Similar experience to most of the other reviews for this professor. I would not recommend taking this class unless you have a strong interest in soil and can tolerate learning about the chemistry associated with soil. 75% of the grade in this class is dependent on a singular midterm and the final. Not at all worth the stress if you were just looking for a class to fulfill upper div credits.

Pros:
- No hw assignments, relatively low commitment as far as coursework goes
- Weekly TA meetings are helpful reviews, and you can attend any session during the week (was held over zoom)
- Were given Miterm and Final exam review questions which served as useful practice (*However* these questions were not necessarily representative of the actual exam questions)

Cons:
- Lecture slides are not posted
- Lecture material has no logical flow, and many slides lack sufficient text so it's difficult to take good notes unless you write down every word he says
- Midterm has a RIDICULOUS amount of soil naming terms to memorize, making the test nearly impossible to cram for
- Midterm was not handed back, had to attend TA office hours to see your own exam even though it was taken with blue books
- Material was not presented in a particularly interesting way, didn't feel like I actually learned much about soil as a whole besides the small chemical processes that happen in soil
- The "no technology in class" policy makes it so you have to spend even more time outside of class if you want to write down notes on things you missed in lecture

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.

Professor Okin is a great professor. Took his GeoM127 class about soils and he turned a pretty bland subject into a somewhat interesting subject. Best advice to you is to record the lectures or find a friend who does. The textbook is basically worthless. He gives you a set of study questions for the midterm and final. I aced both the midterm and final by just re-listening to his lectures and answering the study questions as they came up. Was not difficult at all if you pay attention in class and understand the concepts which aren't that hard.

Prof Okin is kind of a douche. it feels like he wants to be one of those amazing life-changing professors, and thus accordingly tries to be "cool" and "bad-ass". however, he just falls flat. because he tries to do his lectures in a really conversational, "make-it-interesting-by-not-reading-off-the-powerpoint" style, he takes forever to say what could be said in a few words. that are on the powerpoint. also, it seems like he has some perverse need to kick a certain number of people out of class every quarter, and thus assert is position of power over us mere students. he kicked three out this quarter, and one or two in both lectures from last year i listened to online. it's really weird and stupid.
all that being said, if you can get through his lecture this class is really easy. labs are an easy 40% of your grade, and the tests, while being so ridiculously specific it's hard to study effectively for them, are curved so much that it doesn't really matter...

Okin was a very mediocre professor. I found it very hard to pay attention to his lectures during the first half of the quarter, but the second half was actually pretty interesting, probably because he knew more about it so he was more enthusiastic about the material. However, I enjoyed his teaching style and he was very fair, so if you are interested in physical geography I would highly recommend this class. If you have no interest whatsoever, I would choose another class because the material is a bit dry if you have no interest.

不推荐，比较难，同类中有简单很多的课，底下的评论都是外国人写的，外国人学这种课都很认真

I liked Okin and I got an A- without even reading the book (which by the way was kind of a waste of money). and if you talk to him outside of class, you'll understand why. He seems somewhat intimidating during lecture, but he's really interested in what he's teaching. I look forward to taking more classes with him.