| Information | Review |
|---|---|
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/28/2024 |
Professor Miller is a really enthusiastic and you get the vibe that he is genuinely excited and loves what he is doing. The grading in the course seems lenient and fair, but the second midterm was very tough and had concepts in it that were taught after that exam. I know people are looking at this class as a way to satisfy their gen-ed requirements but just know that you will have to put in efforts for this class. There were in-class quizzes at the beginning of each class where you would get an automatic 0 if you don't show up, so presence is sort of mandatory. A lot of your experience in this class will depend on your TA, so choose them wisely. I had Jane as my TA and although she was smart and enthusiastic, she was strict about grading and wanted students to put in the work. We had to make a presentation and present a paper, which the other sections didn't have to. She said it was to compensate for the discussion section quizzes but we lost points for both of these things so I don't see how any of the extra work helped. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/19/2024 |
Class was harder than expected. Every lecture there is a quiz, lowest 4 are dropped. Labs are easy and depends on how good your TA is. Exams were overall more challenging, professor doesn't tell you what's on the exam and doesnt tell the TA's either so they don't know as well. Lots of opportunity for extra credit though. Doesn't really curve. Professor is passionate and makes lectures interesting. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/19/2024 |
Lectures aren’t horrible he tries to keep it entertaining. This semester he thought 80 was too high of an average for the first exam and made the second way harder and the average went down to 65. Un cool move |
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2024 |
Professor Miller is an enthusiastic and engaging lecturer. Labs and homeworks were tedious/boring, but lectures were great. Satisfied my curiosity of basic astronomy/cosmology. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/09/2024 |
Please let this be a warning when I say that this class is messing up my GPA (and it's 4 credits so obviously it can do damage). If you are looking for a not-too-difficult gen ed class, this is not the class for you so don't be fooled. While Miller is a nice guy in general and cares about what he is talking about, so much material that it is impossible to keep up with is entwined in this course. As the previous reviewer said, it is impossible to fully prepare for the final especially because he does not give any study guide and tells you to study everything (everything is loads of chapters, packed lecture slides, discussion quizzes, in-class quizzes (which were not easy for me), and labs. I relied a lot on quizlets, chapters, and going over lecture notes and that was not enough to get me an ok grade. Even if you take the time to study, the questions are heavily specific and are hard to understand with just a regular understanding of the topic. Furthermore, while taking the second exam, others and I saw answers for some questions in the exam that were given in the material AFTER the test. This is too much stress for a gen-ed. I am hoping this helps someone as there are not many reviews on Miller and I wish someone could have warned me and my peers before enrolling. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/07/2024 |
too much info. he forgets this is a 100 level gen ed. Passionate and nice, just not a great teaching style. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR101 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/07/2024 |
DO NOT TAKE THIS IF YOU NEED A LAB CREDIT FOR GEN EDS. I took this thinking it would be an easy grade, and I finished with a C. Professor Miller is a nice person, but his lectures are very boring; he goes off-topic a lot of the time, and I genuinely do not retain anything he teaches in lectures. If you, for some reason, decide to take this class ( I genuinely don't know why you would, do NOT, whatever you do, DO NOT take it with the TA Aniruddh Bansal. He is the most unhelpful TA I have ever had in my college experience. I am not joking, when I asked him a question one time, he fully laughed and ignored me. He tries to teach in discussion, and no one knows the answer to his ridiculous questions, and then he gets mad when you do not reply. I am so serious, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Take geology, take bio, take something else. If you are not a science person like myself, do not take this thinking it will be easy. IT IS NOT. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR350 Expecting a C- Anonymous 03/28/2022 |
Don't let testudo fool you by saying "for Non-astronomy majors". Yes, some basic concepts are explained that likely wouldn't be explained in an astro course for astro majors, but there's a ton of math and hard-to-conceptualize topics that require a solid amount of studying. Don't take this course simply because you think black holes are cool. This course is difficult. The homeworks are difficult but the exams are actually pretty fair. The only problem is, the homework problems are way more complex than what's on the exams and the lectures are SO dense it's nearly impossible to adequately prepare for exams. Oh, and there's a paper you're gonna need to write on top of a final exam. Professor Miller is among the nicest professors you'll meet. He's genuinely excited about astronomy, is happy to answer questions, and has very entertaining lecture demonstrations (he can do magic!). My only issue is, he knows so much about this topic he often forgets he's teaching non-astro majors and doesn't explain things too well and leaves us to figure things out ourselves. |
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Michael Miller
ASTR120 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2018 |
He's a fantastic professor for anyone who is genuinely interested in the subject and wants to learn more, and he's super engaged in making sure everyone understands the material (including designating time to answer student questions every lecture). He is very smart but it's not daunting once you get used to him and relax a little bit. Definitely glad I had him. |