Overall Jewitt is a solid prof but I have one WARNING: If you get Mojhgan as your TA, drop the class. Lab was made much harder than necessary and if you can switch out of this section, I highly recommend doing so. The difficulty of the labs made the rest of the class almost unbearable.

As a non-science person, I took this class P/NP. I never attended lecture after the first of two midterms, only went to the Lab. I still passed without studying at all. For the first few times, I was in class, the professor is awesome and if you like the subject you'll enjoy the class. Passing is super easy if science is difficult, but many people who cared and went to lecture got As.

Reviews below said that jewitt would give study guides for the midterm and final, but he did not when i took it!! i actually really hated this class and did not gain anything from it. i expected an easy A but it really wasn't. studied the slides for the midterm and final (there were lots of slides) but i didn't do as well as expected. yes they're multiple choice but there's so many specific questions and because of alllll that information from the lectures, he really should have given a study guide to just narrow it down. and it's not like the lectures were all related; there was a lecture about boats, one about waves, one about sea navigators (??) just random stuff honestly. he gave three extra credit assignments which were not 5% each like previous reviews said (i assume he changed a lot of things the quarter i took this class). the extra credit things were worth 10% total and two of them were at far away locations so not sure if you would want to split a $40+ uber (40 going and 40 coming) on an extra credit assignment that's only worth 4% of your grade. maybe if you go with a big group like i did. also the lab assignments were literally just busy work and i don't recall them having any connection to the class content and they were pretty difficult in my opinion. but they were in-class assignments so we could collaborate and share answers. so, i would not recommend this class, and definitely not as a GE. not even if you need it for your major lol. one positive thing i can say is that the extra credit assignments are all at beaches and all you have to do is take pictures (for the most part), so you can do them during a beach trip with friends.

Professor Jewitt is one of the funniest professors I've had at UCLA. He will incorporate funny videos in his lectures, and offer many extra credit opportunities. The slides are straightforward, and you don't need to come to class, but I went anyway because he is worth showing up for. Section attendance, on the other hand, is necessary. Quizzes every week (graded for accuracy), and a lab exercise (graded for completion)

This class was very easy if you put some effort into it. There was 10% of extra credit that you could earn from simple tasks like going to the beach or taking a selfie at Point Dume. The tests were very straightforward and easy, and the professor tends to recycle many of the same questions from year to year. However, enjoyment of this class rides a lot on the TA you get. My TA was awful and had something against me for some reason and would mark me down for the smallest of things. Hopefully your TA is better. All in all, would recommend this class for one of your science requirements.

This class is a very manageable GE. You don't really have any homework and don't need to read/get a textbook. Outside of class, you practically have 0 work except going thru the slides before the ONE midterm and the extra credit (total probably took me like... 7 hours? And I studied for the midterm way longer than most people). Do the extra credit, especially the ones worth a lot of percentage. To be honest, you might not even really have to go to lecture...? Just do it though, because he is very funny and brings up a LOT of interesting information. I did only a bit above average on the midterm but got an A+ in the class (raw score was like a C+; avg was D+) so don't freak out, it's multiple choice and it's very unlikely you're going to get an A raw score. Jewitt is a leader in his field and knows the topic very well and its interesting (c'mon, it's space). Don't worry if you miss one or two lectures, he posts slides. However, I DID go to every lecture and he DOES bring up a lot of information outside of the slides so maybe they're still fair game (weren't in our midterm though). Take it with Jewitt if you can! It is an easy A and he doesn't want you to stress about your grade so he offers extra credit.

I took this class as a GE and it honestly was pretty easy. I, like most people, completely bombed the midterm, but I still managed to get an A. The final was canceled because of the coronavirus, which ended up helping me out. I did all the extra credit that was offered, because after the midterm, I knew I was doomed if I didn’t do them. The fact that he offered around 20% OF EXTRA CREDIT is unbelievable, because I doubt that’s offered in any other class. DO THE EXTRA CREDIT! Also, go to discussion! I only missed one discussion, because the lowest two are dropped. Studying for the discussion quizzes is easy and I usually studied on the way to class. I also stopped showing up to lecture after week 2, and then occasionally only went on Thursdays from weeks 7-10 since I was ready on campus. From the lectures I did attend, I saw that Professor Jewitt was a smart man with a sarcastic way of teaching, which I liked because it made the class more interesting.

I got an A+ in this class and did barely any work. I studied for the midterm for a decent amount of time and got 80% on it, but all the stuff I studied didn't even show up on the exam. A background in physics gives you a significant advantage in the midterm- not even like the physics series or AP Physics; if you took regular physics in high school you have a leg up. I can't speak on the final because we didn't take one, but I did the study guide before the whole online classes thing began and it was pretty straight forward, even though he only gave us 20 questions. Just do the extra credit, show up to the labs, and study before the midterm and final and you should be pretty set for an A- at the minimum. I really didn't show up to a lot of the lectures, but I recommend that you go. You can skip here and there but I don't recommend skipping weeks 7-9 like I did lol.

Before I start, TAKE THIS COURSE, THE COMMENT ABOVE IS OBJECTIVELY WRONG. This class was fucking amazing. One midterm and one final. During discussions, you get quizzes every week based on the discussion of the week before; they should be called worksheets instead of quizzes lol they were super easy. Discussion quizzes and attendance is 30%, Midterm is 20%, and the final is 50%. An additional 20% of extra credit is offered throughout the quarter. THIS IS HOW MUCH THE MIDTERM IS WORTH! The extra credits aren't free points- you will actually have to put in work to do stuff like going to the Griffith Observatory, California Science Center, keeping track of moon phases, etc. but honestly it all wasn't that bad and actually enjoyable to do. The midterm was not super easy but not hard either-if you study lecture notes and discussion material beforehand, you should be fine. The final however, I never took because it was canceled due to Corona; our grades were based on discussions, EC, and the midterm. We were still given a list of questions acting as a SG for the final and most of these were going to be on the final anyways so I doubt it would've been bad. Professor David Jewitt, where do I even start. This man is a fucking legend. He, along with one of his research partners, discovered an object deep in our solar system that helped drive the decision that Pluto isn't a planet. He really knows what he is talking about and he enjoys talking about it so much, it is amazing. His lectures are some of the most engaging I have ever been in and i often lost track of time because of how engaged I was. He would show videos and pictures to really help students understand the content better which was super helpful. DO NOT SKIP LECTURE, they are actually enjoyable to go to. He also has a very comedic personality and will often satirize everything about anything which was hilarious. I remember one of the lectures being about all the different ways humans can destroy all life as we know it and that was the best lecture I have ever been to in my life. Funny, informative, engaging, etc. . Jewitt also ended class 15-20 min early almost every lecture, so you're in there for an hour max most of the time. Definitely a fantastic class and if i see Jewitts name on another course, I will not hesitate to enroll in it as soon as possible!

For EPS SCI 9 with Professor Jewitt, I generally enjoyed the class. The lectures were engaging and interesting, with a small twist of humor that garnered a small chuckle from the class. He was thorough in explaining the topics at hand, but sometimes the topic did seem to drift from the core of the class. For example, we spent quite a large amount of time on Earth's geology (i.e. plate tectonics, atmosphere) relative to the other topics of the course. While I'm sure this is important, it threw me for a loop. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed these topics.

With regards to grading, this quarter was a particular circumstance because of the cancellation of in-person finals due to the coronavirus. So, Professor Jewitt canceled the final and accordingly scaled the midterm and labs. While it is true that the midterm would have been harder than the final (he was going to provide us with questions on the final), I cannot complain about grading because he provided up to 20% extra credit, which is extremely generous. All in all, though this class was a bit different from what I anticipated, it was still extremely interesting and low stress.

TL;DR: Professor Jewitt is a professor who is passionate about the topics which he teaches, passing this enthusiasm onto students while at the same time providing sufficient extra credit to help students focus on learning, not grades.