I feel like if I was actually interested in astronomy, I would have really liked this class! I only took this class to fill one of my last disciplines and I'm a Foreign Affairs major, so I really have little to no interest in astronomy. Professor Murphy is for sure very smart and is so enthusiastic about the class. He also has many accommodations in place for students (records the lecture on Zoom so students can join if they can't come to lecture, posts the recordings for students to watch later if needed, etc). You can tell he made a lot of accommodations for his students during the pandemic and kept many of them in place even after coming back to in-person classes. I never went to his office hours, but he just seems like a nice, funny guy who loves astronomy and is quite a dad (in the best way!).

Every lecture is planned out well and his Canvas is very organized and clear. There's usually a homework on the Pearson site due every Sunday, but no quizzes. There were 3 exams spread out through the semester and then the final exam; the exams were open note and pretty reasonable. My only qualm is that there were a lot of labs, and a lot of them you had to go to the Astronomy Building or outside to a place where you could clearly see the moon or stars, which was just difficult to organize. It felt like a lot of labs for a 1000 level class.

Overall, I'd recommend this class, especially for anyone who needs to fill up that discipline requirement! It's a good class, and you can definitely get an A in the class without insane amounts of effort. #tCFF23

Murphy was a very engaging professor, and he made a large lecture personalized and exciting. The class does have a fair amount of homework and virtual labs; however, Murphy is very friendly in office hours if you need help. I feel like Murphy made this class manageable and really fun, however I tended to struggle on the tests. I would suggest studying a lot for them and going to lectures. The lectures are always recorded which is nice if you have to miss.

This class is really good to take honestly if you're looking to knock out some of those basic requirements or pre-reqs. There are only three quizzes plus the final exam, so you can say they're relatively spread out from each other. The professor is super knowledgeable and has been here since like the 90s, so he is well versed and knows what he's doing. Like he literally uploaded all the lecture notes and the schedule for the whole semester early August. The homework is very manageable and he always opens it 2 weeks or more before the due date, so plenty of time. I would say the main downside is that this course is very content heavy, so just be prepared to have to learn and memorize a lot of things in preparation for exams. #tCFfall2021

Professor Murphy is a really great at explaining concepts in a very easy-to-understand way. He recognizes that many people taking the course are doing it for an easy science requirement and he makes the material fun and interesting. Highly recommend taking it.

I thought this course was really interesting overall and I learned a lot about astronomy. Don't assume that this class will be easy because it requires a lot of studying. Most of the graded assignments are easy 100s: in-class learning catalytics questions, homework problems, 2 easy labs. Btw, I studied for the constellation quiz lab and it was a complete waste of time. It's so easy; the answers are basically provided for you. The labs are really fun and interesting. However, the exams can be very tricky. Make sure you study a lot for them. My best advice is to study the Mastering Astronomy questions and the learning catalytics questions. Make sure you actually understand the material; don't just memorize the answers to the question. I found the final to be very difficult (99 questions). Everything is fair game. STUDY A LOT. One thing I hated about this class was the fact that we were always behind in the syllabus (I don't even think we got to half the material). It seemed like he was trying so hard to squeeze all the information in the end and was going so fast. I never went to office hours but maybe that would help. Although it was very interesting to hear about, I think he spent too much time (sometimes half the class) talking about current events that weren't even going to be on any exam. I ended up with a pretty good grade in the class (the easy grade boosters really helped). Overall, I would recommend this class but be prepared to study really hard.

Professor Murphy is a really, really good lecturer. He's super energetic and extremely passionate about the subject. He was on cloud nine following the solar eclipse. I enjoyed the class a lot, but it's definitely not as easy as I was expecting. Your grade consists of online homework, clicker questions, 2 pass/fail labs, 3 multiple choice midterms and a multiple choice cumulative final exam. Online homework answers are on quizlet, so that's an easy 100%. Clicker questions are also an easy 100%, because you get full credit if you reach a certain amount of points. Labs were actually pretty difficult in my opinion, but they were graded super easily. If you passed, you get full credit. If you fail, you just go back and do it again for full credit. The exams were not easy at all. They are based on conceptual understanding of the material. You can't just get by with knowing what stuff is. You have to know how and why it works. I always felt like I did well on exams, but ended up getting in the 70s most of the time. To study for exams, memorize the questions on the online homework, because some questions are pulled directly from there, and focus on actually learning the material. That's what you have to do in order to do well on the tests. Overall, I'd recommend the class, because Murphy is awesome and the material is interesting, but don't take it if you're simply looking for an easy A. That's what I did, and I didn't get it.

Great professor, if you like this course consider taking his other course on the origins of everything. I will say that the “quizzes” are more difficult than I would have expected, and he at times writes poorly worded questions, which is very aggravating.
He makes it really interesting and explains everything very well.

He is really passionate about astronomy and so he makes the class enjoyable but the material is very dry and boring. I would recommend taking this class only if you actually care about this class. This class somehow got the reputation of being easy but that is not the case at all. There is weekly homework graded on accuracy and there are three "quizzes" but they are basically three midterms that are 50 questions long and the only way to study for them is to memorize the homework and read the textbook and go over his powerpoints. There are two very easy labs that are meant to boost your grade. The final is cumulative and again I would go over the homework especially and maybe the textbook and his powerpoint. If you are taking this class for a science requirement but you don't care about the class, then do not take this class.

This was recommended to me as an "easy" science credit. However it most definitely is not. The exams are all multiple choice, which sounds easy but the questions are tricky and very elaborate for multiple choice. The concepts on the quizzes were not at all reflective from the class lectures. The lectures were boring and did not prepare you well for the exams. The best way to study is to use the mastering astronomy practice questions.

If you are looking for an easy A, this class may not be for you. While Murphy is extremely competent as a professor, the material covered was sometimes very dry. Class participation is nice in that you only need to answer about 50 questions right to get full credit, but this led me to skip half the lectures. To study for his quizzes, simply go over his notes, homework, Learning Catalytics, textbook readings, and the concept/reading quizzes on MasteringAstronomy. Other than that, you really just need to know how to answer his questions, as they may be tricky. Although I got an A-, this class should be a easy B/B- if you put some effort into it.