| Information | Review |
|---|---|
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Massimo Ricotti
ASTR101 Anonymous 05/20/2022 |
This was this professors first time teaching ASTR101, and he put a lot of effort into making sure people understood the material. I would definitely recommend this professor. Do the reading and if you’re confused about something go to office hours, and you’ll be fine. Pros: - The class was graded on a lot of things, which was helpful because if you don’t do well on one assignment you can easily make it up. - In class there were a lot of mini-experiments that helped demonstrate difficult concepts, so if you’re a visual learner (like me) that will help you a lot. - The TA’s meet with the professor then hold exam reviews and put review slides up online that you can use as a study guide. Pro or Con depending on preference: - As the other reviews mention, there was a curve, but for ASTR101 they curved every exam individually instead of curving everyone at the end of class. Con: - This wasn’t the professors fault, but if you take the class sit toward the front of the room. The experiments can be hard to see from the back. - The homework can be rough, but the lowest score is dropped and it isn’t a large part of your grade. |
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Massimo Ricotti
ASTR101 Anonymous 05/19/2022 |
Dr. Ricotti was a great prof for a 100-level course. My only complaint is that he can be a bit dry sometimes and lose your attention easily. Otherwise, his exams and assignments were well thought out. |
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Massimo Ricotti
ASTR101 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/19/2022 |
Really great guy, super nice. He sometimes talks quietly (compared to the noises the people in lecture sometimes makes), which can make it hard to hear. I recommend going to the front row, that's what I did. I can see how people may find his lectures to be boring, but you have to make sure that you're paying attention and read the material prior to know what he's talking about. I definitely recommend reading through the textbook, since all of the lectures are based on these chapters. However, the book does go more in detail and covers some stuff that's on assignments/exams that are more thoroughly explained in the textbook. If you read the textbook, you'll be fine. He had some really fun and engaging demos throughout the semester, which added some liveliness to the lectures. Don't worry about the discussion or the lab parts, they are both pretty easy, and if there are some difficulties, the GAs are extremely kind in helping the students. The GAs offer a lot of assistance and review sessions for exams—they are a great resource! Overall, a great course that is interesting and not too hard. |
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Massimo Ricotti
ASTR101 Expecting an A+ rrex 05/19/2022 |
Dr. Ricotti hadn't taught the class before, which was very clear in the structure and how the material was presented. The lecture, discussion, lab, and reading components of the class were almost totally decoupled. Despite this, the class was simple and the assignments were straightforward and didn't require much time. He did emphasize math and physics more than expected for a class that doesn't necessarily contain STEM majors. |
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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. |
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Massimo Ricotti
ASTR415 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/07/2010 |
While I can't say Dr. Ricotti is a bad teacher, I can't say he's excellent either. As a person, he is excellent. Really, really nice and funny, and even brought us cookies and cake a couple of times. While his lectures are extremely dry, that may have been just because the material, computational astrophysics, can be pretty dull when you study the algorithms closely. He is an extremely fair grader, however. He is very willing to give extensions, and really tries very hard to give good grades. The homework was very difficult, but again, that was probably because the material is difficult. To summarize - if you are interested in the subject, take his class. Otherwise you may find lectures to be very boring. |