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.

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 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.

This class was very well organized and easy to keep track of weekly assignments. I also liked the fact that the weighting of grade was fairly evenly distributed between the various parts of the class, making it pretty easy to get a good grade. That said, it was a lot more work than I initially anticipated. Between the weekly readings, lecture, quiz, discussion post, lab assignment, and discussion section I found myself spending a lot of time doing work for this class. A lot of writing assignments that were often graded somewhat harshly by the TAs on account of there not being a final. Instead there is a final paper that you work on for the last three weeks of the class. Overall a decent GE class.

This class is very easy and is organized very well. The content is super interesting too. Would recommend it to anyone.

I would highly recommend this class. It was super manageable and an easy science GE. It was also interesting and Professor Cavanaugh was a fun and engaging professor. Lectures were interesting and the lab sections were easy to do well in.

This class was a pretty easy and interesting GE. Although it is a clicker class and in general those kind of suck, Professor Cavanaugh makes the class interesting and is pretty lenient with his grading policies. If you show up to most of the lectures, pay some attention, and take decent notes this class is pretty easy. The tests are fair and the lab section is pretty easy, although it did get annoying at times as its pretty long and had a decent workload. In terms of material, the first half is pretty dry as its mostly general science stuff like biomes and wind patterns. The second half focuses a lot on environmental issues and the reasons behind them like global warming, smog creation, wildfires etc. which makes up for the first half. Take this class if you can as its both an easy and interesting GE with a cool professor.

Geog 5 one of most interesting classes I've taken at UCLA. Cavanaugh is a great professor and his lectures are very organized and clear. He also offers up to 2% EC to your final grade for participating in class. You do actually have to show up for lectures because he does clicker questions, but that's graded on participation and you don't have to actually get them correct to get credit. Labs were super simple. We usually just did worksheets and our section always got out early because they didn't take too long to complete. There is a final group project and that's probably the most amount of work. I know everyone says that the exams are easy, but I struggled with them. They're easy enough to get a good grade if you study, but not easy enough to pass without doing any work. But even if you do struggle with the exams, they're not worth enough to actually ruin your grade. I got low Bs on both the midterm and final but I think all the cushion from lab work saved my grade and I still got an A in the class.

This class was a pleasure to take with Mr. Cavanaugh. He always made lectures entertaining and engaging. You can get 1% extra credit to the overall grade (equal to 10 free points.. he grades out of 1000) every time you participate in class, up to 2% max. Midterm and Final were both very fair, people were finishing the final in about 30-45 min. Also! The class is bruincasted which is very nice, though clickers are required. Overall, I would recommend this class as not only an easy and doable lab GE, but also for personal interest.

I had Hudson Spivey as my TA, overall he was decent and always trying to engage with the students. The final paper he pretty much just wanted the paper to be interesting.

Overall, this class was a joy to take. Professor Cavanaugh was very engaging in his lectures, incorporating videos, demonstrations, and guiding questions. He did use iClickers, which I found helpful given that they were graded for participation and some were repeated on the midterm and final. Lectures were BruinCasted which is appreciated. Lab sections were once a week for two hours and although sometimes long, were never challenging and all lab work (except for the final group paper/presentation) was done in class. Communication between the TAs and the professor was strong too. Both exams were fair and the final consisted only of multiple choice and tested on general concepts, examples, and supplemental readings (i.e. articles). Textbook wasn’t necessary but is helpful if you do not have a general understanding of the topics going in. Prof. Cavanugh did cancel several lectures but still found a way to keep us on track without it feeling overwhelming. I would definitively take a class with him again!