Want an easy GE? Take this class! Professor Carolina was so nice and engaging! Science is not my best subject but this class was definitely one of the most interesting and easiest classes I have ever taken!
The class consisted of (COVID edition):
- Weekly participation (class and discussion), if you couldn't make it to lectures then she would post the lecture along with a link to give you an opportunity to earn your participation for the week.
- We had to present one natural disaster during our discussion, which was honestly so easy and an easy A if you follow the format.
- Weekly quizzes based on the readings assigned for the week, which again were easy and personally helped me since it gave me a reason to read the chapters.
- The midterm was based on lectures and the final was lectures and readings based, ALL MULTIPLE OR TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS!
All in all, Professor Carolina was very sweet and flexible, would definitely recommend taking this class!

Professor Carolina is very sweet and passionate about what she teaches. This is a. pretty easy GE if you have a foundation of earth/environmental science.

Lectures: Her lectures are engaging and her slides are posted online which is nice. She would expect you to finish the slides on your own if we didn't get to them in class, so be aware of that. She also used Poll Everywhere to monitor participation. I took this class as COVID was spreading and she spent the second half of the class on diseases/pandemics and how to respond to them which was cool.

Discussions: This entailed one group presentation on a current natural disaster. Other than that, discussion was a waste of time where we would go over homework. It would often end early (30 minutes) so that is a plus.

HW/Quizzes: This class had 8 reading quizzes (almost every week) which pulled info directly from the book. These were good study materials for the midterm. There were also 5 HW assignments which would either be a problem set or a one page essay. Not too bad and you would have the opportunity to go over it with your TA in section before submitting.

Exams: The only exam we had was the midterm and it was pretty easy (50 M/C Qs) that basically took info from the slides and reading quizzes. She also posts some review materials which is nice. Final was cancelled due to COVID.

TLDR: Take this class. Carolina is very kind and passionate and listens to student's interests when planning lectures. She is very flexible and fair with grading.

Carolina is amazing!! I've had the pleasure of having her for two quarters and I love the way she runs her classes. She engages students by asking a lot of questions in class and gauging conversations. Her slides are packed with information but she does a great job of explaining concepts. There are also weekly timed quizzes from the readings she assigns and some lecture information. In this class, there were 4 homework assignments and one final. Carolina is great in office hours and is always understanding. She is definitely willing to help you out. I would highly recommend this course!

I really enjoyed this class. I feel it is a great fit for anyone who is looking for a GE or if you have interest in natural disasters.
We had weekly quizzes which were based on the textbook as long as you read the chapters you should be fine. We were given points for lecture participation but attendance is not required and you will still receive your points as long as you answer the questions. However, I do recommend going since you can get extra credit for attending and the exams are based on the lectures. We also had one presentation which was pretty straightforward and the grading was pretty lenient and I believe most if not everyone received full points as long as you completed it. The midterm and final were alright as long as you review the lectures. The questions were in line with what we learned in class and there weren’t really any surprises. Dr. Lithgow is very nice and responsive to emails. She really does care about her class. As long as you put in a reasonable amount of time, you should easily get an A. I highly recommend this class with Dr. Lithgow!

This class was very interesting. Professor Lithgow is very engaging and fun. This class was definitely demanding in terms of note-taking (I ended the class with over 200 pages of notes). Lecture could be confusing at times bc Professor went really fast & covered a lot, but lectures were recorded and slides were posted, so you could find any info you didn't catch. Professor did offer random extra credit opportunities during lecture which really help with your final grade (this is why you should go to live lectures bc she rewards you for it). The class work consisted of multiple choice midterm and final, a discussion presentation (very easy), answering polls for participation, & weekly reading quizzes (also multiple choice). I think Professor was very accommodating for online instruction & would highly recommend this class bc she goes over life-saving tips.

This class was easy, but I did feel unprepared for the tests. However, the test was easier than I thought. As long as you put in the effort and listen to the lectures, you will pass. Getting an A would require reading the textbook to do well on the quizzes and doing a presentation project.

I’m not a big fan of geology so it was really hard for me to concentrate in this class. Lectures were a mixture of word-heavy slides and videos, and I found it kinda hard to take notes while the professor was talking as she moved pretty fast through them. I attended lecture live but I would recommend going back and watching the recording instead so you can do it at your own pace and take the time to write down what’s on the slides - they’re pretty important for the midterm and final. These were multiple choice (open note and book) and pretty easy as long as you paid attention in lecture. Overall, the class is on the easier side and the professor is nice, but I just personally didn’t find the material to be very interesting.

Prof Carolina is the sweetest and this class is a super easy GE that includes life-saving tips + pretty interesting information. The exams were also very straightforward so as long as you pay attention and do the readings its an easy A/A+. The class barely took up time in my week and I would def recommend this GE to everyone!

Fairly easy GE. Professor is funny and tries to make class engaging.

Lectures: She uses slides and uploads the slides on Bruinlearn. She also records and uploads the lectures, but she uses Pollev to track attendance in class, which is a part of your grade.

Discussion: Honestly felt like a waste of time. Mostly consists of individual presentations that is an easy project. After presentations, the TA would review basic terms and topics that were not very helpful. Attendance is mandatory and is tracked through Pollev.

Readings and Quizzes: There is no assigned homework, but it is useful to read (or at least skim) through the chapters correlating to the lectures. There are weekly quizzes that are based on the readings, but they are short and pretty easy. All multiple choice.

Exams: There was one midterm and one final. Both exams were all multiple choice, open-note, and taken through Bruinlearn. For the midterm, we were required to take the exam in a classroom on our laptops, but due to COVID, the final was remote online. The questions were a bit specific, but if you take good notes during lecture, it should be fine. Half of the final exam questions were taken from the weekly quizzes and midterm.

Extra Credit: The professor offers some extra credit assignments that were announced in class, which were usually due within 24 hours. Assignments were simple and easy.

LOVED this class. The professor is super sweet and funny, and she is always so accommodating. The midterm was extremely reasonable, as was the final, and we were given a 24 hour window to take them. The weekly quizzes take like five minutes and are based on reading, which is actually pretty interesting, so they can be easy grade boosters. I took this class after taking EPS SCI 8 (earthquakes), and still felt that the majority of the course was new material, so if you liked that class you'll love this one. I would definitely take this course again, especially since its a great way to earn your diversity requirement if you aren't a fan of the more humanities oriented options like anthropology. Carolina is a great professor and loves interacting with her students, so even though lectures were recorded, I always went live. Do yourself a favor and take the class!