The easiest classes I've ever taken. Tests are really easy (1 hr for both midterm and final, MC-style, non-cumulative), but make sure you know everything from the slides (especially the tiny details in graphs/pictures of the slides etc) cause this is a pretty memorization intensive class. Homework is worth like 40% of your grade so don't slack off, they're really easy and basically recap what was covered. You don't need to go to lectures honestly, as your TA will recap everything during discussion sesh. Extra credit is not that useful (like maximum 1% boost, don't sweat about it)

TL;DR: You'll do extra well if you're passionate about the material, which is super cool, but you'll do just as fine (easy A) if you're not. Overall it's a really fun class.

Loved Jean-Luc. Funny, quirky guy. Lectures are quite boring at times, but not nearly as bad as the Treude lectures in my opinion. Short weekly assignments that I finished usually in 30 minutes or less. Midterm and final were multiple choice, not too difficult if you review posted slides beforehand. Offers a small amount of extra credit for visiting certain locations around LA and writing a brief reflection. Take this if you want an easy GE and you don’t mind sitting through boring lectures.

I am honestly confused by everyone saying that this class is hard...the expectations are totally clear and reasonable. The whole reason we take GEs is to be basically proficient in multiple areas. I don't know how you are expecting to be a contributing member of society if you can't take the time to understand science on this low of a level. I found the class to be interesting and the work load was the lowest out of any GE I've taken at UCLA-including humanities. Both the final and midterm were cake if you just went over the slides and took the time to understand them.

I took this class online during COVID and I enjoyed it. There are two professors that teach this course: Margot focuses on the astronomy/physics parts whereas Treude on the chemistry/biology section. The lectures themselves can get kind of boring since they're just reading off the slides, but they are recorded and you can always watch them at a later time. If you have some sort of background to these fields / have been exposed to them, the material is really easy but for some that do not, I understand how it can be somewhat difficult. The class is broken down the following way:

Homework (40%)
Midterm (30%)
Final (30%)

For the homework assignments, they are assigned weekly. The best 6 out of 8 count towards your final grade, and they all come straight from the lecture. They are very easy if you have the lectures in front of you and can just look through them. I also found the midterm and the final to be fair. The exams are open notes/lecture/recordings so I would recommend going through them right before the exams. If you've been paying attention during lecture that's all you really need to do well on them. There are also a few random questions that get thrown into the exams that are from the textbook, so make sure you at least have it with you so you can ctrl + f .

I would definitely recommend this class for anyone looking for a fairly easy science GE. Lecture content is engaging and the prof is always willing to go further into depth in a given topic when someone asks a question. Weekly homework is a quick quiz on the lectures which usually don't take very long at all. If you have a strong science background, this class will be almost no work at all for you, but even if you don't, all the concepts are explained very well. Overall a very engaging and easy class to take.

The class is designed as an easy GE. In fact, I believe a lot of the lower divisions classes in EPS SCI department are. The homeworks and exams are all easy. The only minor problem is that Professor Margot sometimes talk about really confusing astrophysical stuff, such as the multi-stages of the Bigbang, that are kind of hard for me to grasp because I personally didn't take any physics in high school. But none of the difficult stuff are tested, so there's that. Professor Treude teaches the biology part and I find her content clearer than Margot's because the concepts are more concrete and finite and there are no extraneous untested things. I wouldn't take this course again personally to be honest because I find the physics part a bit boring and remote. But that's just me.

Jean-Luc Margot and Tina Treude jointly taught this class. Both professors are strong lecturers, and they explain concepts pretty slowly and clearly. This was by far the easiest class I have ever taken at UCLA. Multiple-choice homeworks and exams.

Jean-Luc is an okay professor. When he stays on topic, he's knowledgable and clear. He often goes off on tangents about the philosophy of science and logic. I understand it's important, but a class about something as interesting as biology shouldn't be hampered by one of the professors wanting to waste time on content out of the scope of this class.

The questions on the topics he taught (he and Tina did 1/2 of the total lectures) always wanted specifics that he wouldn't explain well or would merely gloss over.

Awesome class but fair warning he does NOT round. Thought I would get a 93% using grade calculator, but I ended with an A-, and he said my final percentage was 92.999% and he could not round me due to "equity". Unfortunate but still an awesome and easy class, online tests, non-mandatory attendance, and an awesome extra credit assignment where you can visit various museums or scientific sites such as the Griffith. Lecture was engaging he was always very funny!

Margot and Treude are both very knowledgeable about their areas (Margot teaches the astrophysics parts and Treude teaches the biology parts). I never went to live lecture because they posted the slides and it was easy enough to just use the slides for weekly hw quizzes and the open-note midterm and final. If you know basic physics, chemistry, and biology, this class will be an easy A, but I know people who had a weak science background and struggled. I just slacked on the final because I thought the extra credit (museum visit) was worth more than it was.