I recommend this cluster to absolutely every freshman who wants to knock out their science GEs. 1/3 of the grade is based on quizzes which are take-home and open note. These quizzes are based on lecture material, and I skipped pretty much every single lecture throughout the entire quarter but since they are take-home and open note it is pretty easy to go back and find the material in the slides. They also grade the written part of the quiz really easily. Another 1/3 of the grade is based on assignments you do in your discussion section, and my TA (Caitlyn Fick - highly recommend) graded these on participation which was super nice for the grade. The last 1/3 of the grade was based on a 5-page research essay that was also graded super easily by my TA. Much of the discussion section material feels disconnected from lecture which is kinda annoying, but otherwise, I have no complaints about this class. Like I said, I never went to lecture and I got an A+. No need to do any ungraded work in this class like readings either. Definitely take this class, I couldn't recommend it more for incoming freshmen.

They claim this course is geared towards non-stem majors, but as someone who is not super good at science, I found this class very challenging. I also talked to many other students in the course who felt the same way. Petigura's lectures were very fast-paced and confusing. Not to mention the free response sections for his section of the class were so confusing and contained lots of equations and physics which we were never taught in the lecture or discussion section. With that being said, I ended up getting a low B overall in the quizzes which greatly impacted my final grade. In my opinion, I just think this course was poorly organized. Many of the labs had nothing to do with what we had learned in the lecture during the week which was a bit confusing. Despite this, I feel like the TA you get is pretty important since they grade all assignments and the final paper which is a large portion of your grade. My TA was Dakotah Tyler and as long as you put effort into the assignments and completed them he would give you a good grade. He graded a bit harder on the final paper, but that is expected since we had a lot of time to work on it. This class was not easy and does have a lot of assignments which do take up a decent amount of time. I am not sure how it compares to other science GE courses offered, but I have heard it is more work than some of the easier science GE courses. I can't say I would recommend this course for incoming freshmen however, if you stick with it you get the Writing II in the Spring and one extra GE fulfilled which is a plus.

Professor Petigura was the first lecturer for this quarter, and I would say that his lectures were more difficult to understand than Dr. Jewitt's (the second lecturer of the quarter). The lecture material was extremely difficult and confusing and Petigura went through slides quickly and spoke too fast most of the time. The quizzes were difficult, and Petigura made the free response portion VERY hard and they were very much physics-based. I especially found his quizzes a lot harder than Jewitt's as someone who has never taken a physics class before. But, the multiple-choice portion was about the same difficulty level as Jewitt's. The discussion sections for this course consisted of labs that were pretty simple and graded on participation by my TA (Caitlyn Fick). There was also an essay that was worked on throughout the whole quarter and Caitlyn graded easily on it, but this all depends on your TA. Overall, although this cluster isn't the easiest, I would say that it is a good option if you are looking to knock out all of your science GEs along with the Writing II requirement.

Grade composition:
Bi-weekly Quizzes: 30%
Lab: 35%
Paper: 35%, 4-5 pages
No extra credit
Attendance not mandatory
Class is not curved (no limit to how many A's they give people)
No midterm or final (bi-weekly quizzes instead)

PETIGURA NEEDS TO CALM DOWN WITH THE QUIZZES, IT'S A GE CLASS!! His quizzes were by far the most difficult out of all the profs. The quizzes are bi-weekly and online, so make friends in the class and take them together. They are posted on Thursdays at 5pm and due Friday 5pm. They are 2 part quizzes, 10 multiple choice questions with 25 minutes to complete it from the time you start (not lockdown browser), free response is unlimited time (within the 24 hours window to complete it and not lockdown browser). Everyone has the exact same free response but different multiple choice parts, although some multiple choice questions will overlap with your friends. He gaslights you during lecture and says things like "There's no math in this class" or "You don't need to know this formula for the quiz" and then you get to the quiz and you need to know the formula. Slides are posted so you don't have to go to class, some people in my discussion haven't gone to lecture since week 1. Slides are meh, they are not super helpful, but its nice to have them if you miss class. Since quizzes are 30% many people still got A's in the class if they averaged a B/B- on the quizzes

Labs are basically free points, but make sure you get a TA who grades on completeness and not accuracy. You can finish most of them in class and they are useless and just tedious work. I got 19/20 and 17.5/20 on some labs and should have just got 20/20 every time. Make sure to ask your TA for quiz practice problems if you have your discussion before the quiz. Other people's TA did that and they had a major leg up during quizzes

Fall quarter for this class there's a writing assignment worth 35%, so that's really the big determinator for your grade. It takes the entire quarter to do the paper and they space it out for you. Different weeks will have different aspects of the paper due like the bibliography, rough draft, peer edit etc.. so it is helpful that you are forced to be on track. With that said, writing that paper took YEARS off my life, especially the rough draft. I WAS DROWNING IN WORK AND IT'S A GE CLASS. It's not difficult it just take a lot of time and its tedious work and just annoying to do. You really need to get an A on this paper if you want an A in the class( I got an A- and ended up with an A- in the class)

Overall, the no midterm or final is super helpful because it lets you focus on your other classes and will basically always default this class as a side class. Compared to other science GE's, I think this is one of the easier and higher rated ones that will basically guarantee you an A/A- for all 3 quarters, so I'd say take it to knock out all your science GE's and Writing II.

The material is genuinely impossible to fully learn, but if you follow instructions well enough, you can get the grade without learning; this is a class for people trying to knock off GEs and not learn anything. This first quarter is taught primarily by Petigura, who's a pretty good lecturer. The main issue is that lecture and discussion are almost two separate classes. There is a quiz (online, half multiple-choice and half free-response) every other week, based on the lecture material—these quizzes are not easy at all. Everything else (majority of the grade) is in discussion, and not related to the lecture material. There are reading assignments (read something, write a reflection), basic labs, and then a research paper. Some of these assignments can take a while and feel like busy work, but most TAs grade them on completion if you try hard enough. The professors feel pretty useless because they're not involved in the discussion assignments, and the amount of help your TAs provide varies (mine gave almost no instruction, but others were super explicit in their expectations).

I really enjoyed this cluster - I'm an art major and my NSA suggested I shouldn't take a cluster, but I'm so glad I did. The professors are kinda weird for this class but the TAs are generally really amazing - I had Aaron Walker and Amanda Robin - they were SO kind and helpful. The discussions/seminars were SO fun and interesting, highlights of my week. Professor Jewitt is insane and literally sympathized with Nazis during class it was insane, so be warned. The other lecturers were really great though however which was... refreshing. I really really enjoyed the material of this class, as I've always been interested in astronomy and evolutionary biology. I think if you're not really interested in these topics the class might be a little dense with not as much reward, but honestly I think it's impossible to not find this course incredibly interesting. The quizzes were a little annoying, but they weren't horrific and ultimately didn't weigh a ton. In the end, I really enjoyed the content and it was really nice to get my science units knocked out, I think this class is totally worth taking.

Super interesting class. Petigura is clearly very knowledgeable about the topics covered, and does a pretty decent job teaching the content. I would highly recommend this class for any incoming freshmen, especially if you are a humanities major and want to get your science GEs out of the way. The only tricky thing about the class is the quizzes, but if you pay attention in lecture and study a bit for them every two weeks you should do well.

Fall 22: Jewitt/Petigura/Friscia

Petigura's lectures were not the most interesting to me, and didn't make a lot of sense when I studied, but I eventually was able to understand it. He is a good lecturer and his quizzes are pretty easy once you study. Petigura's lecture on extrasolar planets is also especially interesting because of his involvement in it.

For full review of class plus more on Petigura, see my doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15vILblHwWrnV7KnB-sOFzTRnQE2QPA7nmHxj4gdNKBU/edit?usp=sharing

My Cluster 70A and 70B professors were Petigura, Jewitt, Friscia, and Brown. This was my favorite class all three quarters. The topics of the evolution of the universe/galaxies/stars/planets/life/ecosystems were SO interesting. I would absolutely take this class again in a heartbeat. It has upended my life plan because now I am debating pursuing a career in astronomy/biology/ecology. Petigura was such a king -- we all loved him. He was SO intelligent and taught the toughest (conceptually) parts of the class. Somehow, he made the physics of the evolution of the nearly 14 billion year-old universe easy to grasp. There was astronomical/physics math involved for his quizzes, but if one pays attention in class, one can perform well on these quizzes. I would take this class again in a heartbeat.

I would highly recommend taking clusters for a number of reasons, but especially this one if you can. As a freshman in the quarter system, clusters (at least for the first two quarters) can help you find a strong group of friends in class that will stick even beyond the first few months of college, unlike many other classes at UCLA where you'll only meet some fleeting acquaintances. Also, completing this cluster series knocks out all your science GEs with almost no math involved! Petigura is a fire lecturer, and his subject matter (astronomy and the history of the universe) was some of the most interesting of my first year at UCLA. Be warned though, that some of the quizzes can be difficult, even if they are open-book. The quizzes also got harder once Jewitt started lecturing in the second half of the quarter. He's an eclectic and slightly weird professor himself, so be prepared for that when interacting with him. The final essay isn't too difficult, and you get all quarter to work on it, so no sweat there. However, grading of the paper each quarter depends on your TA, so get one you like and try to stick with them through the whole year. There is an annoying amount of busy work in 70A & 70B, but otherwise, I loved this class and you should take it if at all interested!