Professor
Erik Petigura
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - astro 3 with professor petigura was amazing! I liked his lectures and the workload wasn't bad and the material was interesting but above all he was really helpful and caring throughout the entire quarter. our midterm was 24 hr and open note; our final was optional, 48 hr, open note, no harm. the exams were kinda hard though. I also liked that he recorded lectures and uploaded them on ccle. labs were fine, a bit difficult sometimes but the ta (alec) helped a lot. I wouldn't say the class is an easy a but it's also not super intense or anything. either way, astronomy is interesting as hell and I would definitely recommend :)
Spring 2020 - astro 3 with professor petigura was amazing! I liked his lectures and the workload wasn't bad and the material was interesting but above all he was really helpful and caring throughout the entire quarter. our midterm was 24 hr and open note; our final was optional, 48 hr, open note, no harm. the exams were kinda hard though. I also liked that he recorded lectures and uploaded them on ccle. labs were fine, a bit difficult sometimes but the ta (alec) helped a lot. I wouldn't say the class is an easy a but it's also not super intense or anything. either way, astronomy is interesting as hell and I would definitely recommend :)
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - It seems like this class has changed severely in the last year, and it shows lol. quizzes are no longer take home and every other week; there are three throughout the quarter in discussion, with 30 minutes for 20 MC questions each time. these quizzes are 20-30% of your grade and the final (which for us was 75% questions taken from these quizzes, though there are multiple versions of each, and 25% new material) is 10-20%, depending on which is better for your grade. another 25% was the labs & discussion participation, and 35% was the paper you worked on all quarter i’m going to be honest that i didn’t put a ton of work into the class, and i probably could’ve done better on my quizzes if i actually cared enough to study and really try to understand the concepts (i got a 16/20, 15/20, and 15/20, which started off as a little below average and progressively was more & more above average, as people pretty much bombed them). i think the main reason people bombed these quizzes is that they 1) used a lot of red herrings to try & distract you from the point of the question, so that the real challenge was trying to figure out what the question was really asking you 2) there were some questions that just required you remembering some random fact from class 3) people tried to study via memorization and not understanding. also, our review questions were incredibly simple and easy to answer, unlike the quiz, so it was hard to get a sense for the kind of question you’d be asked the curve was heavy, though, and jumped my grade a letter (i did well on the writing & labs, and had zero problems with either; you just have to make sure you REALLY understand the essay prompt ‘cause it’s a little convoluted, but it’s not hard to write). i have all sorts of critiques on how this class is taught (too wide a scope to understand or spend an appropriate amount of time on anything, abandoned the math that grounds the concepts in real relationships, discussions & lectures felt like different classes, etc), but it honestly shouldn’t have been that hard, i just didn’t study lol. turned out fine for me though. jewitt had more of the random/trick questions & petigura was a little easier (only two profs who taught this quarter), neither were particularly interesting but i also think i have a hard time caring about classes that cover such a broad array of subjects. just don’t try to memorize while studying– it doesn’t work. you have to Understand the material
Fall 2025 - It seems like this class has changed severely in the last year, and it shows lol. quizzes are no longer take home and every other week; there are three throughout the quarter in discussion, with 30 minutes for 20 MC questions each time. these quizzes are 20-30% of your grade and the final (which for us was 75% questions taken from these quizzes, though there are multiple versions of each, and 25% new material) is 10-20%, depending on which is better for your grade. another 25% was the labs & discussion participation, and 35% was the paper you worked on all quarter i’m going to be honest that i didn’t put a ton of work into the class, and i probably could’ve done better on my quizzes if i actually cared enough to study and really try to understand the concepts (i got a 16/20, 15/20, and 15/20, which started off as a little below average and progressively was more & more above average, as people pretty much bombed them). i think the main reason people bombed these quizzes is that they 1) used a lot of red herrings to try & distract you from the point of the question, so that the real challenge was trying to figure out what the question was really asking you 2) there were some questions that just required you remembering some random fact from class 3) people tried to study via memorization and not understanding. also, our review questions were incredibly simple and easy to answer, unlike the quiz, so it was hard to get a sense for the kind of question you’d be asked the curve was heavy, though, and jumped my grade a letter (i did well on the writing & labs, and had zero problems with either; you just have to make sure you REALLY understand the essay prompt ‘cause it’s a little convoluted, but it’s not hard to write). i have all sorts of critiques on how this class is taught (too wide a scope to understand or spend an appropriate amount of time on anything, abandoned the math that grounds the concepts in real relationships, discussions & lectures felt like different classes, etc), but it honestly shouldn’t have been that hard, i just didn’t study lol. turned out fine for me though. jewitt had more of the random/trick questions & petigura was a little easier (only two profs who taught this quarter), neither were particularly interesting but i also think i have a hard time caring about classes that cover such a broad array of subjects. just don’t try to memorize while studying– it doesn’t work. you have to Understand the material
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - If I had a shotgun stuck up the roof of my mouth and my whole family hanging from a tall tower ready to be released so their bodies splatters across the road, I would still not take ANY class with this evil demon Petigura. This guy is responsible for the mental, psychological, and physical suffering of MILLIONS of innocent lives in this world. His lectures are inherently evil and he seeks to pollute your mind with disgusting, useless information to only screw you up on the quiz with questions you've never seen before. His goal in life, his purpose in this world, is to morally degrade students. Instead of doing other things to add value to society and make the Earth a better place, Petigura voluntarily chooses to inhumanely destroy the lives of millions of innocent children, as it brings him joy to see his students fail in life. He goes to sleep every night knowing he permanently scarred millions of students on the planet with his ridiculous lectures and quizzes. If you understand you have responsibilities to fulfill, duties to perform, and values to add to this society, DO NOT get within 10 miles of this guy, because he will pollute your minds with his corrupt, degenerate, and evil philosophy.
Winter 2022 - If I had a shotgun stuck up the roof of my mouth and my whole family hanging from a tall tower ready to be released so their bodies splatters across the road, I would still not take ANY class with this evil demon Petigura. This guy is responsible for the mental, psychological, and physical suffering of MILLIONS of innocent lives in this world. His lectures are inherently evil and he seeks to pollute your mind with disgusting, useless information to only screw you up on the quiz with questions you've never seen before. His goal in life, his purpose in this world, is to morally degrade students. Instead of doing other things to add value to society and make the Earth a better place, Petigura voluntarily chooses to inhumanely destroy the lives of millions of innocent children, as it brings him joy to see his students fail in life. He goes to sleep every night knowing he permanently scarred millions of students on the planet with his ridiculous lectures and quizzes. If you understand you have responsibilities to fulfill, duties to perform, and values to add to this society, DO NOT get within 10 miles of this guy, because he will pollute your minds with his corrupt, degenerate, and evil philosophy.
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