EEB 120 with Gorlitsky was very difficult because of the sheer amount of content and coursework, but I found myself liking the class because of the effort I put in + learning about the leading theories of how the world evolved and became to be today was pretty cool. With a group of friends, we would study 3-4 days in advance for the midterms (HEAVY emphasis on knowing the content of the slides and what the organisms are). There were 3 NON-cumulative exams, a group research paper, a group art project, a group final presentation skit, weekly homework (though I barely did the readings), and mandatory discussion ( and sometimes lecture exit tickets). Gorlitsky is a fast lecturer, so I found myself going to lecture and reviewing the slides to make sure I got it.

Objectively, the class is a lot, but I found it to be rewarding (I could say I had a similar level of enjoyment for the LS 7 series, so take that as you will). This review is to let you know what you are getting yourself into!! Good luck :)

The slides were very hard to follow because the pace was too fast while the information often didn’t follow a path and would jump around making it hard to review class notes. Lecture would cover such a wide range of time that it was confusing when we would start with (just a vague example) birds jump to bats go back to birds then to bugs. It was hard to follow the material when going out of order and jumping around then circling back especially when needing to keep in mind the geologic time scale to remember things in chronological order. Additionally, the pace of the material was so fast it was hard to take notes on all the material and it was even harder that lecture wasn’t recorded and there was no way to go back and review the parts I missed when taking notes. There were 3 midterms with each being 20% of your grade and a final where you put on a play for the class. The rest of your grade was class attendance checked by pop quizzes and homework worth a reallllly small portion of your grade and discussion attendance. While I enjoyed the material and the professor herself, the load was too high and too accelerated. Not an easy class by any means.