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.

Difficult midterms and exams. Discussion sections are busy work.

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

This class almost destroyed me. I ruminated on dropping this class countless of times....but I am glad I did not. I will tell anyone right now, if you are not good at unit conversions, you need to master that or get out of the class. I was great at unit conversions however it was hard for me to decipher his questions as all of them are word problems. Professor Bianchi is a passionate lecturer but do not expect to get any help from him as he will divert you toward your TA. Sometimes, even the TAs had no idea what he was teaching. Despite this, I remained indefatigable and sanguine. Here's my advice:
- Do NOT lose heart. I am not exaggerating when I mean I got almost every iClicker question wrong. Just guess on it and move on, do not take them personally. Also the quizzes, they suck, do not feel bad.
- Always and I mean always, try and review the lecture over again on your own, as in UNDERSTAND the concepts and attempt the iClicker questions again until you master it.
- Take pictures of ALL the quizzes you take on canvas, these are imperative to your studying and I usually never got a 5/5 but after countless of practice....I legit aced my final and my last 5 home works.
- Do not let the grade you see on canvas make you feel dejected, I had a C for like the entirety of the quarter and I ended up getting a 94% in the end.
- GO TO YOUR TA!!! I legit had only about 15 minutes to see her because I was taking 19 units but those 15 minutes were the crux of my success. Go over any problem you have on the HW, they are always happy to help. Love you Paige.
- Lastly, do not be lazy, this class requires a lot of work (practice). Before the exams I would practice redo every homework problem at least once and glance over the quiz problems. He gives you the equation sheet. I would print it out and write down the formulas and use a different color pen to define what the variables mean, and this helps because when you are ask to find e.g. time, or productivity, you can recall equations more efficiently rather than wasting crucial time scanning through the formula sheet. Understanding what the formula means in the mathematical sense and how it applies to the learning is what counts.
- The tests are almost identical to the homework problems if not easier given the 1 hr constraint. From what I remember the tests usually have 1-3 problems with each of them having multiple parts, therefore it was absolutely vital for you understand formulas because if you mess up one part, it will collapse the entire problem. I found myself finishing tens of minutes earlier than everyone due to having just practiced the homework problems.
- To nail the understanding part of the lecture, I would go back after every lecture and reupload his *updated* canvas notes that include iClicker solutions and the end of chapter summaries. This legit saved my life more than once when I was on a time crunch and needed to get the homework out of the way, the end of chapter summary recapitulates main ideas and includes necessary formulas to solve the home works.

Lastly, for anyone who feels like this class will be the death of them, I am a grown man and I shed tears the first 2 weeks of this class....I just did what I put up there^ and it ended up being one of my favorite classes lol.

to be completely honest, this class was not in my field of interest whatsoever, but it definitely was an easy A science GE. Take it with the lab credit if you're missing that because it literally just means a weekly assignment instead of biweekly assignments. I know other professors make this class a lot harder, but Bianchi is a great professor even if his classes are a bit boring. He posts all of the lectures online and discussion attendance is optional. Extremely easy if you took AP Environmental in high school.

Professor Bianchi was an excellent, engaging, and passionate lecturer. He runs through the content quite fast, however, so at one point I realized I should stop scrambling to take notes and instead digest the lecture which helped me out a ton. I used to dislike this and thought it was an unintuitive teaching and learning style until I met one of my current oceanography professors for spring 2024 who puts into perspective how phenomenal Bianchi is.

While the lectures were great, the homework (worth 20% of your grade) was personally the worst part of the class. Despite nearly acing the midterm with a 99% and doing great on the final where I got a high B, I averaged a 60% in the homework category because of how difficult I found the content to be. This was made worse by the fact that, usually, the math-based problems were something new you were seeing for the first time. You were expected to put together concepts and equations learned from class and apply it to the homework without any resources, guides, etc. When people started going to the TA's for help, they announced in class to "stop coming to office hours for help with individual questions on the homework" because they "can't accommodate everyone." Upon receiving homework grades back, you received almost zero feedback except for comments on bruinlearn that are unorganized and difficult to understand. That left me stuck with a 60% in the homework category which is worth 20% of your total grade in the class.

This is made worse by the fact that the tests are based on the homework (except the tests are a lot easier in my opinion which is how I was able to score high on them). Needless to say, however, the homework situation scared 20 people into dropping the class by week 3 before our midterm took place.

Overall I loved the class and the professor, but I would not take this class again. The homework and the lack of resources to do well on them gave me immense stress throughout the quarter as I was always wondering "if I'm getting D's on the homework, can I even pass the exams?"

The class was generally interesting but content wise it is crazy and you don't get a lot of time to practise the materials learnt. The professor's mid term was really difficult even though I prepared sufficiently. The mid term was badly made (lots of errors in the paper itself) and from what I gathered from the TAs, he made it at the last minute as well so the TAs did not have much time to review the test. My saving grace was my TA, Paige Hoel. The final was much easier probably due to all the complaints. There are other easier classes to take out there; this class is really not worth the effort.