I read through the reviews here and wanted to weigh in with my experience, to bring a little balance to the overall attitude.

This class is NOT an easy GE. Do not take this class to bring up your GPA. I took it alongside CS31, that seminar they make CS people go through their first quarter and Math31A, so it was really not a huge workload. The slides are not helpful as others have said in the review. The exams require you to have studied the material well and understood the concepts. Again, not what you're looking for in an easy GE.

With that said, I loved this class to bits. Professor Malkan knows a LOT about astronomy and is passionate about it. He delves deep into concepts which are a lot in this class (it's called Life in the Universe!) so his lectures can be overwhelming at times. I HIGHLY recommend rewatching the bruincasts to understand everything and then go to office hours to discuss with him.

This class may have been intended as an intro to astronomy, but the way Malkan teaches it, it's a summary of literally everything about the universe. It's fantastic.

Don't take it if you like an easy A. Don't waste your time with it and hurt your GPA if you're not going to give it your all. I was lucky I happened to take this when my workload was nonexistent my freshman year and I am happy I did.

The readings for the classes are easy but the lectures are not. They often cover topics that are not in the textbook. The slides are not helpful and are not elaborated on. While some exam questions are from prior quizzes, some are on topics that were only introduced for about 3 minutes. The classes are boring and any attempts by the professor to answer questions often result in more confusion. I do not recommend this professor nor this class.

This class is a lot for a GE. Don't take it if you already have a hefty schedule. The class is very interesting, however. There are two midterms and a cumulative final exam. He also assigns weekly homework. The homework does not take that long to complete, but, it's good to take notes on the ready and study those for the exams. The tests are usually a combination of the practice tests and homework questions. If you take the practice test and study those answers, you should be able to pass the tests and the class. Short answers on the tests are pretty hard. I recommend going to office hours and the test bank to get an idea of what the short answers will be on the test.

I have taken multiple astronomy classes throughout my time at UCLA, and I can say with confidence that Professor Malkan is by far one of the worst teachers in the department. His teaching style is completely and utterly inappropriate, influencing the class with his personal subjective opinions on the subject. His slides and explanations are far from clear and reveal a lack of effort on his part.

His lessons were rather incomplete and uninformative as they do not recount most of the subjects tested on the midterms and finals. Most students have to resort to test banks and online resources in order to complete what Malkan has failed to teach during lectures.

The one tool Malkan used that proved to be effective and quite useful was Kudu, an online material review site based on Crash-Courses from youtube on the subjects.

Overall, his knowledge of astronomy is vast; however, he has no idea how to explain it, nor does he do that objectively. I would absolutely not recommend this class as a G.E, his grading is beyond harsh and his tests do not reflect most of the course material.

DO NOT TAKE MALKAN IF YOU HAVE NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE IN ASTRONOMY OR PHYSICS!!!
Even when I felt confident about the midterm he put topics that WE DID NOT FOCUS ON. He assumed we had previous knowledge in physics, which I did not. Lectures were interesting, but the exams were by far too difficult for a GE!
Would only take if you are prepared to invest A LOT of time into this class.