She was the worst professor I had so far at UCLA. Her exams were more comprehending the exam and small insignificant details rather than major concepts. There's a lot of bad things I want say about her but I'll just mention that she gave out a "cumulative lab" assignment on the sunday before finals week that was due on the following friday (with no prior mention except that it was on the syllabus but everyone thought she would cancel the it). This assignment was very time consuming and and making time for it between studying for finals was a real dilemma for many students. In addition, I really disliked her teaching style.

Last year, I vowed that I would never take Pires. However, I ended up changing my mind despite all the negative review because of one positive review from a friend. It's a lot of work, definitely. But, this is no more work than any other LS class I have taken.

Her lectures are podcasted, but it's clickered. Lectures were important for the first midterm but the rest of the class wasn't as lecture based as it was book / study guide based. She tries to make them funny, and at those early morning hours it's a little bit hard to be as cheery as Pires. But, it wasn't as bad as other lecturers I've had.

The labs can get time-consuming, but it really depends on your TA and their grading scale. The homework quizzes and lab quizzes are pretty simple (and if you don't know the answers they can be found online).

I thought the first midterm was the hardest and I was pretty discouraged from continuing in the class. But, I'm glad I stuck through with her. Finals week for me went o-chem in the morning, and LS1 in evening on the same day. I thought the final would kill me, but it had the highest average I had ever seen in a class - mid 80s.

Make SURE you understand, and not memorize, the practice questions she gives out and talk out answers you are unsure of with peers.

Best of luck!

tl;dr - Lots of work = Good grade.

This class isn't easy but you can tell that Pires really loves what she does. The exams are difficult but a lot of her questions come from the practice tests. I recommend going to office hours. I was struggling in the class but after she helped me study I managed to pass the class with a B-

She's a really nice person, but honestly her tests are ridiculous. Google will be your best friend.

Selling the Biological Sciences book that Pires requires for her LS1 class!

In good condition too! ONLY $25!!!!
It's an edition earlier than the latest, but that doesn't affect anything. She doesn't have you do any practice problems and it's purely for the reading, which is the SAME EXACT WORDING except the chapter numbers are ahead by one. (I compared the current edition and my own side by side at Powell).

Text me at ********** ASAP!

Pires was pretty difficult for LS 1, and you had to go to lecture for clicker questions. She also has office hours at really weird times, like at 6am. She has pretty hard tests and you have to pretty much memorize the book including chapters that she hadn't covered in lecture and there are some nit-picky questions. I also had a horrible TA who didn't know anything about the class and so labs were hard and graded hard as well. She would give us instructions for an assignment and then grade on the rubric Pires gave her, even though the rubric included things that we weren't told to do, so everyone missed points. There are also group projects.

There were 2 lectures for Spring 2013. This is from Lecture 2.

Midterm #1 - Mean 84%, Median 86%
Midterm #2 - Mean 68%, Median 71%
Final - Mean 77%, Median 80%

Somebody submitted an evaluation with the syllabus, read that. Although, this class isn't curved if the average is ~75%.

Personally, I like Pires, although I've never been to office hours. What she says are interesting, but they kinda don't appear on the tests. The questions in the exams seem easy at first, but can be tricky and some were more detail oriented than I thought (because to me, LS2 was very details oriented).

Also, I'm going to take a leaf from another person's evaluation: I got a 5 on the AP Biology test, too, but didn't get an A in the class, and am switching from a biology major into a different life science major because this class helped me see what my major was about: evolution and ecology, and I'm not actually interested in it enough to major in it. It's not the professor that "makes" you switch majors.

Her lectures are boring, but she does seem to care about the subject. The first midterm was totally reasonable but the second one was ridiculous and the class averaged a D.

The labs are boring and I don't know about the other TAs but mine (Gustavo) didn't know how to answer most of my questions. I went to office hours so he could explain the midterm questions I got wrong and he couldn't explain most of them nor did he know the answer to some of them. He also wouldn't respond to my emails.

I was sick once and sent my work in by email, and sent a doctor's note to the LS core office. Not only did the professor reject my note (which was written by my doctor) but after several emails back and forth about my emailed assignment, the TA refused to accept it. Then in class when I asked if he could PLEASE grade it he was like "oh yeah, sure!" Totally inconsistent.

If you are a North Campus person DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. I was like "Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity" that should be pretty basic - I should be fine....wrong....very wrong.....
Deb was an excellent lecturer, but I seriously felt like I was back in HS....SO MUCH nit picky homework, and her tests do not have anything to do with her lectures!!! And she has a plethora of quizzes and that are all due at different times, and it is mainly a lot of jumping through flaming hoops of fire just to get a C. Barely. Like, I got a C because the class was curved, thank the Lord.

I repeat: If you are a North Campus person, you will hate this class. Do not be tempted by the fun topic. (labs were great for the most part, btw.) I devoted so much of my life to it, and it was still way hard. Deb = run from south campus.

My South Campus friends did not like her either, but they were able to soldier through better than myself.

Deb is one of the best professors I have had yet at UCLA. She knows her stuff and is always available if you have any questions about anything.