Professor
Alice Shapley
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - I absolutely loved this class! Shapley is a fantastic gal, super engaging and easy to approach. She hosted zoom review sessions about a week before each exam, which were recorded and posted. The review sessions are super interactive, like she'll ask questions in the chat and stuff, which tbh was really good preparation for the exams. This class is pretty nice to fill a lab requirement bc the labs were super chill. Lab attendance was taken (at least for my section with Shreya, who is fantastic btw), but you have 24 hours to complete and submit the lab so it's easy. This class is basically a sampling platter of a bunch of different parts of astronomy so it's very interesting, but also a bit of a beast just by sheer volume of content. It is mostly conceptual and there is minimal math and actual hard physics. Shapley gave us a formula sheet for all the exams to do any calculations. There is a 1% extra credit opportunity for this class where you can either visit Griffith observatory and like do a little write up, or write a paper on a JWST finding you like. The two midterms were not curved. She didn't advertise it but I'm pretty sure the final was curved somehow. Our final was "cumulative" but heavily, heavily focuses on the new content so definitely study that. You do need to memorize numbers for this class or at least have a relative scale of things in the universe. Also you do not need the textbook. Never opened it.
Fall 2024 - I absolutely loved this class! Shapley is a fantastic gal, super engaging and easy to approach. She hosted zoom review sessions about a week before each exam, which were recorded and posted. The review sessions are super interactive, like she'll ask questions in the chat and stuff, which tbh was really good preparation for the exams. This class is pretty nice to fill a lab requirement bc the labs were super chill. Lab attendance was taken (at least for my section with Shreya, who is fantastic btw), but you have 24 hours to complete and submit the lab so it's easy. This class is basically a sampling platter of a bunch of different parts of astronomy so it's very interesting, but also a bit of a beast just by sheer volume of content. It is mostly conceptual and there is minimal math and actual hard physics. Shapley gave us a formula sheet for all the exams to do any calculations. There is a 1% extra credit opportunity for this class where you can either visit Griffith observatory and like do a little write up, or write a paper on a JWST finding you like. The two midterms were not curved. She didn't advertise it but I'm pretty sure the final was curved somehow. Our final was "cumulative" but heavily, heavily focuses on the new content so definitely study that. You do need to memorize numbers for this class or at least have a relative scale of things in the universe. Also you do not need the textbook. Never opened it.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Shapley was awesome! She's an incredibly kind and passionate teacher, and I really learned a lot from her class. She made the subject interesting, and it was clear that she put significant effort in her organization. Her office hours every week were extremely helpful too! Lastly, when I e-mailed Professor Shapley with a simple units question, she responded with a very detailed and helpful explanation that must have taken her a good 15 minutes to write. She cares a lot about her students, and is probably one of the best professors here at UCLA. The class itself: The homework is math based and challenging, but the midterm and final were conceptual. Pay attention in lecture, and the class will be no problem. Highly recommended!
Professor Shapley was awesome! She's an incredibly kind and passionate teacher, and I really learned a lot from her class. She made the subject interesting, and it was clear that she put significant effort in her organization. Her office hours every week were extremely helpful too! Lastly, when I e-mailed Professor Shapley with a simple units question, she responded with a very detailed and helpful explanation that must have taken her a good 15 minutes to write. She cares a lot about her students, and is probably one of the best professors here at UCLA. The class itself: The homework is math based and challenging, but the midterm and final were conceptual. Pay attention in lecture, and the class will be no problem. Highly recommended!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Shapley really cares about the learning of her students. It shows through in her passion and easy accessibility. Just this past week our TA could not make it to discussion so Shapley ran it herself. I absolutely love Shapley, having taken Astro 3 with her in the past, and I took this class specifically because I knew she was the professor. Love love love love!
Winter 2024 - Shapley really cares about the learning of her students. It shows through in her passion and easy accessibility. Just this past week our TA could not make it to discussion so Shapley ran it herself. I absolutely love Shapley, having taken Astro 3 with her in the past, and I took this class specifically because I knew she was the professor. Love love love love!
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