One of the greatest professors I had at UCLA. He is very clear and understands that it is an introductory class filled with students who are trying to fulfill GE req, especially those students from non-STEM backgrounds. He is always willing to help through email, office hours (both regular office hours and 1-on-1 appointments if those hours don't work), and through review Zoom sessions before exams. He is very clear and teaches extremely well. His class made me interested in earthquakes and natural stuff that I never knew I would be interested in. Even though it has been more than half a year since I took this class, I still know why earthquakes in LA is much less harmful than those in Japan. The lab sessions is also very important, but if your TA is chill, it won't effect your grade so much unless you slack off significantly.

Grade breakdown:
- Midterm exam #1 = 15%
- Midterm exam #2 = 15%
- Weekly laboratory exercises (total) = 25%
- Homework (total) = 10%
- Popular Science Book Presentation Project = 15%
- Final exam = 20%

I would definitely recommend this class for those who need to fulfill lab-credit science GE.

I loved this professor! You can really tell he is passionate about what he teaches. Even though everything was online, he managed to make class engaging.

This class is definitely a bit of work, and the lecture material can be a bit dry. But Prof Coffey is awesome and engaging, even though geology isn't my cup of tea. The tests are a bit tough (I got Bs on both), but there are enough labs and assignments to get an A in the class if you do the work. Definitely not a super easy A, but certainly a manageable one.

If you just study the goals that he provides, you will be guaranteed an A on the exams. Professor Coffey makes the material easy to digest and is often very funny. He even made accommodations where if we couldn't make it to a lab section, lecture or even to our exam days, he would hold make-up exams or other opportunities to get full points. There were 2 midterms (not cumulative), and a final that was cumulative. Lecture attendance was not mandatory, and I really only attended 2 of them since they were posted afterwards anyway. There was no textbook, and he rarely gave out homework assignments which were actually a bit fun to do. He does suggest doing some extra Wikipedia readings, but if you don't do them, you'll still be fine. Labs were a bit more difficult to get full points on, and I realize that I just suck at looking at rocks. There was a group presentation in the beginning, and then an individual book presentation at the end. I had Zach as my TA, and he was pretty chill.

Super engaging lectures and really light workload so I definitely recommend as a GE. The TAs were all super nice too, I had Zach and he was awesome! The only drawback was how long it took for grades to be posted; we didn't get our grades for the first midterm back by the time we took our second midterm which kind of sucked. But other than that it was a great class and actually made some boring stuff seem super interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed taking this class. The homework/labs were pretty tedious, but other than that no complaints. Lectures were uploaded onto ccle, making the class flexible. When it comes to answering students' questions, he was very communicative and provided lots of support especially during office hours. He answers to emails quickly and overall a great professor!

There are two midterms which are non-cumulative and a final. His tests are very fair and mainly consist of the goals that are provided for each chapter. Definitely just a lot of memorization.. shoutout quizlet

Everyone in my lab section was pretty collaborative to we'd all work together on labs. Labs mainly consisted of rock identification and using google earth. My TA, Zach, was really chill.

Professor Coffey is so passionate about earth science that it is almost contagious. His lectures were always very clear and fun to listen to and the class itself was quite interesting. I only missed one lecture (which I wasn't expecting considering it was a 9 am) and I still wish that I had been able to go.

For context, here's the grade breakdown:
- 30% - 2 midterms
- 25% - weekly labs
- 10% - 4 hw assignments
- 15% - popular science book presentation
- 20% - final

The exams are based on questions that Professor Coffey puts at the beginning of his slides for each lecture. As long as you can answer all those questions from memory, you'll be set to do well on exams.

The labs were generally straightforward question-and-answer style assignments. The most difficult part was mineral identification, but the TA was super helpful and most of the class was usually able to get these identifications right. For in person labs, they even allowed students to come back during office hours and try again at re-identifying minerals if they had gotten them wrong the first time. (If they got them right during office hours, then they would get the points back). There was also a quick 5 minute group presentation which was assigned, but it wasn't difficult, especially when you split the presentation up with others. The TA I had (Jake) was very understanding and made labs a lot more fun then I imagined they would be.

The homework assignments were definitely a bit harder than labs since they required more application of concepts learned in class, but Professor Coffey and the TAs were always willing to answer questions about them during office hours.

The popular science book presentation was also pretty straightforward - just pick a book related to earth science in some way and give a 7 minute presentation on it including a summary, connection to 2 research paper abstracts cited by the author/related to the topic, and your opinion on the book.

Overall, I would highly recommend this class! Even though the workload sounds a bit much, none of the work is very difficult and you'll have plenty of support if you need it.

I really liked how there were clear objectives posted at the beginning of each lecture and how the tests were directly based on the lectures. I did not ever go to class live; rather, I watched the recordings and took notes based on the objectives. I studied the notes and got high A's on the tests. The tests are super easy if you know the goals well. The labs were harder though. Tests are 50% of the grade and the labs and other assignments are the other 50%, and although that's probably done with the intention of making things fairer, interestingly I think I would have done much better if the tests accounted for more. The labs require skills and knowledge that aren't directly covered in the lectures, so I'd definitely recommend working on them with others rather than by yourself. I had Zach as my TA and he was very chill. Also, Professor Coffey responds to emails in a timely manner which is super helpful. He also regularly sends announcements about the upcoming assignments and tests.

I loved this class! Professor Coffey was incredible and so educated at teaching this class. I took APES in high school and I was very prepared for this class. I'm a history major so I'm not a huge science person but I loved this class so much I'm in another EPSSCI class this quarter. He is a great person also and just such a funny guy.
I also appreciated his use of a clear mask the whole quarter. I have a hearing impairment and I was able to read his lips which was BEYOND helpful. My TA was lowkey dry, but he was good at teaching and seemed genuinely engaged. Loved this class

Kevin is the best teacher I've had at UCLA. Not only because he teaches in a funny and clear manner, but also because of his kindness. He is very humorous, caring, and lovely. A number of us in the class had become friends with him. (he also has a lot of small dinosaur figures in his office that you can take for free c:) Buuuuut he talks rather slowly, so I sometimes watch the lecture recordings at 1.5x time speed.
The class itself is fun and easy if you are interested in basic geology stuff. I did really well on the midterm and the final with 2-3 hours of study the day before, otherwise, I don't read or study anything outside of class. Kevin has very clear slides with goals listed in the beginning, if you go through all of them you will be fine for the exams. It has two weekends of field trips in the Mojave desert with a long field project, so the workload is a bit heavy towards the end of the quarter, but it is a great experience for doing fieldwork, making friends, etc.
Labs are also interesting, the TAs are super nice, almost all labs can be done during lab time. The only heavy work we had was the field part. If you are having another class with a heavy workload, you might want to email Kevin and ask him for advice on to take it or not.