Prof Varney is a nice guy with a clear passion for his content. He's accommodating and useful BUT he goes through content in lectures super quickly. You will NOT be able to keep up with content if you're typing (let alone writing) notes during class. I'm a relatively fast typer so sometimes it was manageable but for the most part you'll have to just go to lecture (attendance is mandatory through iclicker) and listen, then take notes from the slides. Slides were helpful. He also assumes that you have all this prior knowledge about space/physics concepts which made it quite stressful for someone like me with absolutely none, but its not even on purpose. My TA was a lifesaver at catching me up but I went to discussions and his OHs for like 3hrs/week + lectures so definitely time consuming. Midterm was kinda hard, not a lot of room for error (some MCQs and some FRQs) so I did a tiny bit below average but worked my ass off for the final. The final project is also lowkey crazy because he expects you to do/know a lot but I do think I just did too much, did pay off tho since the TA was very impressed and gave me almost 100%.

Overall an interesting class but if you're aiming for an A, just be ready to put in a good chunk of your time and effort.