Most of lab section is spent sitting and waiting for something. The experiments we do are pointless and uninteresting, but every bio major has to take this class at some point. Your TA will determine how easy or hard the research paper assignment is. At least its way easier than 1LL.
Gave him a 3 because I like him as a person, but I found his lectures very disorganized. It was difficult to put all the info together to study for the exam because it was hard to tell what was testable vs what was random fluff that he wanted to talk about. if you make your own study guide and study it you should be fine. book not necessary
Dr. Even makes the lectures highly interactive by letting everyone to watch the pre-recorded videos first and do discussions in lecture. This guy gave very fair exams. Everybody in my study group got a 90+% in the first exam. Just attend his lectures, go to CLAS, and discuss in group weekly. Then you can do an amazing job.
Dr. Even was a great instructor. His lectures/problem sets contain essentially all the detail students need for the exam and the textbook is an extra resource. Use his office hours/Q&A forum before the exam. He is accessible outside class for help/study tips by email/zoom. Find good study techniques EARLY. His exam covers many topics so CLAS helps.
I absolutely loved Prof. Latto - his lectures were super interesting and he did his best to make them funny and engaging. The problem sets were pretty straightforward and gave an opportunity for extra points, and the final exam was difficult but not impossible if you had attended lecture and done the work. I would 100% take him again!
Prof. Latto truly cares about helping his students do well on the exam. Understand problem sets and you'll get a B in the class no problem. Don't expect a curve, as the majority of kids pass without needing one.
Prof. Even gives pretty engaging lectures and clearly cares about his field. His midterm is very easy if you watch lecture and understand the problem sets. Never went to office hours or did CLAS, and got an 80 on first midterm.
Dr. Latto is a great choice for the Evolution portion of EEMB2. His recorded/live lectures are very clear and contain a majority of the material he will be testing. His problem sets and study guides are also useful for the exam. Use the textbook, lecture, and learning objectives listed on the slides to study for this course. Take his class!
I took the EEMB W 22. You just have to watch all the recorded lectures on GS, do weekly assignments, and midterm and final test. The lectures are pretty solid. The weekly assignments are interesting but includes a lot of readings. The midterm and finals are MCQ, and asks detailed and tough questions.
His tests are unreasonably hard no matter how much he says he tells you "everything to expect". He's really funny and intelligent, but when the class average on tests are 60, he then blames the students. Grade distribution is also super weird with a ton of A's and a ton of D's, blind-sighting both groups. And again, he blames the students.
Professor Even's lectures are the best in UCSB for me. He does know every concept of biology and how they related to real life examples. Essays and quizzes take up 1/3 of the grade, and quizzes related to readings are really tricky and hard. Midterm and final take up 2/3 of the grade, and they are hard but follow the exam guide you will be okay.
Really interesting class, lots of relevant conversation during section. Science is a bit harder for me personally so I just P/NP'ed it. Good for taking care of a GE. I'm not big on math and science courses, but this was a really good choice! The online setup is well done, left me time for other courses, but midterm and final definitely take work,
The Biolab classes (1LL and 2LL) are horribly organized and a huge waste of three hours every week. This class also has super strict rules on grading and attendance and they will almost never make an exception for students under any circumstance. The only upside is that the final exam is a group test in 2LL.
Dr. Even makes you work for your grade. His tests are mostly essays with some matching and fill in the blank. He mostly tests based on how well you understand the material rather than memorization. Write detailed notes for the full story, some of the stuff he says isn't always in his lecture slides. Funny and engaging lectures though (EEMB 159 too)
His classes are frustrating. I've taken a few of them. He does a good job of getting students to understand the material but doesn't do a good job of testing this knowledge. TA's are unreasonably harsh graders considering the vagueness of his assignments and sometimes the test questions as well.
He's a good lecturer which is his main strength. His lectures are well structured and easy to follow. That said his tests suck. Doesn't communicate well with students on expectations for tests OR assignments which constitute 100% of the grade. At the end of the day it's useless for students to learn the material well just to be set up for failure
I enjoy how he runs his classes, asking (nonrhetorical!) questions to keep us on our toes and constantly reviewing the older material. His lectures are well organized and he makes it feel like ur really learning scientific tools. Didn't appreciate his tone with students that give wrong answers,+ Noted misunderstanding of international students
Let me start by saying, Even isn't bad by any means. He's just not the best. His lectures are, for the most part, average and engaging, but the tests can and probably will trip you up. I'm an EEMB major and I got a C on the midterm, the only thing that saved me was Latto's final. I think he cares, his tests are just a little wonky. He's average.
Professor Latto is among my favorite professors in the intro bio series next to Wilson. Not to mention the man could narrate nature documentaries. He is really kind, you can tell he wants you to do well, and his tests are really easy (I got 100% on the FINAL, like whaaat?). The material is easy, he's really funny, and I highly recommend Latto.
Even has very engaging lectures and teaches the concepts clearly with lots of examples. His exam was much more difficult than expected/seemed to try to trick students though. Went to his OH once and he made a fool of students who participated and were wrong... scary. Course itself: problem sets, his ecology exam, and Latto's evolution exam.
Professor Latto is great! He taught the evolution section of this course and explained concepts clearly in an engaging/interesting manner and had a very fair final. Keep up with his learning objectives & key terms each lecture, and you'll do well in the course. The course itself is made up of problem sets, ecology exam, and evolution exam.
Dr. Latto is seriously one of the best professors I have ever had. He wants you to succeed and gives you all the tools to do so. He was so helpful and accessible even during online learning, and held multiple extra office hours and was very responsive by email. He always answers your questions thoroughly, and is an engaging lecturer.
Firstly, the content he teaches is incredibly easy, yet the exams feel more like an assessment of your reading comprehension. He reuses questions so you cant review the exam(which is incredibly lazy) and the exam itself had a multitude of answers and vague wording that he justified rudely using a dictionary definition. Least favorite prof at UCSB.
Doesnt let you review the tests, spends ton of time during lecture justifying why EEMB is a good field of study, his pass rates will tell you all you need to know
