I don't understand why Pires has bad reviews. She was extremely kind, welcoming, and helpful as a professor. She speaks at a pace where everyone can follow along and is very clear when explaining. She's good at responding to questions because she never wants anyone to be confused.

The Launchpad and tests are similar to LS 7A. Launchpad reading is not helpful, but the questions are good practice for the tests. Go to office hours to understand those questions on Launchpad.

The midterms were okay. Some of the wording on the questions were confusing and there is no way to get clarification, so it is what it is. However, there's plenty of opportunities for extra credit and to make up points. There's a reflection of how you did on the midterm, so that's a free 2 points to your midterm score. There's also a mini-midterm that has more problems and you can add up to 6 more points on your midterm score.

The labs are pretty easy. They were just extremely tedious. The class still has CLC sessions. These are also very helpful. I didn't think I would like the material, but I found it somewhat interesting. Overall, I would recommend taking Pires.

At the beginning of the quarter, I was really hesitant to take this class with Pires because of all the negative reviews, but she ended up being nothing like these reviews and I'm so glad I had her as a professor. She was super laid back during our classes, and she genuinely cared about our well-being. She was very cheerful and excited about the concepts, which always encouraged me to attend lectures. She was mostly able to explain the concepts, and if we didn't understand something we could always go to Campuswire to get our questions answered. The tests were a bit challenging but I thought that the material she provided to us was extremely useful in prepping for them (especially clickers and PEQs). Also, instead of offering a group portion like in LS7A, she gave us a mini-midterm and reflection assignment that could get us back 8 missed points on our midterms, which in my opinion were SO nice. In addition to this extra credit, there were like 5 other opportunities throughout the quarter to get EC. My TA Justin was really helpful as well, and the labs were pretty straight forward. This was one of the best experiences I've had with online learning, and I would highly recommend this professor!

Easiest of the series… still failed every exam though. You’ll get an a if you dont miss a launchpad like I did…. Labs were not hard, sometimes finished early! It’s not the worst class ever but it is challenging.

As far as the content for LS7B goes, it's really not that bad.
Pires? The TA's? The workload and exams? All suck. Both the Professor and my unfortunate excuse of a TA (Evan D.) were rude and dismissive when students asked questions. The practice exams given out are nothing like the actual midterms or finals and the launchpad is a huge waste of time. The labs are 2 hours long and you never have enough time to finish them and the TA does not give enough guidance yet grades harshly, taking points off for minute things every week. Pre-Labs for 2/10 weeks are like 7 pages long and never show up on the midterms or finals. Honestly, none of the homework we did ever really felt helpful.
Not to mention they're always due 15 mins after the end of the lab period, EVEN IF it's the TA's fault for not being able to get through all of it on time.

All in all, this class is horrible and I would avoid taking Pires at all costs. I just wish we could have Professor Maloy for all the 7 series, that man is the GOAT

I found Dr. Pires to be really helpful and was more than willing to answer questions. I honestly had no problems with her and I thought she did fine this quarter. This class will be hard unless your really good at Bio. The tests are really tricky and are more about applying concepts rather than memorizing things. I found Launchpad to be good if you didn’t know much about a subject but it doesn’t get you to the level you need to be conceptually for the exams. I really liked the group exams as it relieves a lot of stress and helps you understand what you did wrong. The structure for 7A is basically the same all around so the prof doesn’t really make or break you but I found Dr. Pires to be a great choice for 7A.

* Disclaimer* I took this class entirely online

Dr. Pires really does care about her students and is genuinely a good professor. She is a clear lecturer and good at responding to student questions. A lot of the information you need isn't covered in lecture and you need launchpad to get all the material.

The course is graded similarly to LS7A with a little more emphasis on the exams. There are opportunities to do a mini midterm and get points back that can get you almost 7 percent back on your test.

One nice part about LS7B is that the professors communicate between one another well and that even if you have friends with a different professor the class is exactly the same. Dr. Pires is great and I would recommend taking her but if another section fits better in your schedule for this class, I think it ok to go with the other professor.

I personally hate the LS series and considering I failed all the exams, I still received a passing grade. This class is super interesting but the setup of the class is annoying. You have to learn all concepts and vocab before attending the lecture. We used launchpad/ iclicker reef for our in-class participation and homework.

Professor Pires often spent time answering questions that didn't seem important and wouldn't answer questions/fix problems that students actually had. It's not a super hard class but definitely a lot of assignments to keep track of.

This class gave me a lot of unnecessary stress. Pires is a TERRIBLE option for LS 7A. She honestly does not know the material that she is teaching. She is extremely confusing and focuses on stuff that isn't even important. For example, she'd spend 15 minutes answering a random question that wasn't even relevant to what we were learning, and then glosses over what is actually important in 30 seconds.

You have to use this online textbook called LaunchPad. LaunchPad has its pros and cons. On one side, it is super expensive, includes a ton of reading, and can get tedious. On the other hand, that's basically your only source of material in this class. It explains concepts and definitions but doesn't provide a real world application view, which is what this class is all about.

I frankly found these tests EXTREMELY hard because its completely application based, and there's no way to learn it from her or the textbook. At first I just thought I was doing bad because I was dumb or something, but I later realized I wasn't the only one. So many kids were struggling in her class, while the class taught by Maloy was passing with high A's. I can't even recommend any studying tips because I just reread LaunchPad which was almost no help at all. They don't provide many worksheets either so you are on your own.

The only reason why I got an A- was because I kept up with the work and did the extra credit assignments. DO EVERY EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT. I cannot stress this enough. Also do your homework (the pre class assignments and launchpad questions) and clicker questions in the lecture. It seems insignificant because it will only add a point here and there, but trust me, it will save your grade. I did really bad on the final but was saved because I did everything else. Attending lecture was honestly pointless for me because I understood absolutely nothing from her class and gave up halfway through the quarter, but I still attended it to answer the clicker questions which contribute to your grade. (Tip: All of the launchpad review question answers are available on quizlet. Look it up on there before submitting it)

The last thing I wanted to add was the group phase for examinations. You basically take the midterms/finals on your own first, and the next day you take it with a small group of classmates that are assigned to you from the beginning of the quarter. This helps a lot because the individual+group phase tests are averaged to provide your final grade, so if you did bad on your own you can make it up with the group phase. Group phases can be highly annoying though if your classmates are uncooperative (as mine were) and only look out for themselves and their own grades. The whole point is to learn from each other, but if you are paired with selfish know-it-all's, chances are you're on your own.

Deb is an amazing professor and was super understanding during office hours. This class is very similar to AP bio, so if you've taken that class you will be well prepared. Launchpad is a lot of work and takes a lot of time, but I recommend using the pre-class worksheets and take notes on the topics of those. There are a ton of study resources and the TA I had was amazing and we ended discussion early almost every period. The exams are long and very conceptual and some answers are meant to trick you and be partially right. The best way to study for this is to take practice exams and lot of launchpad quiz review. If you take this class I recommend taking w her.