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.

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