TW: The midterms for this class are HARD. I think the averages were like a 78% and a 64% on the two midterms. The prof. even made practice midterms that were not very helpful because they were MUCH easier than the actual thing. The midterms are very math heavy and we don't do any math practice problems in class. With that said, the final made up for it and boosted everyone's grades. The textbook readings are helpful but VERY time consuming. I got Bs on both midterms but got an A on the final and got A's on all the labs, so I ended with an A in the class. Some of the lab problems can be tricky but your TA is super available during lab to answer any questions and I never had to finish any of the labs outside of the designated lab time (even though they give you two extra days to finish if you need to). The lectures are super confusing bc prof. goes through extremely conceptual stuff super fast. By week 5 only like 30-40 people started showing up to lecture because tbh reading the slides yourself on your own time is probably easier. Finally, Treu is super sweet and understanding, and offers a 5% extra credit boost for answering people's questions on Campuswire (that's how I ended with an "A+". The material is super dense but really interesting if you're into space and stars. I recommend the class, but it's not an "easy GE". Grade breakdown: 20% midterm 1, 20% midterm 2, 20% lab, 20% homework, 20% final.

I would like to start off by saying that this class definitely threw me off considering how everyone told me that it was a really easy science GE. Going in this class, I did not know much about astronomy or any of the math-related concepts involved, so it was a bit tricky for me. The first two midterms were very very difficult and I am sure many others agree with this statement. However stressful, he did offer 5% EC and a curve on top of the class. Because of this, I felt confident that I would pass the class so I switched my grade to pnp. I really thought I was going to f bomb the final but I actually did really well, so as much as I did not enjoy the class, I think Treu balances the class well between difficulty and curves. Labs were ok, but most people just kept cameras off so it was basically solo. Overall, I think this class gave a very low workload, but when it comes to testing, you really have to study hard!

Easy science GE with a lab. Attendance in lecture is not mandatory or necessary to do well in the class. All slides are posted on CCLE and exams are open note. Labs are very straightforward and usually open note. Highly recommend taking this class with Treu.

This class was not the worse despite how little effort I put into the course. Treu was a sweet guy and you can tell he is passionate about the topics, but the lectures weren't mandatory and sort of hard to follow along. You don't really need to attend lectures to do well in the course. The main part of the class that determines your grade is the exams (2 midterms, 1 cumulative final). The two midterms contained 32 multiple choice questions and the final had 40 questions. It was open-note but there are a good amount of application questions and to be honest, I can see why he made it open note because the exams were still a little bit confusing and difficult. There was some math involved but it wasn't the worst since he provided us some examples in the practice exams he provides, but some of the concept questions were difficult to answer. I will say that the first midterm average was like 78%, while most people did a lot better on midterm 2 and the final. However, there is not a lot of structure and resources in the course, and I typically felt pretty unprepared each exams because the practice questions were very dry and minimal. Besides that, he offered 1.5% extra credit this quarter for attending a live stream and writing what we learned, which was pretty nice. The grading distribution you see does reflect this course accurately as Prof Treu wants everybody to succeed and do well in the course! He is super accommodating if reach out to him and typically responds very fast. Overall, Astro 3 is highly dependent on your professor and I HIGHLY recommend taking it with Treu (typically teaches winter I think) to fulfill the science + lab GE requirement (5 units)! Definitely not 100% easy, but I would say easy/medium difficulty.

I took this class during the online winter quarter and as a GE, so that might affect my review. I'm also bad at math

The concepts we learned were cool and the lectures/homework made them easy to understand.
overall I felt like this class was disorganized (not a big deal though because most people take it as a GE). The professor is also really nice, willing to answer questions, and explains the concepts well. If you are confused on topics there is a lot of resources online, within the homework, within the lectures, etc.
If you're better at math than me you'll do fine.

Overall though the class felt very unorganized. The class included 1) lectures 2) labs and 3) homework assignments. The lectures were not mandatory and the slides were available on Bruin Learn. Labs included a pre-lab and lab assignments, both were graded, but you didn't have to do all of them. My TA for the Labs was great but they often felt like busy work and didn't really expand or connect to the concepts in lectures in super meaningful ways. The homework was probably my least favorite part though - it's one of those homework platforms where you have to buy the textbook in order to access the homework, which is frustrating and makes it more inaccessible for some people. The homework questions were found on Quizlet which was handy but the videos were just crash course videos, so it was annoying to have to pay just to access the readings/videos which I could have found elsewhere. The midterms (there are two) /final are HARD and I did way better on the class assignments than the tests. Normally I don't mind if a class doesn't provide a study guide, since no one is really entitled to having one BUT I literally had no idea what to focus on because there was so much material and it felt disorganized. Practice midterms/final were given so we could "see what the exam would look like" but everything was multiple choice so that didn't really matter anyway. It would have been helpful if I had a more concrete idea of what to study, especially with the equations (write down ALL THE EQUATIONS!)

I took this as a GE as a north campus major. I wouldn't really recommend it and there are lots of other GEs out there. This class involves lots of math and there's a lab every week.

For someone who didn't really attend the lectures, this class was pretty easy to get through. The professor is really sweet but his lectures are kinda boring and hard to get through as someone who isn't interested in astronomy. I actually really enjoyed the labs though, my TA was Philip and he was really helpful. Just make sure you join a breakout room with people who talk and help each other out. I got low Bs on the two midterms and an A on the final. The extra credit helps a lot though.

Professor Treu is brilliant! It was genuinely such an honor to be able to be taught by such a well-spoken and interesting professor. I never felt afraid to ask a question if something was unclear and he genuinely made an effort to ensure that he was making sense. My TA (Philip) was equally as helpful and the labs were not too difficult as long as you understood the lectures too. The tests are definitely not a walk in the park, but reading the Kudu textbook and making sure you pay attention during lecture helps. There were also some opportunities to raise your grade because the tests weren’t the only thing going into the gradebook. As for COVID adjustments, the lectures occurred on Zoom but attendance was not mandatory and the lectures were recorded and posted. I loved this class and recommend it highly to anyone willing to put in the work!

Honestly, I liked the content of this class and found astronomy super interesting. As someone who took AP Physics C in HS but did terribly in bio/chem, astronomy was pretty intriguing. The 2 timed, open note midterms were kinda stressful for me. I felt like there weren't enough practice/application problems (he gave out a practice midterm of 20 questions after the first midterm because of some requests) but even those weren't as difficult as the mathematical applications in the actual test. Did decently on both. Didn't study too much for the final but it was a lot easier in my opinion, and with the extra 5% Campuswire EC i got a good grade.
However, I found his lectures to be fairly boring. It just was not engaging, and his slides were organized in a brutally painful way so that they were hard to follow, and the important information wasn't really there 1/4 of the time. Again, just imo. He also didn't explain things too well in my opinion. Of course, super amazing, bright, talented guy but I did not enjoy his lectures at all and ended up watching them recorded and pausing to take notes (you can't really take notes during the lecture because he speeds through the slides).
Also, KUDU is really just watching a PBS video of a guy talking SUPER quickly for 10 minutes (so you have to take notes and process it all). And then reading a ton of stuff that is basically a repeat of lecture, but occasionally there's more you just don't know when it's comin for ya.
Labs are super easy IMO but I know other people struggled. I had Nick F and I loved him.
Again, love Treu but I just felt like this class wasn't worth it. I ended with a good grade so it's not really worth stressing over because of the EC & grade curve, but i personally thought it was mediocre. Learned some INSANE COOL THINGS THOUGH!

This class if very fun if you enjoy astronomy. If you don't, don't take this class as an easy A unless you're good at math/physics. Overall I really liked Treu and he way really helpful. Tests are pretty tough but he ends up giving extra credit and he rounds up your grade, so if you get an 85% in the class, you can get an A if you do the 5% extra credit.