how to answer rather than the content you know. Overall I wouldn't want to do this course again, though the topics are interesting and engaging, just make sure to do the work and study for the midterms/finals. You should do decent if you do that!

Professor Hsiao and Khankan taught LS7C together, and I think they both did a marvelous job as lecturers. They both explain content very well, and it is clear that they want to help students (felt welcome during OH, walk around during class to answers questions, listen to students, etc). However, I loathed LS7C. 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-- how and why is a student tested on something they taught themselves, that the professor helped with in no way at all? Please note that my point is not the professors; they are both great. It is the structure of this class. I think the LS7 series is horrible at keeping students engaged, and it makes people want to either switch majors or run through the class to just get it over with regardless of whether the students understand the material or not. Also, why are the reading guides due Tuesday, when they cover Thursday's content??? That means that the students have to do a week's worth of homework over the weekend. The structure of LS7 classes seriously needs to be fixed. Moreover, TA's aren't allowed to directly help you during discussion. They don't answer your questions, or tell you if you're right or wrong. They just "ask you questions." TA's should be there to explain things, not leave us to figure it out ourselves. If that were the case, we wouldn't need them, but we do. And when they were on strike, we didn't even have TA's or LA's to help with the discussion worksheet, which was still due. There was 0 explanation provided for the context of the discussion worksheets. Student's are basically on their own in this class.

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 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...

KHANKAN IS AMAZING, this class is not. Khankan was a very concise, clear, and entertaining professor, and I would highly recommend taking her if ever possible. The workload for this class is very time consuming, but mostly completion based. Discussion worksheets are graded on correctness. There were two midterms-- each with an individual and group portion--, and a final with the same setup. Quizzes and prereading guides were due weekly and there were a lot of sections for each class. These tests are claimed not to be there to trick you, but they do. LOOK AT THE ARROW DIRECTION <-- biggest piece of advice.

This class is the worst class I have taken at UCLA solely on the unfairing grading and questioning on the tests. Having an opportunity to show your knowledge only to be greeted with stupid questions is demoralizing and makes you dislike the subject. The test questions are written in a way to purposely deceive students because they are worded extremely vague and one can interpret three questions from the original. My personal opinion is that whoever is writing these questions failed basic English sentence structuring. Seriously, the fact that you can get things wrong even if you understand the concepts because they word it in run off sentences with unclear objects and pronouns is unfair. Their response is that its justified because you need to adapt to how the questions are being asked. The department should pay attention to the general student consensus and fix this class and remove whoever is writing these questions. You guys are seriously discouraging future biologists and scientists. On the other hand, the professors seemed pretty decent. One could tell they did care about teaching, which is a surprise at a research university, but you end up disliking the class because academically you are quantified by a letter grade. The worst part is that this is probably the most interesting part of the series.

Professor Khankan was amazing!! I had a rough start to this class due to the first midterm, but my TA's encouragement helped me continue through the class. One thing I wished I had known is that IT IS OKAY to not do as well on the first midterm!! I got a 70% on the first exam and ended the class with an A. Please try to enjoy what you are learning and make it more meaningful. That's what helped me continue improving in the class. CLC sessions and TA office hours are other resources to be utilized. If you really like the class you should switch into physci ;)
Wishing you all the best with finding the LS7 (rigorous) series and be proud of everything you have accomplished so far.

this is a review for the 7c class and not really for the professor. i will say that this is probably the most unfair class i have taken at this school. it is beyond me that the professors and instructors refuse to reform the 7 series and whats worse is that it feels like there is no point of filling out feedback forums when they constantly ignore students. the big issue about this class is the testing and grading. questions will be asked that are relatively vague and they expect students to come up with answers that include everything on their rubric. what about just asking a question straight up. it is ridiculous to have answered the question and still lose points because you did not speak about one little thing that is hidden on the rubric. then there is the issue of the midterm questions. there will be countless amounts of time where you will interpret a question one way and then answer five questions about that one interpretation. the problem is that if english is not your native language you are already at a severe disadvantage and chances are you can interpret the question in three different ways every time. so how is a student supposed to know what the professor is trying to ask? the answer is that nobody knows. if anything, this class does not test your knowledge or skills built during the course; it can be boiled down to a rigged reading comprehension test. now, the professor herself is actually pretty decent. she genuinely cares and for the amount of people in the room i would say she does a good job in trying to engage everybody. however, setting up your grading and testing like this is highly discouraging to the students. it is a general sentiment and consensus that the midterm/final questions are just not fair amongst students. not only does it feel unfair, it really makes you dislike biology because at the end of the day your learning is not being reflected in the tests. i also feel like this class should lean off of being so digital heavy because it causes way more issues than if things were carried out classically. in summary, this class is the grand finale of the 7 series in terms of ridiculousness and absurdity. please, for the students of the future, reform this class and the series so they do not have to go through this.

(This quarter, LIFESCI 19's theme was "Social Dilemmas," not gentrification)
Professor Khankan is absolutely the best. She is full of interesting stories and wants to give students an engaging experience at UCLA, in and out of class. I highly recommend taking a Fiat Luxe with her. She offers to have lunch with students (which I have not taken up out of my own shyness) and discusses ways she could get us to go on trips.
Attending this class is pretty required, but that's about it. There was no homework, just a nice cozy class size, some videos, and some discussion.
Also, we played a game, and she gave everyone a free succulent at the end.