I loved Winter quarter of this cluster, especially because I really enjoy biology (though not a bio major) and it was therefore also much easier than Fall in my opinion. The big change from Fall quarter is that Friscia lectures on evolution instead of Larkin lecturing on astronomy. Friscia is hilarious and great at explaining the concepts he presents.

The textbook (Tangled Bank) is "mandatory". If you have a good grasp on the bio concepts, you can probably do without it, but it's definitely a good resource if you struggle with bio. It's not a difficult read so it's worth having around.

Again, they guide you through the paper throughout the quarter so that it's not so daunting. I would definitely recommend going on the field trips (there were 3 in Winter quarter alone when I took the class), as they are all paid for (in terms of transportation, lodging, etc. except food). The overnight one to Nevada was super fun and we got to collect fossils. I would say this is one of the few classes that has a field aspect to it.

I would recommend sticking it out for Winter even if you struggled with Fall because the material is more familiar to most people, especially if you've taken some sort of biology class in high school. Overall a great class and one of my favorites.

this class is extremely unorganized but its pretty easy. When you have 3-4 professors lecturing about whatever it becomes pretty hard to keep up. Also, they are terrible at making slides, your quiz score depends on your attendance in lecture since slides are not helpful/logistical nightmare.

Overall, it's pretty easy, get a good TA and your A is locked in. Bad TA, you better hustle, but overall 50% of the kids get A's.

Attendance is "mandatory" with iClicker. Sitting at home and pressing one button once every class also suffices.

Shoutout Ariel Graykowsi for carrying my grade. She's a great TA and really understanding/willing to help.

It is super easy if you actually put the work in. I slacked off in this class because it was almost too easy and that ended up not working out in my favor. The teaching team is awesome. Briley is the best TA.

I enjoyed the content of this class a lot compared to the fall quarter content. I like bio more in general and thus found this class to be more enjoyable. The teaching staff is always there for you if you need it and extra support is everywhere. My TA was super helpful and answered all my questions. The pace was very quick this quarter though and it made things a little less clear. Quizzes were pretty manageable.

I enjoyed the second quarter of this cluster more than the first, maybe because I found the biology topics more interesting and easier to understand than the physics/space/etc. of the first quarter. So if you struggled a lot first quarter like I did, don't worry, it gets better! The professor is very fun and engaging, he is very knowledgeable and you can tell he cares a lot about the subject and student understanding. Like the first quarter, it can be a lot of information packed into one lecture (which is always very difficult for me). However, the teaching staff is extremely nice and helpful, which made the experience very enjoyable. :)

Worth it, totally worth it. Pace gets pretty fast in second quarter of this class (clusters are two quarters for class). Quizzes did got harder, and the labs can be quite weird (make sure don't let your CPU catch on fire!). Lectures can feel quite intimidating but you really don't need any background to know the stuff.

I liked the second quarter of this cluster much better than the first one. It incorporated a lot of biology and concepts about micro and macroevolution. They introduced reading quizzes (open note), which everyone complained about at first, but then changed it so getting a 2/3 would be 100% and made the time limit longer. The biweekly quizzes were manageable as well and in my opinion so much easier than fall. The writing sections didn't take nearly as long and some parts were intuitive and/or a review if you took a biology class in high school. Those quizzes were also open note/internet due to COVID. The discussion sections and labs were fun, although I wish we would have been able to have real field trips! The teaching team did a good job of responding to feedback and trying to make labs interesting despite challenges posed by COVID.

This part of the cluster was less interesting but much easier for me. So basically 70A, the first quarter, is focused on the history of the universe so it has more to do with space and stuff... which is what my interests are. The second quarter focuses on the evolution of life. There's a lot of interesting stuff– reminds me of bio in high school. So it was a lot of stuff that's commonly known but with more detail. So it's easier to follow bc its not all new stuff like the first quarter. So yeah overall this quarter was easier but less intriguing to me. Friscia's nice though- he graded my final paper and met with me to help.

This class was definitely easier than 70A but still felt disorganized and a bit chaotic. Lawrence is the hardest teacher out of all of them to follow and its so weird having 4 professors teaching one class. It makes it difficult to follow when they each have their own teaching style. I wasn't particularly fond of this class but I guess it's worth it to be done with my science GEs

Dr. Friscia, Dr. McKeegan, and Dr. Ellingson are the main lecturers during the second quarter of the cluster. I really enjoyed ALL of them, especially Dr. Ellingson. They definitely try to keep the course engaging and interesting despite covering some heavier topics. While they can occasionally move through slides a bit quickly, they do podcast the lectures (and the exam review sessions) and post the slides, so if you missed anything, you can check the course website.

This class is geared toward non-STEM majors, so the material does not go too in depth, and the tests are pretty straightforward with few conceptual questions. There is one midterm and one final as well as weekly quizzes that are submitted online before lecture. The median on the midterm was 86%. They do keep track of attendance via iClickers, but they are pretty lenient. You can get a good participation grade as long as you attend a majority of the lectures.

In terms of the sections, I did find them to be a bit dry. However, they are pretty easy and my TA (Teni Adewumi) was super nice and very lenient. There is one paper that you have to do, but it's pretty easy, and you are guided through the process throughout the semester. Truthfully, the grading of your paper depends on your assigned grader - some graders are more harsh than others.

Overall, this is a pretty easy (but engaging!) GE cluster with professors who are really knowledgable and put a great amount of effort into making the cluster enjoyable.