I disagree with the reviews, this class is not easy, and Professor Treude does not make it any easier. She has a monotone voice and puts you to sleep. Going to class was pointless since all the the lectures were off a powerpoint that was just read and not explained. Professor Margot makes the lectures a tad bit more interesting but going to class seemed like a drag. The midterm was a lot easier than the final but the only way to pass the class is studying and grasping the material on your own, otherwise you will be lost and confused. The TAs taught me better than the actual professors did.

I thought this class was by far one the most interesting class's I've taken at UCLA thus far. It is a lot of information that is being thrown at you. The homework assignments take 5 minutes to do if simply just pay attention in class (15 if you go through the slideshow. The exams aren't hard.

One of the easiest GEs I've taken at UCLA. Can get slightly difficult in the middle of the class when you start doing a lot of biology and chemistry, but no prior knowledge of it is necessary. JLM & Prof. Treude do a great job of explaining a lot of the difficult concepts in this class. They are both extremely easygoing and the tests are incredibly easy. Extra credit is offered as well.

Class was easy up until the final. Many of the questions in the final weren't relevant to the coursework whatsoever. There was a question that asked how the a bridge was knocked down, and the answer was wind... wind. like are you kidding me? We learn about tides, gravitational forces, extremophiles and he asks me a question about how a bridge was destroyed, and the answer somehow was wind when we never covered wind in the lecture slides. If you are going to ask random questions might as well ask when Napoleon invaded the Russian empire, at least that's relevant to the world.

This class is super easy until the final. The midterm, homework, and extra credit were very straightforward, and then the final was very confusing and didn't have much relevant content on it. The final was pretty hard so I was thinking that the class would be curved, but it wasn't (probably unlike other quarters). I had an A until the very last day of class and ended up with a B+ because of the final, so you have to make sure you know everything. The class is pretty fair other than that, and even though jean-luc and tina aren't always the most engaging, that doesn't matter because you don't need to go to class to do well (slides are posted). They require a "textbook" for the class, kind of like a small book, but you don't have to read that either because the tests/homework don't have any questions about the book. tldr; the class is pretty easy but be weary of getting screwed by the final.

One of the easiest GEs I've taken at UCLA. Class consists of a midterm, weekly homeworks due in discussion, and a final. Midterm and final were same number of questions and same duration - only about an hour and 15 minutes. Homeworks only take about 30 minutes to complete. Points are also awarded for attending discussion. I didn't have to go to a single lecture after midterm as the slides are posted online, but going to lecture definitely helps clarify some concepts and there are some pointers and facts that appear on the tests but aren't in the slides. Barely any math, and the material is quite interesting - mostly just facts. Final was slightly tricky, but NOT CUMULATIVE. If you do the bare minimum - homework, attend lectures, and just read through the slides, you could still get away with a pretty good grade.

Margot is a friendly French man and his lectures are simple and straightforward, though at times monotonous. The tests were based on the lectures and the slides, so studying for them was not complicated. He requires a small textbook that isn't expensive, but I didn't read it once because it covered a lot of the same things that were covered in lecture. The material itself was interesting and covered a wide range of topics.

If you're a south campus major that just needs to take a life science GE then this class is comically easy. I didn't go to a single lecture other than the very first one, and all the slides are posted online. We did have weekly homeworks that we had to turn in during discussion, but they're ridiculously easy if you know a marginal amount of math and science (plus all the answers are always easily found in the lecture slides). Not only is this class stupid simple, but the material is actually cool as hell.

It was co-taught with Prof. Treude. This was my hardest science GE. The class requires you to have a solid foundation in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and bio, none of which I had. I would go to class and leave more confused than before, to the point where I ended up changing my grading basis. It seemed easier for others, but the lectures went by too fast and required lots of outside work to keep up, unless you're a bit of a space nerd. Extra credit is offered, but it isn't much.

First half of the class is mainly biology (with ties to astronomy), whereas the second half is more purely astronomy.

Teaching: Both had organized and visually appealing slides. While I initially found her boring, I came to appreciate the effort and passion she has for her field. JLM is more engaging and funny, but both are solid professors.

Homework: Simple! Multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank, short 1 or 2 sentence answers. 40% of the grade, able to drop lowest 2 of 8 scores.

Textbook: "Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction" Tiny $10 book but covered the content of the course quite well. Could forego; they only ask a couple questions from the book on both exams.

Exams: Treude's midterm was quite straightforward and most of us did really well. However, JLM's final was a nightmare. I couldn't believe some of the questions he asked because there were a few definition or memorization questions that were barely discussed (if at all. And then the majority of questions were conceptual and IMO unnecessarily difficult. Questions from the book were also extremely obscure...

I really don't understand why the questions on the final were not more representative of the time and effort put into certain subjects of the course. I got a 90 on the midterm and 71 on the final. To put this into perspective, 158 students out of 422 got a 90 or above on the midterm, and only ONE MEASLY KID got a 90 or above on the final. And only 38 students on the midterm got below a 70 versus 271 on the final. I expected better out of JLM.

I do not feel like my score represented my actual knowledge of the material, and that's the worst feeling! I expected to kill this final and get an A+ in the class overall, especially considering that I did the extra credit too. Yes, I still got an A, but it's disappointing to feel cheated by a terribly written final. There is still a generous curve - my friend got a C+ on the midterm and D+ on the final (which was below/above average respectively) and ended up with an A-. However, don't let the other reviews fool you into thinking you can get an A+ while doing nothing. While there is very little daily work, the astronomy portion will require some effort.

As a lover of astronomy, I really appreciated the class as a whole. But man, that final... X_X.