ASTR 3
Nature of the Universe
Description: Lecture, three hours; laboratory, 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. Introduction to vast range of cosmic phenomena including planets in our solar system and beyond, stars, supernova explosions, black holes, galaxies, and universe as whole. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
4 of 5
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Most Helpful Review
Contrary to what most people here are saying, Sakai was excellent as an instructor. Yes, the tests can be hard but the quality of instruction matches up to the expected level of performance. I got an A plus on this class. It helps to have past papers and other materials which I'm selling for $20. Email at *************
Contrary to what most people here are saying, Sakai was excellent as an instructor. Yes, the tests can be hard but the quality of instruction matches up to the expected level of performance. I got an A plus on this class. It helps to have past papers and other materials which I'm selling for $20. Email at *************
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - I genuinely thought this was a very interesting class. Professor Saltzberg always appeared happy to teach the course and really was motivated during every class. I think he really wants to see his students succeed. The workload was very manageable, besides the exams there was barely any outside of class work besides homework assignments and finishing labs which I appreciated. My TA for my labs was also super nice and was always happy to help during office hours. I'm not a STEM person and not really a math/science person in general (I took this as a GE) so the exams were pretty difficult for me. They require A LOT of studying after the first midterm. If you're looking for an easy GE and you're not a STEM major, I wouldn't consider this as an easy course at all. They teach it well, but it's just a lot of material and concepts to wrap your head around so it requires a bit more effort than most classes. I really found it interesting though, and I think it was a course very well taught. He also released practice exams before every exam which was really helpful, and it gave you a good idea of the types of questions that would be on there. But if you're not good at math or understanding scientific concepts, I'm going to be real and say that this will be a challenging class.
Fall 2023 - I genuinely thought this was a very interesting class. Professor Saltzberg always appeared happy to teach the course and really was motivated during every class. I think he really wants to see his students succeed. The workload was very manageable, besides the exams there was barely any outside of class work besides homework assignments and finishing labs which I appreciated. My TA for my labs was also super nice and was always happy to help during office hours. I'm not a STEM person and not really a math/science person in general (I took this as a GE) so the exams were pretty difficult for me. They require A LOT of studying after the first midterm. If you're looking for an easy GE and you're not a STEM major, I wouldn't consider this as an easy course at all. They teach it well, but it's just a lot of material and concepts to wrap your head around so it requires a bit more effort than most classes. I really found it interesting though, and I think it was a course very well taught. He also released practice exams before every exam which was really helpful, and it gave you a good idea of the types of questions that would be on there. But if you're not good at math or understanding scientific concepts, I'm going to be real and say that this will be a challenging class.
Most Helpful Review
I do not recommend this class if you are simply looking for a physical science GE. Take Atmos Sci instead. Physical science is the worst for me, and this course was not easy. He would incorporate physics into the lectures, but it is assumed that everyone taking the course has no prior knowledge about physics. If you are interested in the universe and such you'll like this course, if not save yourself the pain.
I do not recommend this class if you are simply looking for a physical science GE. Take Atmos Sci instead. Physical science is the worst for me, and this course was not easy. He would incorporate physics into the lectures, but it is assumed that everyone taking the course has no prior knowledge about physics. If you are interested in the universe and such you'll like this course, if not save yourself the pain.
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Winter 2023 - Average on first midterm was a 65 and on the second was a 71, and all he could say was that it was surprisingly low and he did not understand why we didn't get it. Granted I spent hours studying just to get both averages. This is supposed to be a science GE, and as an english major I was not expecting to have to know all of physics to be able to complete this course. The labs have nothing to do with the course, the textbook is useless and has actual crash course youtube videos embedded. Professor rips through the lectures so quickly good luck trying to understand anything.
Winter 2023 - Average on first midterm was a 65 and on the second was a 71, and all he could say was that it was surprisingly low and he did not understand why we didn't get it. Granted I spent hours studying just to get both averages. This is supposed to be a science GE, and as an english major I was not expecting to have to know all of physics to be able to complete this course. The labs have nothing to do with the course, the textbook is useless and has actual crash course youtube videos embedded. Professor rips through the lectures so quickly good luck trying to understand anything.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - *COVID-19 Review, this will likely differ from in-person* There are two possible grading schemes and she'll give grades based on whichever one turns out higher. 1: 22.5% for each of two midterms, 25% final exam, 15% labs, 15% online homework 2: 15% for each of two midterms, 40% final exam, 15% labs, 15% online homework There's also an extra credit opportunity that can bump up your grade by 3% - worth about one sign (for example, an 84% is raised to an 87%, B --> B+) -- Overall, I personally had a decent enough experience with this class. I personally find the subject of astronomy interesting and thus didn't struggle. That said, I know others who struggled a bit more, so I think this class may not necessarily be easy for everyone. If you have absolutely no interest in astronomy, for example, this class probably isn't for you. Of course, if you are interested, you'll be more inclined to enjoy it. I am also a south campus major, which may also play a factor in how easy I found it. Professor Turner is clearly quite knowledgeable and passionate about astronomy. Her lectures can sometimes be a bit dry though, and she often goes a bit deep into full calculations or physics concepts that are ultimately not tested. I also feel like this class was a bit disorganized at the beginning of this quarter, as the times for lectures were changed in order to put two sections of online lectures together into one. Of course, I doubt this would be a problem for in-person lectures. Just keep aware that the amount of depth of the calculations she gets into isn't necessary knowledge for the exams. Attendance to lectures isn't mandatory, and the slides are posted online. -- The homework is all online using Kudu. The questions are all multiple choice. The lowest score is dropped. Each assignment has some crash course astronomy videos attached to it that help explain the concepts in a slightly simpler manner. The questions usually weren't too hard, but sometimes there were a few questions that didn't seem to be explicitly in the videos or lectures. That said, with some logical reasoning and internet searching, you could still find the answer to these questions without much struggle. There were 8 weekly labs with pre-labs due beforehand. Attendance to discussion sections was required and taken into account for the labs. In section, we were broken into groups (via breakout rooms during online class) in order to help each other with the lab. I personally felt the labs were reasonable to complete within the discussion periods and didn't find them too difficult, though they were definitely the heaviest work of the class. There were some questions that were more difficult to understand, but with the help of peers and/or the TA, I found these questions answerable. I imagine some of the labs would have been more enjoyable in person though; one of the labs, which we did on a stargazing app, is apparently usually done in the planetarium on campus. The exams were all multiple choice through CCLE, and most of the questions were honestly pretty easy. Professor Turner provided practice exam questions on Kudu, and oftentimes the practice questions reappeared identically on the actual exam. Many of the remaining questions came directly from the homework, and the ones that weren't on the homework or practice test were on the lecture slides. With online school, everything was open note/book which made everything even easier. Even if this is not the case in person, you can probably study the slides which are posted online, and make a Quizlet with all the homework questions and practice test questions in order to perform well. There was an extra credit paper worth 3% of our grade. Usually, it involves something people can do on campus (like going to the planetarium based on what professor told us), but this year that was not possible. We instead had to take a selfie with the Super Flower Blood Moon and write a short paper about the moon. It was a bit annoying to have to take the selfie late at night, but on the other hand, many people stay up late anyway, and the selfie could have been taken during any phase of the eclipse. It did take a bit of effort, but getting full credit on the assignment also raised grades by a fairly significant amount - most other professors I've encountered offer 0.25%-1% or so for filling out the course evaluation, so the extra effort for this assignment seemed like an equivalent trade-off. -- Overall, I personally would take this class again. If you're a south campus major or are pretty interested in astronomy, I think you'll do great. If you're not too interested and aren't particularly math/science-oriented, it may be a bit harder. That said, if you put in enough effort into this class, you'll probably still be able to walk away with an A anyway. Just know the degree of difficulty will vary by your interest.
Spring 2021 - *COVID-19 Review, this will likely differ from in-person* There are two possible grading schemes and she'll give grades based on whichever one turns out higher. 1: 22.5% for each of two midterms, 25% final exam, 15% labs, 15% online homework 2: 15% for each of two midterms, 40% final exam, 15% labs, 15% online homework There's also an extra credit opportunity that can bump up your grade by 3% - worth about one sign (for example, an 84% is raised to an 87%, B --> B+) -- Overall, I personally had a decent enough experience with this class. I personally find the subject of astronomy interesting and thus didn't struggle. That said, I know others who struggled a bit more, so I think this class may not necessarily be easy for everyone. If you have absolutely no interest in astronomy, for example, this class probably isn't for you. Of course, if you are interested, you'll be more inclined to enjoy it. I am also a south campus major, which may also play a factor in how easy I found it. Professor Turner is clearly quite knowledgeable and passionate about astronomy. Her lectures can sometimes be a bit dry though, and she often goes a bit deep into full calculations or physics concepts that are ultimately not tested. I also feel like this class was a bit disorganized at the beginning of this quarter, as the times for lectures were changed in order to put two sections of online lectures together into one. Of course, I doubt this would be a problem for in-person lectures. Just keep aware that the amount of depth of the calculations she gets into isn't necessary knowledge for the exams. Attendance to lectures isn't mandatory, and the slides are posted online. -- The homework is all online using Kudu. The questions are all multiple choice. The lowest score is dropped. Each assignment has some crash course astronomy videos attached to it that help explain the concepts in a slightly simpler manner. The questions usually weren't too hard, but sometimes there were a few questions that didn't seem to be explicitly in the videos or lectures. That said, with some logical reasoning and internet searching, you could still find the answer to these questions without much struggle. There were 8 weekly labs with pre-labs due beforehand. Attendance to discussion sections was required and taken into account for the labs. In section, we were broken into groups (via breakout rooms during online class) in order to help each other with the lab. I personally felt the labs were reasonable to complete within the discussion periods and didn't find them too difficult, though they were definitely the heaviest work of the class. There were some questions that were more difficult to understand, but with the help of peers and/or the TA, I found these questions answerable. I imagine some of the labs would have been more enjoyable in person though; one of the labs, which we did on a stargazing app, is apparently usually done in the planetarium on campus. The exams were all multiple choice through CCLE, and most of the questions were honestly pretty easy. Professor Turner provided practice exam questions on Kudu, and oftentimes the practice questions reappeared identically on the actual exam. Many of the remaining questions came directly from the homework, and the ones that weren't on the homework or practice test were on the lecture slides. With online school, everything was open note/book which made everything even easier. Even if this is not the case in person, you can probably study the slides which are posted online, and make a Quizlet with all the homework questions and practice test questions in order to perform well. There was an extra credit paper worth 3% of our grade. Usually, it involves something people can do on campus (like going to the planetarium based on what professor told us), but this year that was not possible. We instead had to take a selfie with the Super Flower Blood Moon and write a short paper about the moon. It was a bit annoying to have to take the selfie late at night, but on the other hand, many people stay up late anyway, and the selfie could have been taken during any phase of the eclipse. It did take a bit of effort, but getting full credit on the assignment also raised grades by a fairly significant amount - most other professors I've encountered offer 0.25%-1% or so for filling out the course evaluation, so the extra effort for this assignment seemed like an equivalent trade-off. -- Overall, I personally would take this class again. If you're a south campus major or are pretty interested in astronomy, I think you'll do great. If you're not too interested and aren't particularly math/science-oriented, it may be a bit harder. That said, if you put in enough effort into this class, you'll probably still be able to walk away with an A anyway. Just know the degree of difficulty will vary by your interest.
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4 of 5
