Prof M is really nice and she does try her best to accommodate all her students. She is always happy to meet with you to clear up any material and provides extra practice if you ask. She is a VERY fair grader!! The grade is made up of a midterm (15%), final (25%), homework (40%), newspaper summaries (10%) and one evening lab (10%). If you missed the final you were allowed to have your final exam worth (40%), newspaper summaries every other week and homework each week. The homework was MasteringAstronomy so not super interested but you had 3 chances to earn 100%. The evening lab you get 100% for just showing up. It's annoying but it's an easy way to earn 10% of the grade. On both exams you are allowed a formula sheet that you can annotate with your own notes front and back. The class is boring but very fair and reasonable. It's an easy A if you go to class. If you don't you'll probably still pass.

I took this class because the reviews said it was take home tests. However, this is NOT the case. I guess she changed the curriculum this semester because although the tests were online they are HEAVILY proctored, genuinely 4 TA's plus the prof just circle around everyone and they will stand behind you and stare at your computer screen to make sure you're not doing anything. If you like astronomy, take the class, if you're just taking it for a requirement I wouldn’t, theres others that are way easier. The only thing that is remotely good is that she drops your lowest hw and "newspaper" assignment but good luck with trying to get a response to an email, if you have any questions prepare for them to not be answered because she took 4 weeks to answer mine.

Super easy and interesting class that is useful for getting a requirement out of the way. All tests are take home and open note, there is a homework assignment about every two weeks that consist of practice problems from what we have been learning in lecture, and a weekly news article summary. There is a textbook for this class, but as long as you go to lecture you don’t have to read any of it. Also, I would definitely recommend going to every class because nearly half of the questions on the midterm and final were word for word from lectures throughout the semester. Lastly, Professor Modjaz is extremely kind and truly wants her students to succeed and enjoy her class. I would definitely recommend this for people looking to add a less time consuming class to their schedule.

Great intro class. Professor Modjaz does a great job and you can tell she is extremely knowledgeable and wants to make the class engaging. Exams were online and straightforward, and we had a weekly blog post about a current event. Def recommend this class!