This class definitely has more assignments than the average EEB upper div, but I feel that these assignments for the most part serve to boost your grade as exams aren't worth as big of a chunk as they might be in other classes. Definitely focus on the literature review and the midterm to pour your energy into, as these are what I lost the most points to. Its nice to have a professor like Dr. Gorlitsky who is very obviously passionate about what she is teaching, and I do feel like I have come away from the class with a higher interest in the tropics than before. Overall it seemed like my peers and I did relatively well in the class and I would recommend the class to others.

Honestly, I would not recommend this class - for the amount of work you do, it does not pay off well. I was fooled by the Winter 2016 distribution - it is inaccurate for Winter 2017. The class average was an 86% and she curved down to an 82%, which drags the A- to a flat B due to her grading scheme (see later).

Gorlitsky is an organized, compelling, engaging lecturer who integrates videos well into lectures - she just severely lacks in understanding that students are not only taking her class and she overloads not only the students but her 2 TA's for a class size of around 50-80 students. My TA was fairly sleep-deprived just from grading all the assignments due every week.

The class was at 8 - 9:15AM and she expects attendance every lecture by having random participation checks (not designed as pop quizzes, but you need to submit some sort of response to a question from class). This class is structured so that there are no +/- grades (ie a B+ is a B and an A- is an A) In the end her grading scheme was A, A-, B, B-, C, C-. Each week for discussion you are required to read research papers for ecology and write a 1 page single spaced critique/review on the paper and participate during discussion. Keep in mind that these critiques are due even on the same day as the other projects. Furthermore you have one 4-5 page double spaced literature review on a tropical ecology subject of your choice and a following 2-3 page research proposal based on your literature review - none of which we received the grades for (thus, we had to go into our research proposal blind and the final). There is also one midterm and one final and an "optional" extra credit project. In addition to studying for the detailed lecture slides for the exams, you were required to read several chapters from a book as well, as there is always a question on the exam regarding several chapters of the book. At the end of week 9, she dropped an extra 2 page paper on different tropical forests for a group project. Thus, during week 10, we had the group paper, the research proposal, and the extra credit due in class on the same day.

She graded the midterm so harshly (class average was a C) that the "optional" extra credit was mandatory in order to salvage your grade. On top of that, she curved DOWN the overall class average by 4%.

While this class is honestly very interesting and I understand the professor means well to have us do different activities (ie research proposal, literature reviews), it is excessive to the point where it draws away from study time from the lecture material itself and is killing her TA's (who themselves still have other classes).

I adore Dr. Gorlitsky, so this review may be slightly biased. This class offers a moderate workload, with weekly readings, one-page written reports on those readings, a required book with material featured on the exams, and a group project that we work on throughout the quarter. Still, I never felt too overwhelmed with any of it because of how engaging Leryn is. She is kind, funny, and really cares about her students. Her office hours are very helpful and can be a key study tool for exams. This class was my favorite of the quarter and I'm so grateful to have ended off my undergrad at UCLA with such a fun course as this one! I would retake this class a million times over :)

I loved every class that I have taken with professor Gorlitsky. Her enthusiasm was clear for every topic she taught and it really translated in her teaching. I never knew how much there was to love about the tropics and all of the unique adaptations of nature. Don't underestimate her exams. I would definitely go to office hours and study. I personally re-wrote and memorized the slides. She does not record her lectures so make sure to take good notes and pay attention. Gorlitsky is one if my favorite profs at UCLA. I think she is very fair but it is not a course that you should underestimate.

Professor Gorlitsky is an amazing professor and the way she runs this class is similar to EEB 100! The class is definitely quite a bit of work but it helps to pad your grade from the exams and is manageable since the assignments build off each other. The assignments we had were weekly one-page discussion homework based on an assigned paper, an annotated bibliography, a literature review, a research proposal built from those two assignments, lecture participation "quizzes" graded on completion, a presentation on your research proposal, and two exams (midterm and final during Week 10). Most of the assignments were during discussion (which did not take the entire 2 hours most of the time) and dependent on your TA (make sure to ask your TA what they expect from everything). Her exams are definitely tough where they test on smaller details from lectures and many short answer questions based on the book you are expected to read and other lecture content. She does offer extra credit project that gives you quite a few points. Overall, I would take this class with her! Tests are definitely rough but as long as you understand the lecture slides and read the tropical book you assign, you should be fine.

I love Dr. Gorlitsky and her teaching style. I took her also in EE BIOL 100 and was convinced in taking her again for tropical ecology and was not let down. A very touching and engaging course with material that makes gives you a different perspective on the life around you and within the tropics. Dr. Gorlitsky is known for her teaching style that combines a TON of slides but also a bunch of embedded videos to grab our attention. This class was by FAR the most assignment heavy course I have ever taken in my undergrad year given it included weekly discussion reading response assignments, bibliography, group lit review, proposal presentation, and finally a research proposal! However, we had an absolute gem of a TA : Jordyn Regier who went above and beyond to tend our needs and any last minute questions we had. I highly recommend this course!

Easily one of the best EEB classes I have taken at UCLA. Gorlitsky is a professor who is very charismatic, understanding, and entertaining. Her TAs during the quarter were incredibly patient, respectful, and accommodating. The outdated reviews below don't really give an accurate depiction of the class value. Tropical Ecology is an interesting course by itself, and Gorlitsky offers many extra credit opportunities to raise student grades. Overall, I would take this class again in a heartbeat. The structure, accommodation and TA input were beyond exceptional. 10/10 from me.

I really like Dr. Gorlitsky and her lectures are pretty interesting but my TA was a mess this quarter. We didn’t have grades for anything until the last few weeks of the quarter and she would dock off tons of points with very little explanation. Since pretty much your entire grade is based off the TA, just make sure you have a decent one. There is extra credit available and a majority of your grade comes from this one group project. I still have the plant Dr. Gorlitsky gave out on the last day of the quarter, it was a really nice gift