ASTR 1210

I thought that this class was pretty easy and low-stress overall. Professor Li is super nice and friendly, and he is very passionate about astronomy. There is a textbook that is assigned for homework reading, but Professor Li goes over the exact same material in class, so I always ended up skipping it after the first few weeks, and it never caused me any trouble. The material was, for the most part, very interesting, although there were a couple lectures that did get a bit boring. There are 3 quizzes throughout the semester, your lowest grade of which is dropped, and each quiz has true or false, multiple choice, and free response questions. The material on the quizzes was pretty much just recalling stuff directly from the lectures, and there were very few questions based on application of the material as opposed to memorization of it. Most of the material was very easy to memorize too, or I could usually guess it correctly. A few of the questions would ask for hyper specific details that did seem unfair to ask us to memorize, but those were the vast minority, and most of the questions were fair in my opinion. The final was the same format as the quizzes and a little harder in difficulty, but it really wasn't too bad. Both of the labs are really fun and easy, and they add to your grade, so they're super helpful. Don't forget to sign up for them early though, because they fill up REALLY fast! Professor Li also uses iClicker for this class so you have to answer questions during lecture to get points for your grade, but, at least for this semester, he would always have a Zoom of the class going so that we could watch remotely and do iClicker remotely if we couldn't make it. Overall, I thought this was a great class to take as it was super interesting and pretty easy, and Professor Li was extremely nice and interesting.

If you're looking to fulfill a science requirement or get an easy A, do NOT take this class. Unless you retain information from bare bones slides and are extremely passionate about astronomy, you will struggle more than expected. I read the reviews and decided I'd take it anyway. I'll probably end up with a C+. I attended 90% of the lectures, ended every class with 5 new pages of jam-packed notes, and still missed the miniscule details he'd put on the tests. He reviews concepts very fast and although understandable, you have to put lots of work in outside of the class to actually fully understand the more difficult concepts. I didn't spend much time reading the textbook, but it's useful if you want more clarity on a topic. He definitely tests verbal/lecture slides material more than anything on the midterms though. All in all, this class made me more knowledgeable about various astronomical concepts, but it won't be a grade boost for me at all. Li is a nice professor, though. #tCFfall22

This class is HARD. The reviews from this class seem like it could be management if you think you’re good at memorization, however, you must memorize content on hundreds of slides for each quiz. The quizzes are hard in the sense that they are made up of very niche questions from the lecture slides. There are 3 quizzes made of 5 T/F, 20 MC, and 10 short answer. The lowest of these three quizzes gets dropped. The final is double the layout of the quizzes. You don’t need to go to class besides to get the iclicker points, however, my lectures were all recorded so I would have to go back and rewatch to understand difficult material.

A fairly easy class? I am not interested in astronomy at all but I took it because I needed a science class to fill a gen ed requirement. Li is a really nice guy but I found it hard to pay attention during class because I found the topic really boring. However, if you go to class and pay attention, it's not hard to get an A at all. All of the test questions are basically from the slides. Tests are a few T/F, mostly multiple choice, and then 5 free response questions where you explain a concept in 2-3 sentences. The free response are graded pretty leniently because I didn't use proper terminology most of the time and still got full credit. You have to do a constellation lab which is really easy and is pass/fail. There's also a telescope lab you can do for extra credit which will at 3% to your course grade. Li will also drop your lowest exam grade.

Overall, easy class but boring if you are not interested in astronomy. No homework as well.

#tCFfall22

The professor is nice but he makes you memorize a bunch of specific and tedious details for the test which aren't helpful.

This professor is not as easy as the others so I have been told. Everyone always says that this is an easy A with little to no work, which confused me until I learned that the other professors gave take-home exams or open-note quizzes. Li's class is the opposite with quizzes that are closed note, and a full in-person closed note exam. This isn't the coolest because the quizzes and final exam make up a total of 85% of your overall grade. The class itself is hard to sit through and pay attention to, though he does try his best to make it interesting. Maybe if you're really interested in astronomy this class won't be as hard for you. There's no homework though so it's a bit of a give-and-take.

#tCFF23

People really oversell how easy this course is: there are three closed-note quizzes (the lowest one is dropped, which is nice) and a final exam which make up 85 percent of your final grade. There's no good way to study for them, as content is drawn seemingly at random from various slides covered throughout the unit — the questions don't align with the professor's key points in lecture and often felt unreasonably niche to me. About 30% of the class went to lectures. I went to all of them and honestly regret it. They aren't a great use of your time, and just self-studying the powerpoints might be better value for your time.

I also had a frustrating experience with the labs. There are two: a constellation lab and a telescope lab. The constellation lab is basically completion (you have to pass a very easy quiz) and the telescope lab gives you 3% of course-wide extra credit, which is very good value. However, since both are based on astronomical observation, they require a clear sky to complete. I guess I just got unlucky, but I had to sign up for the constellation lab 3 times as my first two attempts got "clouded out" and had both of my sign-ups for the telescope lab "clouded out" as well, so I wasn't able to complete it for extra credit.

I don't mean this in a harsh way, since Li clearly means well and wants students to feel passionate about the subject material, but this was one of the worst classes I've taken at UVA.

#tCFF23

Professor Li is a great instructor who clearly cares a lot about his field. Personally I thought the lectures were interesting, but they can be content-heavy so maybe not for everyone. There are two labs (one required, one optional) and I recommend trying to complete both because it's a great opportunity to tour the observatory and stargaze, especially if you're from a more urban area. Exams aren't bad---there are usually one or two questions that are a bit hyper-specific---but definitely doable if you pay attention in lecture. Overall a great overview of astronomy and I learned a lot!

This course is more difficult than it seems and the content is very boring and repetitive. It is mostly rote memorization and the only way to do well in this class is by studying the slides and maybe looking at the reading to get more information about some concepts. The professor basically just read off the slides during class so there's not much point in attending lectures except to do the in-class questions (a Zoom option is provided as well). Overall, the content is not challenging if you apply yourself but it's difficult to put in the effort and get excited about such dry course material. Not necessarily the easy A class it's often advertised as.

This class was BAD. Professor Li is such a sweet man, passionate about what he teaches, but every lecture is just a bunch of vague slideshows and him rambling on. If you pay attention, they can be super interesting, but getting lost in the teachings is so easy. He usually has 3 in-class quizzes (the lowest one is dropped god bless), and then a final at the end of the semester. However, he'll tell you that a certain concept is important and will be on the quiz, and it's nowhere to be found. To get a good grade, you need to memorize EVERYTHING. I spent hours memorizing important/big concepts only for them to never be spoken of again, and the test asked questions about a tiny detail in the presentation. The final is even worse, it's cumulative, so it's on everything the semester taught, but you'll never know what will be on the test. This class is good if you can pay attention to endless slideshows and know ALOT about astronomy beforehand. Do any extra credit he offers, ur going to need it. He's such a sweet sweet guy, but the way the class runs is just brain kill. #tCFF23