The concepts are easy, but the exams are difficult, as you have to apply what you have learned in various scenarios. Nonetheless, the grading is heavily normalized. Dr. Mahan is a solid instructor. Be sure pay attention to what he writes and says in lecture. Do note any of the points he has "starred," and be sure to go to office hours, if you can.

Quite literally one of the hardest upper division biology classes at UCSB. The tests are only based on his lectures, but are still so hard. The averages for midterm one and two were around a 43 and a 50. I will say it was a SUPER interesting class and he's a great teacher, but overall not an easy course.

Toughest class I've taken at UCSB. I received all A's in my other upper-division bio classes, yet was barely able to survive this class. De Tomaso focuses so heavily on research that you leave lectures not knowing what's going on. His tests are poorly constructed. The other reviewers are definitely outliers because most of the class did dismally.

Most interesting class I've taken at UCSB. He presents the material in a way that usually begins with a research question and ends with an experiment that led to a major discovery in immunology. Tests are challenging and require critical thinking and less memorization of specific details from lecture. Great professor and great class.

What a mess this class was. Yeah, he's hilarious and is available for lots of office hours but when the average for both midterms is 40% and he decides to make the final 10x more difficulty covering material that was never taught.. you gotta take a second to look at the teacher. Interesting subject, complete garbage professor.

Doesnt normally teach the Cell bio portion in 1A. This section was definitely the most challenging of the 3. Really look at the details and study everything on the slides. I used OneNote to highlight my slides and write up summaries when studying and it helped. Go to CLAS. Final is split between the sections, got 8/20ish right on this section.

He is temporarily teaching this course while the normal professor is on sabbatical and he taught much more material than he was supposed to. It was ridiculous how much information he expected us to know when his slides did not match up (he used another professor's slides) and the textbook didn't even go as in depth. They better curve this class.

funny guy but you could tell right away that he wasn't prepared to teach this class - pretty all over the place. things got better but he wasn't good enough of a professor to make his exams so difficult. average was so damn low for the midterm but it was honestly okay. final was a JOKE. SO specific on barely touched topics. Biomentors couldnt help.

He explained things well. Midterm wasn't that hard but had questions about minor details that you wouldn't think are important so the class average was really low (but if you read over the slides you would know them). Literally never went to class because lectures were online.

He's a nice, engaging lecturer, but his exam was awful. It was way more specific than what he *or* the book covered, and I could barely understand it. Apparently, the rest of MCDB 1A didn't, either. He seems like an alright guy, but I wouldn't trust him as a substitute teacher

Disregard the trash comment below. Study effectively bc exam scores don't lie. Easy A for a 5-unit course.

Very information heavy and lectures very fast. Class is split into 3 lectures a week and a review session. The amount of information he covers in a 50 minute lecture is equivalent to other upper div MCDB courses that are taught in a 75 minute lecture. So expect to do 1.5x the amount of work. Lectures are on gauchocast so attendance isn't mandatory

Hands down best class I've ever taken at UCSB. He presents the subject in a way that makes students feel like they themselves are at the forefront of research. The material can be complicated but he teaches so intuitively that I barely found myself having to memorize anything and you really can't help but leave deeply appreciative of the system.

I would highly recommend taking a class with Mahan. His tests are really hard but he actually cares about the students doing well so if you go to his office hours it helps a lot. If he stars something on the board, 98% chance it will be on the midterm or final.

Great guy, great professor. Tests are really hard and require you to think outside the box which makes it very tricky, especially if you only have 50minutes. Large part of grade for 132L is also for an exam which isn't too related to the actual lab which is dumb. Should have been more based on lab performance and results in lab instead.

Amazing professor. So much charisma and his enthusiasm is infectious. He loves what he teaches and his lectures are perfect. Always available to answer questions and is a really cool guy to talk to. He knows so much about immunology and if he doesn't know something it's because it hasn't been discovered yet! Tough material but best class in MCDB.

Tomaso teaches in an intuitive style that differs from most of the other professors in the MCDB field. He explains things with the big picture first and then fills in the details and almost completely devalues memorization as a form of learning. He uses real research examples and focuses on cutting edge and relevant material. Tests are long beware.

This has been my favorite MCDB course so far. You have to go to class, but you'll love going. Mahan is a hilarious goofball with a passion for pathology. The tests are tough, but come purely from the notes he gives you. When he shows a video at the end, trust me, you should stay.

The class was interesting and for the most part he was able to get a lot of his points across clearly, and if not his TA's are very helpful and reliable. His lecture slides have about 80% of what you need to know the other 20% comes from attending lectures for clarity. His tests do test on a small portion of what he actually expects you to know.

interesting class. 40% for each midterm and final, 10% for weekly quizzes. curved relative to the avg of top 10 scores (i think it was like 10% within that score was an A..) ended up with an 82% that was a A. lecture slides have everything you need to know.

The class was interesting, however, the professor was rude and unhelpful during office hours. Did not answer emails most of the time. In addition, did not fully answer questions during office hours, preferring to instead ask, "well do you go to lecture?" Overall an essential class, but negative experience.

The best teacher I've had in MCDB so far. The class challenges you to think beyond memorizing facts and figures.

mahan is my favorite professor at ucsb! he is hilarious and super helpful. if you're into microbio and corny jokes like i am you'll love the class.. it's not easy, a lot of facts to memorize, but it's pretty straight forward. overall, great prof, great class!

Memorize the lecture slides and just use the book as reference. The first part of the class was much easier than the second half, so be prepared for a tough final (thank god it's not cumulative). It's an interesting class and crucial for the mcat