I loved this class! I took it (virtually) for fun and would recommend it to anyone who wants to gain some foundational knowledge in astronomy or biology. I would definitely recommend it to first year students, because it covers a wide breadth of introductory material for different fields. Also, lectures are live but do not require attendance.

This was the course breakdown:
Homework 40% (drop 2 of 8)
Take-home midterm exam 30% (multiple choice)
Take-home final exam 30% (multiple choice)

There were also 10 points of extra credit, and the weekly homework and exams were open-notes.

Dr. Treude taught more of the biology content, which I found very interesting because I am a life science major. Unexpectedly, it overlapped well with my MIMG 101 class. Dr. Treude talked about her research too, which I found interesting.
The tests and homework were easy, although there are a few quantitative questions on the exams, which could be tough for people less knowledgeable in physics. I am a life science major with some (not much) background in math/physics and a lot of space knowledge, so I did not have issues with the material, but if you do not have a STEM background, it might be more difficult. Also, there were a few questions on the exams pulled directly from the textbook, so make sure to at least skim it before the exams!

The class is designed as an easy GE. In fact, I believe a lot of the lower divisions classes in EPS SCI department are. The homeworks and exams are all easy. The only minor problem is that Professor Margot sometimes talk about really confusing astrophysical stuff, such as the multi-stages of the Bigbang, that are kind of hard for me to grasp because I personally didn't take any physics in high school. But none of the difficult stuff are tested, so there's that. Professor Treude teaches the biology part and I find her content clearer than Margot's because the concepts are more concrete and finite and there are no extraneous untested things. I wouldn't take this course again personally to be honest because I find the physics part a bit boring and remote. But that's just me.

Tina was a great lecturer. She was very clear and very passionate about what she taught. I'd happily take a class with her again.

I'm going to be completely honest and say that I really struggled with this class! The lectures felt very lengthy and difficult to understand, though I really appreciate that both Professor Treude and Margot left up their slides and recordings of the classes. The recordings and slides made homework so much easier for me to get done (you will definitely need them). The midterms and finals were definitely the most tedious parts of the class. I would mainly say that the wording of the questions was the most difficult part for me to process. My major is in the liberal arts field, which probably explains why. Despite my own confusion, most of the stem based majors that took this class said it was their easiest class and barely took any time for them. I would definitely find a group of people to study with as soon as possible, since your grade essentially consists of homework, midterms, and the final, with nothing else to boost your grade up.

Even though this class was personally super difficult for me, it had a lot of pros to it! The homework was fairly simple and was required to complete every week (which helped me boost my grade). Your two worst homework scores also get dropped, and there is extra credit that is offered and available to complete online. I wouldn't necessarily take this class again, but it's definitely not the worst science GE out there!

Professor Treude is a very kind, engaging instructor who truly cares about her students. Based on previous reviews, I was not looking forward to a good experience in this class at all, but I can say with confidence that this was my favorite class this quarter. As long as you pay attention to all the lectures and at least scan all the readings, this class should be an easy A. All of the exams were straightforward (although the lab final did have a few challenging and quite specific questions). I definitely felt that the second half of the class (which was more heavily focused on marine biology) was more interesting than the first half (which covered stuff like plate movement, seawater chemistry, sediments, etc). I really loved that Professor Treude constantly updated us via Canvas--acknowledging that it has been a tough quarter for us and even making certain accommodations (like extending the time given on our midterm + final). If you need a science GE, take this class!!

She's super cool and really nice! This class isn't as interesting as you might expect because we went a lot more into the details of the oceans themselves than the animals living in them, but we also learned about the marine species later in the course as well. Exams were online because of COVID, and they were open-note and open-slides. I definitely recommend it if you need a science GE!

Workload: Extremely light, there are 8 homework quizzes and the two lowest scores get dropped. The weekly quizzes took 10 minutes and there are 6-12 questions straight from lab slides and readings. You have from Friday-Friday to complete them. There are recommended readings but I never read them.

Lecture: Not mandatory. She reads straight from the slides. I went to three of them. It was not necessary. Plus they are recorded.

Lab: Time consuming and a bit challenging. Lab worksheets are based on completion, not correctness.

Midterm/Final: Online and open note. Extremely easy and straight from lecture slides.

Lab Quiz: Very challenging but its only worth 10% and your extra credit covers it if you bomb it.

Extra credit: 5% is a survey and the other 5% is an aquarium visit. DO THE EXTRA CREDIT!!!

Final note: Easy A. Boring class. If you don't mind being bored for an hour and 50 minutes once a week, take the class.

A good class to take if you need to fulfill your science GE. All exams were online, open-note, and timed. They were really no sweat and you had more than enough time. I believe we got like 2 hours to answer 40 questions on the final. Really an easy class that was also fun and interesting. You learn about the ocean, climate change, ocean laws, etc, etc...You have weekly online quizzes that are not timed, and she drops THREE of your lowest quiz grades. THREE. And, they were really easy. There is also a Lab Final (So, in total, 1 midterm, 1 final, and 1 lab final all open-note, and timed) which was actually low-key tricky but it was worth literally 8% of your grade, so you are chilling. And, she gives EC which is free points for going to the aquarium or where-ever. She is also super nice and cares about her students. The midterm was taken around the time of the shooting threat and to alleviate our stress she gave us an extra hour to take the midterm.