This class is absurdly difficult for a class with no pre-requirements. This is most students' first soil science class, and some have not yet taken any college chemistry classes, yet this class covers what should probably be split into two or three separate courses. The professor generally covers 1-3 of the more technical topics covered in each week's long and dense readings, yet the tests cover the entirety of all the readings at an intense depth. This class manages to be too broad and too deep for one quarter. Additionally, he requires memorization of a small amount of basic chemistry and mineral names, along with requiring students to learn intermediate-level soil classification from scratch for the midterm. I attended most of the lectures in the first half of this class (and watched the recordings for any I missed), attended the discussion sections (which were not mentioned on my.ucla, but count for 25% of your grade), and studied for at least a collective 30 hours in the week and a half before the midterm. My grade after a hefty curve was a C+. Not worth the time or effort. Switched my grade scale to pass/no pass in order to do the bare minimum for the next half of the quarter, as the energy this class took was actively harming my other grades. If you find the material interesting and want to preserve your passion for the subject, just buy the textbook and teach this material to yourself. You will anyways end up doing that if you take the class. The textbook is the 15th edition of The Nature and Properties of Soil by Weil & Brady.

EVERY REVIEW IS TRUE. IF I COULD LEAVE 10 MILLION BAD REVIEWS I WOULD JUST TO SAVE OTHERS THE TROUBLE. I HAVE OVER A 3.0, SO I AM IN NO WAY A BAD STUDENT. THIS IS THE WORST COURSE I’VE EVER TAKEN. OKIN NEVER NEEDS TO TEACH A COURSE EVER AGAIN. THIS COURSE CONSISTS OF TONS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. THE GRADE COMPOSITION OF A MIDTERM AND A FINAL TAKING UP NEARLY 80% OF YOUR GRADE IS ASININE. HE MAKES THIS COURSE WAY HARDER THAN IT HAS TO BE, AND I’M CONFIDENT THAT HE IS THE WORST GEOGRAPHY PROFESSOR AT UCLA. YOU CAN’T EVEN USE YOUR IPAD FOR NOTES! DUDE GET WITH THE TIMES. IT’S 2024. HE EMAILED ME ABOUT MY MACBOOK MAKING W NOTIFICATION DURING CLASS WHEN PLENTY OF OTHER STUDENTS WERE ON THEIR DEVICES OR ASLEEP IN THEIR CHAIRS BECAUSE IT IS SO BORING AND DISINTERESTING. GO TAKE A CHILL PILL. YOU’D THINK AFTER SEEING A 1.0/5.0 ON BRUINWALK, THAT YOU’D MAKE CHANGES, BUT THIS GUY IS ONE OF THOSE PROFESSORS STUCK IN HIS WAYS. HANG UP THE CLEATS BRO. 👎👎👎👎👎👎

Avoid this class. The grade is based on a midterm and final which are closed notes, all written responses. Requires a lot of memorization, categorization and the chemistry should've been a pre-req. Very misleading for the people who haven't taken chemistry. The midterm was very tough, the average was less than 69% even with "curving". I wouldn't waste my time with this class.

I didn't know why i stick with this GE. I wasn't engage in the material. Professor Okins is an Ok professor. Sometimes you might feel sleepy in his class because he talks monotone and sometime very low that you can barely hear him. He does use a mic though. The labs are very elementary and easy . They are like writing definitions for the terms. but yea . Selling the textbook . text me at **********

Similar experience to most of the other reviews for this professor. I would not recommend taking this class unless you have a strong interest in soil and can tolerate learning about the chemistry associated with soil. 75% of the grade in this class is dependent on a singular midterm and the final. Not at all worth the stress if you were just looking for a class to fulfill upper div credits.

Pros:
- No hw assignments, relatively low commitment as far as coursework goes
- Weekly TA meetings are helpful reviews, and you can attend any session during the week (was held over zoom)
- Were given Miterm and Final exam review questions which served as useful practice (*However* these questions were not necessarily representative of the actual exam questions)

Cons:
- Lecture slides are not posted
- Lecture material has no logical flow, and many slides lack sufficient text so it's difficult to take good notes unless you write down every word he says
- Midterm has a RIDICULOUS amount of soil naming terms to memorize, making the test nearly impossible to cram for
- Midterm was not handed back, had to attend TA office hours to see your own exam even though it was taken with blue books
- Material was not presented in a particularly interesting way, didn't feel like I actually learned much about soil as a whole besides the small chemical processes that happen in soil
- The "no technology in class" policy makes it so you have to spend even more time outside of class if you want to write down notes on things you missed in lecture

There are some rather harsh reviews of Dr. Okin on this page and while I can understand why some may feel like that, it is important for those who read Bruinwalk to understand that those are the people who did not put in the effort to rise to the challenge. Don't be deterred by their reviews. Dr. Okin is the reason I went from N. campus to S. Campus at the end of my 2nd year. He helped me discover my love for science and he helped me realize that being a lawyer was actually the last thing I wanted to be.

I took Geog 1 with Dr. Okin and didn't really like him for the first few weeks of the quarter, but eventually he changed my opinion of him completely, this guy is a genius. If you take the opportunity to get to know him, you will learn SO much.

He is really good at explaining things in more than one way until you understand a concept. I got a C in Geog 1, but that had entirely to do with struggles outside of my academic life.

I decided to give his upper div class a shot and it ended up changing my life. It was SO hard and I had to study so much but I ended up getting one of the highest grades on the midterm and an A in his class. Don't be afraid to take this class if you have never taken chemistry before, its going to be hard but you might surprise yourself.

Geog1 is a really difficult class as a GE science requirement. Just working on study guide you will get good grades, however, sometimes you even cannot get the answer of the questions of the study guide. TA does not know too. If you want to get a A, your lab score must above 95 I think. And A is super difficult if you are not interested in GEOG.

WONDERFUL professor! He is extremely concerned about his students' learning, and is always willing to help. Tests were extremely fair, although beware -- there's only one midterm and one final, each worth 50% of your grade. His passion for soils truly got me interested in the material -- I don't think I will ever look at soils the same again. Take this professor; you won't regret it. One of the best professors that I have ever had at UCLA.

Professor Okin is an excellent professor and conveys information effectively. His exams were difficult but very straightforward, meaning that he doesn't try to trick you, but he makes sure you know the material. Make sure to record his lectures because his exams are straight from what he talks about during class.

My only concern/annoyance of the class was that non-geography majors get screwed. There were a lot of graduate geography students and undergraduate geography and environmental science majors who had an upper hand, smothering the curve. So beware, if you're an EEB major be ready to study your butt off!

Nonetheless Okin is a very good teacher and a fairly easy tester.

Professor Okin is a great professor. Took his GeoM127 class about soils and he turned a pretty bland subject into a somewhat interesting subject. Best advice to you is to record the lectures or find a friend who does. The textbook is basically worthless. He gives you a set of study questions for the midterm and final. I aced both the midterm and final by just re-listening to his lectures and answering the study questions as they came up. Was not difficult at all if you pay attention in class and understand the concepts which aren't that hard.