I thought that this class was great overall. Professor Brown was super accommodating and friendly during Covid times since our midterm and final were all online. The only thing is that she talks pretty fast during lectures, so it can be a little difficult to keep up with her while writing notes. However, she posts her lectures on Canvas and the slides, so I wouldn't worry about that aspect. The midterm and the final were pretty fair, but I felt like I got lucky with the tests being online because some of the questions were slightly difficult if you did not study. With that being said, the final/midterm will most likely be in-person after the spring 2022 quarter, so keep that in mind.

The labs were very easy and the grading was extremely generous. Shoutout to my TA Leslie!!! She was super sweet, kept the labs super engaging, and helped us every step of the way. She definitely made this more of a fun class rather than a GE you have to mindlessly take. The lab quizzes were straightforward since Dr.Brown let us use the lab answer keys to answer questions and they were 5 questions/multiple choice. There are also readings, but to be honest, I never read anything and still got an A at the end of the quarter. Overall, I would recommend taking this class because of the interesting content, friendly professor, and chill TAs. However, if the exams are in person, make sure to really study!

Prof. Brown was so cool! This class is a great GE. It's definitely worth taking if you're trying to fulfill a lab requirement, and the material was super interesting.

I took this class, like many, as a science G.E. Honestly it was more of a pain that I expected, but in the end I would still recommend it given that an A- or above I think is easily attainable if you put the work in and go to class and pay attention (honestly though, I didn't even pay attention that much). Professor Brown is so sweet. She is really funny, smart, and really cares about her students. You can tell she is passionate and knowledgeable about dinosaurs and teaching, and that makes for really engaging lectures. However, honestly, I found the content to be really bland. It had nothing to do with Professor Brown's teaching style, but I really just didn't connect to the science concepts like bio and looking at bones, etc. etc. You will basically get full credit on labs as long as you show up, but they can be a little frustrating to do. My TA Jason was more or less helpful (lol) but overall super easy points. My lab never went over an hour even though it was scheduled for two. The tests were fair. A ton of questions from the final were literally taken directly from a practice reading quiz she had sent out, so I highly recommend reviewing any materials she sends before midterms/tests. Overall, this is a decent class that works well for a science GE (especially coming from a North Campus major) and it's kind of interesting to learn about dinos... but probably not as much as you think . :)

-Class Breakdown:
Midterm exam: 15%
Lab assignments: 40%
Weekly reading quizzes: 10%
Online lab material quizzes: 10%
Final Exam: 25%

-Lectures/Content:
I am not quite sure what I was expecting when choosing to take this course but I heard that it was a pretty interesting and light GE. And while it was light and somewhat interesting, the material was VERY dense. I am definitely walking away from this class knowing much more about dinosaurs and their relatives than I would like. With that said, I think that it is important to note that this class does not just teach you dinosaur names and traits. This class involves heavy aspects of geology, biology, and anatomy. For example, we learned about the metabolism of dinosaurs, how fossils are preserved, how to know our place in geologic time, and the anatomy of different taxa of dinosaurs. While the professor does a great job of explaining these concepts, they are not (in my opinion) the most enjoyable. Like I said, they are explained well both by the professor and the assigned reading, it is just a matter of applying yourself to learn it. Other aspects of the class such as the “Dinosaur of the Day” and learning about how dinosaurs and their relatives lived during their time on earth was very interesting. All things considered, I would say the content was pretty enjoyable to learn BUT it did require students to stay on top of weekly learning goals in order to not fall behind and become overwhelmed by the material.

-Labs:
There are pros and cons to the labs. For one, the labs are usually 2 hours in length. While I know some lab sections only lasted for 30 minutes of those 2 hours, my section almost always went the full 2 hours (sometimes even slightly above that). There were a few people who preferred to get their lab done and leave, however, a few other students and myself usually stayed behind to ask questions and spend more time looking at the fossils in order to write down more accurate answers. I credit the scores I got on my labs to my willingness to stay the full 2 hours. Going over the lab with other students and with my TA allowed me to get full credit on all of my labs so I highly recommend making friends in your section and communicating with your TA. For context, labs were usually 5-9 pages of questions about fossils or other lab materials shown during the 2 hours. There were some times where we would leave the room and take walks around campus to look at fossils or plant life and that was pretty fun! The questions were usually not too difficult and were pretty easy to answer if you were caught up with lectures. All in all, I would say that labs were nothing crazy and definitely should not worry you.

-Exams:
For this quarter, both our midterm and final exam were conducted online (open-book/open-note). They both consisted of about 30 multiple choice questions with a short answer question at the end of each. We were given a time window for both exams (example: 24 hours to finish a 90-minute exam with 35 questions). Initially, these exams were planned to take place in person, but because of a rise in Covid-19 cases, they were both moved online. I think these exams were very fair for the modality on which they were provided. I know that several students did amazing on these exams. I, myself, managed to get A’s on both. That said, if these exact exams were given in person, I don’t think they would be as manageable. As previously mentioned, the content of this course is very dense. Before the midterm was switched to online, several students did not think they were going to do well, myself included. Because there is so much information covered, it is hard to decide on what information you should prioritize. However, the professor provides students with a VERY helpful study guide and usually provides extra office hours leading up to the exams to ask any questions about the study guide, the format of the exam, or any content that you might be confused about. In general, the exams shouldn’t be too hard if you study the study guide well and understand the learning goals from lectures.

-Quizzes:
We were given two types of quizzes. Reading quizzes dealt with information covered from the weekly readings. You had unlimited tries, an unlimited amount of time to complete these quizzes, and they were open-note. Meaning that it was relatively impossible for you not to get 100% on every quiz. There were 8 reading quizzes and the one with the lowest score was dropped. The second kind of quiz given were lab quizzes. These were a bit tougher because they were timed and you only got one chance to complete them. Additionally, you had to look at 3D models on your computer and it could be difficult at times to fully understand what you were looking at. That said, they were not too difficult and students were often provided with practice quizzes that resembled the content and format of the lab quizzes before the actual quiz. There were 4 of these quizzes. During my quarter, the professor made an announcement that she was going to group the two kinds of quizzes together and was going to drop students’ two lowest scores overall (not just from reading quizzes). This meant that both categories were combined to make up 20% of our grade and any quiz could be dropped. This helped students a lot because more people did poorly on lab quizzes than reading quizzes, meaning that the lab quizzes they didn’t do well on were ultimately dropped.

-Overall Opinion:
In comparison to other science GEs at UCLA, this one is by far one of the more interesting ones. While there is a lot of content covered, it can be quite enjoyable, especially when given the chance to actually hold and look at different fossils. I will also say that the professor is amazing. Her energy is great and you can tell that she really wants her students to succeed. If you find yourself struggling in this class, don’t be afraid to reach out for help! I wish you the best of luck!

Professor Brown is awesome! She just got her PhD so she's new and very young, which is pretty refreshing in a tough class like EEB 111. Her slides were very easy to understand and she made class engaging. She often ended class early because she went through her slides pretty fast, which would be my only complaint about her if you're a slow notetaker. I would definitely take classes with her again.

Professor Brown is a great professor. She just got her PhD in a mammalogy field so you can tell she is passionate about the subject. I loved her lectures, she put in gifs, and made the material relatable. Everything she tests on is on the slides, and the tests are pretty straightforward if you study, although it can be dense sometimes. Her labs were pretty hard because you have to ID skulls of mammals that can all look pretty similar. My advice is to make a powerpoint for yourself with pics of each skull from all angles and descriptions of each skull in the speaker notes so you can practice IDing skulls at home. My only issue with her is she speaks really quickly, so either learn to type really quickly or record her lectures because they are not podcasted. Overall love her though! I would definitely recommend her as a professor.

Cool class, cool professor, easy GE. If you attend the lectures (which are pretty fun and interesting) and pay attention, it should be pretty easy. The labs are super easy too, if you don't know something you can just ask the TA and they pretty much tell you the answer. The class averages were always above 90%. If you do the readings and use the study guide, you should do well on the midterm and final. I stopped doing the readings after the midterm and still managed to get a 97% on the final. I would say the most important part is to attend lecture, as the slides don't have any words on them so you can't understand them if you missed the lecture. If you do that, it should be an easy A.

Lectures had a ton of information to know but a review guide is given for both the midterm and the final. Students this year collaborated to finish the guide together which helped everyone study. Midterm was multiple choice and a few short answers while the final was entirely multiple choice. As long as you study the information it shouldn't be that bad. The lab for this class was scheduled to be around two hours but if you work with people to get the work done early you can leave early as well. Labs were every week and the lowest score could be replaced with a museum trip.

At a first glance this class might seem like an easy A but it definitely does require more work than anticipated. Professor Brown is engaging during her lectures and makes the content enjoyable to learn, but she does tend to rush through her slides a bit. The labs were very hands-on and pretty cool as well; every week you complete a packet with questions about fossils that you examine. We had a small project due in lab towards the end of the quarter but it was simple. The weekly online quizzes were not bad and you can retake them as many times as you want. The midterm was mostly multiple choice and a few short answer questions while the final was entirely multiple choice. Brown provides study guides for both and I found them to be pretty useful. I would recommend this class to anyone looking for an interesting GE, but be ready to put in the effort.

While it's true that this GE isn't quite as easy as it once was (no longer a guaranteed A now), it still shouldn't be that hard to get an A as long as you are reasonably keeping on top of things, or aren't falling too far behind. Professor Brown's lectures I ended up not going to after the midterm, because she posts all the slides online and everything is straight from the slides. One caveat, however, is guest lectures, as they don't post the guest lecture slides online so it's still a good idea to go to those. She talks pretty fast but pretty clearly during lecture, and answers questions quite effectively.
In labs, there were 7 for us this quarter. Labs were pretty fun, as you could work with a group (if you chose to do so), and you complete a packet while you look at fossils. Some TAs are more strict about lab grades than others; my TA, Erik Weidner, was pretty awesome in that he basically said "I'm here if you want all the right answers". If you were stuck on a problem, don't be afraid to ask your TA, especially since they don't expect you to become a world class paleontologist on the first day. As the labs go by, you start getting faster and more familiar with the packet, and start leaving the labs earlier and earlier. There is one group lab, where you work together to recreate a Jurassic environment (Solnhofen Limestone), and it seems every group in my lab section got an A for that one (just be creative, there were things from dioramas to baseball cards to posters).
We had two exams, one midterm and one final. The midterm consisted of 39 multiple choice and 11 points worth of short answer, and honestly it wasn't that bad (provided you do the readings and were somewhat staying on top of things). The final consisted of just 70 multiple choice questions, and that wasn't half bad (although the average was around 52/70, but the class has a slight curve, so you're alright). I will say however that the grades took so long for our TA to upload. We didn't get the midterm short answer grade until AFTER taking the final exam, while the final exam grades came in literally around the last hours of the deadline.
In terms of grading, your grade consisted of 10% weekly online quizzes (CCLE based), 25% labs, 30% midterm, and 35% final. The weekly online quizzes should be guaranteed points, as they're based on the reading and you have UNLIMITED attempts (taking the highest score). Take them seriously though, as some of those problems do show up on the final exam/midterm. Also, there were two extra credit opportunities for us this quarter, with one being to test out a paleontology themed board game, and the second was completing a trip by going to the NHM (natural history museum of LA county), with both providing the opportunity to replace your lowest lab grade with 100/100. I'd say that overall, this class can be interesting (I found the section on T-Rex particularly so), and with a small amount of work, you should be able to get an A too.