Dr. Gorlitsky is probably the best teacher that I have had at UCLA. Super nice, engaging, knowledgeable, caring,.. the list goes on. If you are a biology major and genuinely care about ecology and have a general interest in conservation, you will love this class. The material is easy to understand; many biology majors already have had some exposure to the material. This class was like a culmination of all the conservation efforts that I have heard of in the past.
The tests are fairly easy as long as you put the work in; don't expect an easy A. Dr. G apparently only gives one A+ per class, but don't be discouraged! It's graded straight scale with no real curve, so everybody can do well. I definitely learned something useful for the future and hope to use what I learned to contribute to conservation.

If you need an EEB major class, I highly recommend this over any other! Best class and teacher from UCLA!

When I was first thinking about taking this class, the reviews were a little offputting, but I had to take it anyway. I ended up really enjoying this class. Here is a breakdown:

Lectures: For this quarter the lectures were given as power point presentations with voice overs which are not very interactive. Some people complained that they were long, but if you played them in slide show they actually took the amount of time that they should have ( around an hour and fifteen minutes. She also held an in person class session on Thursday where she showed videos, answered questions, and clarified lecture material from the slides. There were times when the in class presentation was jsut going over the exact same material as the lecture slide, and that was not helpful. But I think watching the videos and talking about the behaviors was very helpful. The slide decks are about 80 slides long each and this might seem daunting. However, she gives you key terms at the beginning of the slides, and those are all you really need to know for the exam. Know the definition of the key terms and be able to apply it.

Exams: The exam we were given was about 36 questions and we had an hour and 15 minutes to take it. A lot of people complained about time constraints, but I honeslty finshed the entire exam in around 45 minutes. For in person exams they normally give 50 questions, so I thought the time was actually generous. It really was not that hard if you studied. If you were unprepared I can see how the timed exam would feel like a lot, but if you studied then the time was mroe than enough. I think studying for the exam was also pretty easy. I started a week before the exam and simply memorized definitions. You DO NOT have to memorize the behavior of every animal to do well in this class. All you have to do is understand definitions and be able to apply them to new examples. Some people complained about not being able to flip between questions, but it was to prevent cheating. If you know the material you should be able to answer confidently and move on.

Discussion: TAs take the homework seriously, and you will likley get points taken off if you can't show that you actually understand the article. If you can show that you read and understood the article and provide a thoughtful question then you will do just fine. We also had to do a presentation on a paper for this class. We weren't allowed to have note cards, and reading off the slides would also result in point loss. Basically just practice your presentation and you will be fine. Participation in discussion is worth points, so you will have to show up.

Weekly quizzes: This was another complaint that came up alot. In my opinion if you paid attention in class you would know the answer. There were quite a few times where the professor literally gave the answer to the quiz question in the power point slides. So pay attention and you will do well on the quizzes.

Extra credit: They offer 10 points of extra credit for doing an off campus volunteer program that is related to habitat restoration. You attend the event, and do a write up on it. It's pretty simple and easy to get the points for it.

The TLTR: The class has gotten way better since the previous reviews and I enjoyed it. If you pay attention and study for the exams you will do well on them. Pay attention in class and you will also do well on quizzes. Discussion Homework grading is harsh so don't BS it or you will pay for it. I thought that overall the exams were fair and so was the class.

Class itself wasn't that bad. The material was fairly easy and straightforward. Leryn would just read off of her slides, but you had to go to lecture because she took attendance every week pretty much. The exams were all multiple choice and the class was graded on a straight scale, but there weren't many people who got As. Lots of B+ and B grades when I took the class. Once again, the material isn't hard, but it's not necessarily easy to get an A either.

Animal Behavior Textbook for sale tenth edition.

Really good condition

email: undergradtext@gmail.com

Animal Behavior Textbook (Tenth Edition) and Elements of Ecology (Ninth Edition) [for the second half of the course] for sale, both in excellent condition

email: gmaciel001@yahoo.com