EVSC 1300

I loved this class! The material is really interesting, and there was no work besides exams (and he drops your lowest). There might have been assigned readings, but I didn't do any and didn't think I needed to. You have to study for tests, but they aren't bad. He's also a really good lecturer

While Professor Davis is a funny and good guy, his lectures are not very clear to the understanding of the class. While this is a 1000 level course it is much harder that I ever expected. He makes himself available outside of class, but his lectures just are not clear. He does not give enough analysis of the topic in which he is speaking on. He also assigns tough extra credit, but you must get every questions right just to receive one point. There are only four exams and he drops the lowest one which is nice. He also adds a curve depending on a number of factors

There are four multiple choice tests (of which he drops the lowest score), no homework and no final. You need to go to lecture to understand any of the material. I thought the class was pretty hard, but I'm also not the best at science and completely uninterested in the topic of weather so that may be an issue. It's hard to study for the tests because the test questions are very specific.

Bob Davis is a great character. Don't worry about the average GPA. Your grade is made up of four 40 question multiple choice tests, which can be a little tricky. You get to drop your lowest and the curve is pretty generous. The material is interesting and relevant, regardless of whether you are a weather nerd. I studied my notes hard before each test and ended up with an A-. Would recommend. Almost no work.

This is a good class to take for a non-science major. Davis was enthusiastic and the lecture was pretty engaging. I never bought the textbook, and just looked over my notes before the test, and got an A in the class. No weekly work/reading because you don't really need to read the textbook. He drops the lowest of four exams, which is nice. I didn't think the tests were tricky, maybe four or five tricky questions on each test, but he curves each test up a little. Pretty easy to get an A in as long as you actually study before the test and try to understand the concepts rather than just memorize.

I had no major interesting in the environmental sciences but thoroughly enjoyed this class. The information was practical and straightforward. Textbook not even that necessary as long as you go to the lectures and the test system makes the course fairly low maintenance. Great course.

The tests require a lot more application than you learn in class, but the material is interesting . Professor Davis is entertaining as a lecturer.

Bob Davis is a great guy. You can really tell he cares about weather and it shows in his lectures. I learned quite a bit in his class and I would call myself an amateur "weather nerd" before I took it. If you are at all interested in weather, his class is probably one of the easiest you'll find at UVA. His tests are not a cakewalk, don't get me wrong. However, he tells you up front that you only need to take good lecture notes to do well and he's right. Don't buy the textbook, save yourself a couple hundred bucks. I got a high A- and all I did was go to all his lectures, take good notes, and study those notes hard one or two days before each exam. Opened the textbook once for 5 minutes and I actually found the material irrelevant to what we were doing in class. On top of that, he drops your lowest grade out of 4 total exams. Now read carefully: he will offer you an extra point on each exam (which is huge in a class only worth 120 points total) if everyone codes in their computing ID correctly on the scantrons. If one person messes up then no one gets a point. For some reason, my class only managed to do it all correctly 1/4 times and it cost everyone a grade boost. So, if you take this class, do everyone else a favor and check that you've done it correctly...it's the easiest four points you'll get at UVA.

I took this class to fulfill my science/math requirements for the college. I am not a science person at all so I went off an a whim when I signed up for this class. I ended up getting a B-, which sucked because I thought I would end up with a higher grade but he curves the tests (which in the end I think end up hurting your grade because some people do really well and throw off the curve). With that being said, there's obviously a pretty wide range of grades and I know a lot of people who did really poorly in this class given that your grade only consists of four tests with the lowest of the four getting dropped. The tests can be kind of tricky and I found that studying from the textbook was actually really helpful. Davis is an ok guy. He could sometimes be helpful during office hours but sometimes snarky. During class he could be pretty sarcastic and made a lot of uncomfortable jokes. I would not recommend this class if you don't have any sort of interest in weather.

Although it may sounds like a dream come true (no textbook readings if you attend class), his tests tend to be very tricky, whether on purpose or not. He is a very charismatic professor though, so the lecture feels like it breezes by.