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.

LS1 Course Reader

It's the customized UCLA version of

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity
Principles of Life

by Hillis, Sadava, Heller, Price

$20.00
-very good condition, no hilighting inside, pages super crisp

*************

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!

How do I say this in a few words. Dr. Pires is one of the best LS professors on campus. She is passionate about education, and cares about everybody understanding the information. The information she presents is conceptual, which is great if you hate memorization (thats me!!!). She is approachable, friendly, and always willing to help. I never thought I would leave LS 1 happy and excited about the information, but she managed to make every piece of the class exciting. I have a new love and appreciation for animals, insects, worms, and biology in general. Who would have thought that a simple thing such as a hox gene was responsible for all the biodiversity. I also learned we are not so different from something as simple as an earth worm, or a parasitic leech. I could honestly go on a rant all day with all the cool stuff I learned in this class, but for your sake I'll cut it short.

To succeed in the class:
-It is imperative that you do all the reading. The book helps clarify and reinforce many confusing topics. The book is great for a biology textbook and has lots of wonderful practice exercises to help you master concepts along the way.

-Her online quizzes are your wake up call. Look at what you don't know on those quizzes and ask her for help. Ask why it is not the best choice, and figure out where your logic was flawed.

-Labs "Demos": If you have a good TA, they will connect every lesson you learn in class with a lab. You get to look at and touch some animals and plants. You will learn some fundamental statistics that teach you how to analyze numbers in science. You will also become very finely tuned in reading graphs.

-The tests are all multiple choice. I am a north campus guy, and we are seldom inflicted with multiple choice tests. I wish she could do more writing based exams, but oh well... Work on your multiple choice exam skills and think long and hard before you pick anything. The exams are laid
out conceptually which is cool. You wont run into silly questions like "complete the phylogeny for kingdom x..." or "___ was the geological time period for responsible for the first plant life." The questions on the exam test you knowledge on big concepts and ask you to apply them to specific situations. Master the big picture, and you should pass all her exams.

Debra Pires is by far my most favorite professor in UCLA. I just LOVE to hear her talk about spiders and starfishies and especially about the hole in her pants. I get SO excited listening to her squeaky, nasally Squidward voice. Her voice gets me so excited for class. I record all her audiocasts on my phone, and even use her voice for my ringtone. And at the end of every week, she ALWAYS says "Have a good weekend, class. And make good decisions" which obviously meant to listen to her awesome podcasts. This is seriously the best professor in UCLA, and I am totally not being sarcastic. In short, TAKE HER!!!!

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.