Class - LS2

WHATEVER THE PERSON SAID ABOUT MICHELE KIM WAS 100% RIGHT. THIS DUMB MED SCHOOL DROPOUT DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO TEACH JACK SHIT. FRANKLY I DONT KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THE BITCH IS DOING HERE AT UCLA. NOT ONLY DOES SHE NOT TEACH SHIT IN CLASS SAYING GO LEARN IT YOURSELF, BUT THE BITCH PURPOSEFULLY DOWNGRADES YOU ON MINOR DETAILS. SHE ALSO LAUGHS AFTER EVERY OTHER WORD WHICH IS REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING CONSIDERING SHE HAS A FAKE LAUGH MEANING SHE HAS SELF ESTEEM ISSUES, NO SURPRISE CONSIDERING HOW HIDEOUS SHE IS. REALLY BAD TA EXPERIENCE OVERALL. THE UA WAS SMARTER !!!

TAKE ADI IF YOU CAN, SHE IS THE PRETTY GOOD LOOKING TA. NOT ONLY THAT BUT SHE KNOWS HOW TO ACTUALLY TEACH THE MATERIAL IN A WAY THAT WILL NOT MAKE YOU PUKE AFTER LEAVING CLASS. I HAD ADI ONLY TWICE, ONCE WHEN SHE TAUGHT THE LECTURE AND THE OTHER TIME DURING A REVIEW SESSION AND SHE WAS REALLY GOOD. SO TAKE HER INSTEAD

AS FOR THE CLASS. WELL WHAT CAN I SAY. LOTS OF BULLSHIT ASS MEMORIZATION, BUT ITS NOT TOO BAD. SCHEIN SEEMS REALLY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE MATERIAL, SO ITS NOT THAT BAD OVERALL

YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD ALL YOU NEED, THE DECISION IS YOURS TO ACTUALLY LISTEN AND END UP HAVING A GOOD CLASS

I also had LS 2 with Schein. I have to say that people who complained about this class in any way do not belong at UCLA. They should just drop out instead of contributing to the gross overcrowding here. I can honestly say that LS 2 with Schein is the easiest class I have taken at UCLA. And I have taken some of the easiest courses at UCLA, like Music 15 with Rutenberg, History 3C with Ruiz, and Math 3c with Preda. In comparison, LS 2 with Schein required absolutely no effort. The labs were a joke. And both of the midterms and the final were MULTIPLE CHOICE! You'd have to have a mental retardation to complain about that. Getting 100% on all of the tests was very doable. I got a 94%, 100%, and 97% on the three tests. Overall, I got an A+. And I did this taking 23 units that quarter (Fall 08). As a fifth class, it's the easiest one that I could have taken. By the way, I think it also contributes something to say that I got these results even though I am not one of those crazy premeds.

Like the person two posts below mine I chose a random course number since LS 2 was not on the list. I took LS 2 as well as the Honors portion of the course (LS 89) with Schein in Fall 2008. I felt that Schein was a horrible professor because of his inability to explain concepts and his emphasis on unimportant material. I learned most of the material by reading the book. Note that he takes almost all of his slides from pictures in the book so this made cross referencing the material fairly easy. Professor Schein stated that he focuses on concepts, while this may or may not be true (I personally felt he did focus on concepts), the fact is that you must memorize all the material. He loved asking questions with numbers which were fairly obvious if you understood the concept, but you could have also just memorized the answer as well. I felt that all the exams were fair. You must really understand electrochemical gradient potential for Midterm 1. Also, for the Final he put numerous questions on An Inconvenient Truth which was fairly unexpected. Like most classes, hopefully you have a great TA that can reteach everything that Schein failed to explain.

As for LS 89, Take it. It's seriously the easiest Honors class you will ever take, and I've taken plenty. He gives everyone an A and all you have to do is attend ten hours of seminars, and I actually found these quite interesting. The seminars, particularly if you choose ones of interest to you, will give you a great insight into numerous facets of the science community.

*I took LS2 with Schein, but I put a random Psychology course because Life Science 2 wasn't on the list.

In the beginning of the course (LS2), Professor Schein said that he tests concepts, not memorization. However, immediately after the first midterm, I knew what we were dealing with... the same pretentious, rote-memorization emphasized, typical biology course that we were pessimistically expecting.

Many of Schein's students appreciate his in-lecture enthusiasm, but I prefer pedagogical professionalism to side tangents and jokes (I didn't find them funny).

You have to purchase a $60 wireless quiz input device, which is basically a pain-in-the-ass. There are quiz questions in every lecture, meaning the above gimmick makes attendance mandatory. Given the quality of Schein's lecturing, which consists of him reading off of the powerpoint slides, you can see how this is frustrating (you can check out his lecture videocasts online). I learned much more from book self-study.

Discussion was engaging, interactive, and useful. The labs were fun, at least as fun as schoolwork gets.

The exams are non-cumulative and multiple-choice. Like I mentioned above, this class was ENTIRELY rote memorization of a large assortment of facts. At least a lot of the information will be of some use in the future (to pre-meds) such as organ systems and basic neuroscience. Just be prepared for trick questions, which is the only way to make such an exam difficult (short of asking thinking / conceptual questions and involving calculations a la biophysics).

Schein said things like "the chance of returning to the origin given infinite steps on a 3-D random walk is 0%" (it's 34.1%), and "I punched my son's girlfriend in the lower back to check if she had a kidney infection". I'm sure he was joking, but I expected much more from a phD / MD specializing in neuroscience. I have been severely disappointed.

I have heard positive reviews from friends who took upper division psychology from him. Try your luck with him there.