Reviews for ASTR340

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Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Anonymous 03/07/2023	Dude man, It's currently the middle of spring semester and I have learned so little from this class. This guy CAN NOT explain anything well. Youtube and reddit has been saving me. We have clicker questions, and 50% of students would often get it wrong. Instead of going back and explaining it again, he just goes forward and act like everything is fine and dandy. His homework takes forever to do as well. His 2 exam make up almost majority of your grade and its no notes, no resources what so ever. There is so much physics and math involved. If I were you, please stay away from this guy and class.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2023	nice guy but the class is challenging his explanations sometimes were confusing but the class is manageable if you're interested enough
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2021	If I could give him 6 stars I would. I've had my fair share of good professors and Diemer is BY FAR the best prof I've had at UMD. At the end of the last lecture of the semester the entire class clapped for him, like a full round of applause because he made the semester so fun, and he deserved every bit of it. Diemer would crack jokes, talk about current astro events, and made the course fun all around which made it enjoyable to go to each lecture, I wanted to go each day. He also would answer any questions students had mid lecture and if he didn't know the answer he'd let you know and would look it up after lecture so that next class he could answer it correctly for you. Each lecture he was so well prepared, it was like he knew his lecture like the back of his hand. Overall just an awesome experience. If you're an architecture major I would still recommend taking ASTR340 even though it has NOTHING to do with anything you'll do in life, purely because you can take Diemer. Quite simply, he's the GOAT.
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/09/2021	Class can be a bit difficult but he curves it. Now, even though the class was hard when I took it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. One of my favorite ASTR courses. I got to learn a lot and it was really easy to approach him with any questions or doubts that I had.
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/25/2021	The class was difficult, but Diemer tried his best to make the material work for us. Make sure you study well and you'll be fine on his exams. I didn't study enough for the final and it brought my grade down significantly.
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/12/2021	Good and kind professor. The only downside is the homeworks and exams which were pretty difficult.
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/05/2021	Super nice professor who did a really good job of transitioning to online learning. Don’t expect an easy A, but easily the most interesting astronomy course I’ve taken so far and Diemer does a good job of explaining and motivating information
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/01/2020	Super nice guy. Homework and exams are long and hard, but the professor is accommodating and tries to make the material work for us. I recommend taking him.
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/13/2020	Long long homeworks and extremely vague, but the grading is lenient so it makes up for it. Exams are hard too. Not an easy A, and quite a bit of workload.
Benedikt Diemer ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/12/2020	Lectures are kind of boring, homework is long, and exams are difficult. But the professor is pretty chill and grades leniently, so you can expect to have a decent grade.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Anonymous 12/12/2015	This is not an easy class, but I enjoyed the lectures very much. He made so many connections it blew my mind. If you are looking for a class that makes you think about big things this is it. But it is not an easy A.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Anonymous 10/13/2011	He is a great teacher, he made a lot of connections. He makes you work for your grade, and he likes to challenge the students. But, hey, that's why I am taking university courses!
Massimo Ricotti ASTR340 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2011	Pros: Knows what he's talking about, gives out copies of the lecture, very friendly and always willing to answer questions. Curve was set first day of class (100-85 A, 84-70 B, ...) and homework was 40% of the final grade. Cons: If you aren't super interested in some of the topics of the course, then some lectures can be pretty boring. The math involved in the homework gave some people problems, but overall it really was not that difficult if you could use the given equations and can convert units (high school level stuff). Overall: While I did enjoy the course a lot, it is "designed primarily for non-science majors" and therefore didn't go as in depth with physics as I personally would have liked. Regardless, I learned a lot and recommend both the course and the professor.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Anonymous 04/29/2010	He is a very friendly teacher, but I just felt like the material was a little detailed for a non-science major course.
Andrew Harris ASTR340 Expecting an A blackshellbowser 10/21/2009	He tries to make the lectures interesting and it worked 99% of the time. I was never tempted to skip class. He is pretty generous with grades (85% and higher is an A) and for our class, he gave us extra credit for turning in homework on time. You get a handful of homeworks, a midterm and a final. IIRC he gave us a helpful sample exam for the midterm. It was close to the actual midterm. Overall I enjoyed the class and glad I took it!
Andrew Harris ASTR340 Expecting a B anthonyhopkins 04/22/2009	Professor Harris is an excellent teacher. He really makes class interesting and is a great lecturer. He is hilarious in his own nerdy way. Homework counts for a big percent of your grade and he has been giving extra credit for handing it in on time. There is only one midterm, so it is pretty comprehensive. The Final exam is cumulative and I expect it to cover a lot of material and be pretty difficult. This is a pretty hard class and reading the text beforehand is definitely recommended. Even though this class is hard, I enjoyed it a lot, mostly because Andy Harris was a fantastic professor.