I have to agree with everyone else, the lectures are incredibly boring. But in Ulrich's defense he is incredibly knowledgeable in astronomy and he does care a lot about his students. Even though no one wants to go to class, you have to because of the pop quizzes, just bring something else to do. If you're really lazy and just want to sleep just show up in the last 20 minutes of class (the pop quiz is always at the end). Aside from being boring this class is a great, easy GE. All the quizzes and most of the midterm questions are from the online tests, you don't even have to do the quizzes just memorize the answers. Go over his lecture notes (posted online) and read the book (which I found interesting anyway). The labs are short and incredibly easy. I got an A on both midterms without the curve. With the curve it is practically impossible to get lower than a C in this class. (The first midterm he made the lowest score, a 22% a C-, that is just insane). I do have to warn you though to make sure you have a solid A in the class before the final because the final is actually really hard and tricky but even after getting a 70% on it I got a solid A.

Bottom line: minimal work, just memorize his astronomy place quiz answers, go over the lecture notes with some understanding and get a stress-free A.

all though the lectures were easy to ignore, he says some pretty interesting things when you listen. its worth taking for a GE since it is very easy (anwsers for all quiz questions can be found on the astro place website.) lab portion is very easy and the ta's help a ton. difficult to get below a b.

I slept through many a lecture, but got A-'s and B+'s on the midterms and final. They are all multiple choice and most are taken from a quesion bank that you have access to. The lab portion was a drag, but simple. Basically, all you have to do to get through this class is take the online quizzes and skim the chapters as you do so. That will get you through with surprising flying colors. Professor Ulrich is a nice guy, but avery "blah" lecturer. You never really need to attend lecture even though there are pop quizzes because they are only worth 5 points each. I recommend this class to all people who need to take a physical science GE with a lab, but who hate science.

this class is by far the easiest class ive ever taken...and yes the lectures can be boring, but there are lots of parts that are really interesting...id recommend this class to anyone!

I'm currently in the class (Fall 05) and it is VERY BORING! The last time I stayed awake for the full lecture was the first day of class. There is something about his monotonous voice, mixed with the air conditioner in the lecture hall that just lulls me to sleep. On the other hand, the class is VERY EASY. He has weekly tests that must be taken online, but those tests come 100% from the online quizes that you can take to study. SO, my recommendation would be to go to the practice quiz website and take all the quizes for that/those particular chapters, then take the actual quiz itself and you'll get 100% no problem. His midterms are 90-95% from those practice online tests as well, so they are pretty easy. He threw in a couple on the last mid term where I was like "WTF....?" but I still got an B+. I got an A on the first mid term so overall I'm doing fine. I would highly recommend this course as a GE filler. You wouldn't even have to go to class if it weren't for 4 stupid, in class, pop quizzes. But again, overall, it is an easy class and I WOULD recommend it!

Wow! No reviews on Ulrich since 2001! Well, 4 years later he is still quite boring in lectures (I ALWAYS fall asleep), but he really cares about his students. All his notes are posted online and he's extended the due dates for quizzes twice already simply because a couple of students have had "technical difficulties." He takes all his quiz questions from a website, so those are easy 20/20's. Labs are kind of annoying, but not too difficult. The midterms, however, contain some pretty tricky questions, but they're do-able if you think hard and are able to apply concepts and stuff. This class should be an easy A, but you have to show up sometimes for his pop quizzes (which he normally warns you about the week of). =DDDD