Professor Brown made this class incredibly interesting and easy to digest, which I came to appreciate as I took this class as a GE outside my department. There are two books required for this class, but they can easily be found online through libraries, etc. I personally did the readings, from what the weekly MCQ quizzes (5 questions generally) are based on, but the quizzes (at least for this quarter) has unlimited tries leading up to the due date, so you could go back and look for your answer. A large part of your grade is lab, but the TAs are extremely helpful, they essentially guide you through all of the questions while asking for your insight. Go to your section and you will get full credit essentially! There were two exams in this class, not counting quizzes, the midterm and final, which were multiple choice plus one free response question at the end. I found both to be reasonable, nothing surprising if you attended lecture and understood the learning objectives, definitely nothing to fear. I am glad I took this class, it definitely has made me considered taking more GEs in this department and/or another class with Professor Brown.

I took this class with Brown during the Spring Quarter 2020 during quarantine . In general, this was a very great class and overall a relatively easy. There are two lectures per week along with one lab class.
The labs are very easy as the TA goes over everything with you, which means that you are usually finished with the weeks assignment just by attending the section. There are also assigned readings, which I would recommend skimming over them since I did find them somewhat helpful.
Brown assigns weekly quizzes, which are easy points since there are unlimited attempts. I would recommend paying attention during lecture and taking notes as you do NEED to know the material in order to perform well on the midterm and final.
STUDY THE STUDY GUIDE LIKE IT IS THE EXAM! Brown provides a study guide for both the midterm and final so make sure to take them filling everything out. Personally, I found the final to be easier than the midterm and Brown took the best score out the two exams for this quarter.
If you are looking for an easy GE, take this class!

I loved this class so much! Took it during spring 2020/covid-19 quarter.
This class seems to be really great for people with a preexisting interest in dinosaurs. Personally, I love Jurassic Park/World and this class satisfied all my dinosaur curiosities.
Well administered, tests and quizzes are easy, labs are easy, no homework other than reading (which you don't really have to do imo). Lectures are engaging.
I highly recommend this as a science GE. Learning about deep time/evolution really helped me understand humans' place in the universe.

Took this as a GE and I loved, loved, loved this class. I have wanted to take it ever since I heard it was offered at UCLA, and it didn't disappoint. It was such a cool experience to be in a class about dinosaurs as a humanities major and Prof. Brown was great.

I took this in an online format due to covid-19 but if anything that just made the class easier. The books Brown assigns for reading are also GREAT, like seriously so well written and fascinating, I loved them. I had Valeria as a TA and she was fantastic, super kind, helpful, and also willing to share her experience in the field as a paleontologist which I really appreciate. Labs were really easy as long as you came to discussion, as we literally did them question by question with the TA's. Quizzes were a breeze because you could re-do them as many times as you wanted until you got a 100, and the midterm was ridiculously simple as long as you read and went to class (I got a 100). The final was also trivial because you could replace whatever you got on it with your midterm grade, so as long as you do well on that, you're set (and even if you do bad on the midterm, no worries, the final was just as manageable).

My only criticism is that I wish this class talked more about the ecology of dinosaurs, this class mainly talked about bone structure of fossils, bodily processes, identifying species, and stuff like that. As someone who has loved dinosaurs since they were a kid, I really wish we could have talked more about actual behavior patterns/ what it would have been like to live life as a dinosaur. But, this is just personal preference and totally subjective.

Overall, all you need to know is that this class is a super unique, fun, and easy GE, I could not recommend it enough!

I took this Spring of 2020 during the coronavirus quarantines/protests. Even so, it was a really easy class: there are easy quizzes every week with no time limit and unlimited retakes based on the books. The midterm was also easy (got 100%) and based mostly on lecture material. Didn't go to a single lecture or read a single slide after the midterm, and the final was made so that your midterm grade also counts for the final. Labs took longer since they were online but were also basically free points as I had a great TA who walked us through everything. Also, there are two textbooks required, but I barely read either of them and you can find them both online in PDF format!

Overall, if you need an easy GE during spring quarter, take this class! You'll learn a lot about dinosaurs!

Took this during COVID19 and hands down was the easiest class I had. Relatively, I did not have to study that much and was able to just skim the lecture and powerpoint slides the prof posted during both the midterm and final.

If you are looking for an easy GE, this is it.

While the concept of dinosaurs seems cool in general, I found this class to be extremely tedious and boring after a while. There also is a lot of memorize if this class were in person. For an online GE that will not stress you out much, it is not a bad choice. I did not really do the readings and I stopped attending lecture and I ended up in the A range of things. She is an extremely sweet professor but after seven weeks of extremely condensed information on dinosaurs and evolution, I reached my breaking point and could not go to class any further.
As classes become more in person, however, I think this is a way harder class than most are making it out to be. The labs are quite long and the information you need to memorize is very hype specific and dull. For a pass/no pass class, it is very manageable though.

Took this class in Spring 2020 so it was fully online. This was easily one of the coolest classes I've taken at UCLA. Professor Brown makes learning about dinosaurs so enjoyable. The workload is minimal, the labs are honestly so fun, and the content is fascinating. I totally recommend this class if you're looking to take it as a GE like I did, or even just for fun!

Really easy science GE for anyone looking for one. Seriously, this is a really easy class. Personally, I had a knowledge and liking for dinosaurs since early childhood, but even if you have no idea what a dinosaur is, this is still an easy class. The lab TA I had (Erik) was also really easy, he virtually tells you the answer to every question on the lab during lab sessions. Overall, if you're looking for the easiest GE ever, this is just the class for that.

Super great class, even better if you're already interested in dinos.
There were two books for required reading, and some weeks she would upload pdfs/links to articles which would be the reading for that week too. Both books can be found online for free (l*bgen !!!) so don't waste your money buying it!!!! Both books have a lot of content, but she sets a weekly schedule for what chapters you need to read and from what book, so that made things easier. The content is easy to understand anyway, so skimming is totally enough to get through everything.
She goes through slides quite fast but due to being online the lectures were recorded and slides were uploaded onto CCLE so it made note-taking a whole lot easier.
Labs were super easy and cool. The TAs basically hold your hand and walk you through everything, and you go through the lab questions one-by-one and everyone answers the questions and discusses them together. Write up the lab DURING the lab so that once it's done you can just upload to gradescope.
There were weekly quizzes, based off either lecture or the readings, but with unlimited attempts, so that was nice. Midterm was really straightforward (multiple choice), pretty sure the average was in the 90s. The final was made optional in week 10 so that the highest score between the midterm and your final was taken to replace the other test's grade, so I personally didn't take the final to save myself time.
Overall, great flippin class, great way to impress family and friends with your weird knowledge of dinos, and also the prof has a lil cockatiel called Billie who is super sweet.