ASTR 3
Nature of Universe
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Not open to students with credit for or currently enrolled in course 81 or 82. No special mathematical preparation required beyond that necessary for admission to UCLA in freshman standing. Course for general UCLA students, normally not intending to major in physical sciences, on development of ideas in astronomy and what has been learned of nature of universe, including recent discoveries and developments. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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2 of 4
Most Helpful Review
Let me just start by saying that I am a north campus major, and I took Astro 3 with Hauser just to get rid of my GE requirement. I'm don't typically enjoy math or science courses, but he made this class genuinely interesting. I actually looked forward to his lectures, since he has a very quirky sense of humor and mixes in little videos to keep people interested. He also brought snacks each day for any of the 200+ students that were hungry. Who does that? The material is not that hard, and the weekly labs are manageable. I had Matt House as a TA and he was very helpful in answering any questions about the labs. Professor Hauser is very open to helping students with work and answering questions during office hours. I regret only going twice to ask for help. In terms of difficulty, I don't think there is a single class anywhere at UCLA where it is so easy to get an A. Prof Hauser curves the midterms and the finals to the extent that a C+/B- is an A. According to the final grades, almost 50% got some sort of an A, and over 90% got some sort of a B or A! Take this class if you're looking for an easy A, but more importantly, take it if you're looking for a professor that will make the subject fascinating. Bottom line...if Hauser is teaching Astro 3 again, and it fits into your schedule, TAKE THE CLASS!
Let me just start by saying that I am a north campus major, and I took Astro 3 with Hauser just to get rid of my GE requirement. I'm don't typically enjoy math or science courses, but he made this class genuinely interesting. I actually looked forward to his lectures, since he has a very quirky sense of humor and mixes in little videos to keep people interested. He also brought snacks each day for any of the 200+ students that were hungry. Who does that? The material is not that hard, and the weekly labs are manageable. I had Matt House as a TA and he was very helpful in answering any questions about the labs. Professor Hauser is very open to helping students with work and answering questions during office hours. I regret only going twice to ask for help. In terms of difficulty, I don't think there is a single class anywhere at UCLA where it is so easy to get an A. Prof Hauser curves the midterms and the finals to the extent that a C+/B- is an A. According to the final grades, almost 50% got some sort of an A, and over 90% got some sort of a B or A! Take this class if you're looking for an easy A, but more importantly, take it if you're looking for a professor that will make the subject fascinating. Bottom line...if Hauser is teaching Astro 3 again, and it fits into your schedule, TAKE THE CLASS!
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Most Helpful Review
huffman is not a hard professor. his curves are quite lenient and he doesnt demand much. and astro 3 isnt supposed to be a hard class...but for some reason, the two of those still dont equal to an easy A class. hes a good teacher, he really tries to get the students to learn something, but you still gotta pay attention and read and go to class or else its not gonna work.
huffman is not a hard professor. his curves are quite lenient and he doesnt demand much. and astro 3 isnt supposed to be a hard class...but for some reason, the two of those still dont equal to an easy A class. hes a good teacher, he really tries to get the students to learn something, but you still gotta pay attention and read and go to class or else its not gonna work.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - This class is definitely an EASY A class. Just make sure you use professor Larkin's slides and the STUDY QUESTION GUIDE. You don't even have to go to the lecture at all. I didn't go to the lecture this quarter, but I go over all the lecture slides before the midterm (This way can save your time). Make sure you go over ALL the questions of STUDYGUIDE provided before exams, and that is very very helpful. Lots of questions come from that studyguide. Just try to answer all those questions in advance based on information you can find in the lecture slides, and you will get through the exam very easily.
Winter 2021 - This class is definitely an EASY A class. Just make sure you use professor Larkin's slides and the STUDY QUESTION GUIDE. You don't even have to go to the lecture at all. I didn't go to the lecture this quarter, but I go over all the lecture slides before the midterm (This way can save your time). Make sure you go over ALL the questions of STUDYGUIDE provided before exams, and that is very very helpful. Lots of questions come from that studyguide. Just try to answer all those questions in advance based on information you can find in the lecture slides, and you will get through the exam very easily.
Most Helpful Review
This is a great class to take if you need a science GE and are not a science major. I took this class at the same time as Intro to Oceanography, and in comparison with the Ocean class this class was a lot more reasonable in amount of reading and material we were expected to cover in the class. I would definately recommend this class over the Ocean class because Lew has painstakingly thorough notes online for every slide on his lecture notes, and he has open note open neighbor quizzes and it's just a reasonable workload which makes it fun as well as entertaining. However you will have to study to do well on the midterm and final it is not just an easy A, and Lew is very anal about spelling, grammar, and exact wording.
This is a great class to take if you need a science GE and are not a science major. I took this class at the same time as Intro to Oceanography, and in comparison with the Ocean class this class was a lot more reasonable in amount of reading and material we were expected to cover in the class. I would definately recommend this class over the Ocean class because Lew has painstakingly thorough notes online for every slide on his lecture notes, and he has open note open neighbor quizzes and it's just a reasonable workload which makes it fun as well as entertaining. However you will have to study to do well on the midterm and final it is not just an easy A, and Lew is very anal about spelling, grammar, and exact wording.
Most Helpful Review
DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... I REPEAT ... DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... take Mclean ... Malkan does not understand that this is a GE class nor non-science majors ... his midterms and finals are very specific ... and even his take home quizzes are hard ... Astro 3 is supposed to be fun and easy ... he made it aweful and hard ... he is a super nice guy with a zest for the topic ... but don't take him and think you'll get an A in astro 3 ... you take him and pray for a B!
DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... I REPEAT ... DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... take Mclean ... Malkan does not understand that this is a GE class nor non-science majors ... his midterms and finals are very specific ... and even his take home quizzes are hard ... Astro 3 is supposed to be fun and easy ... he made it aweful and hard ... he is a super nice guy with a zest for the topic ... but don't take him and think you'll get an A in astro 3 ... you take him and pray for a B!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - I wish there had been a review for Mognet before I signed up for this class, so I'm doing it now for anyone considering it. If at all possible, I would recommend finding another teacher for Astro 3. I signed up because I needed to fulfill one last easy GE requirement, and it ended up taking more of my time than my actual major classes. I don't know how other teachers have structured this class, but reading 2-3 long chapters with online homework that can be 30-45 questions per week felt kind of ridiculous. I stopped going to class after first midterm, as all the time spent with my nose in the book basically made lecture pointless (and I still ended up getting an A on midterm 2). The labs were also totally unrelated. Basically, if you have to take Astro 3 with Mognet, do the reading as you do the homework, use the uploaded lectures as rough study guides, and try to hurry through the labs to save an hour in your day. For this quarter he said he wants to curve the average up to a B+, which will make a huge difference because most people are averaging low B's and C's right now. Also, the textbook is too expensive. You can find a pdf copy of the whole thing if you Google "u-cursos pdf Comic Perspective" (it's from a Chilean university). The only tricky thing would be getting the code for the online homework, but I'm sure it's still less expensive than buying the whole package.
Winter 2016 - I wish there had been a review for Mognet before I signed up for this class, so I'm doing it now for anyone considering it. If at all possible, I would recommend finding another teacher for Astro 3. I signed up because I needed to fulfill one last easy GE requirement, and it ended up taking more of my time than my actual major classes. I don't know how other teachers have structured this class, but reading 2-3 long chapters with online homework that can be 30-45 questions per week felt kind of ridiculous. I stopped going to class after first midterm, as all the time spent with my nose in the book basically made lecture pointless (and I still ended up getting an A on midterm 2). The labs were also totally unrelated. Basically, if you have to take Astro 3 with Mognet, do the reading as you do the homework, use the uploaded lectures as rough study guides, and try to hurry through the labs to save an hour in your day. For this quarter he said he wants to curve the average up to a B+, which will make a huge difference because most people are averaging low B's and C's right now. Also, the textbook is too expensive. You can find a pdf copy of the whole thing if you Google "u-cursos pdf Comic Perspective" (it's from a Chilean university). The only tricky thing would be getting the code for the online homework, but I'm sure it's still less expensive than buying the whole package.
Most Helpful Review
one of the worst professors i've ever had...he simply spits out facts and information without offering any valid explanations or understanding. do not take him for astro 3; we had substitute profs a few times, and they were sooooooo much more effective than ong. he seems like a really nice guy, but don't fall for it! when it comes to exams and grading, he's a hard-ass.
one of the worst professors i've ever had...he simply spits out facts and information without offering any valid explanations or understanding. do not take him for astro 3; we had substitute profs a few times, and they were sooooooo much more effective than ong. he seems like a really nice guy, but don't fall for it! when it comes to exams and grading, he's a hard-ass.
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