Professor
Jonathan Marcot
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - This review will have a little bit of information about Professor Marcot, but will mainly focus on 7B as a class. Professor Marcot was very nice and clearly knowledgeable about the material if you asked him a content-related question. He also encouraged students to discuss with each other and ask questions. However, this caused our class to go a little slow, and we were always behind on material. If you asked him a course logistic-related question such as whether certain material would be on an exam, he didn't know because this class is entirely controlled and designed by Debra Pires. The clicker questions are so ambiguous that the professor occasionally crosses out all of the options and writes "It depends" as the answer. This translates to ambiguous exam questions too, to the point where my TA said during an exam, "We're getting lots of questions about how to interpret the problems, but we can't help you with that." The first midterm was nearly impossible to finish on time because you have to draw multiple detailed pedigrees from scratch and answer questions about them, but the second midterm was slightly better. The lab sections are designated to be nearly two hours long, but somehow the labs themselves are designed so that you have to work extremely quick if you have any hope of finishing them (they average around 6 pages worth of questions). The labs are also mostly unrelated to material that will be on the exams. For example, there was a lab where we had to go to 15 stations to learn about coelacanths, cephalopods, vertebrates, etc. and another lab where we had to go to different stations in the Botanical Garden on our own time. None of the professors answered questions on the online Campuswire forum, so it was just students trying to help other students. My best advice for this class is to get most, if not all, of the free points for participation, Launchpad pre-class review questions, Launchpad practice exam questions, etc., and go to your TA's office hours if you have questions. I would HIGHLY recommend going to the CLC problem solving sessions because this is where the LA's teach the material that the professors do not teach during the lecture but will nevertheless be on the exams. To study for exams, I would recommend focusing on the clicker questions, practice exam questions, the practice midterm questions that Professor Pires will email you, and the CLC worksheets. Don't worry too much about which professor you take for this class, because it's going to be very challenging (but doable if you work hard enough) no matter what.
Winter 2020 - This review will have a little bit of information about Professor Marcot, but will mainly focus on 7B as a class. Professor Marcot was very nice and clearly knowledgeable about the material if you asked him a content-related question. He also encouraged students to discuss with each other and ask questions. However, this caused our class to go a little slow, and we were always behind on material. If you asked him a course logistic-related question such as whether certain material would be on an exam, he didn't know because this class is entirely controlled and designed by Debra Pires. The clicker questions are so ambiguous that the professor occasionally crosses out all of the options and writes "It depends" as the answer. This translates to ambiguous exam questions too, to the point where my TA said during an exam, "We're getting lots of questions about how to interpret the problems, but we can't help you with that." The first midterm was nearly impossible to finish on time because you have to draw multiple detailed pedigrees from scratch and answer questions about them, but the second midterm was slightly better. The lab sections are designated to be nearly two hours long, but somehow the labs themselves are designed so that you have to work extremely quick if you have any hope of finishing them (they average around 6 pages worth of questions). The labs are also mostly unrelated to material that will be on the exams. For example, there was a lab where we had to go to 15 stations to learn about coelacanths, cephalopods, vertebrates, etc. and another lab where we had to go to different stations in the Botanical Garden on our own time. None of the professors answered questions on the online Campuswire forum, so it was just students trying to help other students. My best advice for this class is to get most, if not all, of the free points for participation, Launchpad pre-class review questions, Launchpad practice exam questions, etc., and go to your TA's office hours if you have questions. I would HIGHLY recommend going to the CLC problem solving sessions because this is where the LA's teach the material that the professors do not teach during the lecture but will nevertheless be on the exams. To study for exams, I would recommend focusing on the clicker questions, practice exam questions, the practice midterm questions that Professor Pires will email you, and the CLC worksheets. Don't worry too much about which professor you take for this class, because it's going to be very challenging (but doable if you work hard enough) no matter what.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Took this class during Winter 2022. I really liked this class even though mid-quarter we transitioned to in-person. The lecture wasn't mandatory and the professor was very lenient. We went to La Brea Tar pits and Natural History Museum (very cool). You can tell he's really passionate about fossils and the professor is really nice and will happily explain basic questions. Pros: - Midterm and Final not hard to study for (study the slides) - Field trips! - Professor very nice - Discussion assignments were interesting Cons: - Instructions a little unclear for the project (worth 100 pts) Overall, I would recommend this class. Very easy to get an A- without trying.
Winter 2022 - Took this class during Winter 2022. I really liked this class even though mid-quarter we transitioned to in-person. The lecture wasn't mandatory and the professor was very lenient. We went to La Brea Tar pits and Natural History Museum (very cool). You can tell he's really passionate about fossils and the professor is really nice and will happily explain basic questions. Pros: - Midterm and Final not hard to study for (study the slides) - Field trips! - Professor very nice - Discussion assignments were interesting Cons: - Instructions a little unclear for the project (worth 100 pts) Overall, I would recommend this class. Very easy to get an A- without trying.
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