I took professor Pires over the summer and had an amazing time in her class. Professor Pires also is very passionate about the 7B topics since a lot of her research over her career has aligned with the material. I think that a lot of the negative reviews on here come from the fact that some people do not like launchpad and the 7 series course style and take it out on the professors. Overall she was extremely caring, always made herself available and was very personable during this course.

(Took this class during COVID)

This class is pretty difficult. I think the LS 7 series in general is less about memorization but more about actually understanding concepts and applying them to new situations you've never seen before, which can be difficult for people who haven't done so in high school etc. It's pretty similar to AP bio in a sense where you apply your knowledge instead of just regurgitating it.

Even though this class was a lot of work, the LS 7A professors made accommodations for online learning which I think saved a lot of people's grades: group exams. For the 2 midterms and the final, there were two phases: an individual phase, where you would take the exam by yourself (open from 6 AM - 8 PM on a single day), and a group phase, where you would be assigned a group of 3 other people and have about two days to set up a time, talk about the exam, and individually submit a second copy of exam (all on CCLE). Your score for the midterms/final is an average of the individual and group phase exams. So yeah, you could straight up fail the individual portion but get carried in the group phase and come out with a relatively decent score, which I think really helped people out and changed perspectives on this course because I only heard negative things coming in (however there were students who *still* complained... despite having group exams). I'm not sure if the professors will continue doing this when things get back to normal, but I think it will really help the LS 7 series be more respected because there are many, many complaints about this series. As far as I know LS 7B and 7C have different kinds of accommodations in regards to helping recovering lost points on exams, but anything helps.

In regards to the professor, I took it when Pires was co-teaching with McEvoy. I found Pires to be a lot more knowledgeable and prepared to answer questions, but I do recognize that it was probably McEvoy's first time teaching 7A (if I'm not mistaken) and I wouldn't call her "bad" by any means. They were both pretty good and kind.

Be prepared to work hard in this class. It takes a lot of time to go through weekly launchpad readings but actually reading it and *not* just skimming it will actually help you learn the concepts, but I do get that sometimes launchpad content can give you more than you actually need to know. Clicker questions are probably the best practice tool you have in that class as they represent the questions on the midterms/final pretty well, so make sure to go through them while studying and be able to justify why an answer is correct or incorrect. A lot of people say they "skipped through launchpad" and "barely paid attention in lecture" and then wonder why they have a bad grade, I don't get it. If you're disciplined enough and put in the work you'll get the grade you deserve! You can do it! Good luck!

Would recommend taking this class with this professor! Tests are tough but the Launchpad, discussion, and iClicker help raise your grade. The class is overall very fair.

This class is difficult, there's not really any way around it. A lot of the work you will need to do to succeed will be by yourself, taking notes online. This can be very time consuming, and I wish the professors would provide a bit more clarity on what is relevant to the course/tests versus what is not, because a lot of it sometimes seems pointless. It's important to go to class and not just do the clicker questions, but understand them. The professors, especially Deb, may seem hard-shelled at first, but I think they do genuinely care and want to help you learn. For me, the biggest help was going to discussion because those worksheets were most similar to the tests and my TA was super helpful and smart. In summary, it's a tough class because the tests are so wack and very about "applying the material", but I think if you put in the work you will get the grade you deserve.

Material: This is pretty much exactly like AP Bio in terms of material covered. My brother who was taking AP Bio in high school at the same time that I took this class was learning the same things I was.

Tests: 2 midterms and a final. You need to know your stuff inside and out for the tests, they're tough if you don't because the multiple choice answers can be very similar (all tests were multiple choice, but don't be fooled). The tests are less about memorization and more about testing your mastery of the concepts and applying them to new situations.

LaunchPad: Gotta buy the LaunchPad subscription, all your readings and quizzes are done through this :// -- it's like $70 and up depending on the plan you get (if you aren't taking 7A,B, and C all in one year then you should get the 2-year subscription) if you take diligent notes on LaunchPad, it can take up to 5/6 hours do finish, but if you don't, you could get through the work in maybe an hour or two depending on the workload that week

iClicker: If you're going to be taking a lot of science classes, it's a good idea to buy an iClicker ($40 unless you're able to buy it from someone for a cheaper price -- you can also rent one from Powell (see here --> https://www.teaching.ucla.edu/iclicker-rentals))

Lectures: participation is HUGE with Pires -- her lectures revolve almost entirely around clicker questions and collaboration in class and discussions

Structure: graded on a straight scale, three lectures per week and one discussion

Discussion: you do worksheets together with other peers and they're really helpful for tests

Extra resources: when I took the class, the TA hours were really helpful because one of the TAs made mini worksheets to compliment the course, which were really helpful. A lot of people came to these office hours because of the worksheets, and there were usually two or three TAs around to help. it would get crowded, but all the students helped one another too

Debra B Pires ruined my life!!!!!!
There were so many iclicker questions during lecture (which should be good because I could practice more), but she didn't explain AT ALL! All she did was letting us discuss with each other. I feel like she doesn't know sh*t and any of the TA could do a better job.

She's not the worst and actually she's really not bad. I didn't like the topics we learn and just don't really like the LS7 series in general, but this class was manageable, just the same stuff as 7A. She did rewrite the tests and it was pretty damn hard but the difficulty didn't increase for the final so this class was okay. The only thing that was really annoying about this class was that we had to wear PPE for the "labs" which were glorified worksheets and I had to wear pants on a 90-degree day to play with legos. The labs were terrible such a waste of 2 hours.

Prof Pires is so amazing and so understanding. The course material can be a bit challenging, but her teaching is so clear and she is SO welcoming when it comes to questions and trouble understanding concepts. Given the situation with remote learning, she was so accommodating and was very fair with grading and assignments. Love her and would recommend this course with her for sure!

Despite my grade, this class was honestly not hard at all. It was my fault for not keeping up with the assignments, which could be somewhat overwhelming at times. That being said, for any nervous first years reading this as long as you do all of your assignments thoroughly (taking notes on launchpad, etc.), attend all discussions/lectures, and most importantly understand all the clicker questions/practice exam questions/learning objectives you are given, you should be fine!! Pires herself was not an awful professor when it comes to lecturing but she was definitely not very helpful in that it seemed that she really didn’t care whether students did well or not on exams if I’m being honest, especially compared with some of my other professors. For anyone who wants to start reviewing learning objectives early, here they are: https://www.lscore.ucla.edu/courses/

Took this class because it's required for my major and though the work wasn't too hard, the topic wasn't my favorite but it was still interesting at times. The professor is great and always willing to help. My problem with the class is not the workload or subject, but the exams. They were pointlessly difficult. Even compared to the following class in the series (7B), the exams were hard. They were poorly worded so that one question would seem to have many possible answers because I couldn't tell what it was specifically asking for. The questions also introduced new things to me that we never went over in class, which was annoying to have to learn about something new during a 2 hour exam with 60 confusing questions. As much as I could say that students should try to not take the class, I am sure this class is a requirement for many, so I think it's best for students to stay on top of everything and study a lot because you need it. I made mistakes in this class as it was my first quarter here, so I hope people can learn from my mistakes.