I regret taking a cluster class. While the professor is nice and very knowledgeable about the content, there is just so much unnecessary information that you have to memorize for the tests. Honestly, it is a very straightforward class and if you study properly it is easy to get an A. I got an A- while skipping most of the lectures and bsing most of my homework.

The lecture presentations are basic and lack comprehensive detail. Additionally, the professors tend to be uncoordinated and sometimes lack energy to engage students and even get their attention. Granted, this is a 100+ lecture full of freshman. Their guest lecturers are amazing and add great substance to the material being taught in class. Guest lectures are often unannounced and a surprise for the students in an effort to get them to attend class (we are given handouts to be filled out and returned to our TAs after lecture).

I took AP Environmental Science my senior year of high school, so I didn't learn any new material. It was all review, straight down to the labs we did in discussion, so the class seemed boring and repetitive to me. The workload is on the heavy side and the papers we are assigned to do are not worth enough points compared to the effort we put into it. Still, the (almost) weekly assignments are not difficult. The discussion sections are unnecessarily long (2 hrs) and pointless other than for being given assignments and turning them in. Attendance is part of your grade!

The midterm and final were not super detail oriented as I feared they would be. They weren't difficult at all if you understood the main concepts that the lectures covered and had some specific examples to use. No multiple choice, all short answer and one long essay question. The review sessions that the TAs held before tests were lacking and also uncoordinated - mostly a waste of time.

Overall, this cluster is amazing for getting rid of science GEs and a piece of cake for those who did well in AP ENVIRO. Boring and irritating, but manageable. I recommend making friends with your classmates to have study sessions together and ask each other assignment questions that are unclear.