The other reviews from Fall 2020 are a little unfair for some points. Professor White did a great job in lectures fully explaining everything in great detail and posted every lecture on CCLE (this was taken during online classes), so attendance was not mandatory and you could go back and get all of the details down that she explained. Her slides are far more detailed than Chandlers or Piris were and her lectures were the most useful. I did not even need to read any of the textbook during her portion of the class. The midterm was 10 short answer questions in 1 hour (just like Chandlers), which was very hard for timing. White did at least not make us follow a strict word limit or create 3 different documents as Chandler did. Her exam was very straightforward and the questions were very fair if you followed her lectures. I agree that some of the grading points were kinda absurd and cared more about formatting than the actual content; however, she gave us TEN POINTS back to every single person's exam even if they did not complain about wanting a regrade. A ton of people complained about this and still complained about the grading (reasonable), but 10 points is a lot and even if they did the regrades that people complained about, it would not have made up for 10 points on every person's exam, so I don't understand why some people were mad about getting 10 points back to their grade when it was probably more than they lost to those absurd grading points? She did say we forfeit the 10 points if we request a regrade worth MORE than the 10 points, which is a detail people are leaving out. idk, people are being petty and unfair and Professor White was a great professor and no one had any complaints about her until they got bad scores on their exams.

In fall 2024, Neuroscience M101A was split into three modules: Dr. Felix Schweizer (Module 1 Electrophysiology), Dr. Stephanie White (Module 2 Motor Systems), Dr. Natik Piri (Module 3 Sensory Systems). This review will talk about the class in general and each professor.
Overall, this class did not feel too bad, especially considering the reputation it has amongst neuroscience students. In fall 2024, all the exams were open book and open note, which likely contributed to the class feeling much easier than years past. The exams were all on Canvas with live proctoring over Zoom. Each professor wrote the exam for their module, and the exams were not cumulative, but rather essentially 3 distinct tests for the three modules.
Class Logistics: The class was out of 100 points. Each module had an exam which was worth 20 points, so a total of 60 points across the three exams. There were 9 quizzes (3 points each) in the weekly discussion section, of which the 7 best scores were kept, so 21 points there. There was 4 points awarded for participation and attendance in discussion sections. The final 15 points was for short one-page summary writeups from two clinical correlation lectures with UCLA MDs and one neuroscience seminar that we had to attend independently anytime during the quarter. There was no extra credit offered in this class, and no curves on any of the exams or the course overall.
Module 1 Electrophysiology by Felix Schweizer:
Dr. Schweizer's module was all about electrophysiology, membrane potentials, and ion channels. He is an incredibly sweet and caring professor, taking time during lecture and office hours to provide extensive answers to any and all student questions. Dr. Schweizer does tend to ramble and stray on tangents for a while, so sometimes his lectures are quite confusing. Additionally, there is not much text on his slides, but rather only pictures/graphs, so understanding and writing down what he is saying is crucial. His exam wasn't terrible; it did have the lowest average of the three, though. It was mainly short-answer questions with a few select all that apply multiple choice questions as well. For Schweizer's exam, having a strong conceptual understanding of the material is crucial; most of his questions were not something that was found word-for-word on the slides, but rather relied on a true understanding of his material. Average on his exam was an 82% (16.37/20).
Module 2 Motor Systems by Stephanie White:
Dr. White's module was all about motor systems and motor control, from lower motor neurons and upper motor neurons to the basal ganglia and cerebellum. Dr. White was an incredibly clear lecturer, and her slides were the most helpful and informative of the three professors. There were a lot of basal ganglia and cerebellum pathways to know, but since our year was open note, this was much easier since memorization was not required. Dr. White was very helpful in office hours as well. Her exam felt alright and was mostly multiple choice, but there were a lot of ambiguous questions, and many of the questions were not directly covered in lecture but rather required critical thinking and interpretation. Average on her exam was an 85% (17/20).
Module 3 Sensory Systems by Natik Piri:
Dr. Piri's module was all about sensory systems, like hearing, taste, touch, smell, pain, but mostly on vision since his research focuses on ophthalmology. Dr. Piri was an incredibly clear and helpful professor; his slides were mainly all images, but he was so clear while explaining that if you take quality notes, you will succeed on his exam. Watching the lecture recordings for Dr. Piri's lectures is also very beneficial to catch all the details. I would say that Dr. Piri's module is the most dense; there are a lot of sensory transduction pathways to understand, especially for vision. Granted since our exams were open note, it was significantly easier, as we only had to understand how the pathway worked and not actually memorize the entire pathway itself. Dr. Piri's exam felt the easiest and most straightforward of the three professors; most of the answers could be found directly in the lecture slides, and not much conceptual/critical thinking was needed to succeed in his exam. Average on his exam was a 91% (18.16/20).
Overall, while many say and hear horrors about this class, I thought it wasn't that bad at all, probably because of the online, open-note exams. I think this class was definitely much easier than Neuroscience 102. Grading wise, the averages for each exam are listed above, and most people had a 40/40 (or very close to full marks) on the non-exam points of this class, i.e. the quizzes, participation, and seminar/clinical correlation writeups. Therefore, the average score on this class if we do (16.37 + 17 + 18.16 + 40) = 91.5, which is an A-. A- average for NEUROSC M101A, an upper-division core neuroscience class does not seem bad at all. Moreover, the medians for each exam was approximately 0.5% above the average/mean, so if we consider the median grade of the class, it is likely right around 93%, which is the cutoff for an A. Not bad! However, last year (fall 2023)'s distributions were much lower, likely because 2023's exams were in person without any notes, so the online open-note exams definitely did make the 2024 class much easier.
Schweizer's module was the most conceptually rigorous, while Piri's module was the most dense with information and pathways to memorize/understand. White's module was a healthy balance of conceptual understanding and pathway memorization. Overall, this class was a uniquely enjoyable experience of essentially 3 three-week long mini-classes, each taught on a different topic by a professor who does research and is an expert in their field of lecture.

You know the monster that slept under your bed as a child? I am convinced it was Stephanie. I think Monsters Inc. should recruit her because instead of harvesting energy from children's screams, she has
somehow learned to harvest the energy of failing students. She curves sure, but the highest grade on any exam was always a 99.99%. I am almost positive she curved it just so that no one could get that golden 100. And, her teaching skills are deplorable. But that is expected. If she was actually good at her job, we would all start succeeding and then how will she harvest students' energy? Maybe she will have to go back to lying under our beds.

Coming off of Chandler's module, this one might seem like a breeze at first glance, but don't write it off that quickly. It does tend to be a little more straightforward, but the sooner you can memorize the normal basal ganglia/ Parkinson's basal ganglia flowcharts, the better. And I do mean memorize them--be able to draw them from scratch, it'll help in the long run. Prof White is really nice and a great professor, definitely no complaints. Her presentations and powerpoints are all perfectly organized. Her thought questions didn't seem to be as helpful as Chandler's, maybe because her module is less conceptual than his, but her office hours were still helpful. Her test was more difficult than his for me, because a lot of the random studies/videos she mentioned in class seemed to just be interesting tangents worth mentioning, but many showed up unexpectedly on the test. Still a good class though, her module was definitely not the worst of a three. Definitely a nice break between Chandler and Piri.

Selling Cellular Physiology of Nerve and Muscle 3rd Edition by Gary G. Matthews for $25. Cellular Physiology of Nerve and Muscle 4th Edition by Gary G. Matthews for $35. Neuroscience (Fifth Edition) by Purves, Augustine, Fitzpatrick, Hall, Etc. Neuroanatomy: An atlas of structures, sections, and systems by Duane E. Haines for $65. None of the books have been used

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