Fall 2011, Astro 3 (L/D)

Winter 2012

Professor: Great attitude, great enthusiasm, and you could tell that he really enjoys what he does. He always drinks Coke/Pepsi to class. Very approachable, go make some small talk with him before lecture starts.

Labs: There a pre-labs you turn in, and you might as well review the other lab questions when you do the pre-lab. Labs are done in groups. They can be tricky, but if you pay attention to your T.A. and ask questions, you should be fine. Some T.A.'s grade harder than others, so you might have to go fishing around. Same with your group members.

Exams: 2 midterms and a final. Grab old copies of his or other Astro 3 professor's exams for some help. There is some memorizing that have to be done with processes and whatnot. Do his study guide. Exams consist around 50-70 multiple choice and 2 short answers. Short answer questions come from the study guide. Finals is accumulative, but focuses more on the Week 9-10 stuff.

Grading: I got a B+ with B-/B average on labs, C+ on the second exam B+ on the midterms, and an A- on the finals. It was definitely the labs that did me in, so try really hard to get A's on those. The exams grades that were taken into your final grade were curved. Most people got B+'s though.

Other note: IMO, he's better than Malkan. Malkan goes more-or-less straight off the book, and Larkin simplifies concepts more. McClean might be better than both of them though.