This class is co-taught by Jean-Luc Margot (who covers the more physical side) and Tina Treude, who covers the biological side of astrobiology.

The extra credit is to take a trip to: Griffith Observatory, OR La Brea Tar Pits, OR Mount Wilson, OR California Academy of Science, OR Natural History Museum.

The professors are incredibly engaging - they even add jokes on the exams!! The work load is minimal (only took me ten minutes a week), but it also reinforces your understanding. There isn’t much math involved at all.

Overall, a HIGHLY engaging and fun class - I recommend this to anybody who’s even remotely interested in science, space, or life on other planets (and who isn’t?)!

This class is co-taught by Jean-Luc Margot and Tina Treude. Tina deserves a higher rating than JLM because the material she tests us on is way easier than what JLM puts on our tests. She is not as engaging as JLM, but she is way, way easier. Her midterm was easy and fair, and the final that JLM gave us killed us all and destroyed our grades. This class isn't necessarily hard, but JLM puts very confusing and irrelevant material on the final. I had an A up until the final day and ended up with a B+ in the class – JLM curved in other quarters, but he decided not to curve the class for us. The class as a whole isn't hard, and there is extra credit offered, but be weary of JLM and his killer final.
40% homework, 30% midterm, and 30% final (+ 1% extra credit if you decide to do it).

This class is a great GE if you're looking for something interesting with very minimal work involved. As others have mentioned, this class is taught by 2 professors-Margot is an astronomer who handles basic astronomical and physical concepts while Treude is a marine scientist who lectures on the biological and chemical aspects in astrobiology. Some people here felt that the professors were boring which is unfortunate but understandable if these individuals sat at the back of the lecture hall. This is a very large class taught in a really big lecture hall so I recommend sitting closer to the front where you can actually see the professors' faces; they are both passionate about teaching this class and it helps to see them if you have a hard time listening to European accents . I'd also like to mention that they were both incredibly nice and helpful. I had a serious medical emergency that forced me to miss the midterm for the class. Both of the professors were very supportive and understanding and let my final exam grade count for my missed midterm grade as well. Do NOT slack off for the final, there were some surprisingly tricky questions. I devoted one entire day of studying for this class' final and was able to come through with a 100%, it's definitely doable! None of the concepts in this class are difficult and most should be familiar for anyone with a minimal science background. I highly recommend this class.

I took intro to oceanography with her. If anyone wants to buy the required textbooks text me at **********. Selling for $20

No need to go to lecture, but maybe it helps (I wouldn’t know). I gave up on going to lectures because on the first day I showed up late and had to sit on the floor, as there were no more seats left. Hw is 40% of grade and really short (graded on accuracy however). Midterm was moderately easy, but Final was hard (both all MC). I used the pdf version of the book and posted ppt slides to study for exams; very light work load, but I would say put in some effort if you want the solid A. I got median on the midterm and a 50-something % on the final, whoops. (Pretty much equivalent to taking ¼ of a class if you don’t mind getting a “P” or somewhere from A- to B-)

There are two professors (1 for the first half of the quarter: Jean-Luc Margot, and 1 for the second half of the quarter: Tina Treude). Prof Margot makes the lectures somewhat fun, but Prof Treude has a thick accent that makes her difficult to understand. The material is extremely boring if you're taking this for an easy GE and not actually interested in the subject. Don't wait until the day before final to study because there is a lot of material.

Honestly, this is not an easy A GE unless you take it as a Pass/No Pass. I stopped going to lecture week 3 because they were not engaging and found myself reading all the powerpoints and taking notes on my own before each exam. I got a 68% and 70% on the exams and had a 98% for homework and got a B because of the extra credit, but changed it to Pass/NP for other reasons. Anyways, this class is not as easy as others make it seem but I have to admit Jean luc Margot makes the lectures a little bit more bearable.

I don't know why Jean-Luc Margot has a ton more reviews than Tina Treude when they divide the class pretty equally (if anything I felt Tina Treude lectured more). They're both incredibly knowledgeable in their fields, but Jean-Luc Margot is more interesting. At least in my opinion. Maybe that's why he has more reviews.

In my opinion (and it seems like opinions are divided) the class wasn't too difficult. Weekly homework was 40%, midterm was 30%, and final was 30%. So there is a lot of weight on weekly homework, which isn't hard at all. For me, the material can be boring, but there are some interesting facts, especially if you like learning about planets, since there was a lecture on Mars and the big moons of Jupiter and Saturn. As long as you leave some time to go over the material before an exam, it shouldn't be too hard.

This review is for EPS SCI 15 (INTRO TO OCEANOGRAPHY) since she is not listed with this class in bruinwalk.
Honestly, EPS SCI 15 is a seriously insanely complex class, with it being an intro class. The mid-term wasn't hard, but the requirements that go around this class make your grade primarily focusing on the lab itself... which is ridiculous if you already did your lab requirement. I don't think the lab portion should be required if you already did it! My lab requirement class made it a separate listing... Anyways. I think the concept of weekly lab tests is absurd and over the top. Also, what's the point of the lab assignments if they don't even count for our grade? My TA was extremely nice and patient but sometimes what she made is do during lab wasn't as easy as it was to do on the quiz. Although Treude does allow 10% extra credit, it isn't enough for what she makes you go through with this glass being a GE. This class is only an easy A/B if you have it as a pass/ no pass. Also, the lectures are ridiculously boring and her voice can get very soft and makes it hard to hear at times. The slides also have so much info and most of the time it's pointless writing what she has on the slides because she posts the slides on CCLE, which makes it more convenient to focus more on what she says that isn't on the slides (which is rarely... since she generally reads only what's on the slide). I can't wait for this class to be over... Way too much stress for a class that grad schools won't even care about if you're a non-stem major... and even then, I have some stem friends in this class who hate it. Also, that lab final... Treude needs to find a way to make this class a learning experience and not a stress experience. This class does have the potential to be fun, but the stress brought through the lab makes this class a hell.
Oh UCLA... how I hate your science reqs as someone who is a humanities major...

Although Treude is a petite individual, she manages to make her presence clear. She does have a German accent, but in my opinion, it did not make understanding her any difficult. Her lectures seemed to go by very slowly although her class was an hour and 15 minutes. I mainly feel like that was because she would primarily read off of the slides and it wasn't really until the end of the quarter that she started to add more input towards the powerpoints. Also, I felt that this class would be fun if it wasn't for the lab portion, which is 40% of your grade (30% weekly lab quiz and 10% lab final). The lab quizzes were generally inconsistent as to how they were structured- sometimes they were fairly easy and sometimes they were fairly hard. They do take off the 2 worst scores but I did fairly poorly on the exams even though I studied a day before and studied before the class started. Also, the mid-term was structured in a very basic manner, but I also did not do as I thought I would because I did not know how to study but it's literally just memorizing the powerpoints. The 10% portion of the extra credit is very generous by part of Treude, but it can only help so much. If you do poorly on the labs quizzes and on the lab final, you MUST do good on the both the mid-term and final. I would recommend this class, but it is not one I thoroughly enjoyed since it was highly memory based and not hands-on as I thought it would be.