I agree with the most recent reviews. The reviews from previous quarters were super misleading. I came into this class thinking that the prof would be super understanding and that the content wouldn't be hard to grasp but it ended up being the opposite. Her emails would sound more like threats at times LMAO, and the lectures were extremely boring. By the final weeks of classes, less than 40 people showed up to lecture. The tests were also hard for no reason. We had to use Respondus, and the final was a 3-hour 80-question test, which I think is way too much for a GE. Plus, the questions were HELLA specific and the final was cumulative so if you didn't know every detail from all 10 weeks, you would fail guaranteed. We had assigned quizzes each week, and sometimes there were questions on there that wasn't ever addressed in the lecture, so I'd end up guessing the answers. The only good thing about this class was that my TA Francis was cool, and the labs were easy. But I honestly wouldn't recommend this class, at least if you're looking for an easy and interesting GE with a good prof.

I was totally misled by reviews -- as a north campus major, I wanted to take a more simple science GE that would educate me about an interesting topic. However, this class was IMMENSELY CONFUSING.

The slides we were lectured from constantly contradicted themselves, saying opposite information. Don't even get me started on the midterm and the final. The questions were so confusing, coming from the tiniest little bullet points on Beghein's slides. Plus, they were ENTIRELY closed note. They are the type of questions you would see on an open note exam, where the questions are trickier and harder to find in your notes, but entirely based off of what you remember in class. I studied really hard for the final for 3 weeks and still only got an 83% on the test.

When there was a school shooter threat and various other wild events on campus, she refused to let us use notes on the test. Many times, it felt like the emails we sent her annoyed her and she was sometimes hostile in her responses.

I don't recommend taking this course, there are lots of fascinating other science GE's such as EPS SCI 15 and EPS SCI 17!

Definitely don't believe the overzealous reviews. This class is not an easy GE and requires a ton of memorization. Plus, her midterm and assignments weren't the easiest.

The reviews really misled me when taking this class. The midterm was difficult- and 1/3 of the class failed. They were closed note- and she didn't provide study guides. She was very adamant about not providing extra credit or allowing for revisions. Her lectures are mostly history based and don't explain the concepts well. She lectures way too fast and honestly, I stopped attending after the midterm. Super boring material and this class is trying way too hard to be difficult for a GE.

fuck this class and the respondus lockdown browser. passive-aggressive ass professor who isn't willing to help her students and sends out emails that make me question why she's a professor in the first place. i would rather have learned from my TA, who isn't even an eps sci major, the entire quarter than from this woman. shout-out to my boy Francis. but yeah, don't take this class unless you're really interested, not an easy GE anymore, nothing but pure memorization and the assignments don't help boost your grade at all. fuck it we ball tho

DO NOT TRUST THE COVID REVIEWS!!! This class is not easy and is definitely NOT an easy A like the covid reviews make it out to be. The professor is very passive-aggressive when she emails and simply doesn't care about her students. The professor uses Respondus lockdown browser with camera on for both the midterm and final and she is very adamant about making the exams closed note. The exams themselves felt like a bunch of trivia questions about random little things she picks from her lectures so there was never any telling what little details she would put on the exam. She would pick the smallest little details that she just glanced over in her lectures and put them on the exams so studying for this class was difficult and required a lot of useless memorization since the exams were closed note. This class was said to be an easy A but that is far from the truth as getting a bad score on the midterm will not allow you to get an A anymore. All of the people that I know that also took the class all switched it to P/NP, including me. Most of my peers agree that if the exams were open-note then this class would have been manageable. Overall, I don't recommend anyone take this class unless you are really interested in earthquakes or you hate yourself. Either way I would still try to stay away from this class. The only thing that wasn't so bad about this class was the labs as most were easy and the TAs could help you with them. Also at first this class didn't have much assignments other than the labs but after the midterm we all complained and she started adding weekly quizzes to supposedly help our grade but in reality they were just a waste of time since they didn't help your grade at all. If after all this you still decide to take this class, Good luck. but here is a breakdown of the grading in the class to help:
Labs 30%
Midterm 30%
Final 35%
Additional assignments on canvas / quizzes 3%
Course Evals 2%
Also, yes completing the course evals at the end of the quarter is part of your grade and NOT extra credit.

Do you want to take a class with a passive-aggressive professor with incredibly boring lectures and super detailed, closed-note tests? Then this is the class for you! Like the rest of my peers who took this in W22, I was misled by the 5.0 ratings for this class and professor. I'm sorry to say that they could not be further from the truth. The labs and workload might seem light, but the sheer amount of preparation you have to do to prepare yourself for the midterm and final is absolutely ridiculous. As others have mentioned, the exam questions were often hyper-specific, some of which she didn't even cover in lectures or glazed over. Lectures were very boring. To top it off, the exams were closed note and required the use of a lockdown browser + webcam so you couldn't use any resources. I think this class would have been infinitely more manageable if exams had been open-note. The only saving grace was that labs were fairly easy, almost ridiculously so. The lack of balance between coursework was really frustrating and left me feeling unprepared for the exams, even though I studied and put the work in. Additionally, the professor was not kind or responsive to reasonable student requests. But I did like my TA. Francis, you're a real one - I hope you're able to TA a class that's better managed than this one.

Do not take this class if you are looking for an easy GE. COVID reviews are misleading. You can read most of the reviews from this quarter and see that many students were unhappy. You have to put in quite a bit of effort and time in studying for the exams in this class if you want to get a decent grade in this class. Wished I knew what I was getting into before I got into the class and I would've never considered this class. TAs are great though and labs were fairly easy. Midterm and final are both on Respondus with WebCam. Final is cumulative and in general there is a lot of information to retain. Topic is pretty boring so unless you have some type of interest in Earthquakes, you are going to find this class boring and add an unnecessary stressor.

Professor Beghein is simply a bitch.

Dr. Beghein is a GEM. This class was very interesting and you learn so much about the world, not just EQs while taking it. She was very understanding due to remote learning this quarter, and even made our final no-harm. The workload was light, with video summaries due every week to go along with lecture material, and labs were all pretty straightforward. The midterm was very fair and Dr. Beghein was happy to clear up any confusion throughout the course of the class. TAKE HER THIS IS YOUR SIGN!