Looking for performance improvements for this query
Here is your query refactored

SELECT * FROM
(SELECT * FROM `xgen_studentMLs`
WHERE student = 27126 AND topic = 1829 AND metatype = 'topic'
AND department IN ('Nursing','Biology')
ORDER BY timestamp DESC LIMIT 100) A
LEFT JOIN xgen_quizzes Q ON A.quizid = Q.idnum
WHERE IFNULL(Q.book,0) = 0;


The subquery is meant to retrieve only 100 rows before doing the LEFT JOIN. You will need an index to assist the subquery

ALTER TABLE xgen_studentMLs ADD INDEX new_ndx (student,metatype,topic,department);


Give it a Try !!!