Interesting concepts, online homework, and the labs were great!
relatively easy course, and fun.

selling astro 3 Prof Turner's textbook:ASTRONOMY : BEGINNERS GT UNIVERSE (UCLA)(LOOSELEAF) CHAISSON
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Class was really interesting actually. I attended most lectures and took notes, and got the notes online for the ones I missed. You really could not go to class, just get the lectures online and you'll be fine. I just went because it was interesting. The labs are really easy and you get out way before the allotted time (usually you're there for an hour). It's just 2 midterms and a final, which actually, I think, works out better because the midterms are not cumulative so you have barely any information to memorize for each. These aren't that bad, and she gives you study guides, quizzes online, and if you review your notes you should be totally fine. She grades with a decent curve so that helps a little. Take this course for a really easy physical science GE.

Fairly good teacher... she obviously knows her stuff. I found the lectures a bit boring, and they were hard to stay awake through, despite the interesting subject. So, I wound up skipping a lot of classes. If you want to get an A, go to lectures. If you want to get a B+ (as I did) skip lecture and read the book instead. I recommend just going (and paying attention to) lectures, though I found it nearly impossible to stay awake. Midterms were not too bad, but there were a lot of little facts and details that can mess you up. The final was fair (but again with the little details.) TAs can be helpful, but you really don't need much outside teaching since the class is pretty straight forward. I would recommend taking this class only because of the interesting topic.

Professor Turner is by far the best professor I've encountered at UCLA. She is extremely concerned with her students' learning, and trys to make Astro 3 as easy as possible because she knows the majority of her students are taking it as a GE. Her lectures are very straight forward, and she makes the material very understandable for those lacking an aptitude for science or astronomy. She is very passionate about her field, and this certainly helps make the class easier. She is also funny and very "cute" (in a "oh my gosh she's so cool" kind of way).

I really liked this class. Her lectures are clear and the overheads, every single one, is available online, so if you miss anything, no worries. Almost all the labs done in discussion have little or no real significance to the class in terms of being tested on them on midterms and finals, but they are worth something in your grade, so do them--plus they're not too hard to get perfect scores on. If you already have some interest in astronomy, this is the perfect class for you, but if not, u probably shouldn't take it because then it might be boring. Overall, this class has taught me many interesting things about our universe. I recommend it. =)

she's a pretty good teacher and the material isn't hard... BUT the problem is...her grading scale makes it extremely difficult to get an A, because the lowest A is 95%, and that means you can only miss 10 questions total (40 question midterm1 + 40 question midterm2 + 70 question final = 150 questions) and that's if you got perfect scores on all homework and labs (which isn't hard but takes some work)

lowest A: 95%
lowest A-: 87.5%
.....very weird