Johnston, Scott  

I loved Scott! He made everything super interesting. There's no real point in reading the book because he discusses everything important in each chapter during lecture and if he doesn't go over it in class, it's not on the midterm. Your grade consists of a lecture booklet (in class), homework (once a week), 2 midterms, and a final. Scott is super engaging and makes funny sound effects all the time to keep you alert. I didn't give a shit about rocks at all before this class and now I run around with my friend pointing out stuff I wouldn't have known at all had I not taken this class. It's definitely a great fill if you need a B3 and dont wanna take chem!

I had Scott for Geology 102, and I'd like to start off by saying that he is a fantastic teacher. During class, if you ever have any confusion about something, he would explain it in a REALLY easy way. His analogies make the class very interesting, and his diction kept me awake during this class, which was from 7:40pm-9:00pm. He also puts up really random slides (in the slideshow which he uses throughout the entire lecture and discussion sections) such as a picture of him eating macaroni and cheese with spam. These kinds of slides are hilarious to me, and he only shows them to you for a few seconds so that he doesn't distract from the lesson. Also, I think that the material is very interesting, and I can honestly say that I learned SO MUCH from his class. I got a better idea of where the earth started, how it got to where it is, where rocks come from, and how plate tectonics work. I very happily want to class feeling ready to learn, and I left class feeling like I learned a lot about the world. (However, I did skip a couple periods, which is something that you should NEVER DO. Oh, DID I MENTION that he grades everything on a curve. Yup, he takes the average of the class and makes that the B range. If you are above a the average, you will ALWAYS get a B or an A. However, if you get below the average, you get a C or lower. The average (for my class) was usually around 70-80, and my grades always got better after the curve. As for the difficulty of the class... It's somewhat challenging. Here's how the class is broken down: 1) Discussion Quizzes - 10% ~ These quizzes are taken completely online, and you are assigned one about once a week. EVERY discussion quiz is due at the end of the quarter, which means you can procrastinate on all of them until the end (which is NOT something that you should do). 2) Homework Quizzes - 10% ~ These quizzes are assigned once a week, and each quiz has to be turned in before the end of week, which means that you CANNOT procrastinate on these ones. These quizzes require you to do some work outside of class; Scott e-mails you a pdf of questions as well as a reading. The questions should all be answered accurately if you wish to do well on the quiz. Then, once you answer the questions on your own, you can take the ONLINE quiz, and the questions will by approximately 85% stuff from the reading assignment and 15% stuff that you should know already from the lectures. They aren't that bad... Just do the assignment. 3) First Midterm Exam - 20% ~ This is a midterm. Pretty self-explanatory. He e-mails you the study guide that will help you with the midterm. DO THE STUDY GUIDE. It will benefit you greatly. The test is composed of two parts, each worth 25 points. The first section is multiple choice, and the second choice is a free-response. The thing is, during the free response, he will most likely give you two piles of rocks on each side of the class, and you have to PHYSICALLY get out of your seat to observe the rocks and describe what they are / where they came from / what their name is / etc.etc.etc... The midterms are not that hard, but you should know your shit if you want to get a decent grade on them. You SHOULD know your stuff if you attend all the lectures. 4) Second Midterm Exam - 20% ~ This is the same as the first. This midterm does not talk about the stuff that was covered on the first midterm. However, you should still know shit about the first midterm because it will help you make some connections with the questions on the second midterm. 5) Final Exam - 35% ~ This is a CUMULATIVE test. It will test you on absolutely everything from the year. As long as you get some studying in before the exam, you should be fine. TL;DR ~ This class is f

I underestimated this class. Prof. Johnston grades all exams based on a curve, which definitely helped my grade. The exams are very challenging, and the class average for one of the exams was a mid to low D. I completed all three extra credit assignments, attended every single lecture and studied my ass off for the exams but still got a B. My downfall, I assume, was not attending his office hours. I highly recommend attending his office hours after every lecture to specifically ask what kind of questions will be asked about the lectures and discussions because otherwise there is just way too much information to remember. The textbook is pretty unnecessary and very expensive, you should try splitting one with another friend in the class (I think I opened mine twice to look up concepts). The exams are mainly lecture-based. If you can fulfill your requirement with a different class, you should. This class was way too much work for a GE/support and is the only B I've gotten.

I had Johnston for GEOL201, and I thought he was great. His tests are pretty hard though. It's not just a lot of memorizing, you also have to know how all the cross-sections work and how to interpret the map symbols. His lectures were always interesting, and if you do bad on the tests, it's ok because there's two extra credit assignments where you visit Avila and Montana de Oro. I highly recommend him for geology.

Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can