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.

Overall, this class was pretty neutral for me. It was marketed as being a "flipped classroom" but it really wasn't. You basically teach yourself everything from the textbook, but then you have to go to the lectures for participation points. The lectures felt pretty pointless, though they probably would be interesting for someone interested in more real-world applications of biological topics. The lectures wouldn't be necessary to get a good grade, except for the fact that you need the participation points (this was the most annoying part of the class)

There were lots of opportunities for extra credit, and the exams aren't that hard if you pay attention in lecture and do all the readings. My best advice is to just actively engage with the lectures and the textbook reading so you don't have to kill yourself studying later. This is what I did, and I barely studied for the tests and got As on both midterms and the final.

Pires is helpful and nice, but kinda treats you like a kindergartener. Overall, she has good intentions and does care about your success.

After taking this class with Dr. Pires, I honestly don't understand how she has such a low score here on Bruinwalk. In my opinion, she was an excellent professor who explained concepts well along with being passionate, helpful, and caring for her students. If you were like me who are scared to take this course with her because of the low Bruinwalk scores, but her lecture time might suit your schedule the best, DO NOT WORRY. You'll be fine. She is a great lecturer.

Most of the complaints I've heard are really about the LS series itself, which frankly, neither of us can change. Change your study methods to adapt it. Besides that, Professor Pires is great. Don't worry.

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.

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.

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/

Pires is alright as a lecturer; since this is the 7 series, the professor doesn't matter too much, though it helps to have a professor who can explain the clicker questions better. Some people commented that Pires doesn't care about students, but I feel like she does - she lets us out early sometimes, etc.
In terms of material, I personally did not really enjoy the class's topics. I had some interest in genetics, but struggled through it until I took the final, which is when things finally started to click.
The first midterm (on genetics) honestly turned me off as it was very hard - probably the hardest LS exam I've taken thus far. I didn't do that great on the first midterm, but improved for the second midterm and the final, so don't lose hope if you don't do well in the beginning! I thought I was kind of done for after midterm 1, but still ended up doing fairly well in the end.

Honestly Deb was my favorite of the two professors . I felt like she kept the pace of the class fast enough to where you wouldnt be bored out of your mind . She was a decent lecturer just you have to make yourself go to class for the participation points even though its pointless with the whole flipped classroom thing they have going on .

(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!