To all you freshman,
I hope you're not even thinking about enrolling in her fiat lux "E&S SCI 19. FIAT LUX FRESHMAN SEMINARS".

I mean unless you want to fail a fiat lux....which would be pretty pathetic...LOL

Alright, so the class was definitely more than I bargained for, but it wasn't impossible. Yes, we did have over a hundred slides each lecture, and yes, there was the single spaced 2 page documentary write up, and yes, she did give us far too little time to do our pop quizzes. However, considering all this, labs were extraordinarily easy, so capitalize on that! Study for the quizzes, complete the activities. I was able to get an A in the class, you just have to study, go to lecture, and stay awake during them. I don't know how accessible she was because I never went to her office hours, but at least she was prompt when returning emails. Overall, she is a complete genius, but perhaps because of this, she simply could not communicate effectively with the students. I remember my friend in chemical engineering helping me study for the final and she was shocked at how much seemingly superfluous information we had to know for the final. So it's not impossible, but if you want an easy GE, definitely skip Tripati.

My friend said this GE was a breeze. He finished his final in half and hour. God I hate my friend, but I cannot blame him. He did not have this professor.
It seems everything that has been said has been said. I usually do not complain about the workload because most of the time it is reasonable. However Triparti took it to another level. She is a smart lady, however her extreme intelligence created an obstacle in the student-teacher relationship. At times she seemed shy and nerdy then she came across pompous. I digress.
Her lack of teaching experience made the classroom her experiment. Our first lectures had over a 100+ slides with a lot of information that was repetitious. The tiny details needed to get an A where hidden in scattered slides. Usually under a slide with bloated information. The midterm was really easy then she hit us hard with the final. Only 16 kids out of a 200+ class got As. I was on of the lucky few.
If you have to take the class. Don't fuck up on the labs. Just re-read the powerpoints and lab of the previous week for the quiz. The final is a accumulation of old quizzes with slight modifications.
For the final try writing down all the tiny details you won't remember. It is futile writing down the main concepts. You should have those memorized. When writing in the short and long answers be very detailed. Just word vomit everything you know or any tidbit that can help. A lot of people got screwed over in this section because they didn't say a specific word like "latent".
I ended up with an A in the class. It helps to get a study group to bitch-er I mean study the course material. The book was sort of helpful when it came to concepts.

Professor Tripati is GREAT. If you're thinking about taking Oceanography with her, the first thing you need to do is completely ignore the reviews near the bottom of the page. I guess she had just started teaching at that point, because things are totally different now and she is a top-notch professor who works really, really hard to make the class better every quarter. You can tell her your honest opinion and she will actually try to change (unlike some stubborn professors too stuck in their ways).

Pros: If you put in even the slightest bit of effort and attend labs, you'll do well. The tests are extremely straightforward so all you have to do is pay attention in lecture. You can for sure succeed if you put in a little bit of effort; this is one of those classes that depends solely on how hard you work and not on your inherent "smarts". You get cheat sheets on tests as well as tons of super easy extra credit opportunities. I was really dreading the video project but it ended up being pretty easy and straightforward.

Cons: The midterm and final are group tests, which I really didn't like because it always ends up being kids who studied giving the answers to kids who didn't study. However, I think she realized this for the final and let us choose whether we want to do it individually or with a group, which I appreciated (even though I did it with a group anyway).

Seriously if you're looking for a pretty easy class with a chill professor, take Professor Tripati's class. She's also really nice and (somehow) responds to all the emails, so if you have any questions about anything don't be afraid to ask her.

GIVE THIS CLASS A CHANCE!

The majority of the reviews that you are reading here are from 2011. That was the first time that Aradhna ever taught the class. Don't be scared away by outdated reviews from embittered students.

The truth is, this class was amazing and so much fun and you will love this class if you pay attention and are interested in any of the following: The ocean, the beach, the effects that we have on them, science, global warming, or marine life and processes. Also, consider that this is a GE. The point is not to have a class that you don't have to go to. The point of these courses is to broaden your knowledge from whatever limited sphere your major provides. Frankly, people are frustrated here that they actually have to pay attention in class. If you listen to what the professor has to say you won't even NEED the review session, because she is so informed and clear about what she is lecturing on and she is more than willing to stop and clarify any unclear concepts if you just raise your hand.

After the first exam I had some constructive criticism about things that seemed to work and those that didn't and, you know what? SHE LISTENED! She actually implemented the changes I suggested and in doing so made the tests easier and more fair. If you have a problem, go to her and she will make every effort to fix it. She is so nice and people need to see that.

TAKE THIS COURSE and you will see that it is very enjoyable, provides a great experience, especially for a GE, and is not hard at all as long as you attend lecture. She plays "beach" music every day while students are walking in and shows entertaining and relevant videos to portray concepts and ideas (i.e. the Simpsons related to the Coriolis Effect).

Again, PLEASE consider that the majority of the reviews were from the first time she took the class and since then she has taken all criticism she has gotten in an effort to improve the class and the experience that her students have, and it has paid off.

I give Aradhna a 10/10 and I think you will, too.

Professor Tripati was great she always went above and beyond to make sure everyone passed her class. I personally hate science but the course wasn't boring it was actually pretty interesting and she made the things that seemed complicated really easy. I'm glad I took the course because even though many say that the course is difficult and she makes it impossible for you to pass, they are wrong. This quarter she decided to try new things in order to have her students pass and make the course more interesting. She gave weekly online quizzes that were really easy, the mid term and the final weren't all that hard but be advised that most of the points come from the short responses rather than the multiple choice so make sure you go over the section exams before taking the midterm and final. The lecture slides seemed never ending at times but she would always stop in the middle of it all and put youtube videos which were educational but funny at the same time. Trust me the course isn't bad you should definitely take the course with her because regardless of how bad everyone makes her out to be, she's a great professor and you will enjoy her lectures and come out with a new knowledge of the ocean.

Professor Tripati is a genius! If you work hard and study you should do fine in her class. I did a moderate amount of studying and got an A in her class, so it's not impossible. The slides can be overwhelming, but what I've come to realize is that they are there more for your curiosity than anything else. So while I would recommend paying attention to the slides, don't become obsessive in trying to remember everything on them. Her classes are really just common sense. Plus don't complain about learning too much, the whole point of us paying to come to UCLA is to learn as much as possible. I want my money worth of learning and she provides it. Many people complain that since it's a GE it shouldn't be hard, but when you come to a UC you shouldn't be expecting easy work anywhere to began with. So in conclusion take her if you like to learn and don't have memorization OCD.

Oceanography with Professor Tripati was excellent. She is extremely passionate and effective at communicating the material in an understandable way. Lab sections and work are really easy and really helped boost my grade because I attended every section and did all the work. Lectures can get boring but the professor seems to do all she can to avoid this. Midterm and Final are quite difficult but there is a group component to each which really helped me understand the material better (it also helped my grade quite significantly). I learned a lot and enjoyed the class and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in oceanography and wants to learn more.

Prof. Tripati genuinely cares about teaching this class. She tries to make it effective for all her students and adapts it each quarter based on reviews. Don't be scared off by the bruinreviews... they're outdated and she's changed things a lot since a lot of these reviews.

Her exams were two-part: an individual section and a GROUP SECTION!!! The group session allowed you to pair up in groups of 4 and go through the exam (after the individual) again, then combines the grades. It seemed really difficult at first, but really its easy to do.

The only thing I didn't like was the project, but even that was pretty easy. You have to do some sort of project to reach out to interweb world and promote education on some sort of oceanography lesson (google black and yellow overfishing rap!). Believe me, it'll stick with you. It's not that difficult, you just have to do it.

The labs were straightforward and easy. Just go.

There were extra credit options - not many profs have that anymore.

Give her a chance, it really was a good course. I got an A. Was it easy? No, of course not, but it wasn't hard.

This professor was so horrible. Honestly if you read this and even think about taking her class, you are setting yourself up for a horrible quarter. I dreaded every Tuesday and Thursday because her lectures are so boring and ridiculous. She has absolutely no concept of time and obviously does not realize that this class is a GE. The final took 3 hours and 15 minutes to finish and the questions are not straightforward at all. She lets you take 2 sheets of notes to use on the final, but it doesn't really help considering she asks off the wall questions. The midterm was not too difficult, but the final was totally different. She seems to care about her students at first but towards the end of the quarter she was not at all willing to make meetings outside her ONE office hour from 2-3 on Tuesdays. Her review sessions before the midterm and final are pointless - she just answers student questions and lectures about how you should be studying for her class every single day of the quarter. At the beginning of the quarter, she made the entire class write down 5 concepts from the previous lecture, which weren't even graded. She also has 4 pop quizzes in lecture. She must have realized that this wouldn't work, though, because three of them ended up being take-home quizzes. Lab is dreadful as well - it connects to the class, but is not as "insanely easy" as she says it is. The TAs tend to be very helpful, so if you decide to take this class despite the horrible reviews, I would advise you to talk to them as often as possible, especially Dan.