Super interesting and easy class. No attendance is taken and it can be done essentially all online besides discussion once a week. If you don't want to you don't have to watch the lectures because the discussion sums up what is learned throughout the week. I would strongly recommend this class.

I really enjoyed this class. There is a good amount of weekly work (watch the lectures, read a chapter or two from the e-textbook, complete a discussion post, quiz, assignment) but the information is really interesting and valuable, the work is not too difficult and it's easy to get an A. The class is extremely well-organized. You can re-take the quizzes so it's pretty easy to get a 100% on all of them. Prof Cavanaugh is great, really helpful and an engaging, clear lecturer.

one of the easiest classes I've taken at ucla so far. I took it online w an in person discussion so idk if that played a difference but it was a breeze. only assignments are reading quizzes and a weekly lab. no midterm or final, just a final research paper (on a topic of your choosing).

my ta was very nice and I had no problems getting good grades on these. content was also super interesting. 10/10 class would highly recommend (esp if u need a lab credit & already have a hard schedule)

as someone who has done mediocre on stem classes in the past, this class was pretty easy for a "stem" class ! every week covered a different topic, such as water scarcity, weather, environmental justice, etc so there is a nice variety of concepts covered. you have to watch lecture videos uploaded by prof. cavanaugh but they're pretty short, complete a discussion response 1 hour before your section, a lab report, and a weekly quiz. discussion response is graded on completion, the quizzes are pretty easy (just ctrl f the textbook, and there's no time limit). the only thing that is a pain is the lab reports. up until week 6, you have to do one every week and it took me about 3-4 hours to do each one since there are lots of tiny requirements you have to meet and you have to gather data on that topic. nonetheless, the topics were pretty interesting to write about and the grading wasn't too harsh. as someone who sucks at stem i highly recommend this class for an easy science/lab ge (im actually considering minoring in geography/environmental studies now). also ta Jennifer badger is really nice, highly recommend :)

This class is a super easy lab GE, that's very similar to APES. There are only labs up to week 6, so you can work on your final paper and presentation after that. The final paper (no final test or midterm) was just about any effect of climate change and we had a two minute presentation in section. The labs are super easy and the instructions tell you exactly what to do to get an A.

This class was great, but I think the workload was a lot for a geography class. I wouldn't say it's an easy A class but it's hard to get your socks blown off since it's asynchronous. I know some people who got lower than A-'s in this class and they put a good amount of work in so don't think this class is free; it depends on your TA. There are 3-4 assignments you have to do each week: lecture videos, discussion posts, quizzes, and labs. Labs were very time-consuming and were done on your own time, not in sections. Once you get past these labs after week 6, the course is a breeze. But for the first 6 weeks, it's rough. I spent an average of 4-6 hours on each lab. Lecture videos didn't take up that much time and the weekly quizzes weren't too bad; as they followed from lecture and the readings. I got a 20/20 on every quiz by using my notes, CTRL-F'ing the book, quizlet, and chat GPT. But I know a lot of people got 18's and 19's so take the quizzes seriously. The discussion post responses are pretty easy and are graded on completion. For discussion section, attendance is mandatory but I'm pretty sure your lowest attendance is dropped. Karina was honestly one of the best TAs I've had at UCLA. She was extremely nice, led great discussion sections, and was a very fair grader. Highly recommend her. There's no midterm for this class but your final is a research paper on an issue related to climate change. It mimicked lab 5, a research paper, and is followed up by a final project presentation.

I took this asynchronous. It was really really easy. There's a quiz and a paper every week that can be done pretty quickly. The questions are all straightforward. The final is just a paper and a presentation that are both graded pretty lightly.

For those trying to get a copy of the book, DO NOT text **********’s post below.

I do NOT have the book for sale; it’s been sold ( I am unable to edit previous posts).

Try finding a copy on Thriftbooks/Amazon ; using the second edition should be just as fine as the most recent (although speak to professor directly to make sure).

Thanks.

This class was one of the easiest classes I have taken, but you definitely still had to invest the time to study for the midterm, final group project, and final. He always posted the slides even though attendance was not technically mandatory. Professor Cavanaugh was always happy to help and listened to the students' inputs. The most workload you had was the discussion sections, which were mandatory, where you had to do assignments in every class and you had to write a short one paragraph summary for given articles every week. Again, all very doable and easy if you actually do it. The book was definitely useful during discussions and especially during the final group project.
That being said, I am currently selling the mandatory textbook Professor Cavanaugh used throughout the quarter, "Visualizing Environmental Science" the 4th edition. Selling it very cheap! Contact me at **********.

I took this as a GE over the summer and it was great! I was worried about taking an online class over the summer, but this class was so manageable! The only thing I disliked was the weekly lab reports. They were very interesting and fun to do, but if you got behind at all on the material for that week it would be a mad scramble to try and finish the lab report. Basically if you can stay on top of your work, this class is very interesting and enjoyable!