I'm writing this review before the class is over in case someone is thinking about adding this to your schedule. FRANKLY, this class is not as easy as the grade scale makes it look. To some people, the information come naturally, but if you are anything like me, hopefully you find this review useful.

There are two grade break downs. One where you prioritize exam scores and the second where you get points for attend class, in-class quizzes, and discussion points. Most people opt for the latter.

There is a field trip to Santa Monica where you get to do some testing on the Zodiac. It was so much fun, totally the best part of the class. It gets cold so bring a jacket.

My TA Daniel is the bomb.com. He is basically the only reason I found this class doable. I never felt dumb making him go over every single question with me. He is super knowledgeable, very approachable and just a great TA. Take him if you can.

The homework assignments start out easy, but then get more difficult. I never took an AOS class before, but this one has A LOT of basic chemistry. Chemistry with a slant of atmosphere makes it weird, because you are trying to piece together information, sometimes based solely on the units. Go to Daniel, he is your AOS god, he will grace you with mercy and knowledge.

Anyways I'm not sure I would recommend this class to people looking for an easy A. The workload is not enormous, but I feel like some people get the info and others have to put in a decent amount of effort just to understand what the heck is happening.

I enjoyed this class and Prof Bianchi is a very passionate lecturer. I have definitely learned a lot about the topics in the class.
There is a clicker quiz every week on the previous week material (3 questions) at the beginning of lecture, can miss up to 4 lectures, 2 discussions.
There is a field trip to the Santa Monica Bay which was really cool, there was a pre and post cruise assignment.
6 homeworks in total, as a bio major, was difficult for me and lots of others. I was always at TA OH which made it possible to finish the homework since they are graded very meticulously. The lectures taught the concepts, but didn’t show how to do calculations which made it hard. Homeworks account for 20% of the grade and its easy to miss points. However the TA’s were very helpful and knowledgeable, but to get an A in the class, you would have to go to the TA. Homework’s may be 5 questions, but have parts a-g sometimes.
The midterm and finals are modeled after the homework, so if you can do those, you’ll be fine. (Can drop one homework) but recommend to do all of them to do well on the exam.
Overall, enjoyed the class, but I would say the homework is the hardest part, not an easy A class
Check reviews for AOS 105 because it’s the same class

The other reviews I think really blow this class out of proportion. It is not the easiest class and the TA I had was also nearly useless. However, if you pay attention to all the lectures, and review the slides, and read some of the supplementary material he gives you, then you can get an A in the class without too much trouble. Just give yourself a little extra time than you normally would on a basic GE. Also if you don't understand something and the TA and Professor are unhelpful some google searching can actually bring up useful articles that can help clarify some of the content in the class. Overall I learned a lot about climate systems and the class honestly wasn't that bad.

I may be biased because I love learning about climate change, but AOS 1 is the class you should go for if you’re looking to learn more about the environment or to satisfy a GE. The class material is really interesting, and the quizzes/homeworks are well spaced out so you have time to study. As long as you put in some effort to study, the quizzes are not that difficult. My TA was Danny, and he was hands-down the reason why I did well in this class. Prof. Bianchi moves pretty fast, so Danny’s discussion sections focus on slowing down and breaking down the material. Overall, all of the TAs and especially the professor really want you to succeed, which takes a load off your shoulders and makes the class so much more enjoyable. Definitely would take this class again!

Daniele is a great professor, super passionate about the subject. Overall the class isn't so much work but you have to stay on top of the material. Make sure you get Danny McCoy as your TA he is a lifesaver!!

First of all, I only got to watch pre-recorded lectures from this professor and the TAs were the ones in charge of the class (huge shoutout to my TA Danny!) I think it was a departmental thing, but the class structure was probably similar to how it would've been if we had in-person lectures with a live professor.

Just to make it clear though, this class focuses a lot more on the science part of climate change than the policy part of it. This was something I was caught off-guard by but ended up enjoying.

From what I could tell in the videos, Bianchi is very passionate about climate change and the slides he used were very clear. There was definitely a lot of information to learn, but since the topics were very interesting to me and were explained again in discussion by my TA, I found them easy to absorb. I'm a social sciences major, but the science part of this class was very logical to me. Even though the equations were a bit intimidating at first, using them only required basic math skills. Plus, you could always ask for help during office hours if anything was unclear.

Workload was very manageable. There were no readings required, just homework assignments and quizzes every other week plus a final. I spent quite a bit of time studying for the quizzes since they are proctored on Respondus and not open note, but this would probably vary from person to person. The final was intimidating to me at first because it was worth 40% of our grade, but it ended up being based mostly on concepts that we had been going over the most throughout the quarter and was very doable.

The best advice I can give when registering is try your best to get into Danny (Daniel McCoy)'s discussion if you can. He wrote the questions for the quizzes so he would place most emphasis on the topics we needed to study for them (he also puts them on slides which are shared with the rest of the class). I don't think students in other sections had this advantage, but hopefully in the future discussions will be more consistent regardless of the TA in charge of them.

Overall, I'd recommend this class as a GE or if you're just interested in the topic.

Bianchi is so energetic and fun. He goes over material in a slow, pretty clear way, so the content is very digestible. If you have strong background in physical oceanography and general chemistry, then this class will be kinda easy but still interesting. If you’ve taken AOS 103, the first few weeks may just feel like review. After that, you should expect redox reactions, solubility and gases, unit conversions, and equilibrium, because that is a large part of what you are tested on.

He also gave extra credit both on the final and as an assignment (up to 3% for making a video on a topic). And he gives any materials you use on Bruinlearn, so you don’t have to buy a textbook.

Bianchi's a king. Adds a bit of chaos to each lecture, which is so entertaining

Class was really engaging and I found it super interesting. It convinced me to do an AOS minor. He was super nice and open to questions, and felt like the understood the content. The content itself felt complicated, but the TAs were really helpful and discussions were organized well. Studying is for sure needed. Weekly quizzes and homework.

Difficult midterms and exams. Discussion sections are busy work.