This professor SUCKS..... DO NOT take a class with him unless you want to fail!!!
His lectures don't correspond to his exams and overall he just lectures all over the place.
He really is the only one who knows what he is talking about and he just can NOT teach it to anyone else....
The worst Professor i have ever had....Just WORST

I 1000% agree with the last review. This class was unnecessarily difficult, considering it’s literally about soil. The midterm and final account for over 75% of your grade (combined), and the rest is for participation in TA sections that were not mentioned on MyUCLA. With half the quarter being online, he still gave us the midterm in person - to no surprise, most of us didn’t do well. The content is also really confusing and he requires you to memorize a lot (taxonomy, etc), which makes it all 10x harder. Lots of chemistry too, to the point where it should have been a pre-requisite to take the class. He also has a weirdly strict notebook policy, and doesn’t hesitate to yell at anyone who has a laptop/ ipad in sight - he completely humiliated someone during lecture who was just taking notes on his laptop. Unless you love dirt, do NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Worst one I have taken at UCLA by far.

I took this class Winter 2022, when the first half was online and the second half was in person. I'll mainly talk about my in person experience since going forward, this class will probably be in person. The first day of in person class was a closed note midterm, pretty messed up. This class is not easy, probably one of the hardest geography classes i've taken. I would agree with the other review, do NOT be fooled by the distribution, this class was way different this year. Not only is it hard, it's also incredibly boring and very physics and chemistry based. The lecture material was very different than the study guide material. There's just A TON and overwhelming amount of material we need to memorize. So much taxonomy and nomenclature, formulas, reactions, on top of the difficult concepts. It is so overwhelming to make it all fair game for a CLOSED note exam. Okin is a soil expert and this stuff is easy for him so he forgets that us students are new to this and its hard to pick this all up so quickly. The TA sections were all over the place since lecture did not match up to the study guide which was what we covered in TA sessions. Oh yea, he decided to surprise TA sessions on us which were MANDATORY. These TA sessions were NOT listed on myUCLA and nobody knew about them until we were already enrolled. Not sure how this was even allowed, but honestly, pretty messed up to spring them on us when many people have work or other obligations during the TA sessions. The professor was not very good at explaining things, made me even more confused. LOL yea he screamed at a kid on the first day for having his laptop out. He has a no laptop policy and someone was unaware so they had their laptop out. Professor Okin stops the class to scream at him in front of the ENTIRE lecture. There's a mature and professional way to handle that, and he did the exact opposite. Embarrassing a student like that reflects WAY poorly on YOU, not the student. ALSOOO he gave me a C+ in the class and i was like WTF... only for him to check and say Nevermind, you got a B. The stresssss is not worth it. Avoid this class unless you want to get a phd is soil chemistry.

Professor Okin makes this class is much more difficult than what it needs to be. Do not expect to take this class and feel the professors support or like he cares about his student's success in the class. Your grade is based solely on a midterm, final, and TA section participation. While the TA section participation is easy points, the midterm and final determine wether or not you pass the class. The professor post 0 lecture material so you'll have to go rewatch lectures for the slide you need. Professor Okin also does not allow for students to use electronics in class so all your notes will have to be taken on paper. Professor Okin encourages students to sit and listen to his lecture instead of trying to take notes then go back and rewatch lectures to take your notes. Basically, he is asking students to put in twice the amount of work for his class cause I really don't think he understands that students take other classes outside of his own. He does post a study guide for the midterm and final where he outlines key concepts from his lectures. However, his exams do not reflect this material and instead focus on naming soils....The only real support you get in this class is from the TAs who feel much more passionate about student success than the professor.

Do not be fooled by the grade distribution. It was when this class was completely online-open exams. I took this class Winter 2022 and it was horrible and extremely difficult. The first half of the class was completely asynchonous, and the FIRST time we ever met in person was for a CLOSED note midterm. Honestly so horrible, online learning was rough and then you give us an in person exam for the first time ever seeing you?? This class was so hard. FULL of soil chemistry and physics. He expects you to memorize so much information its so overwhelming. The worst class I have ever taken my 4 years at UCLA so far. We also had surprise TA sections that counted towards our grade when it was NOT listed on myUCLA at all. So i signed up for this class planning it around my work schedule, and then he decided to add mandatory TA sections which were not helpful at all because lecture was very disconnected from TA sessions. Professor is also cocky and doesn't take criticism well. He screamed at a kid infront of the entire class for having a laptop. Super embarrassing for that guy and very unprofessional for Greg to call him out like that. He has some sort of Superiority complex . This was truly a horrible class. Not interesting at all. I worked my ass off and still didnt do well because of all the material and intense concepts. Only take this class if youre a chemistry major.

Highly recommend this class and professor. Lots of content given and tested on, but it is a very reasonable amount of work per week. Very clear instructions for assignments. It is a perfect GE in my opinion with very minimal interaction and commitment needed.

There are some rather harsh reviews of Dr. Okin on this page and while I can understand why some may feel like that, it is important for those who read Bruinwalk to understand that those are the people who did not put in the effort to rise to the challenge. Don't be deterred by their reviews. Dr. Okin is the reason I went from N. campus to S. Campus at the end of my 2nd year. He helped me discover my love for science and he helped me realize that being a lawyer was actually the last thing I wanted to be.

I took Geog 1 with Dr. Okin and didn't really like him for the first few weeks of the quarter, but eventually he changed my opinion of him completely, this guy is a genius. If you take the opportunity to get to know him, you will learn SO much.

He is really good at explaining things in more than one way until you understand a concept. I got a C in Geog 1, but that had entirely to do with struggles outside of my academic life.

I decided to give his upper div class a shot and it ended up changing my life. It was SO hard and I had to study so much but I ended up getting one of the highest grades on the midterm and an A in his class. Don't be afraid to take this class if you have never taken chemistry before, its going to be hard but you might surprise yourself.

Geog1 is a really difficult class as a GE science requirement. Just working on study guide you will get good grades, however, sometimes you even cannot get the answer of the questions of the study guide. TA does not know too. If you want to get a A, your lab score must above 95 I think. And A is super difficult if you are not interested in GEOG.

WONDERFUL professor! He is extremely concerned about his students' learning, and is always willing to help. Tests were extremely fair, although beware -- there's only one midterm and one final, each worth 50% of your grade. His passion for soils truly got me interested in the material -- I don't think I will ever look at soils the same again. Take this professor; you won't regret it. One of the best professors that I have ever had at UCLA.

Professor Okin is an excellent professor and conveys information effectively. His exams were difficult but very straightforward, meaning that he doesn't try to trick you, but he makes sure you know the material. Make sure to record his lectures because his exams are straight from what he talks about during class.

My only concern/annoyance of the class was that non-geography majors get screwed. There were a lot of graduate geography students and undergraduate geography and environmental science majors who had an upper hand, smothering the curve. So beware, if you're an EEB major be ready to study your butt off!

Nonetheless Okin is a very good teacher and a fairly easy tester.