This class was super hard coming from not having bio classes in Hs and learning everything first hand while for most people it was review. Pires was nice and has a good personality but cant explain reasoning at all in lectures after clicker questions. Going to other professors question answering sessions were wayy more useful than her lectures as a whole. This class has hella work for no reason too which didnt help with the application (which they test you on) in my opinion.

This class is a very manageable class with a normal college-level workload. The professor for 7A does not really matter because all the assignments/tests/lectures are the same across the various classes at least for my quarter. There were a lot of complaints about the flipped classroom aspect where we had to do a lot of the learning/reading before we came into class for the lecture however I thought that it worked really well for my learning style and I was able to get a deeper understanding of the material through this structure. The tests are difficult since the questions are never straightforward forward they require a deeper understanding of the material rather than simple memorization. For instance, you wouldn't need to be required to recite the steps of cellular respiration but rather explain the outcome if a certain part of the mitochondria was damaged. This requires a deeper understanding of the material. The tests were manageable if you really understood the material well. The lectures were concise and went over the material that was required so overall the class was difficult but very well organized. There was very little reading that was unnecessary and most of the class work was focused on learning necessary material. Also, taking AP Biology was particularly helpful, the class would have been significantly more difficult to learn all the material from scratch.

If you have ever taken AP/IB Biology before, this class is a review (and an expansion) of that. I would say that the homework isn't hard - but time consuming. The lectures are honestly a bit boring, with only the clicker questions (everyone answers on a mobile device in class) to keep students engaged. Pires takes attendance through clicker questions, so make sure to answer those. I liked the whole "come to class having prior knowledge" concept they use - but it also makes me feel as if the class is self-taught; I don't think the lectures really teach much. Exams are application-based rather than testing you on the information you learned. Make sure to go to your discussion sections because those go over how to answer application-based questions. The exams compared to the content/homework is SO much harder - you will never study enough for this class.

Professor Pires is a super nice lady, she’s funny and definitely engages with the students despite such a large class size. But I will say that the content of this course is very dense and I was kinda lost during the lectures. Basically you have to teach yourself all the information because the lectures kinda lightly touch on what you need to actually know for the exams.
All that aside, I think I can speak for most of my peers when I say that the way many aspects of this class were handled by the 7A professors ever since the TA strike began was not efficient at all. At the moment none of them are responding to Campuswire posts, and there’s even a petition for a class curve that already had over 1000 signatures. A lot of students are freaking out because there were mistakes on many of the questions on the final exam, causing us to lose points. From what I’ve heard, there were adjustments made to this course’s grading scale during Covid, so I hope that given the lack of discussion sections and TA assistance this quarter, we’ll receive a similar kind of accommodation.

I really disliked this class. It was online during the fall and it followed a sort of "flipped classroom" style of learning. I disliked this a lot because we were essentially expected to teach ourselves and then go over some of it during the lecture. Also, we had to have iclicker which I was unfamiliar with, so even though the lecture was online attendance was mandatory. I never took AP bio but I know people have said that this class closely resembles that. Anyways this class made me realize that I am in fact not a stem baddie.

Took this class and everything was easy but the exams. There is weekly reading, quizzes, discussion section, and clicker questions all of which are easy points. I received good scores in all of these sections but the exams. The reading doesn't really prepare you for the exams so make sure to attend office hours and review sessions.

Class is interesting but the profesor can come across as judgmental and doesn’t seem to want to answer questions.

Deb is an amazing professor and was super understanding during office hours. This class is very similar to AP bio, so if you've taken that class you will be well prepared. Launchpad is a lot of work and takes a lot of time, but I recommend using the pre-class worksheets and take notes on the topics of those. There are a ton of study resources and the TA I had was amazing and we ended discussion early almost every period. The exams are long and very conceptual and some answers are meant to trick you and be partially right. The best way to study for this is to take practice exams and lot of launchpad quiz review. If you take this class I recommend taking w her.

This class gave me a lot of unnecessary stress. Pires is a TERRIBLE option for LS 7A. She honestly does not know the material that she is teaching. She is extremely confusing and focuses on stuff that isn't even important. For example, she'd spend 15 minutes answering a random question that wasn't even relevant to what we were learning, and then glosses over what is actually important in 30 seconds.

You have to use this online textbook called LaunchPad. LaunchPad has its pros and cons. On one side, it is super expensive, includes a ton of reading, and can get tedious. On the other hand, that's basically your only source of material in this class. It explains concepts and definitions but doesn't provide a real world application view, which is what this class is all about.

I frankly found these tests EXTREMELY hard because its completely application based, and there's no way to learn it from her or the textbook. At first I just thought I was doing bad because I was dumb or something, but I later realized I wasn't the only one. So many kids were struggling in her class, while the class taught by Maloy was passing with high A's. I can't even recommend any studying tips because I just reread LaunchPad which was almost no help at all. They don't provide many worksheets either so you are on your own.

The only reason why I got an A- was because I kept up with the work and did the extra credit assignments. DO EVERY EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT. I cannot stress this enough. Also do your homework (the pre class assignments and launchpad questions) and clicker questions in the lecture. It seems insignificant because it will only add a point here and there, but trust me, it will save your grade. I did really bad on the final but was saved because I did everything else. Attending lecture was honestly pointless for me because I understood absolutely nothing from her class and gave up halfway through the quarter, but I still attended it to answer the clicker questions which contribute to your grade. (Tip: All of the launchpad review question answers are available on quizlet. Look it up on there before submitting it)

The last thing I wanted to add was the group phase for examinations. You basically take the midterms/finals on your own first, and the next day you take it with a small group of classmates that are assigned to you from the beginning of the quarter. This helps a lot because the individual+group phase tests are averaged to provide your final grade, so if you did bad on your own you can make it up with the group phase. Group phases can be highly annoying though if your classmates are uncooperative (as mine were) and only look out for themselves and their own grades. The whole point is to learn from each other, but if you are paired with selfish know-it-all's, chances are you're on your own.

Professor Pires often spent time answering questions that didn't seem important and wouldn't answer questions/fix problems that students actually had. It's not a super hard class but definitely a lot of assignments to keep track of.