LIFESCI 30A
Mathematics for Life Scientists
Grades
3.40
Average grade awarded in LIFESCI 30A. Not a student rating: this is what the grades were.
In the A range
64%
of the 8,226 letter grades
D, F or W
5.2%
of every letter grade awarded, plus withdrawals
Taken pass/no pass
-
the registrar has this letter grade only this term
The registrar's own records: 8,226 grades over 13 terms, Fall 2021 to Fall 2025. Every instructor is pooled here.
What is inside that record
4 of those terms are summer sessions, and summer sessions are counted here.
The table below splits them, and term averages across those 13 terms ran 2.88 to 3.74.
Historical grades for all professors, across recorded terms. The course summary above includes all professors.
- A+ 1,617 · 19.7%
- A 2,531 · 30.8%
- A- 1,129 · 13.7%
- B+ 618 · 7.5%
- B 643 · 7.8%
- B- 535 · 6.5%
- C+ 292 · 3.5%
- C 277 · 3.4%
- C- 161 · 2.0%
- D+ 58 · 0.7%
- D 114 · 1.4%
- D- 148 · 1.8%
- F 103 · 1.3%
- P 2 of 8,274
- NP 5 of 8,274
- I 36 of 8,274
- DR 5 of 8,274
Percentages are of the 8,226 letter grades. Grey bars are non-letter outcomes: passes (P), no-passes (NP), incompletes (I), and withdrawals (DR).
How the non-letter outcomes are counted
They are excluded from the GPA entirely rather than scored, because counting a P as a 4.0 would be a fabrication.
Withdrawals are the exception to "excluded": DR is not scored, but it IS counted in the D, F or W figure above, which is reported over the letter grades plus the withdrawals. Pass/no pass and S/U outcomes are outside that figure on both sides.
By instructor
| Instructor | Predicted GPA | Raw | n | Terms | A range | Workload | Spring 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BENNOUN, STEVE JACK reviews ↗ | 3.40 | 3.40 | 3,645 | 6 | 64% | light | not teaching it |
| SHEVTSOV, JANE reviews ↗ | 3.36 | 3.36 | 1,586 | 3 | 59% | light | not teaching it |
| DEEDS, ERIC JAMESON reviews ↗ | 3.51 | 3.51 | 947 | 3 | 70% | very light | not teaching it |
| KERANEN, JUKKA PETRI MIKAEL reviews ↗ | 3.76 | 3.77 | 734 | 1 | 84% | average | not teaching it |
| SISKAKI, MARIA reviews ↗ | 2.96 | 2.94 | 636 | 1 | 48% | - | not teaching it |
| BOUHADDOU, MEHDI reviews ↗ | 3.32 | 3.31 | 351 | 1 | 58% | - | not teaching it |
| LANNAN, RYAN reviews ↗ | 2.99 | 2.91 | 86 | 2 | 44% | - | not teaching it |
| HAMMONDS, NAOMI M reviews ↗ | 3.49 | 3.51 | 82 | 1 | 68% | - | not teaching it |
| VINET, MICAH reviews ↗ | 3.46 | 3.48 | 80 | 1 | 59% | - | not teaching it |
| VENUGOPAL, SHARMILA reviews ↗ | 3.69 | 3.75 | 79 | 1 | 87% | average | not teaching it |
Why Predicted is not the Raw average
“Predicted” is shrunk toward the course average, which is itself shrunk toward the department, so an instructor with a handful of students sits near the course mean rather than topping the list.
Grade records describe outcomes. For what a course is like to take, read student reviews written on dibs below or follow the separate external review link.
Workload and assignments
Work types reported in BruinWalk reviews of this course, across recorded instructors and terms. They may differ from this term's syllabus.
What the work looks like
- 2 exams, said by 2 reviewers
- Quizzes mentioned, no number given, said by 3 reviewers
- Problem sets mentioned, no number given, said by 1 reviewer
- Group works mentioned, no number given, said by 1 reviewer
- Presentations mentioned, no number given, said by 1 reviewer
- Labs mentioned, no number given, said by 3 reviewers
Read from 180 reviews about 1 month ago. dibs counts only what a review actually states, so a kind of work nobody mentioned is absent rather than zero.
In Springs
Has not run in Spring in the 4 Springs dibs holds records for, back to Fall 2021. That is 4 years of grade records rather than the course catalog, so it says what has happened and not what the department will do next.
From the terms dibs holds, which start in Fall 2021 and exclude summer. A department can run a course in a quarter it never has before.
From the registrar's catalog
Lecture, three hours; laboratory, two hours. Preparation: three years of high school mathematics (to algebra II), some basic familiarity with computers. Mathematical modeling as tool for understanding dynamics of biological systems. Fundamental concepts of single-variable calculus and development of single- and multi-variable differential equation models of dynamical processes in ecology, physiology, and other subjects in which quantities change with time. Use of computer programming for problem solving, plotting, and dynamical simulation in laboratory. Letter grading.
Sections in Spring 2026
From the people who took it
Student reviews
What taking LIFESCI 30A was like: the work, the teaching, and what students wish they’d known.
Your experience could be the first.
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External reviews are separate and do not count toward the dibs rating.