UCLA Life Science 3 and 4 during the Summer

[SnYpaJY]

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I'm thinking about taking LS 3 during Summer Session A with Professor Tabancay and LS 4 during Summer Session C with Professor Mcworther.

What are your thoughts on doing this and what recommendations would you have for me, knowing that I am a community college transfer student, who was accepted to UCLA for Fall 09 as a Psychobiology major?

I need to complete LS 3, 4, and Physics 6ABC before I can take most upper div psychobio courses. If you had this entire summer to devote time to such courses, in what sequence would you do them in? I was thinking of taking Physics 6A during session A and 6B during session C, but I've heard that Physics 6ABCH (honors) is more specifically taught for premeds and that I should do this series instead. However, the honors physics series is only taught during the normal quarter.

By the way, do you know anything or have you taken courses with Professor Tabancay and Mcworther? I'm afraid that I'm getting myself into a big mess this summer because I am going to be spending close to $2000 for courses that I may end up dropping due to the difficulty and overwhelming experience that I might encounter from being a new transfer student.

 

[SBK]

If you have no problem putting your mind to the work, then DO IT. LS3 and LS4 are both curved, and many of my classmates (I took both of them in one summer like you) were pretty lazy since...you know... it is LA and it is the summer🙂.

Just make sure you go to office hours regularly and keep up regularly. LS3 is only cell stuff and LS4 is genetics, so there isnt any overlap either.

Fake edit: Now that I read your entire post, here is my advice since you need to take a bunch of classes.

I would take Physics 6A and 6B in the summer rather than the LS series. Having an entire summer dedicated to one subject, in which you keep up with the work and go to OH regularly will serve you better. Even more importantly, physics is much tougher than LS and UCLA summer classes generally are a bit easier than they should be compared to Fall, Winter, Spring.

Lastly, DO NOT take the honors track. It's just extra work, trust me. Med schools arent going to care for one little 'H' if it is going to affect your GPA.

Fake edit (x2):

Go to bruinreview.com or bruintalk.com or something like that. All the professors are rated.

 

[SnYpaJY]

Thanks for the great advice. If I do the honors series physics, it'll be just for the physics. I'm not planning on finishing the honors program. Everyone is telling me it's not worth the time and effort.

 

[ReptarBar]

there is no more 6H series at ucla. to get honors physics credit, you take an extra hour per week 89 seminar (if the professor is doing it), which is an easy A.

 

[Golden Boy]

With references to Life Sciences 3 with Tabancay (summer session, UCLA), do NOT take this class unless you are perfectly happy receiving a B or much lower for the final grade. It is a complete weed-out class. Exactly 20% of the class dropped it before the final (it started with full enrollment capacity).

The midterm was ridiculously long and time consuming. Several students in my section did not complete it. I answered two questions on the back of the page (they were the correct answers), but the TA crossed them out and put "not graded." Apparently, only the answers on the front of the page count, regardless of whether they are right or wrong. The rest of the answers had points taken off arbitrarily. One question was completely unfair, since the instructor had not presented how to work it out. It was a complete guessing game.

The lab portion was awful. Half the points were taken off for neglecting to write a key word on some elusive answer key.

Overall, I recommend taking LS3 with Johnson or someone else during the regular academic year. I took the old exams for Johnson (listed on Blackboard), and they were a lot easier and much more equitable than Tabancay's exams.

 

[kleos atanatos]

With references to Life Sciences 3 with Tabancay (summer session, UCLA), do NOT take this class unless you are perfectly happy receiving a B or much lower for the final grade. It is a complete weed-out class. Exactly 20% of the class dropped it before the final (it started with full enrollment capacity).

The midterm was ridiculously long and time consuming. Several students in my section did not complete it. I answered two questions on the back of the page (they were the correct answers), but the TA crossed them out and put "not graded." Apparently, only the answers on the front of the page count, regardless of whether they are right or wrong. The rest of the answers had points taken off arbitrarily. One question was completely unfair, since the instructor had not presented how to work it out. It was a complete guessing game.

The lab portion was awful. Half the points were taken off for neglecting to write a key word on some elusive answer key.

Overall, I recommend taking LS3 with Johnson or someone else during the regular academic year. I took the old exams for Johnson (listed on Blackboard), and they were a lot easier and much more equitable than Tabancay's exams.

I took Tabancay for LS3 in the summer too. I agree that the tests were frustrating. You should be able to get a B with minimal effort (1 night of studying for each exam), but getting an A is probably harder than with other instructors.