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.

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.

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.

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 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!

Mahan is one of the top professors in MCDB dept. Extremely helpful during office hours. I highly recommend taking this class. Also he is really funny in lecture. The class is tough, but put in the time and go to OH and you'll do great.

awesome professor. has passion for what he teaches and amazingly can make a class about bacteria interesting. his awkward and stupid jokes keep me laughing for days. i always look foward to coming to his class.

He is hilarious! This class could be really boring but he teaches it well and is genuinely interesting. His corny jokes keep the class fun and upbeat!

Very fun! Very helpful! Great prof. Classes are hard, but no one ever said science was supposed to be easy. Taking his class was a great experience!