Alberto Bolatto

This professor has taught: ASTR100, ASTR101, ASTR340, ASTR380, ASTR399, ASTR610, ASTR670

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Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Expecting an A- pfilardi 05/22/2023	Prof. Bolatto is a jolly, kind, and very smart person. Beware that while prior physics/astronomy knowledge isn't expected, this course moves quickly through complicated astrophysics concepts. Though this class is “intended primarily for non-science majors”, it’s difficult and covers a lot of content. There was little study material, which made test prep feel futile. The tests themselves are lengthy and all written, but fair. Grading is not harsh and Bolatto himself is great, so if you like science, I would recommend him.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/12/2023	Nice guy. Class is VERY interesting. One of the best classes I have taken at UMD. Go to class, pay attention, study a bit when there’s an exam, complete hw and quizzes and I promise you will end with at bare minimum a B. If you put in a bit more effort you’ll get an A no problem.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR340 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/09/2023	Don't take this guy for this class. It's impossible to keep up with the lectures. He blows past explaining complex topics in class, even if the majority of the class gets an answer wrong on clicker questions. He refuses to tell you what you did wrong on your extremely difficult time-consuming homework unless you go to office hours, and even if you do go he doesn't really explain anything to you. There's no textbooks or anything, so there are no resources beyond banging your head against hard-to-understand slides and googling questions. This class is just getting points docked over and over for no reason that you can figure out with a professor that refuses to give you the correct answer so you can learn. If he did give you the answer at the very least you could reverse engineer the physics problems to try to understand what you did wrong. I appreciate that this is a complex topic, and I know it's very hard to explain to a class full of people who've taken one prereq. This class should be much higher level and have more physics and astronomy class prereqs. Don't take this with just basic astronomy and basic physics or you'll regret it.
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
Alberto Bolatto ASTR101 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/20/2020	Prof Bolatto is very knowledgeable and for the most part, the class isn't too bad. The homework assignments a were bit too complicated but otherwise, the classwork wasn't too bad. As long as you stay on top of the readings and assignments, you should be fine.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR100 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2020	Took ASTR100/101. He was very informative and knew what he was talking about regarding this concept, it even frustrated me sometimes because he would seem so passionate about astronomy while I just didn't understand anything. For online courses, his class was fairly straight forward. Lab every week using some sort of astronomical software (but often times it would take more than 2hrs to do it with a partner), a discussion quiz due a day after your discussion is, plus two lecture quizzes. For the lecture quizzes, you just need a 6/8 at least to get a 100% for participation. I didn't personally feel like I retained information, due to laziness on my part - but I still have a good grade in the class at the end and ended up with an above-average grade on each assignment.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR100 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/22/2018	This class isn't a bad science to take if you aren't a science person. GO TO LECTURE he uses clicker questions for attendance and he will catch you if you try to do them from outside of class.
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!
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.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR310 Anonymous 12/27/2009	Professor Bolatto is such a nice guy, which makes it so hard for me to review him so poorly, but he is terrible! You could totally get together for a beer with him, but taking a class with him is useless. I finished the class not understanding a single one of the topics, and it was not for lack of trying. He doesn't really explain anything at all. The information obviously flows clearly in his head, but it does not mean that the class understands. Midterm and Final averages were in the 50s.
Alberto Bolatto ASTR310 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/21/2008	great,upstanding, happy, enjoyable guy. BAD TEACHER. taught a lot of random things, didnt get us grades back until too late. a big problem with this course when 70% of your grade is the 4 research papers about the labs. but when never get the grade back until youve done most of them, you dont benefit from the criticisms at all. suggested textbooks were useless, everything you need to know is on wikipedia. said he would give us all the equations on the two exams we needed and he fooled me twice.