I loved Winter quarter of this cluster, especially because I really enjoy biology (though not a bio major) and it was therefore also much easier than Fall in my opinion. The big change from Fall quarter is that Friscia lectures on evolution instead of Larkin lecturing on astronomy. Friscia is hilarious and great at explaining the concepts he presents.

The textbook (Tangled Bank) is "mandatory". If you have a good grasp on the bio concepts, you can probably do without it, but it's definitely a good resource if you struggle with bio. It's not a difficult read so it's worth having around.

Again, they guide you through the paper throughout the quarter so that it's not so daunting. I would definitely recommend going on the field trips (there were 3 in Winter quarter alone when I took the class), as they are all paid for (in terms of transportation, lodging, etc. except food). The overnight one to Nevada was super fun and we got to collect fossils. I would say this is one of the few classes that has a field aspect to it.

I would recommend sticking it out for Winter even if you struggled with Fall because the material is more familiar to most people, especially if you've taken some sort of biology class in high school. Overall a great class and one of my favorites.

This is by far my favorite class I've taken at UCLA. Dr. Friscia is awesome and although it's a lot of material (o/i/a of all muscles from 107 + blood supply and innervation) it's totally worth it. Friscia is very reasonable with grades, but to get an A you should memorize everything, take advantage of the open labs, and start studying from day 1 to not fall behind. Dissecting cadaver limbs as an undergraduate is almost unheard of so if you get the chance to take this class definitely do!! It was such a rewarding experience and is great preparation for anyone interested in medical school.

Cluster 70A is a great class for non-stem majors. It is super interesting and you can really learn some fascinating and interesting things if you open yourself up to it. Throughout the quarter the main grades were five quizzes, a paper, and some lab assignments. The quizzes were 10 multiple choice questions and a few free responses. The free response was generally straight forward, but sometimes the wording could be a bit confusing on the MC. The paper was also not too difficult and there was a lot of opportunity to work on it. In addition to these assignments there were lab assignments. These were not too difficult but could all build up if you procrastinate. Professor Friscia was a great lecturer. He was super informative, answered questions well, and used his slides effectively. Overall, he was really clear and covered a lot of information without the lecture feeling too dense.

Doctor Friscia is a great lecturer, his exams are fair, and he cares about his students learning. This class has weekly quizzes, one midterm and a final (quizzes were super easy, midterm and final were doable and not tricky). For the lab portion, we had 2 presentations instead of practicals. I would recommend taking any classes with doctor Friscia, he is one of the best professors I ever had in undergrad.

Looking back, I'm happy I took this class because it's the only science class I have to take here, and it was fairly eaasy. 4 Science GE requirements ticked off for 3 quarters of (easy) class is a good deal and you should take it.

As for the actual class, it's a lot of busy work -- its easy, just annoying. For average college freshman like myself and my friends in the class, you may find that lectures are a little slow and it's hard to stay engaged. HW is mostly busy work and not too helpful for understanding class material. Sometimes I question why I'm reading a chapter of a random book that has nothing to do with the lecture.

For grading, same format as 1st Q with biweekly quizzes (open note, 24hrs to complete). The quizzes can be a little difficult sometimes, but most people do fine. It also mostly depends if you have a good TA or not. I had G. Mann and he was the best. Get him if you can, he's super chill, actually tries to teach you the material in a fun way, plus he's an easy grader. Some of my friends had bad TAs who graded based on accuracy and effort rather than completion, and they got worse grades as a result. There's an essay that is insanely easy as long as you have competent writing skills, and the final is hard but it's only worth 10%. Overall, I put in minimal effort, got an 80% on the final and still finished with a high A in the class.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed the class while taking it, but it is an easy course with good GEs ticked off, so I recommend it to those humanities majors who want to be done with science.

This quarter was *supposedly* the first quarter that Friscia did asynchronous format lectures where he would post videos instead of in-person lectures. These videos were good but it confused the formatting of the class because the practicals in lab were based off of stuff only seen in lab and that any information from the videos would be extra credit on the practical, however, he would still ask a bunch of stuff from his videos and expect us to memorize it. The TAs and LAs are awesome but Friscia is extremely rude and has absolutely no desire to teach you. He often would refuse to bring out more specimens in lab that showed certain cuts and parts of the body because we had "not enough time" when we really had another hour and a half or even more left. I assume he went asynchronous with his lectures because he stopped caring whether or not the students actually learned anything.

if you need this class as a pre-health requirement, take it with friscia!!! the course materials are administered and graded extremely fairly, making it easy to get an A if you put in the effort. friscia wasn't the warmest or friendliest when approached for help, but the easy assignments and exams made up for it.

I hated this class. SO much work. If you are not into astronomy you will HATE spring quarter. It sucked. The topics were dense and too many of them.

FREE GE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE MAJORS: TAKE IF YOU'RE ECON, POLI SCI, SOCIOLOGY!

Evolutions cluster is great! The professors are all extremely accomplished and passionate about the topics. The class does move quite fast, but the cluster system is great about helping new students and guiding them through navigating not only tough classes, but UCLA as a whole. The workload of the class is pretty manageable, just a lot of readings, although the readings are useful!