This professor is the nicest, happiest person I've ever met! He has such genuine passion for the subject and never fails to make his lectures interesting. If you have the chance to take him, definitely do it! I wish I could take him again so much to the point where I contemplate taking the same class again. Genuinely love him, take him you will not regret it

Amazing professor! I took this class fall quarter of my freshman year and Rosario is definitely one of the best professors I had this year. His lectures are very interesting and he is very passionate about the subject. There was one midterm which was multiple choice and it was based off his lectures so it was pretty easy. Same goes for the final. He also cares for his students! For example, he took the time to learn a lot of our names, and he listens for student's feedback on how he is doing as a professor and what he can do to make the class better. I ran into him again during spring quarter at Ackerman Union and he stopped me to say hello! I was surprised when he remembered my name!

Like previous reviews said, the professor is a sweet guy. However, this does not excuse him from his many faults. His slides are awful, plain and simple. If you end up taking the class, you'll see what im talking about the first day. The slides would literally remind me of Picasso paintings with everything all over the place. He would rarely write stuff down, but when he did it was just a random word that I had no idea what to do with. Literally. Just one word. His accent is also very heavy but you learn to get used to it after a while. The tests weren't bad, but questions just seemed very strange. The real terrible part of this class is the lab portion. Dear God, I'm a forth year and have taken many lab classes since im a bio major and this lab was so bad. The first few weeks we just looked at rocks. Exciting. If you have Heather as a TA good luck. She always looked bothered when you asked a question. Very unhelpful and condescending. The other review stating we were lazy and overdramatic is deadass so wrong. Coming from someone who got an A in the class, I felt like I had to work twice as hard compared to people with other TAs just to make up where Heather was lacking. She graded labs inconsistently, like my partner having the exact same data and she marked me off more than my partner when we had the exact same thing. Exactly the same. When you come to confront her about this she gets defensive and says she had to grade the whole thing over again, where she will take off even more points. Seriously, this has happened to me and other people. Ultimately, this class was a pain in this ass and extremely dry and boring (yes I understand its a geology class but boy did this turn out even worse than I thought). If you have the option just take another class.

As a first-year, I was at first really intimidated to enter a lecture that 200 other people were signed up for, but because lecture attendance wasn't mandatory, there were maybe 75 of us there each lecture. But lecture is super worth going to, even if it was a MWF 9 AM. Professor Esposito was really funny and engaging and although it may take a lecture or two to get used to his accent, it eventually became really unnoticeable. During lecture, he would literally tell us what would be on the midterm and final and told us exactly how it would be divided so when I took them, there were no surprises. His lectures are also Bruincasted which are really helpful for the final, I listened to them at 1.25x and took notes to study and got a 95%. He put in tons of effort to keep the class engaging, even showing us the Earfquake music video in class to reinforce concepts and even taught us life lessons like how a diploma will open tons of doors for us. He also offers up to 5% extra credit (3% from an essay about one of the videos he shows in class and 2% by going to the Natural History Museum for free with ticket vouchers he gives and answering some questions). I would definitely retake this class with Esposito and this class actually pushed me to minor in Environmental Systems and Society. And with lab, I had Heather and even though she grades a little harsher than the other TAs, she's definitely the most knowledgable one and was really helpful during office hours. Don't be scared to have her as a TA because she wants you to succeed in her lab section and will answer any and all questions you have. Take this class !! It's definitely worth it.

He is just the sweetest guy ever! He would try to learn the names of everyone who answers questions in lecture, and he made small talk with students sitting in the front rows every day before class starts. The field trip was very interesting and helped a great deal in relating what we learn in class to real life. He gave out a lot of extra credit and the tests were all multiple choices. It is a pretty easy class as long as you go to lectures. I would strongly recommend taking the class with him.

As a political science/public affairs double major, I was looking for an easy, yet fun and engaging science GE... I definitely found those qualities in this class! The grade breakdown was 10% Exercise Quizzes (he pretty much gave all the answers during lecture and he pretty much gave you 100% as long as you turned it in), 15% Midterm, 25% Labs, 10% Lab Final, 40% Final. So yes, there are two separate finals for the class, but they're honestly not bad at all (especially the 40% final which is based on things we learned in lecture). He also gives opportunities for extra credit, which has the chance to boost your grade by at least a couple percentage points hehe

The labs were not too difficult, and especially going to your TA's office hours practically guarantees that you do well on them. Professor Esposito (though he refused to be called professor when I talked to him in office hours once LOL) is such a kind man, and he genuinely cares about relating the course content to UCLA, Los Angeles, and us students! Lecture attendance isn't that necessary, BUT PLEASE remember to at least listen to his Bruincast audio files, because he mentions what will be on the tests SEVERAL DIFFERENT TIMES. Best of luck to you all, I highly recommend this class.

Seems I'm the only one among the comments who take this class for a geology-related field (geochemistry minor.) Indeed, the lecture part of the class, including the midterm and lecture final, are fairly easy. Just attending every lecture will guarantee a 90+ in your exams. However, if you actually want to learn something for your major/minor, he may not be your best choice because he spends a huge amount of time in class playing irrelevant videos.
The lab part is a bit more tricky and highly unrelated to the lecture. Just treat them as separate classes and don't assume the lab will be as easy.

Rosario is the cutest, sweetest professor evaaaaa. It is very evident that he loves his job and cares very much for his students. When I went to his office hours, he seemed genuinely excited to answer any questions I had. His midterm/final are EXTREMELY easy and straightforward as long as you go through his lecture slides. In class, he would literally tell us what was going to be on the exam. Make sure you pay attention to the pictures he adds too because he tests on those a lot.

On the first day of class, he asked us for songs/movies/etc from pop culture that relate to geology and took our answers and interwove them throughout the class. Some questions were even on the final. It really helps to go to lecture, but if you can't, at least listen to his bruincasts. After the midterm, I only went to lecture like 60% of the time, and of those times, I would come in with only 20 minutes left... but that's just how easy his class is. tbh, I wish I went to class more because he is a funny dude. Also, I never really took notes. I just had a section in my notes app where I would take pictures of the slides he specifically said would be on the final and some quick things about them.

The lab was kinda annoying, but honestly it was fine and not as bad as everyone made it out to be. I had Heather as a TA, and I liked her! People just didn't like her because they thought she was a harsh grader, but tbh I think they were just dumb/lazy... She's a bit awkward, but a lot of people would be when you're teaching in front of 30+ unresponsive college students who mostly took the class because they heard it was an easy not because they actually had any interest in it. I would talk to her throughout class, and she was actually kind and interesting and talked about her fieldwork in Australia (I think it was)--ended up being on our lecture final too.

TLDR; take the class, its easy, professor is sweet, heather isn't as bad as people think, and there's lots of extra credit.

This professor made himself extremely available for questions through emails or after class. He made the class fun and tried connecting boring earth stuff to things that college students could relate to! The labs however I have to admit were tough and the lab final was a disaster. But, if you are present at every lecture and take good notes this'll be an easy A!

I loved Professor Esposito, but the content of the class was really difficult for me. However, the tests are extremely straightforward and don't involve tiny details that you think you might need to know, so all in all they're pretty easy! Labs are difficult sometimes, but if you work in groups they are okay.