If you have a sufficient background in biology then you should do alright in this class. The class has a sizeable workload, but not a drastic jump from 7A. You will have weekly launchpad readings, quizzes and practice exam questions as well as a lab every week. Its super manageable and doing the work is what will allow you to succeed in this class. We all hate the launchoad readings but it only takes about an hour to complete the pre-class assignments and they tell you pretty much everything you need to know to do well in the class. If you liked 7A then 7B should have roughly the same outcome.

I don't understand why Pires has bad reviews. She was extremely kind, welcoming, and helpful as a professor. She speaks at a pace where everyone can follow along and is very clear when explaining. She's good at responding to questions because she never wants anyone to be confused.

The Launchpad and tests are similar to LS 7A. Launchpad reading is not helpful, but the questions are good practice for the tests. Go to office hours to understand those questions on Launchpad.

The midterms were okay. Some of the wording on the questions were confusing and there is no way to get clarification, so it is what it is. However, there's plenty of opportunities for extra credit and to make up points. There's a reflection of how you did on the midterm, so that's a free 2 points to your midterm score. There's also a mini-midterm that has more problems and you can add up to 6 more points on your midterm score.

The labs are pretty easy. They were just extremely tedious. The class still has CLC sessions. These are also very helpful. I didn't think I would like the material, but I found it somewhat interesting. Overall, I would recommend taking Pires.

I know there's a lot of negative reviews about Pires on here, but I personally thought that she was a really sweet professor! She was accommodating and was pretty funny during lectures. The content was pretty straightforward, and in my opinion, was the least difficult course of the LS7 series.

At the beginning of the quarter, I was really hesitant to take this class with Pires because of all the negative reviews, but she ended up being nothing like these reviews and I'm so glad I had her as a professor. She was super laid back during our classes, and she genuinely cared about our well-being. She was very cheerful and excited about the concepts, which always encouraged me to attend lectures. She was mostly able to explain the concepts, and if we didn't understand something we could always go to Campuswire to get our questions answered. The tests were a bit challenging but I thought that the material she provided to us was extremely useful in prepping for them (especially clickers and PEQs). Also, instead of offering a group portion like in LS7A, she gave us a mini-midterm and reflection assignment that could get us back 8 missed points on our midterms, which in my opinion were SO nice. In addition to this extra credit, there were like 5 other opportunities throughout the quarter to get EC. My TA Justin was really helpful as well, and the labs were pretty straight forward. This was one of the best experiences I've had with online learning, and I would highly recommend this professor!

Professor Pires is dedicated and helpful. Even though the exams are tough, the Professor also offers extra credit to bump up our grade. Attendance isn't mandatory but Iclicker counts toward grade. Overall, this class is great. I didn't expect to get that grade (:

I took LS 7B in Spring 2020, where Dr. Pires taught with Dr. Pham, so a lot of the policies were adjusted due to current events. Dr. Pires was one of the most understanding professors. If you had any issues she would try and correct or help you to the best of her abilities.
This class consists of two midterms and a final. The midterms tested on information from the textbook and class so pay attention in lecture. Dr. Pires and Pham made the final optional but I'm sure the format is similar to other LS finals.
Overall, an easy course if you put in the effort to learn the information.

Granted this was online Zoom quarter of spring 2020, and all students were given full 200 points on the final. Deb Pires is a very good teacher. She really tries to make sure each student learns and understand the material and will go out of her way to help you with any questions. She definitely listens to her students concerns and is very supportive overall. Although the tests were difficult, LS7B is not that difficult if you study the material well enough. Her lectures are clear and interesting. Very passionate and nice lady highly recommend taking this class with Deb.

I honestly enjoyed having Deb as a professor more than I thought I would after initially reading some of these reviews. This quarter was unique because it was online, but Deb (along with Pham) was very accommodating and nice to her students. Both would hold extra office hours to make up for the suboptimal online learning environment, which I think was quite nice of them.
In terms of work/exams, LS 7B can definitely be a bit dry if evolution and ecology are not your thing. I definitely struggled more in 7B than in 7A, and thought the midterms for this class were hard. Midterm 1 was a time crunch and Midterm 2 had a lot of ambiguous questions that required some lucky guessing. Overall though, this class is pretty standard so it shouldn't matter much who your professor is.

During the class she would mess on up on her clickers and confuse people anymore. When people asked questions she wouldn't really answer them or like explain the process which made her seem even worse. Honestly, because the series is so standardized it doesn't matter what professor you have, but if you have the option of someone else might as well go with someone else.

After reading all the Bruinwalk reviews, I was quite dreading this class. Either Pires has gotten significantly better or y'all are just really bitter. Yes Launchpad/ clickers/ mandatory discussions/useless labs make the class annoying but Pires herself as an instructor is not even close to awful. She showed us entertaining videos, put a lot of cat pictures in her slides, and made jokes that were actually funny sometimes.
I did not have to work very hard for an A, all the points from participation/attendance really help your grade if you just do them and bear through discussion/"lab". The tests can be confusing in typical LS style but I barely studied (talking like 3 or 4 hours total over the entire quarter, mostly on the final) and did really well on them, biology is my best science but if its not yours then pay attention and actually study. Lots of people complain about how difficult the class is because they skip through Launchpad and talk during lecture.
The class is not as bad as people say... more tedious than anything else and Pires is a decent instructor.