Grading was:
50 points -- midterm which we had a weekend to complete (four short answer questions, with multiple points)
50 points -- final exam which we had 24 hours to complete, or could go during the 3-hour time slot and do it with a group they assigned on zoom (same structure as midterm)
70 points -- quizzes based on lecture and readings each week, not too bad if you paid attention, worst quiz grade is dropped
80 points -- discussion section, includes a 10 min group presentation on conservation organizations and a 30-40min partner presentation/discussion you lead based on a reading, as well as general participation in other people's partner discussions

Prof Lipman is very passionate about what she teaches. Her lectures were super relevant for the exams but she also gives a lot of very specific examples of conservation efforts that are interesting but take up a lot of lecture time and don't come up again. I never read the textbook, but I did check it a few times during the exams.

The exams did mark off on specific things (like if you didn't mention MEAT agriculture when you said agriculture) but were doable if you take decent notes and can come up with general ideas for conservation plans. Pay attention in lecture when people brainstorm ideas/annotate on the slides because you can use those ideas on the exams.

Discussions require participation but Alec is a really chill TA so take him if you can. The presentation aren't too bad.

Amazing!! This class is highkey extremely life changing and will affect the way you see and do things in your day-to-day life. I HIGHLY recommend taking this at some point.

Professor Lipman is really cool. Documentaries in this class were spectacular. This class is also super doable!

Even though I received an A, I would not recommend this class. TA's are extremely unclear with expectations for the midterm. Your grade is highly variable and there is no way of knowing what the professor/TA wants at any given moment. This extends to the midterm and final. Even though I answered all parts of the question with factual evidence, points were continuously marked off with TA's saying "this is correct but you also could have said this..." TBH this class could have gone either way for me and I could have just as easily gotten a B. I just happened to get lucky.

Honestly an awful class. Just so many random awful assignments and group oriented things. Not to mention the ridiculously slow pace of the lectures. I could not stay awake. Just take another class

The class material is definitely interesting and she makes it engaging by incorporating lots of videos and guest lectures and encouraging discussion and things like that. However, the exams were much more stressful than anticipated for a class with such straight forward material... To be honest, I have worried about my grade in this class far more than I ever would've wanted to, and if I knew I was going to feel as bad after the midterm as I had I probably would've taken another class. I ended up getting an A because after the midterm, I knew how to study better for the final because I kind of knew what to expect. But it was still not a good way to test student knowledge of the course material.
The exams she made for our quarter were entirely short response, no multiple choice. In her previous classes she did use multiple choice, however, but she said students complained that it was the hardest exam they've ever taken so she tried to change it. Short response didn't work well for her either, unfortunately. I think she's just not a good test maker. The questions and the subject matter are all fair, her main issue is that she doesn't make it clear enough what she actually wants from you. Even in class when she's have a practice multiple choice question up for us to answer, oftentimes I felt the she would ask a question expecting a certain answer, but she would word the question so HORRIBLY, that literally nobody would be able to answer it correctly. She just thinks the answer she expects is so obvious that she doesn't bother making the question clear enough.
Overall, I do think she's a really nice and relatable woman and I like her. I've taken EEB100 with her and loved her in that class. So I don't think she's a bad teacher. I have learned a lot in this class that will stay with me forever, even though I am not in the least interested in pursuing conservation. However, I stressed out a lot in this class. So I don't know if it's totally worth it. If your options are few, you should take this class. If there are other classes that sound good to you, maybe go with those just to save you the trouble of panicking about your grade on a midterm that you literally know all the answers to, but potentially didn't provide the answers she was looking for or didn't have enough time to complete (because that test was super long).

If you clearly look at the A distribution, there is a 10%ish value. This class is not easy. I also did not finish the exam. Those people below that got A's and are "praising" the class were very rare individuals who attained that score. They say it's easy and doable but to be honest, you have to fight for points and to finish exams... She told us that she would make the exam shorter. Lies.

Don't think this is an easy class. This was actually harder than my biochem class 153 class. The exam answers have to be written in a very specific way....

Professor Lipman cares about the class and about the subject. She has a lot of experience in conservation and often uses her work as examples during lecture. I never looked at the textbook, but she did require us to read a chapter book, E O Wilson's Half-Earth that we only discussed in section, took short reading quizzes on and one or two questions appeared on the exam. In section you are also required to read one scientific article and take a short quiz too. Her tests are multiple choice and strangely formatted with very similar choices as answers. Even though many of us complained that the answers and wording was misleading, she only gave us the points back for one question. Other than that, she is a reasonable professor.

Taking this class over the summer, we went over a lot of content pretty quickly. The classes were long, however, Lipman would give us a 10 minute break in the middle. She is very nice and an engaging lecture. She works hard to make sure the students are learning, and is trying out different teaching styles for what helps students learn the best. She like a having a lot of time for students to discuss topics, and then share with the class what we came up with. The tests are very fair, but there are a lot of group projects in this class. She actually allows for group midterms/finals, so long as attendance to lecture remains constant throughout the quarter. I would take a class from her again.

Class was interesting and fun. Overall, not bad. Discussion quizzes are easy and midterms and finals are very doable. I am selling the 2nd edition textbook (useful for clarifying ideas)...text me at **********