A&O SCI 103
Physical Oceanography
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: Mathematics 3B or 31B. Introductory course for physical sciences, life sciences, or engineering majors interested in environmental issues. Observations of temperature, salinity, density, and currents. Methods. Wind-driven and geostrophic currents. California Current and Gulf Stream. Internal waves. Surface waves and tides. Air/sea interactions. Coastal upwelling. Biological/physical interactions. El niño. Role of ocean in climate and global change. Santa Monica Bay field trip. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
summer 2010 aos 103 professor brix is a pretty laid back professor. he really wants you to understand the concepts he goes over and will thoroughly try and explain/answer any questions you have during the lecture. His lectures were all power points and were available online before the day so you could print it out and not have to scribble furiously to write everything he says. he also knows how much books costs so he didn't require us to buy any books but rather it was all online. awesome! homeworks are much harder than the test questions. the homework goes over things that are more math/equation based and the exams are more for evaluating whether or not we understood the material. his exams were a few multiple choice in the beginning and then some figures we had to draw or label, then a few short answer questions. overall he is a nice professor and easy to talk to if you have any problems. unlike some professors, he will respond to your emails real quickly if you have any questions on the homework or material. definitely would try and get him again for another class if possible.
summer 2010 aos 103 professor brix is a pretty laid back professor. he really wants you to understand the concepts he goes over and will thoroughly try and explain/answer any questions you have during the lecture. His lectures were all power points and were available online before the day so you could print it out and not have to scribble furiously to write everything he says. he also knows how much books costs so he didn't require us to buy any books but rather it was all online. awesome! homeworks are much harder than the test questions. the homework goes over things that are more math/equation based and the exams are more for evaluating whether or not we understood the material. his exams were a few multiple choice in the beginning and then some figures we had to draw or label, then a few short answer questions. overall he is a nice professor and easy to talk to if you have any problems. unlike some professors, he will respond to your emails real quickly if you have any questions on the homework or material. definitely would try and get him again for another class if possible.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - Do not take this class if you want an easy grade! The class is very difficult and the instructor barely goes over the material on the homework and tests. You will be able to do well on the quizzes based on the lecture, but not the homework or exams. I was wondering how other students were doing so well on their homeworks. It turns out that they went to the TA office hours and the TAs gave them the answer. The instructor will deny that this happens but it does. If you can find a friend who has already taken this class, ask that friend for the quiz answers as the instructor uses the same quiz questions each year. The homeworks are dumb and frustrating. You will learn basic calculations in class such as 100 megawatts + 200 megawatts=300 megawatts. Then you will get a verbose homework problem where you need to combine three different equations on the lecture slides and manage to get an answer. The instructor has a way of making his tests and homework hard! In the first year he taught this class, the midterm scores were so horrible that according to the TA, almost everyone failed. In the second year, there was a really difficult homework question that students struggled on for hours so that question was removed in the third year this instructor taught the class. You will be competing against other AOS majors who have taken other AOS classes before, so they have a large advantage over you. The instructor is young and he appears to be friendly. However, he does not know how to instruct a class or come up with fair homework problems and exams. Another problematic homework problem you will have is the dreaded Matlab assignment where you will have to learn to code with Matlab to finish the assignment. You will get the codes in discussion section, but they will be missing information that you have to fill in. If you don't have experience coding Matlab, then this class is not for you.
Winter 2016 - Do not take this class if you want an easy grade! The class is very difficult and the instructor barely goes over the material on the homework and tests. You will be able to do well on the quizzes based on the lecture, but not the homework or exams. I was wondering how other students were doing so well on their homeworks. It turns out that they went to the TA office hours and the TAs gave them the answer. The instructor will deny that this happens but it does. If you can find a friend who has already taken this class, ask that friend for the quiz answers as the instructor uses the same quiz questions each year. The homeworks are dumb and frustrating. You will learn basic calculations in class such as 100 megawatts + 200 megawatts=300 megawatts. Then you will get a verbose homework problem where you need to combine three different equations on the lecture slides and manage to get an answer. The instructor has a way of making his tests and homework hard! In the first year he taught this class, the midterm scores were so horrible that according to the TA, almost everyone failed. In the second year, there was a really difficult homework question that students struggled on for hours so that question was removed in the third year this instructor taught the class. You will be competing against other AOS majors who have taken other AOS classes before, so they have a large advantage over you. The instructor is young and he appears to be friendly. However, he does not know how to instruct a class or come up with fair homework problems and exams. Another problematic homework problem you will have is the dreaded Matlab assignment where you will have to learn to code with Matlab to finish the assignment. You will get the codes in discussion section, but they will be missing information that you have to fill in. If you don't have experience coding Matlab, then this class is not for you.
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