This course is TA-taught. The only interaction my group had with Dr. Gorlitsky and Dr. Lipman was through an hour-long office hour they held, in which we received optional feedback for our initial research project idea. Because the class is TA-taught, your grade will heavily depend on your TA, and the professors will only be accessible if you request extra meetings with them (the professors seem to often be busy, as my group emailed a meeting request and did not receive a response). The course revolves around a group research project in which you write a prospectus (proposal) for, present on twice, and write a final paper for. This class was more work than I expected as several of my group members did not pull their weight, and the only consequence for this is a lower group participation grade, which is a small portion of the grade.

Chillest EEB class ever, would recommend. I don't think I ever spent more than 2-3 hours per week working outside of class and virtually everyone gets an A.

There is no exams or quizzes, all you do is a few small weekly assignments and design/perform an ecology experiment then write a paper on it. I would recommend you don't choose animals or bugs, since they are difficult to study. Considering choosing something like soil or plants to study if you want an easier time.

This is a good class if you want a chill quarter or you are already in 3 other classes and need a simple one to balance it out.

***For the most helpful suggestion, please see point #2 at the end.*** I LOVED THIS CLASS. I'm honestly going to MISS IT. We haven't been issues grades yet, however, I am expecting an A because my group and I worked our asses off. It didn't feel like a ton of work because it was honestly fun and we learned SO MUCH. The class is basically taught by TAs, and ours (Eric) was amazing. Dr. Gorlitsky was totally available though and for our project, she was extremely helpful. MY ADVICE: 1. TAKE THIS CLASS! ***2. Go the extra mile in the beginning and think hard when choosing a research topic. Pick the one that is most interesting to you!!! This is VITAL for making it feel enjoyable. One way or another, you'll have to do quite a bit of work, so it may as well be a topic that you would pursue whether it was graded or not.

Highly recommend taking 100L for bio degree requirements. The a big chunk of your course grade is based on an experiment you perform with your group. Things like the prospectus of the project, the presentation of the project, and the final scientific paper of the project. There were also busy work items due in between such as individual journals or worksheets that you do in class. Overall, this course definitely balances a heavy course load because there is nothing to study for but only consistent progress in your project. My TA, Mairin, in particular was awesome. She was very chill and conducted the lab in a very casual way but at the same time induced great discussion on general lab techniques in biology. I learned very important skills, had great group members, and conducted a very cool experiment that I wouldn't have been able to do. Take this lab and don't regret it!