Overall, the class was okay as the quizzes were relatively easy but the exams can be a little tricky. Great class if you need to take one credit.

If you ever need a 1 credit easy A, take geo sci 331! Super easy but also interesting class. Lectures are PDFs, and you have quizzes for your grade. Very easy questions... Definitely would take a class with him again!

Easy class, easy tests, nice professor

Great lectures. Prof. Xu makes mineralogy really fun even though it is a lot of memorization and facts. His online lectures were a bit confusing because he would write over his own words. Makes an effort to be funny and make class fun. Definitely go to office hours. Textbook is very necessary, but could be a pdf. Exams were very hard.

Dr. Xu is a brilliant man. He has a thick accent, so that can be an impediment to learning. He is very responsive to emails. He teaches mineralogy, so if you want a degree in geoscience or GLE you'll have to take him as a professor. Brace yourself, because mineralogy is arguably the hardest class is the geoscience major.

Please do not take this class. The questions are so extremely nitpicky. It's not about if you read and reviewed the material, it's about if you're able to link 5 trivial details to get to an answer. Quizzes and tests are graded incorrectly because he isn't using the technology correctly, but it still took me emailing him 3 times to get a response.

exams are 30 questions long. You have to use all the lectures to find the answers. exams are timed.

Online class- so super easy and only 4-5 grades total. 'lectures' are PDF's online and quizzes are every two weeks. VERY easy to understand, and he adds some chuckle-level comedy to them. great class, great prof. easy A

Online course, grade will be an A/B. If I had to do this again: 1) Download all the lectures 2) Combine all 15 via combinepdf, download, put in binder 3) Five combinepdf's relevant to quizzes/midterm and download 4) Draw concepts make diagrams 5) Start gem spreadsheet w/ Parent gem categories Child subtypes 6) Exam Qs are 2-3 parts

The prep quizzes are ten times easier than the midterms. The midterm questions are way too detailed and nitpicky for a 1 credit class. It is hard to prep for them, since the practice quizzes are so easy.

This class is interesting and not difficult. Prof. Xu has a good sense of humor that comes out in her lectures. She seems very enthusiastic about gems/minerals. The online course is not difficult with plenty of time given for quizzes and test. Totally recommend this class. She should teach other professors how to conduct online classes.

Lectures are posted to L@UW in a PDF. I did not read any of them. Completed quizzes and exams by Ctl+F through the lectures. Great class to pick up for an extra credit if you ever need one. Even though I didn't read the lectures all the way through, I still managed to learn a few interesting things about gems along the way.

Took this class as a 1 credit grade booster. Based on 6 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. Didn't even read the lectures, just CTRL-F the PDFs during the quizzes and Google stuff. Did it with a friend, we did all the quizzes together and both got A's. Just beware of tricky wording and you should be fine.

The class is 4 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. The quizzes and the midterm were easy, and everything could be found in the notes. The final was ridiculous, though. About half of the questions didn't make any sense, and weren't anywhere in the notes.

The tests are kind of tricky, and his lectures are slightly confusing at times (goes on rants occasionally relevant to the topic). He is a great guy who keeps the lecture somewhat engaging, at least when he isn't overloading us with slide content.

I genuinely cannot understand how anyone could earn less than an A in this course.

This class was beyond easy.

Xu's online lectures were really hard to read because of his bad English. Many questions on the quizzes and tests are ambiguous, not in his lectures, or not in his lectures correctly. It's not hard to get a C in his class, but you actually have to read/highlight his lectures and prepare for quizzes/exams. He never emails back.

sometimes hard to understand. class is hard, but very interesting. very helpful if you ask questions - he absolutely loves minerals. makes funny jokes