Marcot seems very nice/approachable. His lectures are clear & easy to understand. He explains things well. The class moves quickly and the tests are somewhat difficult, but that I think is the case for all 7b classes. He is a good bet for a professor.

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.

I feel like these other reviews are more about the poor quality of the LS series and LS7B in general rather than being directed at Marcot. Overall, I thought he was a very engaging lecturer who knew what he was talking about. It's not his fault that he usually has to answer, "we need more info." It's the design of the LS7 series at work, so don't direct your anger at him. (Don't worry, I hate it too, but Marcot was just doing his job, and I think he did it well)

Marcot is a decent professor. He's really nice and willing to help, but the course material isn't difficult and not the most interesting. He also exudes major dad energy and has cute animal screensavers. My only gripe with him was that he says "um" a lot. Like a lot. So if you can tolerate that then Marcot isn't a bad option; its the 7 series though so it's pretty standardized across all lectures. The class was about a lecture behind for the majority of the quarter compared to the other sections, but that was only because of 2 Monday holidays. Midterm 1 mainly focused on pedigrees, so make sure to understand how to analyze them using basic probabilities and Punnett squares so that you're not in a time crunch. Midterm 2 was 80% T/F and the content (evolution) was easy so no worries there. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the final was changed to optional.

Dr. Marcot encourages discussion and questions amongst his students. Compared to my LS7A experience with Dr. Maloy, Marcot's office hours and review sessions were significantly less frequent, and it was harder to get clear answers to your questions. It also always felt like we were perpetually behind on lecture material because we spent so much time discussing open-ended clicker questions. In all honesty, I found that his office hours weren't that helpful, so you don't have to prioritize going to them. CLC sessions, on the other hand, are incredibly helpful so definitely take advantage of them!

The first midterm was a timecrunch so don't spend too much time checking over each question, just focus on getting everything done first. And also definitely do not spend too much time on a question, if you realize you're not getting it after 5 minutes it's best to move on to another section and come back to it later. Make sure to familiarize yourself with solving pedigrees fast; you'll have to draw a lot of pedigrees in a relatively short amount of time. The second midterm is less of a time crunch and MUCH more conceptual than the first, but the questions can be vague/hypothetical/difficult to interpret. For Midterm 2, I would recommend familiarizing yourself with all the basic concepts and making your own questions based on scenarios provided in class.

Also, if you want detailed notes on the textbook/study guides, just shoot an email to shirleelarson@gmail.com and I'll send them to you! It's free, I just want to help future students succeed (and I also spent way too much time taking them) :)