The lectures are posted online. So.
Professor Manning is nice, and he gives extra credit for attending class in the form of painfully easy one question quizzes at the end of class. The tests are multiple choice and can get into specifics at times, but if you read the textbook you should be fine.
The texts are in the library, so you don't need to buy them in my opinion.
Discussions are normally lab based. Identifying rocks, etc. Very fun stuff! The packets are graded but also easy to do. Just compare answers with your classmates.

All in all, a simple and interesting GE. Professor Manning can be a little boring but he also has these infrequent moments of humor.

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.

Both the midterm and final are multiple choice. basically make sure you understand how everything connects and do well on the labs and you'll be fine

I'm selling the textbook and lab book for this course. Text me at ********** if you're interested in buying them.

Overall pretty enjoyable class. The lectures are kinda boring, ( I fell asleep numerous times.) but Craig tries his best to provide a lot of examples and the occasional demonstration. He's kind of an intense guy but he's nice when you talk to him. Labs were fairly difficult, I'd recommend getting the lab book. He had two in class "surprise quizzes" which were 5% of the grade. They were incredibly easy so just try to make it to class. It's a pretty easy class, but to get an A you'd probably need to read the textbook, since there's a lot of material and he doesn't cover it all in lecture.

Professor Manning is really nice, but the course itself is not that easy if you just do it as a GE. He curves the class, so do not panic if you do not do well on the tests. You do not necessarily need to listen to the lectures if you just want to earn an A, but make sure you work hard during lab sessions: that helps a lot!
Final Grade: A

I found EPSS 1 (keep in mind "ESS" is now "EPSS") kind of hard, despite being a science major. The simple truth is that it’s a lot of material to cover. A lot of it is very technical and memorization-based, like knowing to identify 30 different rocks and their histories. But eventually trends start popping up, and you learn to connect different topics from different parts of the course, if you put enough thought into the class. And Manning is good at connecting concepts, so that’s definitely a plus of his lectures.

If you’re from South Campus, you’ll find that this is easier than your other lower-division pre-reqs, but you still have to put work in because tests are still hard and usually produce a perfect Normal distribution. If you’re a North Campus major looking for an “easy GE,” you’ll realize this was probably little more than you bargained for.

I managed to walk away with an A-. That was because I found the material really interesting, went to all lectures, kept up with reading, and spent awhile on lab assignments. Not all of these may apply to you, but as long as you find your study groove, you can pull through. YOU GET WHAT YOU PUT IN.

Professor Manning is a really nice guy. He's very charismatic about what he teaches & you can see it in his lectures. Although it's not the most interesting material, he's able to make it interesting just by the way he describes everything. He seems totally approachable & literally covers all of the material very thoroughly. Warning though: READ THE TEXTBOOK. I learned the hard way on the midterm that you NEED to read it to do well. The exam material, though covered in class, is pretty detailed & the textbook is really good at explaining it. Reading the book is way more helpful than going to lecture. However, I also realized that your grade really depends on your TA. For my lab, I had a jerk for a TA & he marked down on every little miniscule thing! Your lab grade can really help to boost your overall grade, so take them seriously. Overall, not the easiest GE but definitely doable if you read the textbook.

Proff Manning is one of the few who I can say actually cares about his students.Not only did he try and make the subject interesting, but he actually succeeded. I definitely recommend him as a professor for any classes which he offers. Even though the subject might not appeal to you by the end of the quarter you will remember a thing or two because of his lectures and the examples which he gives. =)