I took Astronomy 3 in order to get one of my prerequisite out of the way because I am social science major. I will say this, if you do not find anything interesting in learning about stars or space, then I would suggest to look into another class that fulfills a science with lab. Do not get me wrong, Professor Rich is very enthusiastic about astronomy and his research, but the learning for me was not interesting so I quickly stopped finding interest in studying. The midterm is 30% of your grade and the final is 40% of your grade and is cumulative whereas the lab and homework make up 30% of your grade. The homework is done online and can be easily found on quiz let (about 90% of the time). Overall, if you study for the class and can push through the quarter, a B and even an A is very manageable, but it can be easy to stop going to lecture or do the readings.

Not an easy GE at all but totally doable. Went to 3 lectures all qtr and got an A- but I also took ASTRO in high school. My advice is to do well on labs by asking your TA questions (these will pad out bad test scores).

Answers to the homework are on quizlet if you don't understand what to do. Tests were challenging but extra credit really helps to bring you up. DO the extra credit and keep up with the readings to be prepared for the midterm and final. Professor said some interesting things but went on random tangents sometimes which made it hard to follow.

Professor Rich is just a fun man. I would've totally gotten an A-, but I forgot to do my last homework assignment after my final exam. He is so relaxed and he makes funny jokes throughout the lecture. He increased my interest in learning about the universe. I am an econ major so there really won't be another time I would take this type of class, but I am so glad I did and would take it again. If I remember correctly we had numerous homework assignments, a weekly lab, a midterm, and a final. If you keep up with the material you'll do wonderful in the class.

Pretty easy GE. Rich is a pretty good and helpful professor, and lectures are interesting if you enjoy the content. There's a decent amount of online homework, but most answers are easily found online. Exams were easy as well, especially being open note.

I was not expecting to, but I actually really liked this class. He is not a super engaging lecturer but he just wants everyone to have fun with the material. The textbook reading is good because he is not always clear in lecture. This class actually made me really like astronomy by the end and I would recommend it.

The professor can be messy and unprofessional at times, but it is a challenge to dislike him. He is very passionate about both the material and the students. He wants the student to succeed and will help everyone as much as he can. The worst part of the course is that much of it is essentially reading the textbook to teach yourself and completing the online homework by Pearson. You have to grind out the online assignments, but that is the extent of the workload. The exams are clearly rushed as they are riddled with mistakes, but I believe they were fair. You have few excuses to not get an A in this class if you read the textbook and do the homework which admittedly can be a rough and tedious chunk of work.

Easy G.E with interesting subject matter, professor is enthusiastic and knowledgeable but the lectures are rather boring

This class was pretty easy. I stopped going to lectures partway into the quarter, but I would keep up with the homework and readings. Professor Rich is a nice guy and genuinely interested in his field. His jokes would sometimes fall flat and I would feel bad. One time he got called out for making fun of astrology since it's part of a lot of religions, and he made a genuine apology to the whole class which I thought was very kind. I did well on the midterm so I didn't study for the final and ended up getting a C on it. I still got an A- but yeah I would recommend studying at least a little for the exams and keeping up with the work since it's all pretty easy anyway.

This is a pass/no pass fiat lux. Can be interesting/boring depending on your interest in astronomy. I was expecting more astronomy and less HISTORY of astronomy, which is what it ended up being, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Professor Rich is a kind and friendly professor and did a great job of teaching this class.