Very strictly graded for an introductory 200 course!!! The work load is also way more than you would expect, and it has taken up almost all my attention (my classmates complain about this as well). As much as I enjoy the assignments and projects we do throughout the course, the level they are graded at is ridiculous. The deadlines are also super tight, so I've fallen behind sometimes, but because they drop your lowest marks, I've just let it go...

There are no finals or tests, but you have to write a 10 page review paper, and do 3 poster presentations throughout the course. If you do not pass the paper, you do not pass the course. There are pre-class worksheets every class, they usually have very little to do with the course content to be honest. They are usually pretty heavy and take me a few hours to complete, they will expect you to do research and visit places in person to complete them. After every class you have to complete a journal to reflect on what happened in class. They ask you to be VERY specific, it's easy to lose marks on arbitrary things and I have never seen anyone in the course get anything higher than a 97 (these are 250-350 word reflections by the way), and the average is always around 75-85. The paper is som...read more

Was disappointed to see that an environmental science professor really enjoyed using and talking about generative ai throughout the course. Frequently saw ai generated images which sucked.

The labs are 3 hours but most of the time, it's not enough to actually finish all the work. The TAs and professor spend a lot of time going over the material too, meaning you get even less time to actually go through the lab on your own. The instructions are on and off, sometimes they walk you through everything and it's easy to follow along, and sometimes they give you almost no information to work off of and it's difficult to understand what they really expect from you. Definitely take time to do the pre labs because they are really helpful. The labs themselves are really fun and I think the skills you get from this course are genuinely helpful, but I dreaded actually being in class. Kind of wish this was worth 2 credits instead of 1, but there are no midterms or finals so I guess it m...read more

This is known to be the easiest level 100 physics course but I personally did not find it easy. I did very well in high school physics, but I just could not wrap my head around concepts in this course. It is easy to fall behind because of the heavy work load (speaking from experience), but if you keep up and ask questions then I think the average person would do much better than me. They give you lots of resources to succeed.

Definitely gets harder as the course goes on, but it's helpful if you go to discussion and ask your group mates for help. There are edx/textbook readings, edx questions, tutorials, 2 midterms (with cheat sheet) and a final (also with cheat sheet). So it's a little work heavy but if you keep up then the course should be easy for you.

The nicest professor I've ever had. He took time to do review sessions before midterms and sent out the recordings so every student could watch over them whenever they wanted. He was super engaging in class and always reminded us to take care of ourselves first.

PLEASE do not fall behind!!! My number one mistake was never asking questions and just staying stuck on early concepts, making me completely lose footing in the course and ultimately fail it. I know that this course has a good reputation to be easy, but you really have to put in the work if you want it to stay that way.