ASTR380 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Eliza Kempton ASTR380 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2023	I am an aerospace engineering major taking this course as part of my minor so my view might be a bit biased but people thought this class was hard but I thought it was very easy. Homeworks were very short written responses or just simple calculations. Exams were very easy as long as you reviewed her slides and lecture notes. About an hour of studying before each exam got me high A's every time since you get to write note sheets. The readings supplement the lectures very well and she does a great job of explaining all the material you need to know for the class. Extremely interesting topics and great professor.
Eliza Kempton ASTR380 Expecting a B Justacoder 12/01/2023	She is a very passionate and knowledgeable professor. She does want her students to learn and wants engagement during lecture, however it can be a bit too much. This particular class serves as a general credit and many of the students are not in the Major. I feel like she expects too much commitment, homeworks are quite math intensive and not always intitative. She decided on having 3 midterms and a final project. This can lead to quite an overload towards the end of the semester. In my case we have our thrid midterm Monday and Final presenation on Wendsay the same week. Not ideal when studying for other course. Her homeworks can be tricky, there is weekly reading from the textbook, and exams are moderately difficult. Not a bad professor by any means just a bit much. TLDR: Decent professor, course is a little to packed.
Julia Brodsky ASTR380 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/13/2023	the class isn't hard with her. she does reading homework where you have to read pages out of the textbook. then does quizzes based on those readings online on elms. for exams you have the option to do the exam or do a project instead. the exams are open note
Julia Brodsky ASTR380 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/13/2023	i don't really go to lectures but class is pretty easy, she has quizzes on elms based on reading homeworks and for exams you have the option to do the exam or do a project. there are also other assignments sprinkled in but they are not difficult
Thaddeus Komacek ASTR380 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/23/2022	Very nice professor and wants to help you as much as he can. Lectures are pretty boring if you are not super interested in astronomy. The only rough part are the exams since they require you to memorize ALOT from the lectures, but the class gives you a lot of other grades to make up on the exams.
Thaddeus Komacek ASTR380 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/23/2021	Professor Komacek tries his best to make sure you succeed in his class by giving extra credit points and even an optional project to boost up your grade. The hard part of the course is the exams as they require you to memorize a significant amount of information taught in class but otherwise this class is very laid back.
Thaddeus Komacek ASTR380 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/17/2021	Prof. Komacek was a great professor honestly. His lectures were kinda dry and his exams were pretty rough, but he tried his best to make the class fun and interactive, and he was very lenient with grading. If you take 380 with him you'll be in good hands.
Richard Mushotzky ASTR380 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/12/2020	Very boring, lecture tend to drone on and his slides have way more information than you would need
Suvi Gezari ASTR380 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2019	basically this was the alien class. Gezari was very receptive and nice the semester. Pretty lenient grading
Sylvain Veilleux ASTR380 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2014	Don't be mistaken by my score of 3/5. This is NOT a difficult course. There are going to be a few topics that may be a bit more difficult if you're unfamiliar with them (such as biology or astronomy), but it's easy enough to learn what you need. There's 5 homework assignments of a few questions each throughout the semester that only took about 30 minutes to an hour to complete. One midterm and a final that are completely short answer (approximately 20-25 questions on each exam). My score of 3/5 is just based on the fact I found Dr. Veilleux to be an uninteresting speaker. Going straight from the powerpoint, Dr. Veilleux tried to be engaging and a little excited about the topics, but really just doesn't have the personality for it. Something just felt off, even when speaking to him or asking a question. Other than being a dry speaker, it was an easy course. He posts his lecture slides online. Attendance is sort of "mandatory" in that he will ask a 1 point question after the lecture just to make sure the people that attended and paying attention get credit (though it's usually super easy like "Name one of the rovers on Mars" or "which part of this Evolution lecture are you still not convinced by?") and he doesn't always do it (maybe half the time). I would probably avoid taking a more challenging class with him, but he was adequate for this course.

Eliza Kempton
ASTR380

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/21/2023

I am an aerospace engineering major taking this course as part of my minor so my view might be a bit biased but people thought this class was hard but I thought it was very easy. Homeworks were very short written responses or just simple calculations. Exams were very easy as long as you reviewed her slides and lecture notes. About an hour of studying before each exam got me high A's every time since you get to write note sheets. The readings supplement the lectures very well and she does a great job of explaining all the material you need to know for the class. Extremely interesting topics and great professor.

Eliza Kempton
ASTR380

Expecting a B
Justacoder
12/01/2023

She is a very passionate and knowledgeable professor. She does want her students to learn and wants engagement during lecture, however it can be a bit too much. This particular class serves as a general credit and many of the students are not in the Major. I feel like she expects too much commitment, homeworks are quite math intensive and not always intitative. She decided on having 3 midterms and a final project. This can lead to quite an overload towards the end of the semester. In my case we have our thrid midterm Monday and Final presenation on Wendsay the same week. Not ideal when studying for other course. Her homeworks can be tricky, there is weekly reading from the textbook, and exams are moderately difficult. Not a bad professor by any means just a bit much. TLDR: Decent professor, course is a little to packed.

Julia Brodsky
ASTR380

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/13/2023

the class isn't hard with her. she does reading homework where you have to read pages out of the textbook. then does quizzes based on those readings online on elms. for exams you have the option to do the exam or do a project instead. the exams are open note

Julia Brodsky
ASTR380

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
04/13/2023

i don't really go to lectures but class is pretty easy, she has quizzes on elms based on reading homeworks and for exams you have the option to do the exam or do a project. there are also other assignments sprinkled in but they are not difficult

Thaddeus Komacek
ASTR380

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/23/2022

Very nice professor and wants to help you as much as he can. Lectures are pretty boring if you are not super interested in astronomy. The only rough part are the exams since they require you to memorize ALOT from the lectures, but the class gives you a lot of other grades to make up on the exams.

Thaddeus Komacek
ASTR380

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/23/2021

Professor Komacek tries his best to make sure you succeed in his class by giving extra credit points and even an optional project to boost up your grade. The hard part of the course is the exams as they require you to memorize a significant amount of information taught in class but otherwise this class is very laid back.

Thaddeus Komacek
ASTR380

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/17/2021

Prof. Komacek was a great professor honestly. His lectures were kinda dry and his exams were pretty rough, but he tried his best to make the class fun and interactive, and he was very lenient with grading. If you take 380 with him you'll be in good hands.

Richard Mushotzky
ASTR380

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
10/12/2020

Very boring, lecture tend to drone on and his slides have way more information than you would need

Suvi Gezari
ASTR380

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/21/2019

basically this was the alien class. Gezari was very receptive and nice the semester. Pretty lenient grading

Sylvain Veilleux
ASTR380

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2014

Don't be mistaken by my score of 3/5. This is NOT a difficult course. There are going to be a few topics that may be a bit more difficult if you're unfamiliar with them (such as biology or astronomy), but it's easy enough to learn what you need. There's 5 homework assignments of a few questions each throughout the semester that only took about 30 minutes to an hour to complete. One midterm and a final that are completely short answer (approximately 20-25 questions on each exam). My score of 3/5 is just based on the fact I found Dr. Veilleux to be an uninteresting speaker. Going straight from the powerpoint, Dr. Veilleux tried to be engaging and a little excited about the topics, but really just doesn't have the personality for it. Something just felt off, even when speaking to him or asking a question. Other than being a dry speaker, it was an easy course. He posts his lecture slides online. Attendance is sort of "mandatory" in that he will ask a 1 point question after the lecture just to make sure the people that attended and paying attention get credit (though it's usually super easy like "Name one of the rovers on Mars" or "which part of this Evolution lecture are you still not convinced by?") and he doesn't always do it (maybe half the time). I would probably avoid taking a more challenging class with him, but he was adequate for this course.

Reviews for ASTR380