Schopf is such a great human being. He really cares about students. If you go to his office hours for a question on the content, expect to stay a little longer because he will ask you about your life, give you life advice, and talk about other big issues in academia or just in life in general. He's just a great man, very grandfather-like. He even provides the only required text for free. The other book, which he wrote, is honestly not required to understand the class content but is cool to read anyways because it gives the content in a storybook manner. The class is also really simple. Organized lectures, easy lab assignments, etc. Schopf is also really renown in his field and has a lot of great stories to tell. The midterm and final are multiple choice and they were literally the exact same as the ones I got from the test bank, so that's gonna be your best friend. Great class to take, please go and talk to Schopf in his office hours if you can! He literally wants us to succeed in this class (he has like 9 office hours per week) and that's definitely possible. My only complaint is that there's a whole separate midterm and final for the lab, but you don't get the lab/demo credit for this class.

Professor Schopf is one of the purest and most engaged professors I've ever had. He genuinely cares about the success and well-being of his students not only in this class but every other class that you're in as well. While the subject that he is teaching is sometimes boring, if you pay attention just enough during lectures and labs you will get the information that you need. Although some of the information on the midterm and the final is a little obscure, they're pretty fair. Going over the slides (which he has posted online) is pretty much enough when it comes to getting all of the information that is relevant from the lecture. Overall, I enjoyed the class and would take it with Professor Schopf again.

Professor Schopf is one of the best professors I have ever met at UCLA. He genuinely cares about the wellbeing of his students, takes the time to get to know you, and offers 12 hours of office hours PER WEEK. As long as you attend lecture and take good notes, you'll do fine in this class. On the exams he'll sometimes ask oddly specific/irrelevant questions, but the material is generally very straight-forward. He is a living legend in his field and has great stories to share during lecture. Took this a south campus GE and thoroughly loved it. Be warned, there are a few lectures that are redundant or boring, but he makes up for it the best he can! UCLA needs more professors like him. Also, if you can, select Jeff Osterhout as your TA.

My favorite professor in UCLA. He really cares his students. He is willing to help students on class material and even on study habits. He is also a good lecturer, made the class more interesting than I thought. Also, the course itself is well-structured, I did learn something about life and evolution from this course. I would highly recommend this course to non-bio majors who want to gain a general yet professional view on life science.

The usual workload is not heavy at all. There are take home assignments every week but you can actually do them during the lab. Just some easy questions. Won't take you lots of time. But I studied really hard before the midterm and final. Everything on slides are important and exam questions are hard. Better go to the test bank.

Professor Schopf is an insanely nice guy. Really cares about his students and, even though the class was online, from the interactions I had with him in the live online discussions it seems like he would really do whatever he could to help his students. The TA I had (Amanda) was also fantastic and was not only super helpful but incredibly nice and made the discussions fun. The big caveat with this class is that the lectures are often incredibly long, confusing, and just a bit too riddled with tangents and digressions to let you pay attention to get the important details. Also, the exams sometimes pull some really obscure stuff out to ask you making it that much more difficult to study. I took this class the first year they're offering it online so I'm sure the class will improve, but the first year was a bit rough as far as the exams and organization was concerned. However, they did make up for that by (judging from my final grade) applying a pretty generous curve. So overall I would take t his class again because the content was interesting (if you could make it through the lectures!) and the professor and TA were so kind and helpful

This class rocks. Literally...all you learn about is rocks. Honestly though, this class kinda sucks because mostly everything in this class is boring and one of the TAs is the worst. Do yourself a favor and don't get Utas as your TA. Other than the very uninteresting curriculum and horrible TA, all of the tests for this class are in the test bank and are exactly the same. The professor is a cross between Mr. Rogers and Bernie Sanders with a red sweater on every week and a deep love for UCLA athletics. He's very helpful and has office hours pretty much everyday for 4 hours. Take this class if you feel like it, but don't if you have better things to do.

Major Events in the History of Life

PROS:
Professor Schopf is hilarious and entertaining!
Some of the class content is interesting (when you get to the animals part)
TA's are hilarious and entertaining and very helpful and sweet when you go to their office hours.
Professor Schopf WANTS to help his students. He tutors at-risk students and teaches them better study habits! What a sweet guy!

CONS:
I found much of the class content to be rather, well, uninteresting. (rocks, plant fossils, erosion...)
Lab is long.
I got a C because I didn't understand the material early on and never got help because I didn't want to look incompetent.

MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING AND GET HELP! IT IS TOTALLY AVAILABLE FROM SCHOPF AND TA's!
I liked the GE alright. If you like rocks and plants and animals, that's what this class is all about.

I took Professor Schopf's class, and I really love the lectures, and those stuff about fossil and evolution of life (also the amazing pictures in the ppt in the lectures, which make them really huge to download from the class website). As an international student, the class was really hard for me cause I need to check the dictionary every time I didn't understand a word. The mid-term was hard, and I end up with a C or C-. However, Prof. Schopf is such a great tutor. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I can go to his office hours(all in the morning). He told me that I need to find out what I dont understand but not just review those I already understood. Thus I brought my questions everytime I went to see him and he was really patient, explaining everything or even more than what I want to know. He really care about every student in his class and his office hour is everybody. Prof. Schopf has been in UCLA for over 30 or 40 yrs I guess(this year he is 72). He is a man with wisdom(once in his office hour, I saw the wall is full of his honors and prizes; his life must be amazingly fantasitic). He tought me how shouuld I study and deal with my schedule and I really learned a lot from him during my first yr in UCLA, not only about my academics but also about my future. Finally I end up with a A in my final, and overall a A-. I feel that the result is not important after Prof. Schopf's class because I learned how to study from this class and moreover, I found my academic confidence. I love this intersting E&S class even Im a Math major; I recommend everybody to take this class as a GE life science. Meet Prof. Schopf, the best professor in UCLA!!

Professor Schopf should deserve the UCLA teaching award. He truly cares about the student's welfare (and also asks how they are doing in other courses). He has 12 hours of office hours, which to all, he welcomes the student with open arms. I never had a professor at UCLA who was like that. I am already dreading the electrical engineering courses I have to take next quarter with professors that don't give a care. Going back to Schopf, he lectures with great enthusiasm as well as very eloquent-- and got his message across to the class. His slides are very effective with a lot of photos that relate to the Major Events in History of Life. Believe me, you will learn alot from this class. The Midterm/Final multiple choice unfortunately, is not too easy, but doable as long as you study the lab book and go to Schopf's office hours because he will provide more detail with the subject matter-- go over the notes that he hands out! The lab exams are doable as long as you are diligent enough to go to TA office hours (not too much out of your life- it only takes 1 hours out of your week's routine). People who are not science majors should take this class as their life science GE as well as people in engineering as well. I had no regrets going into and out of this class and I felt great being able to have a professor that allows students to get help--- that is quality education there.

loved this class... boring topic, but great teacher. TAKE THIS FOR YOUR LIFE SCIENCE GE