ASTR 1210

Not a bad class and I like Thuan, but if you take 1210 get in a different class. The lectures are alright, generally boring but useful and tend to be quite informative. All of the test is based off of lecture but plenty of the stuff he talks about is irrelevant. DO NOT buy a hard copy of the book, it is almost useless, the book only factors in on the homework exercises, all 6 of them (while the other classes have none). The tests are not really challenging, but the curve is hard and the tests from other 1210 classes are much easier. I didn't dislike this course but it is awful knowing twice as much about the topic compared to friends in another class but having a letter grade lower.

Professor Thuan is very passionate about astronomy and is actually well-known in his field. He has a thick accent but writes everything you need to know on the board in lecture, so make sure to take notes from what he write and study them well; you will do completely fine. He includes a lot of details in class, most of which you do not need to know for the test. He gives two quizzes and a final, which are surprisingly straightforward and easy as long as you study. He curves the class mean grade to a B, which I think is reasonable and made my grade go up for every assessment.

This course was really easy and interesting, and if you're going to take other astronomy courses, I would take this one first. It covers light and atoms, which are two essential topics for any other astronomy course. Then it covers more interesting topics about the planets and their moons. If you have Professor Thuan, it will be super easy. Everything you need to know for the test he covers in class and its really easy to take notes from him, he literally writes everything you need to know on the board. You still have to study a lot for the exams, but if you take good notes and pay attention and try, you will get an A. If you're interested in astronomy, I'd say this is a great class to take!

SAVE YOURSELF, DONT TAKE IT, JUST DONT DO IT, YOU WILL BE HAPPIER IF YOU DON'T TAKE IT, THE UNIVERSE WILL APPROVE

Just don't, don't do it. You have to go to every single lecture to write down what he says because he doesn't post any information online. And a lot of the time it was really hard to understand him because he has such a thick accent. There is obviously zero communication between him and his TA because Thuan seemed to have no idea that there was any homework being assigned at all, and hardly any of the things from the homework or textbook were on the tests so basically the homeworks were a big waste of time. It was really difficult to study for the two tests, which were each worth 20% of your grade, and the final (40% of your grade) was impossible. It's a really interesting subject, but I wish I would have taken it with another professor.

Professor Thuan is a pretty notable person in the astronomy field, however as a professor he comes up a little short. Classes can be dull as it consists of him just lecturing, however make sure to copy down everything he writes on the board as this is the material he puts on the quizzes. There are 2 quizzes that make up 40% of your grade in total and one cumulative final. He curves the whole course so the majority of people will get a B. Overall it's a dull but easy class, easy class to achieve a B in.

I enjoyed this class very much because of the interesting topic and because of Professor Thuan's lectures. The information from the lectures was directly applicable to the information on the tests, which made the class easy if you actually go and take good notes.

While the material covered in this class is very interesting, I would maybe try to take it with another professor. Professor Thuan is extremely experienced and obviously quite accomplished, but his presentations are just kind of dull. Your grade for the class is based on several categories: HW, labs, quizzes, and the final exam. The homework is assigned through the online MasteringAstronomy system, and is generally pretty easy as long as you read the book and don't rush through it. Definitely make sure to take your time to get all the questions right, since the homework does end up being 10% of your final grade. The labs consist of a telescope observation session and a constellation quiz. Both of these were actually quite interesting, as they allow you the opportunity to enjoy the night sky and learn something at the same time. They are both very easy, and neither require any preparation. (Although familiarizing yourself with a star map ahead of the constellation quiz wouldn't hurt.) The quizzes and exam are also not the hardest. They are based entirely on what Professor Thuan talks about in class, so it is very important to attend every lecture and write down everything he writes on the board. Pay special attention to any calculations he does, as these will certainly show up on all the tests and can trip you up if you aren't prepared. The final exam was basically just double the length of one quiz, with the same format and difficulty level. All in all, I definitely enjoyed taking this class, it just probably would have been better with a different professor. I ended up with an A-. All in all, if you are interested in astronomy, or want a class to fulfill your science/math requirement, this could be the class for you.

Thuan isn't a bad professor and genuinely loves astronomy, but he makes the quizzes (which are basically tests) and final exam pretty difficult. His lecture notes are clear, but he adds more information on the test and really expects you to expand on the information. The average score on quizzes was consistently in the low 70's, but he did curve it heavily so that the average overall grade would be a B. If you're trying to fill a requirement, I wouldn't recommend.

Professor Thuan's lecture is kind of dry and he writes everything on the board. Simply go to every lecture, take notes and recite all of them can help you get a A and fulfill the requirement. No need for the textbook. Though his accent is heavy and sometimes is hard to understand, you can feel his strong love for Astronomy.