EPS SCI 1
Introduction to Earth Science
Description: Lecture, three hours; laboratory, two hours; field days. Not open to students with credit for or currently enrolled in course 100. Elements of Earth science; study of Earth materials; nature and interpretation of geologic evidence; study of geologic processes; historical aspects of geology. Mandatory field trips introduce students to solving of geologic problems in field. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I took this class as a freshman at UCLA in my fall 2021 quarter. Everyone on BruinWalk said it was really easy, the professor was great, etc., so I decided to take it for my science GE lab credit. However, don't be fooled by these reviews, as this class is not as easy as everyone says. Professor Coffey is great and gives pretty engaging lectures. He makes learning about rocks as interesting as it can be. But he went into pretty vivid detail about the concepts and I was surprised by how much we were required to know for an intro level course. (To be fair, I am not a science person, so if you love science, you probably won't struggle too much in this class.) The material isn't hard to understand, but there is a lot of it that you have to know. I studied maybe 3-4 hours each for the 2 midterms and the final and got a fairly low grade on each one. I had to pass/fail the class because the tests and labs were pretty difficult and were bringing down my grade. Some of the labs are tricky as well. We did the labs through CCLE and they were mostly multiple choice with a few short answers, but you do not really receive partial credit for anything in the labs. The labs consisted of identifying different types of rocks (harder than it looks when you have 10 black rocks in front of you that look exactly the same) and going through Google Earth stimulations (these were pretty easy as you just follow the instructions that guide you through it.) There is also a 5 or so minute presentation on a science book at the end of the quarter. This presentation is pretty easy and you can skim the book, make a slideshow, and still get an A. Overall, this class wasn't necessarily hard, but it is definitely not a super easy science GE. You are required to go into pretty vivid detail on the midterms and final in order to get an A. You really need to know the material inside and out because the TAs are looking for detailed, specific answers on the exams. You definitely can't bs your way through this class, and you have to put in a pretty big amount of effort to get an A. There is basically no math in this class besides converting measurements, and it is easier than any chem, physics, or bio class I have taken previously. Also, I had Jake as my TA and he was pretty chill, nice, and funny. He let our lab section retake a lab because the average score was like a D or something like that. Anyway, this class is overall one of the easier science GEs at UCLA, but is by no means easy. Put in a LOT of effort into really studying and memorizing the material, and take the labs seriously (don't slack off), and you should be fine.
Fall 2021 - I took this class as a freshman at UCLA in my fall 2021 quarter. Everyone on BruinWalk said it was really easy, the professor was great, etc., so I decided to take it for my science GE lab credit. However, don't be fooled by these reviews, as this class is not as easy as everyone says. Professor Coffey is great and gives pretty engaging lectures. He makes learning about rocks as interesting as it can be. But he went into pretty vivid detail about the concepts and I was surprised by how much we were required to know for an intro level course. (To be fair, I am not a science person, so if you love science, you probably won't struggle too much in this class.) The material isn't hard to understand, but there is a lot of it that you have to know. I studied maybe 3-4 hours each for the 2 midterms and the final and got a fairly low grade on each one. I had to pass/fail the class because the tests and labs were pretty difficult and were bringing down my grade. Some of the labs are tricky as well. We did the labs through CCLE and they were mostly multiple choice with a few short answers, but you do not really receive partial credit for anything in the labs. The labs consisted of identifying different types of rocks (harder than it looks when you have 10 black rocks in front of you that look exactly the same) and going through Google Earth stimulations (these were pretty easy as you just follow the instructions that guide you through it.) There is also a 5 or so minute presentation on a science book at the end of the quarter. This presentation is pretty easy and you can skim the book, make a slideshow, and still get an A. Overall, this class wasn't necessarily hard, but it is definitely not a super easy science GE. You are required to go into pretty vivid detail on the midterms and final in order to get an A. You really need to know the material inside and out because the TAs are looking for detailed, specific answers on the exams. You definitely can't bs your way through this class, and you have to put in a pretty big amount of effort to get an A. There is basically no math in this class besides converting measurements, and it is easier than any chem, physics, or bio class I have taken previously. Also, I had Jake as my TA and he was pretty chill, nice, and funny. He let our lab section retake a lab because the average score was like a D or something like that. Anyway, this class is overall one of the easier science GEs at UCLA, but is by no means easy. Put in a LOT of effort into really studying and memorizing the material, and take the labs seriously (don't slack off), and you should be fine.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - Professor Davis gives really hard finals. There are terms that I haven't seen in my entire life (even after taking this class). He uses the 30% ABC curve, so I think it's relatively reasonable. The labs are interesting if you like to observe rocks, maps, and earthquake models. I would've gotten a B if I applied letter grade, but I just studied EPS as a personal interest, so there were less stressful when I applied the PNP grading.
Winter 2017 - Professor Davis gives really hard finals. There are terms that I haven't seen in my entire life (even after taking this class). He uses the 30% ABC curve, so I think it's relatively reasonable. The labs are interesting if you like to observe rocks, maps, and earthquake models. I would've gotten a B if I applied letter grade, but I just studied EPS as a personal interest, so there were less stressful when I applied the PNP grading.
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Fall 2017 - This professor is the nicest, happiest person I've ever met! He has such genuine passion for the subject and never fails to make his lectures interesting. If you have the chance to take him, definitely do it! I wish I could take him again so much to the point where I contemplate taking the same class again. Genuinely love him, take him you will not regret it
Fall 2017 - This professor is the nicest, happiest person I've ever met! He has such genuine passion for the subject and never fails to make his lectures interesting. If you have the chance to take him, definitely do it! I wish I could take him again so much to the point where I contemplate taking the same class again. Genuinely love him, take him you will not regret it
Most Helpful Review
Class: Environment M10 This class had two professors: Buermann and Jackson. Buermann taught the biological aspects of the class and Jackson talked about the rest. Jackson cares about his students and was always open for questions and discussion, but I personally thought his topics were very dry. I don't like learning about rocks, earthquakes, erosion, etc. I thought his lectures had too many slides that we never covered and were boring. His test was much harder and focused on memorization.
Class: Environment M10 This class had two professors: Buermann and Jackson. Buermann taught the biological aspects of the class and Jackson talked about the rest. Jackson cares about his students and was always open for questions and discussion, but I personally thought his topics were very dry. I don't like learning about rocks, earthquakes, erosion, etc. I thought his lectures had too many slides that we never covered and were boring. His test was much harder and focused on memorization.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Selling Hamblin, Exercises in Physical Geology Lab Textbook. Text me @ ********** if interested. By far the worst class that I have taken at UCLA. I am a fourth-year CS major and decided to do EPS SCI for my sci-tech elective. I was hoping to take three easy courses (and by easy, I mean easy relative to the intense workload of CS courses or other demanding STEM course). However, EPS SCI 1 requires a ridiculous amount of work (more so than any other class that I have taken). This is supposed to be an intro course, but the class covers nearly 500 pages of the textbook and annoying labs every week where TAs take off points for no reason. The class itself should be easy as it is just memorizing; however, the format of the class makes it difficult to get a good grade in the class without going to every lecture; religiously reading the textbook; and kissing up to the TA to get him/her to give you answers to lab questions and not take off ticky-tacky points. The lamest part is that the professor gives two in-lecture quizzes that are each worth a ridiculous 2.5% of the total grade each (so 5% in total). The professor understands that he gives incredibly dry lectures and uses these quizzes as leverage so that students have to keep coming to lecture. Once the two quizzes were given, less than half the class showed up to lecture for the remainder of the quarter (however, quiz 2 was given monday of week 9, so that only constitutes 5 lectures). Furthermore, the lectures are podcasted, but this is entirely useless as you are basically required to go to lecture anyway due to the quizzes. Grade Scheme: 5% quizzes, 25% labs, 10% lab final, 25% midterm, 35% final TL;DR Do not take this class unless it is for your major. Coming from a CS major with a 3.5+ GPA, this class is by no means an easy class and requires a ridiculous amount of work if you are hoping to get a good grade in the class. Very dry material and lame professor and the class has two finals (lab final and regular final). I regret choosing it as my sci-tech elective as I have to take two more EPS SCI classes. There are many other GEs or sci-tech electives that are significantly easier and require minimal work, and this is not one of them.
Winter 2019 - Selling Hamblin, Exercises in Physical Geology Lab Textbook. Text me @ ********** if interested. By far the worst class that I have taken at UCLA. I am a fourth-year CS major and decided to do EPS SCI for my sci-tech elective. I was hoping to take three easy courses (and by easy, I mean easy relative to the intense workload of CS courses or other demanding STEM course). However, EPS SCI 1 requires a ridiculous amount of work (more so than any other class that I have taken). This is supposed to be an intro course, but the class covers nearly 500 pages of the textbook and annoying labs every week where TAs take off points for no reason. The class itself should be easy as it is just memorizing; however, the format of the class makes it difficult to get a good grade in the class without going to every lecture; religiously reading the textbook; and kissing up to the TA to get him/her to give you answers to lab questions and not take off ticky-tacky points. The lamest part is that the professor gives two in-lecture quizzes that are each worth a ridiculous 2.5% of the total grade each (so 5% in total). The professor understands that he gives incredibly dry lectures and uses these quizzes as leverage so that students have to keep coming to lecture. Once the two quizzes were given, less than half the class showed up to lecture for the remainder of the quarter (however, quiz 2 was given monday of week 9, so that only constitutes 5 lectures). Furthermore, the lectures are podcasted, but this is entirely useless as you are basically required to go to lecture anyway due to the quizzes. Grade Scheme: 5% quizzes, 25% labs, 10% lab final, 25% midterm, 35% final TL;DR Do not take this class unless it is for your major. Coming from a CS major with a 3.5+ GPA, this class is by no means an easy class and requires a ridiculous amount of work if you are hoping to get a good grade in the class. Very dry material and lame professor and the class has two finals (lab final and regular final). I regret choosing it as my sci-tech elective as I have to take two more EPS SCI classes. There are many other GEs or sci-tech electives that are significantly easier and require minimal work, and this is not one of them.
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