Honestly one of the best classes I have taken at UCLA so far! The lectures were pre recorded and very engaging. In office hours, Prof Cavanaugh was extremely helpful and always eager to engage with the students and have conversations regarding the week's material.
There was no midterm or final, but there were weekly reading/lecture quizzes (you were allowed to attempt each quiz twice) and weekly lab reports. The lab reports were graded very strictly following the rubric.
In place of a final, we had a final report which we could do on any topic of interest that related to the class.
Despite the fact that grading was very strict, I wholeheartedly recommend this class. If you put in the work and are diligent with all your assignments, it is not that bad.

Prof. Cavanaugh and the TAs for this class are SUPER helpful. The course itself is really interesting and the lectures are really easy to watch. There was no final or midterm for the class. We only had weekly labs, had to answer discussion questions to make sure we were keeping up with the lectures, and had VERY easy quizzes. There is definitely a lot of work you have to do each week but compensating that with no final or midterm is definitely worth it!

I actually really liked this class. I thought the content was interesting and the professor had good lecture videos. I found that I could skim the textbook after I watched the videos and still do well on the weekly quizzes. But this class was a fair amount of work--we had weekly quizzes, discussion posts (due by wed), and short lab essays/assignments. We didn't have a midterm or final but there was a big final essay project that took a fair amount of time.

Well structured class, so you are good as long as you keep up with the weekly assignments. Enjoyed this especially because of my TA Sammy Feldblum!! Such a chill, helpful, and understanding dude!! 11/10 would recommend.

Honestly, this was an APES class with a little bit more work. That's all. Really not difficult material. Professor Cavanaugh clearly loves what he does and I appreciated how he laid out this course in COVID times, as I was able to pace myself with the recorded lectures and such. Also LOVED the absence of tests and quizzes, I actually felt like I could learn without stressing over a test grade. The workload itself isn't too bad but in conjunction with other classes it did sometimes get annoying, so try to turn things in early. My TA (Furnaro) really engaged with us, too. Note that medical notes are required for discussion absences to be excused.

I took this class asynchronously. The lectures were great, fun and interesting. The discussion sections were super helpful. It is a lot of info but nothing too crazy. I recommend this class.

You were expected to complete five things each week: reading, lecture videos, discussion posts, lab assignments, and weekly quizzes. The lectures for this class were entirely asynchronous, pre-recorded, in my quarter. The lectures were very concise, resonating with the readings. The weekly quizzes came from both readings and the lectures and were not too hard because it was all open books, open notes. You have two attempts to do the weekly quizzes. For the discussion post, I felt like the first half of the class was a lot heavier than the second half. The discussion posts were graded based on completion. The lab assignments were the heaviest workload of the week. Sometimes I spent 5-7 hours completing them. Overall, you might spend five up to 10 hours for this class a week. This class had such a heavy workload compared to my other class; however, you did not have any midterm or final. You'll have a final paper that is quite long, but you will have three weeks to start constructing and thinking about your paper.

This class has a heavy workload, especially as a GE class. But, the content is very interesting; you'll learn from physical to human geography and their interactions. So, it is very comprehensive if you want to study more in geography; this would be a great beginning course. My TA wasn't very prepared for my discussion session, but it was very chill, just sitting in the class for participation points. My TA graded quite harshly, so hopefully, you get a good TA. Read instructions for the lab assignment carefully, especially the rubric if they have ones if you expect a good grade. Overall, take this class if you are interested in geography. If you do work (read instructions carefully) and complete everything by deadlines, you can expect good grades in this class.

one of the easiest classes I've taken at ucla so far. I took it online w an in person discussion so idk if that played a difference but it was a breeze. only assignments are reading quizzes and a weekly lab. no midterm or final, just a final research paper (on a topic of your choosing).

my ta was very nice and I had no problems getting good grades on these. content was also super interesting. 10/10 class would highly recommend (esp if u need a lab credit & already have a hard schedule)

I really enjoyed this class. There is a good amount of weekly work (watch the lectures, read a chapter or two from the e-textbook, complete a discussion post, quiz, assignment) but the information is really interesting and valuable, the work is not too difficult and it's easy to get an A. The class is extremely well-organized. You can re-take the quizzes so it's pretty easy to get a 100% on all of them. Prof Cavanaugh is great, really helpful and an engaging, clear lecturer.

as someone who has done mediocre on stem classes in the past, this class was pretty easy for a "stem" class ! every week covered a different topic, such as water scarcity, weather, environmental justice, etc so there is a nice variety of concepts covered. you have to watch lecture videos uploaded by prof. cavanaugh but they're pretty short, complete a discussion response 1 hour before your section, a lab report, and a weekly quiz. discussion response is graded on completion, the quizzes are pretty easy (just ctrl f the textbook, and there's no time limit). the only thing that is a pain is the lab reports. up until week 6, you have to do one every week and it took me about 3-4 hours to do each one since there are lots of tiny requirements you have to meet and you have to gather data on that topic. nonetheless, the topics were pretty interesting to write about and the grading wasn't too harsh. as someone who sucks at stem i highly recommend this class for an easy science/lab ge (im actually considering minoring in geography/environmental studies now). also ta Jennifer badger is really nice, highly recommend :)