Super easy/fun course—doesn't meet for half the qtr and almost no HW aside from two assignments (which, in addition to participation, account for entire grade). 1 OVERNIGHT camping field trip (you need your own gear) + a ton of walking, but wasn't too bad since it was just for a day. Grading rubrics are a bit vague but you'll get an A if you try!

Simms is clearly very passionate about geology. Fieldtrip for the course was fun. Make sure to put in effort into the two assignments as they account for your entire grade. Otherwise, there is no work outside of class. Lecture was interesting!

90% percent of the grade is based on only TWO HWs..... No rubric was provided for the hw........I love the course design, and I love the field trip, but only two homework decided our final grade, and sometimes the reason to lose points is weird...

The mandatory field trip was fun and tough, but 90% of the grading was just based on one homework and a presentation which both were given insufficient information about the grading criteria. It's overall an interesting course though.

camping trip is mandatory, and a respected professor with lots of experience, but he is a harsh grader and is unclear about what he wants (no rubric for guidance). there were two things in the grade book each worth 50% of your grade. but very knowledgeable and passionate about what he teaches. he is also very willing to help.

Alexander Simms is a teacher who is passionate about his topics and gives personal examples of what he is teaching. However, he is very hard to follow during lecture missing a lecture means you won't understand anything from that day since the slides are mostly pics, and he doesn't record any of them. Midterm and Final are ridiculously hard too.