Honestly, I would not recommend this class - for the amount of work you do, it does not pay off well. I was fooled by the Winter 2016 distribution - it is inaccurate for Winter 2017. The class average was an 86% and she curved down to an 82%, which drags the A- to a flat B due to her grading scheme (see later).

Gorlitsky is an organized, compelling, engaging lecturer who integrates videos well into lectures - she just severely lacks in understanding that students are not only taking her class and she overloads not only the students but her 2 TA's for a class size of around 50-80 students. My TA was fairly sleep-deprived just from grading all the assignments due every week.

The class was at 8 - 9:15AM and she expects attendance every lecture by having random participation checks (not designed as pop quizzes, but you need to submit some sort of response to a question from class). This class is structured so that there are no +/- grades (ie a B+ is a B and an A- is an A) In the end her grading scheme was A, A-, B, B-, C, C-. Each week for discussion you are required to read research papers for ecology and write a 1 page single spaced critique/review on the paper and participate during discussion. Keep in mind that these critiques are due even on the same day as the other projects. Furthermore you have one 4-5 page double spaced literature review on a tropical ecology subject of your choice and a following 2-3 page research proposal based on your literature review - none of which we received the grades for (thus, we had to go into our research proposal blind and the final). There is also one midterm and one final and an "optional" extra credit project. In addition to studying for the detailed lecture slides for the exams, you were required to read several chapters from a book as well, as there is always a question on the exam regarding several chapters of the book. At the end of week 9, she dropped an extra 2 page paper on different tropical forests for a group project. Thus, during week 10, we had the group paper, the research proposal, and the extra credit due in class on the same day.

She graded the midterm so harshly (class average was a C) that the "optional" extra credit was mandatory in order to salvage your grade. On top of that, she curved DOWN the overall class average by 4%.

While this class is honestly very interesting and I understand the professor means well to have us do different activities (ie research proposal, literature reviews), it is excessive to the point where it draws away from study time from the lecture material itself and is killing her TA's (who themselves still have other classes).

This class definitely has more assignments than the average EEB upper div, but I feel that these assignments for the most part serve to boost your grade as exams aren't worth as big of a chunk as they might be in other classes. Definitely focus on the literature review and the midterm to pour your energy into, as these are what I lost the most points to. Its nice to have a professor like Dr. Gorlitsky who is very obviously passionate about what she is teaching, and I do feel like I have come away from the class with a higher interest in the tropics than before. Overall it seemed like my peers and I did relatively well in the class and I would recommend the class to others.

DO NOT TAKE CANDACE AS YOUR TA!!!! She is a horrible person and TA that takes off dozens of points for no reason and is completely unfair in her grading compared to the other TAs. The professors have absolutely nothing to do with the course and is the biggest regret of my time here at ucla. DO NOT TAKE.

Took this class during COVID but I will say there was so much information to learn for Gorlistky's portion of the class. There about 10 ppts and each had 80+ slides and seemed to include a lot of information that wasn't even tested. I preferred the ecology section of the class but also the exam was MC and missing a couple can set you back a lot

The professor:
- Gorlitsky teaches the animal behavior portion of the course, which is the more difficult portion.
- She is clearly passionate about the course material and always has examples to give regarding the concepts she wishes to illustrate.
- Gorlitsky is clear during lectures and often seeks student participation during lectures. She seems generally nice and is approachable after class and office hours. She does talk kind of fast, though, and I found it helpful to record the lectures since the class isn't Bruincasted. Everything you need to know for the exams is mentioned in the lecture.

The material:
- Animal Behavior portion of the class requires a lot of more memorization than the second portion of the class; generally, though, I found it to be really interesting. On average, I think most students will find portions of this class to be relevant and interesting.
- class material and lecture is supplemented extensively with relevant videos that are shown during lecture.

Grading scheme:
- the course is out of 550 points; 2 exams worth 200 points each, 60 points for attendance; the rest is for discussion section attendance (mandatory, 18pts) and for responding to weekly reading assignments (72pts)
- straight-scale i.e. no curve unless exam averages are below 80%, which they weren't.
--Exams: Relatively difficult due to sheer amount of information covered but honestly very fair with the question selection. She doesn't try and trick you in exams but it's difficult just because so much information was covered in lecture. Gorlitsky knows and is transparent about the fact that Exam 1 is harder and that exam 2 provides as opportunity to boost your grade.
-- Weekly assignments: Each week, you read a research article and have to generate three questions that show your understanding of the article. These are graded fairly harshly and generating good questions is more difficult than it seems. I would write 3-5 sentences per question in order to receive full points. Not incredibly difficult but it is incredibly annoying.
-- Discussion section: Pointless but mandatory. Each week, a group would be assigned to give a 20min presentation on the research paper of the week. As long as you had slides, read the article a few times, and lightly prepared, you received full points. The rest of discussion section involved answering the questions we generated for the weekly assignments (described above) in small groups.
-- Attendance is not taken every class but instead, the professor does "pop-quizzes" randomly, which you turn in at the end of class to provide evidence that you were present. The pop-quizzes are graded on effort and completion, not on correctness.

textbook:
- Not worth it. I rented the textbook for the first half of the course and I did use it but very lightly when studying for the midterm, if I was confused about a definition. Didn't bother renting it for the second half of the class (ecology).

Overall: Interesting material, passionate professors, and fair/decent exams make this a good class in my book. If you're a psychobio student, definitely try and take this class (though the EEB department severely restricts seats), instead of Psych118.

This is unequivocally the worst class I have ever taken at this university. Not only does the professor decide it is vital for students to memorize and regurgitate useless information, but she also does not explain concepts in any meaningful depth whatsoever. Her so-called "lectures" consist of a 75 minute verbal barrage in a futile attempt to cover 90+ slides during which students have no hope of following along or retaining any semblance of information. Your grade is solely determined based on three exams and two lab practicals that have somehow been slotted into a ten week class, each of which require memorization of hundreds of vocabulary terms, specimen traits, and specimen names that are selected based on a criterion that cannot be located in any physical dimension. To truly study all of the material is to invest an inordinate amount of time for the abundant return of libraries of trivial and surface-level knowledge that can be acquired with a two second Google search. Taking such exams is a gambler's dream, where one can wager their intellect, time, and tuition for the infinitesimal chance that the terms that the fraction of terms on exam day align with those they happen to recall. Unless your boundless love of fish, reptiles, birds or mammals compels you, DO NOT take this class.

I have a lot to say about this class, but I'm going to try and keep it short. This class, in terms of workload, is not hard at all. However, take this class knowing that your grade is heavily dependent on your TA and your group members (mine were randomly selected by the TA). Taylor (my TA) was super nice and helpful, and she was a very fair grader. However, I was put in a difficult group, with one member hardly doing any work + doing poor work when they did contribute. It definitely upped my stress seeing how my work was cut out for me for the quarter, especially since there was such poor communication in our group. But, if you get helpful group members, you're pretty much guaranteed an A since the workload split amongst people is not bad at all.

Let me just preface this by stating this class does have a hefty amount of memorization required for both the exams and practicals. However, I adored Dr. Gorlitsky. She knew that her lectures were very content-heavy and would include videos. From time to time, she would have participation-based assignments in class. There is a textbook, which is useful for the vocabulary and supplementary material. However, if you know that you won't be reading it/can get the vocabulary from someone else, definitely opt out and save money. If you know the definitions off the study guides Dr. G provides, along with the key concepts she highlights on them + in her pre-exam office hours, you should be good! What kept me from getting a higher grade was the lab practicals, so definitely look at the lab handouts and anything your TA brings up during lab. A key point is to note the traits of the animals she brings up, how they evolved these, and why they evolved in the first place. All in all, I recommend this class!!

I love Dr. Gorlitsky and her teaching style. I took her also in EE BIOL 100 and was convinced in taking her again for tropical ecology and was not let down. A very touching and engaging course with material that makes gives you a different perspective on the life around you and within the tropics. Dr. Gorlitsky is known for her teaching style that combines a TON of slides but also a bunch of embedded videos to grab our attention. This class was by FAR the most assignment heavy course I have ever taken in my undergrad year given it included weekly discussion reading response assignments, bibliography, group lit review, proposal presentation, and finally a research proposal! However, we had an absolute gem of a TA : Jordyn Regier who went above and beyond to tend our needs and any last minute questions we had. I highly recommend this course!

Not an easy class, but doable if you stay on top of the material and know going into it that it is going to be a little bit more difficult than some EEB classes you take. Make sure to do the EC field trip because it can make a big difference at the end of the class! Going to office hours before the exams really helps and both Gorlitsky and Lipman are very nice and willing to answer any questions you may have.

Selling the Animal Behavior Textbook, $45 **********