I loveddd this class. I'm not an A&O major and haven't taken a chem course in years but this was super doable. Prof Bianchi is passionate about what he teaches and it shows.

Each week there's a clicker quiz but it's mostly for attendance so you get free points for showing up.
His powerpoints are well organized and made available before lecture so you can download them and follow at your own pace.

There were 6 homeworks in total. They can be tricky but as long as you read the questions carefully and follow the powerpoints the answers will become apparent!

Average for the midterm was pretty high. Highly recommend!

Professor Bianchi was an excellent, engaging, and passionate lecturer. He runs through the content quite fast, however, so at one point I realized I should stop scrambling to take notes and instead digest the lecture which helped me out a ton. I used to dislike this and thought it was an unintuitive teaching and learning style until I met one of my current oceanography professors for spring 2024 who puts into perspective how phenomenal Bianchi is.

While the lectures were great, the homework (worth 20% of your grade) was personally the worst part of the class. Despite nearly acing the midterm with a 99% and doing great on the final where I got a high B, I averaged a 60% in the homework category because of how difficult I found the content to be. This was made worse by the fact that, usually, the math-based problems were something new you were seeing for the first time. You were expected to put together concepts and equations learned from class and apply it to the homework without any resources, guides, etc. When people started going to the TA's for help, they announced in class to "stop coming to office hours for help with individual questions on the homework" because they "can't accommodate everyone." Upon receiving homework grades back, you received almost zero feedback except for comments on bruinlearn that are unorganized and difficult to understand. That left me stuck with a 60% in the homework category which is worth 20% of your total grade in the class.

This is made worse by the fact that the tests are based on the homework (except the tests are a lot easier in my opinion which is how I was able to score high on them). Needless to say, however, the homework situation scared 20 people into dropping the class by week 3 before our midterm took place.

Overall I loved the class and the professor, but I would not take this class again. The homework and the lack of resources to do well on them gave me immense stress throughout the quarter as I was always wondering "if I'm getting D's on the homework, can I even pass the exams?"

This is not an easy A class but it is 100% manageable if you put in a bit of work. The homework assignments may seem hard at first but most of the answers and formulas needed are on the slides that he posts. If you want an A in the class just do the HW problems over and over again until you understand how to do them. The midterm and final are literally based on the HW so if you know how to do the problems you will be completely fine on the exams. Also the field trip was fun!

I really enjoyed professor Bianchi. He definitely seemed into the material and wanted us to learn. He went quite fast at times, so I usually sat and listened versus scrambling to take notes. He was funny so I enjoyed going to lecture. Attendance is required with two weeks/four lectures not counting. The chem required for the class is no more difficult than chem 20b... we did basic unit conversions, acid base chem, redox problems and nothing else too difficult. The problem sets are prob 60/40 math to written responses. Don't wait till the last day since they usually take a few hours to complete. The material for the course kinda goes all over the place... you learn ocean chemistry, some physics and a little bit of biological oceanography. Although the slides go quite in depth you never really need to know every specific detail... know how to solve the problems on the HW sets and you'll do fine on the exams. Field trip was pretty fun too. Got an A on final but midterm grade kept my final grade down so don't slack off for it like me.

Bianchi is a KING. This class incorporates minimal chemistry until the second half of the quarter which includes simple redox problems. The bulk of work is homework that is reasonably challenging, so working with others is a must. However this class is so rewarding, and Bianchi makes every class a ride by being his chaotic energetic self, making jokes and getting the class more invested in oceanic processes than one could ever imagine. Seeing him at head of our boat on field-trip day like a pirate captain riding the waves and having the time of his life made the class worth it all by itself. Would recommend!!

Bianchi's a king. Adds a bit of chaos to each lecture, which is so entertaining

I'm writing this review before the class is over in case someone is thinking about adding this to your schedule. FRANKLY, this class is not as easy as the grade scale makes it look. To some people, the information come naturally, but if you are anything like me, hopefully you find this review useful.

There are two grade break downs. One where you prioritize exam scores and the second where you get points for attend class, in-class quizzes, and discussion points. Most people opt for the latter.

There is a field trip to Santa Monica where you get to do some testing on the Zodiac. It was so much fun, totally the best part of the class. It gets cold so bring a jacket.

My TA Daniel is the bomb.com. He is basically the only reason I found this class doable. I never felt dumb making him go over every single question with me. He is super knowledgeable, very approachable and just a great TA. Take him if you can.

The homework assignments start out easy, but then get more difficult. I never took an AOS class before, but this one has A LOT of basic chemistry. Chemistry with a slant of atmosphere makes it weird, because you are trying to piece together information, sometimes based solely on the units. Go to Daniel, he is your AOS god, he will grace you with mercy and knowledge.

Anyways I'm not sure I would recommend this class to people looking for an easy A. The workload is not enormous, but I feel like some people get the info and others have to put in a decent amount of effort just to understand what the heck is happening.