Take this class! It was fantastic. Professor Schopf is incredible, charming, intelligent, and kind. You will learn so much in this class! I cannot stand science but after this class I loved it! I've never like a science class better in my life. Make sure to study the lecture packet notes he hands out for the exams. No need to take notes but go to class and bring the packet with you to follow along. It will really help for him to explain the material to you. He has beautiful powerpoints prepared and he'll post them online. For the exams, study the lecture packet notes, powerpoints, and the reading. You can scan the reading as most of the material is pulled from the packet and powerpoints. I felt the final was easier than the midterm. You also have a lab midterm and final but I did very well on them. Just study the lab homework assignments. The lab homeworks are written by the TAs and they are very fair. The Professor's exams are more challenging. You will learn so much and even take a trip to the botanical gardens! The professor is easy to approach and will privately tutor you if you do bad on his exams. TAKE THIS CLASS-NO REGRETS! :)

His class is chill. you don't even have to go to class. but if you do he's so entertaining. his tests are not even hard. I just underestimated it so much i didn't even study but yeah. I got a C- on my midterm and ended up with a B+ in the class. not bad at all. He's extremely nice too.

Professor Schopf cares about each and every one of his students. His TAs... not so much. This class is pretty basic, lots of memorization for the labs (even though this isn't a lab class) and tests. I got an A- mainly for slacking off a lot near the end of the quarter... any student that puts effort into this class should walk away with an A. The material is pretty basic.

Schopf is what every professor should strive to be. Seriously. Plus, he follows UCLA sports and updates the class regularly. Take this class just so you can meet the man.

From the day I entered the room, I knew that this would be an excellent class and the professor would be amazing. This is one of the things that your intuition tells you, but of course, there were many hints along the way. There is a lab manual for the class, something you'd normally have to go out and buy like a course reader. But Schopf gave them out for free, saying he doesn't want us to waste our money. The only textbook you need for this class (Cradle of Life, written by the prof) in around $30 in the UCLA store but online it's around $10. But despite that, it's actually a very good book. It's about 300 pages long, but it is never boring as most of it is pictures and diagrams that he includes to help you understand the material. The best thing though, is that the book relates directly to the class material. Granted, he assigns specific chapters for reading every lecture that skips around the book to help coincide with what you learned in class, but I decided to just read the book front to end and I had no problems with the course.

Another thing that tipped me off about Schopf being a great professor, is that he is extremely open to his students. His office hours are 12 hours a week, and if you somehow can't make any of them, he lets you set up appointments at your convenience. So even though he's busy analyzing fossils, he'll still make room in his schedule to help you with the class. Schopf really cares about his students, another example is that he will tutor anyone who gets a C- or below in the midterm (which is hard to do by the way). But he says so in the syllabus and many people thought he was kidding, but he is not, and you will catch up in the class if you seek his help.

For the class itself, Schopf gives you a complete course summary/outline on the first day. If you study it hard, you could probably get at least a B in the class even if you don't go to lecture or read his book. His lectures are meant to expand your knowledge in the material, and it really helps. Though the lectures are all powerpoints, they are filled with pictures and diagrams (like his book) that will help you understand the material. And the material is not that hard to understand in the first place. If you took biology in high school, it's pretty much review. Sometimes he will go on tangents about his personal life as a paleontologist, but his stories are always amusing.

The labs are there not to torture you, but to let you see actual specimens of what you learn about in class. So basically, you look at various rocks and fossils, and the TA shows some slides in an old-fashioned slide projector. The labs are never over an hour long though they are meant to be two hours. There is a take-home assignment every week, but it's a ten-minute job, and it's not even graded on correctness, so basically they're just free points.

Schopf's tests are not easy unfortunately. It is all multiple choice (with an annoying all of the above/two of the above answer choice) You have to study for them, and make sure you review the midterm before the final because he will put around five of the hardest midterm questions on the final. I did not do extremely well on either the midterm or final, but the class is curved, so just do your best and you will end up with an A in the class.

Professor Schopf is an amazing man, an entertaining and enthusiastic lecturer, and genuinely interested in the welfare of his students. He's also got a ton of awards for pioneering work in his field, and has an enormous collection of entertaining stories to tell us- so it's very cool to have him teaching us the very basic fundamentals of the history of life. I came into class with some interest in the class material (despite being a north campus English major), and am right now considering a minor or at least some more classes in this field because of this class. Personally, I enjoy lecture, but the people who have zero interest in this topic though will probably still fall asleep. Either way, this is a fairly easy class, so long as you take good notes and read over the printouts he gives us, you should do okay.

I'd definitely recommend taking a class with him if you can; he's an awesome and very approachable guy.

I will say that my TA wasn't so well prepared, and lab for me was always extremely short and kind of ineffectual, even though I enjoyed being able to handle the fossils and specimens. The TA seemed a friendly enough guy, but obviously unfamiliar with teaching, and other people in my lab didn't really ask him anything because of that. STUDY THE LAB MANUAL- I didn't expect the two midterms to be terribly difficult, and only looked over my lecture notes. As a result, I did poorly on the lab midterm (and not fantastic on my lecture midterm), and am going to have to make up for that by studying extra hard for my finals. The book is entertaining, but read it though not extremely necessary for a good grade.

What can I say about Professor Schopf other than he is one of my favorite professor at UCLA. He cares about his students and always makes the effort to meet with you. He's very busy with his research, but every single time I asked if I could make an appointment with me he did. Please go to his office hours. During that time I got to know him as a person and he explained the material in clear detail. And of course, he went over the things that would definetly be on the midterm and final. I really enjoyed this class and I thought it was a pretty easy GE. However, not everyone is interested in early life and people did fall asleep during lecture because the lights were turned off. By the way during lab, make sure to look at the fossils and be able to identify them. Trust me, that will come in handy during the midterms. What really surprised me was how he gave us a day off from class during midterms so we wouldn't be too stressed out. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and the professor. If you want an easy GE and meet a dedicated professor who cares about his students and is passionate about his work take this class.