I would say that overall Professor Burton is a good lecturer who genuinely cares about her students. If you've taken AP Biology, this class will essentially be a review with a few short new concepts. Grading is fair, but I would emphasize studying hard for the final considering that it holds a good amount of weight in terms of the grade book. I wish I could have her for 7B!

I believe everything had a purpose in the student's learning and mastering of the course material but activities within the pod groups felt useless sometimes.

There is so much busy work so often it is easy to get overwhelmed during work. Oftentimes, I found myself becoming more confused during lecture than before.

She was an amazing professor that helped me learn a lot. All of the work that had to be done before the classes was very helpful in class and I enjoyed it a lot.

professor burton is an engaging professor and has more of a personality than most of the professors i've come across. for the 7 series, the professors don't individually write the exams, so picking the class based on professor isn't super important. although she is very engaging, i did find myself teaching myself all the content on my own. she is very knowledgable about biology, but that also means she teaches it as if we already understand the material. i didn't find the class very difficult, as there is a lot of grade cushion, but the tests are written very poorly. overall, this class wasn't too bad, despite what most people may think, and professor burton is one of the better professors i've come across here.

Fall 2024 - Pretty light/easy class overall, as the class is designed to ease life science majors into college coursework. Your LIFESCI 7A experience will pretty much be the same regardless of the professor, with all professors teaching from the same resources and slideshows.

337/747 (~45%) of the points available in this course come from "busy work," completion-based assignments (i.e. reading guides, post-reading quizzes with 1 retake, discussion assignments...). The Life Science Department also allows you to miss X number of assignments for each category, giving A LOT of leniency (i.e. skipping a couple lectures, reading guides will still give full points). A bit of extra credit is also offered throughout the course through LA surveys + "Biology and Me" Assignments, the latter asking students to make something creative in relation to the topics taught in class (etc. drawing, arts and crafts).

Participation in lecture is enforced by the use iClicker, an app that prompts students to respond to multiple-choice questions shown on the projector. These aren't graded on accuracy though, but I found them helpful to complete in class.

There are a lot of worksheets provided + TA-led learning sessions - I never used any of these resources and got an A very comfortably. If you have an AP Bio (or frankly any sort of bio) background, you should be more than fine by virtue of how the class is set-up. Good study habits/methods will probably also do.

For discussion sections, you are assigned to a "pod" (group) of ~4-5. The department makes you sit with your pod in lecture (due to in-class pod assignments - mini group worksheets). Also, you'll work with your pod on a discussion section assignment during discussion (more worksheets!). These tend to have similar charts/graphics as those that show up on the AoLs/tests, so make sure you understand them + do them with your group. The pod system is hit-or-miss overall, and team chemistry/each member's relative biology background can determine whether its chill or hell-on-Earth.

The first two "Assessments of Learning" (AoLs), 50 MCQs each - out of three total - have an individual and group phase. You first take the test yourself ONLINE on Canvas, and then the next day you can confer with your pod about the answers. This is where your pod comes into play. You are only graded by your group phase submission (after discussion with your pod and maybe others ;) ), so your pod could potentially be a good resource if needed (or you could be of big help to others). To change answers on the group phase (from what you originally put), you need to write a short explanation for the change. The third AoL is worth almost as much points as the first two, and taken IN PERSON (70 MCQs) - however, it was the same difficulty as the first two and didn't require that much in-depth knowledge (as long as you are familiar with most of the concepts taught in class, that should be fine - I actually did better on the final/AoL 3 than the first two).

A MAJOR CRITICISM of this class are how the AoLs are written - they are mostly straightforwards, but ~15% of the exam will have ambiguous wording, biological terminology that could refer to multiple distinct things, or have multiple "correct" answers. The department did give everyone full credit in response to some of these errors, but other times refused to compromise.

Andrea is honestly really nice and chill - she makes an effort to remember people's names, and tries her best to answer questions. However, her expertise is clearly not in the subject material being taught - she sometimes is unable to clarify or explain key questions/concepts and also has trouble pronouncing common biological terms (??). To reiterate though, the class is the same regardless of which professor you choose.

Burton is an amazing professor! Despite all the stress and headache commonly associated with the 7 series in general, Burton genuinely cared about teaching the material and making sure students understood it, never hesitating to go back a couple of slides to gladly elaborate on any tricky concepts.

professor burton is genuinely one of the nicest professors within the LS series. her negative reviews are unwarranted. I feel like she helps a lot she is a great professor, its just the LS series has a very standardized series and there really isn't much she can do to change that. Like all the LS series classes, the PEQs help, but don't meet the same level of intensity for the exams, but theyre good practice. her office hours were extremely helpful as well, so go to those. she seriously explains things in a good concise manner and she's very enthusiastic about teaching her students. shes pretty nice too so if you have any doubts definitely reach out to her about concerns. as for the ls7B class in general, its easier than ls7a (god knows 7A was NOT for the weak aka me), but 7B is still a bit complex. you can easily get lost, so make sure to go to those PSS and office hours. try your absolute hardest to get all the points possible do NOT slack off, those points come in handy. and DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THAT SYLLABUS QUIZ. classes are recorded but you need to be there for clicker points (participation). I was during the summer session but still counts. overall burton was a good professor though I definitely suggest taking her. my biggest advice for those tests, is practice all the PEQs.

Like the rest of the 7 series, the tests suck in this class and make or break your grade. But, the tests are the same across all professors, so it doesn't matter who you take.
That said, I think Andrea is one of the better 7B profs. She actually cares about the content and tries her best to engage students - she even remembers a lot of people's names from lecture. She definitely has the energy and hopefulness of a young new professor lol

I want to start off by saying...
If the 7 Series has million haters, then I'm one of them.
If the 7 series has one hater, then I'm THAT ONE.
If the 7 series has no haters, that means I'm dead.
Seriously though I hated the entirety of the 7 series. I legit cannot wait to finish 7C and never touch the 7 series ever again. I went into 7A a life science major and exited never wanting to touch anything related to biology ever again. It really takes a unique curriculum to make you hate a class so much.

But Burton was kind of the exception to all of that. She actually went above and beyond for the class and worked through all the examples in a way that was actually useful for studying and the exam. However there is only so much she can do when the material she teaches is out of her hands.

I swear a second grader could write more clearly worded questions than what were o these exam and the flipped classroom is one of the worst things that this universe has ever created. If you have the unfortunate requirement to take this class then Burton is honestly your best bet. But if you don't have to take this class, I am urging you to never ever take the 7 series. There are so many more productive things that can be done with your time. D: