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!

Selling "The Essential Cosmic Perspective" Seventh edition textbook required for this class :) Email me *************

Took this class because everyone said the ASTR lower courses are good science GEs for non-majors---definitely would have gone back and chosen a different class, but that's just because I don't really like nor am I good at STEM. Professor Shapley is really helpful and kind and is willing to go over all the homework questions as long as you show up to office hours. She is also fast at responding to emails if something suddenly comes up. The homework is more complicated than the exams, which were multiple choice for my class. If you're willing to spend lots of extra time studying and trying to wrap your mind around hypotheticals as well as reaching out for help, I think you would be fine in this class.

I love Professor Shapley! She is such a kind and helpful professor and without her, I truly wouldn't have made it through this course. She works with students often over email and during office hours. Astr 6 is definitely quite difficult and goes in-depth, but I promise you can do it! The concepts are manageable once you sit down and take a bit of time to understand. This class was pretty fun and I enjoyed it overall! Be prepared for some tough hw's -- she hosts office hours to help, and the exams are easier than the hw! Also, go to class! Professor Shapley explains things very well; she does go a bit fast so I would recommend annotating slideshows rather than taking hand-written notes. If you take this class, I hope you like it!

• 20% Lab assignments
• 10% Homework assignments
• 20% First midterm exam (in class)
• 20% Second midterm exam (in class)
• 30% Final exam

The professor for this class is super engaging and fun, but the exams definitely aren't the easiest. The average grade on each of the exams was a C, but Prof Shapley curves the class at the end of the quarter which means you don't have to ace the exams to get an A in the class (I got a C+ and B on the midterms and got an A on the final & ended with an A). She also offers an extra 2% grade boost at the end of the quarter which really helps. Overall, you can definitely get an A in the class if you're willing to put in a little work and study for the exams.

Alice Shapley is as wonderful as they come. She is a great person and a fantastic gal. I'm a big fan of hers.

The class is as easy as you make it for yourself. Every lecture's slides are posted on bruinlearn at the start of class. This being said, you can get lazy. fast. No attendance is taken.

Some people struggle with this class and others dont. Very conceptual based and very little math (not zero, just not as math saturated as one may think. the labs are a different story though not difficult). Shapley openly states that we won't be tested on anything that isn't on the slides. So, learning the slides and giving it the best go that way is beneficial.

She says you need the textbook. You don't. Supplemental at most. Are helpful, but overall just not necessary.

Grade Breakdown:

labs:
eight labs, must go to INSERT labs in order to pass the labs. Can makeup only one lab.
The labs aren't bad, they just read poorly, but overall its fairly easy to get through and if you ask your TA the right questions, you'll be able to get the correct and right answers from them.

Midterm setup:
40 questions, multiple choice,
first midterm was lectures 1-8 and second midterm was lectures 9-16

Final setup:
cumulative of all lectures.

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!

Very very patient professor... She went through lectures with great detail and always repeats the important stuff from previous lectures. If you go to all her lectures and managed not to sleep through it, you'll be fine. This class in mostly about physics, you don't get to read about astronomy stuff till the last 3 or 4 weeks. Some of my friends couldn't stand it and dropped it halfway, missing out the good stuff at the end. Overall very interesting class if you want to know more about black holes or other great mysteries of the universe. If you hate math or physics, don't take it. Professor wise, she is the most kind, caring and friendly professor I've had. Exams are as easy as the homework, and homework is worth 20% of the final grade.

Everyone's pretty spot on with their reviews. Shapley is a joy just to be around, and she teaches some pretty awesome content!
I'm super north campus, but she made me understand Einstein's theory of relativity... Never thought that'd happen.

Just a quick warning, the course description says "essentially nonmathematical course," but that's pretty deceiving. That class is pretty math-based, but it's fairly simple algebra (equivalent to my high school physics class).

The homework was a bit challenging at times (if you're as bad at math as I am; I didn't even get a 600 on the SAT math section), but if you go to office hours, she's happy to basically guide you through it.

Like I said, put simply, I think there are some monkeys out there who are better at math than I am, and this class wasn't that challenging.

*Note: This class is almost the same as Astro 3 (probably 75% of the same content), just a touch more challenging with the math. If you're looking for another easy A and/or found astro 3 fun and interesting, definitely take this class.

I took this class concurrently with the ESS9: Solar System class, and they were also pretty similar and helped me get my Physical science GEs out of the way easily.

This professor made this GE very interesting. I would like to warn anyone considering this class that the first few weeks are learning easy physics. Overall she is very nice and is incredibly helpful.