I took this my first quarter at UCLA and I thought it was pretty easy. The lectures are very surface level and it was about animals and the environment, the class is about memorizing basically. The lab section was an absolute joke though, learned nothing, but easy points. I feel like I had somewhat of a unique experience though since my TA left halfway through the quarter so she lightened up on the lab assignments. So it was easy, but not the easiest. We had a final presentation on an extinct animal and a multiple choice final and midterm. Pay attention to the little reviews that she does during class before the tests, she basically gives you all the answers then. Be sure to pay attention in class and take notes and you will do well!! We also talked about current events in the beginning of every class which was interesting.

Not an easy A. The midterm and final will surprise you with specific material that you don't remember learning about. That being said, she's an alright professor. Lectures were mildly interesting and she seems pretty nice/funny.

Prof Illes was funny and engaging. The class was very accommodating for remote learning as it was asynchronous, minus weekly quizzes on the lecture material. There were three 3-page papers we had to write about movies in different eras of LA history. The final and midterms were solely based off lecture, multiple choice with one or two short essays and were open note. Overall the class was super interesting and made so much sense as someone who has always lived in Metro LA. This class has forever changed my view of LA and it's history. Thank you!

This class is NOT an easy A with her. She asks ridiculously detailed questions that she mentions(?) in class. The material isn't hard but she words the problems in her midterm and finals weirdly, making them impossible. I wouldn't take this class again. I also felt that she was unnecessarily rude to her students. On the plus side, her lectures were entertaining.

I've already rated the professor, so I'm just rating the course. I definitely recommend it. I learned SO much about Eastern and Sub-Saharan Africa. There are a plethora of issues going on in these areas that I knew nothing about and I felt very enlightened about world issues by the end of 10 weeks. She has spent a lot of time in African countries, so it's cool to hear her two cents about certain regions as well. For example, during her lecture on elephants when she was talking about how people often treat them like horses when it comes to riding them she said rather nonchalantly that the only time she's ever ridden an elephant was in Nepal to get across rapids.

I got an A in the class and didn't feel like it was an overwhelming effort. I definitely recommend it to Environmental Studies and IDS majors.