I think Professor Okin is a very fair Professor given it's UCLA. He is extremely knowledgable and is very apparent (in a good way). However, the class is not easy! The concepts for the 1st 1/2 of the class can be hard which talk about The earth's origin (big bang), The earth in space and structure, plate tectonics, earthquakes, then where it gets challenging is when he talks about Atmosphere, Climate and weather. He talks about the physical and chemical processes going on here so he does go in depth talking about the chemistry behind it but doesn't expect you to remember the very small details. He is more interesting in the bigger concept but there is ALOT of concept to remember.

The class is 40% labs (Easy, if you put effort you should get 90%+), then 30% midterm and 30% Final both of which are Multiple Choice. Make no mistake, his tests are Multiple Choice however they are hard! He likes asking questions like "All the following are true except" and put in answers that are either very similar or have one tiny detail that makes the others false and one true.
Although the 1st 1/2 of the class is harder concept and the 2nd 1/2 I felt was definitely easier to understand, The test for the final (At least I felt) was definitely harder than expected and for me harder than the midterm. BTW average for the midterm was 68% but he makes it so that the 68% is the new 75% and accordingly shifts everyones scores up. Like I said, very fair professor but not easy since tests are hard.

Key to success is do the Study guides and watch all the podcasts while doing the Study Guide AND put effort into the labs because they are graded and they are what hold your grade up. No need to even buy the book, I forgot I had it by week 4 and I got a B+ in the class.

I learned valuable information in this class because it teaches you about the processes in earth which is where we live. Now I know why it rains at different latitudes, why certain parts have different climates, why rivers meander, why we have mountains, how clouds form, how earth was formed and much much more and all in-depth. However, this class will require a lot time if you want a good grade especially for those study guides which have about 80-110 questions and each questions has between 2-5 questions and most are like "Explain why it doesn't rain at 30degrees latitude form the equator" which generates long answers. So if you don't have the time, don't take it but if you do and want to learn about the processes in our world then I highly recommend it.

Only con about professor Okin is that sometimes it's hard to hear what he says because his voice can be very very low at times so you do miss things and when listening to the podcast you can go from barely able to hear him to all of a sudden, his voice just skyrocketing up (I think this is a technical issue with the recording) which is not pleasant or good for the ears.

I wouldn't recommend taking this class unless you have to or are interested in physical geography; I needed to take it for my major. I ended up with an A- in the class, even though I expected to get a B or B+ going into the final (based on what I got on the midterm). The class is 30% midterm, 30% final, and 40% lab. His tests are all multiple choice, but the questions are not basic and not always straight forward. I wasn't a huge fan of the labs; a lot of them felt like busy work and kind of elementary, though some of them were helpful. I attended every single lecture, read 95% of the readings, and did well on all of the labs. He does podcast all of his lectures, though I never listened to any of them. He seems to expect you to watch all of the podcasts in addition to coming to lecture, which was frustrating considering I attended every lecture and took notes. Point is - it's not impossible to do well in his class by any means, but you have to understand on Day 1 that the class will require more than just showing up and taking the tests.

While I didn't connect to Professor Okin's way of teaching, he is very knowledgable and a clear lecturer. He makes a point to go over key topics more than once and he provides multiple resources to his students.

Avoid Dr. Okin at all costs. Not only does he think that he is better than everyone else, but also he finds odd pleasure in tricking students and watching them fail. I took Geography 1 with him the quarter before, and heard that he was a better professor when it comes to upper-division classes because he's not trying to weed out the stragglers. FALSE. It's like he feels better about himself when his students fail and can't understand anything. Okin created this test with about 25 short answer questions and 5 essay questions in the span of an hour and fifteen minutes. He refuses to curve according to the difficulty of his exams. You have to write down and memorize literally everything he says in order to have a fighting chance at passing the class. Also, when he tries to explain these concepts of soils in class, he does not make sure that people are following him. He says that a basic understanding of chemistry is all that is needed to do well in the class. This is also false. Okin went into more Chemistry about soils (probably the most boring topic I can fathom, that he makes even more painful) than I had ever wanted to encounter in my academic career at UCLA. He was extremely unapproachable and explained things in the most complicated ways possible. Please avoid him or face the consequences. Maybe people who are like him will do well in the class. But unless you are inherently born with an in-depth knowledge of the chemical properties of soils, then I suggest you steer clear of this class and even Geography 1 with Okin.

This class is almost entirely about soil chemistry. Do not take this class unless you have a serious interest in chemistry for it's own sake, or soil chemistry specifically. There is virtually nothing here of practical use for the non-chemist. You will learn about soil chemistry at the atomic level: protons, electrons, colloids, CEC, anion and cation exchange, surface charges, isomorphic substitution etc., etc. If you want something practical and useful on soils in the Geog department, take Trimble's Geog 107: Soil and Water Conservation.

If however, you do have an interest in chemistry, Prof. Okin is excellent.

Prof. Okin is a great professor and I would recommend this class to anyone, if you're up for a challenge. I struggled in this class, but it only motivated me to try harder. I feel that for UCLA standards, Prof. Okin has a perfect combination of challenging, but not impossible. Keep in mind, however, that I took this class remotely, and that I am unsure how this class is taught in person. All in all, I really enjoyed the class and the content.

Professor Okin is amazing! I took him for Enviro M102(Soils and Environment) and he made me want to pursue a career in the field. He explained soil chemistry in easy ways to understand and made sure that students had all of their questions answered. The class consisted of a midterm, final, and discussions where you had to participate. The exams were a little tough and require memorization of soil orders, sub-orders etc but if you put in the work it is very doable and rewarding. I truly do not understand all of the harsh reviews about Okin as a professor. He is accommodating and makes it very clear from the start what he expects out of his students for the exams. Anyone who left a bad review probably didn't go to lecture and expected to ace the test. Take the class! You won't regret it and will have a newfound appreciation for soil and the Earth!

Do NOT take this class as a GE. The workload is ridiculous and the professor can't keep track of everything. He misspeaks a lot in his recorded lectures, and must not review them because the mistakes get confusing. Without my TA I would not have survived. If you take this class, really pay attention to the quizzes and use them to study. This was a GE and the hardest class I've taken at UCLA so far.

TO ALL THE STUDENTS SAYING "The other reviews are so harsh...they must not have put in the work... they must not have gone to class." Literally STFU. Im sick of you entitled UCLA students that think you know everyone. This class was AWFUL. Did I get an A?? Yes but at an expense. I did worse in my other classes, I lost a lot of sleep from studying, and I missed shifts at work so I can attend "mandatory" unlisted TA sessions. This class was hard and I shouldn't have to break my back to get barely an A. You people need to stop being so entitled and thinking everyone is just giving a bad review because they are lazy and did not put work in. We all worked out ass off its just a hard fucking class so stop pretending like you are better than everyone else. Theres a reason why he has a lot of bad reviews, like shut up.

This class is NOT easy. I'm going straight to the point. The professor's asynchronous lectures don't help very much. The textbook is helpful for the quizzes. T.A is very helpful as well, But, this as your G.E requirement, I would NOT consider it, for the reason being that the midterm and final have different questions and different understandings from what you learn in the asynchronous lectures and the textbook that don't meet the standard of these questions on the midterm and final. Please, take a different G.E., don't consider, it unless you want to challenge yourself or try to major in a specific field that requires this class.

This is not an easy GE. Tests are very difficult and have extremely niche/random questions. Most of the questions are exactly like the chapter reading quizzes(some are the same exact questions). Wouldnt recommend to someone not actually interested in the subject.