08-21-2020, 09:55 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-21-2020, 03:22 PM by rachel83az.)
Provider: ASU EA
Course: AST 111 - Introduction to Astronomy
Course content: Mostly videos with some free PDFs to download. Also, Cerego flash cards. You will need to print out one sheet of paper for the exam (it has formulas on it). It is strongly recommended, though not required, that you purchase a physical scientific calculator. There is a web-based calculator that you are allowed to use on the exam but I hated that one. There are a few projects and one of these requires a bag of flour, some cocoa powder, and a couple of rocks or coins. Technically, you can still pass even if you don't do these projects but you'll never get full marks. It is not required, but I personally recommend, getting a Wolfram Alpha subscription just for this course. I wish I had remembered this site earlier in the course.
Final exam format: About 40 questions. Mostly multiple choice but there were some math problems where you're expected to type out the answers.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The final exam seems to draw from the same pool of questions as the weekly quizzes. There is no midterm so the final covers all weeks.
Time taken on course: 8 week course, including finals week.
Familiarity with subject before course: As a kid, I had so many astronomy books.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The math concepts are not explained overly well in the example video for each lab section. I may have gotten 100% on one lab section but all of the others were 70-80%. I tried looking for explanations of how to use the formulas elsewhere but that didn't help much.
1-10 Difficulty level: Main portion: 3. Lab component: 8.
Final grade: B - thankfully, there were only a handful of math questions on the final so I was able to score well enough to be able to get a total of something like 81-83% in the whole class; just barely a B.
Course: AST 111 - Introduction to Astronomy
Course content: Mostly videos with some free PDFs to download. Also, Cerego flash cards. You will need to print out one sheet of paper for the exam (it has formulas on it). It is strongly recommended, though not required, that you purchase a physical scientific calculator. There is a web-based calculator that you are allowed to use on the exam but I hated that one. There are a few projects and one of these requires a bag of flour, some cocoa powder, and a couple of rocks or coins. Technically, you can still pass even if you don't do these projects but you'll never get full marks. It is not required, but I personally recommend, getting a Wolfram Alpha subscription just for this course. I wish I had remembered this site earlier in the course.
Final exam format: About 40 questions. Mostly multiple choice but there were some math problems where you're expected to type out the answers.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The final exam seems to draw from the same pool of questions as the weekly quizzes. There is no midterm so the final covers all weeks.
Time taken on course: 8 week course, including finals week.
Familiarity with subject before course: As a kid, I had so many astronomy books.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The math concepts are not explained overly well in the example video for each lab section. I may have gotten 100% on one lab section but all of the others were 70-80%. I tried looking for explanations of how to use the formulas elsewhere but that didn't help much.
1-10 Difficulty level: Main portion: 3. Lab component: 8.
Final grade: B - thankfully, there were only a handful of math questions on the final so I was able to score well enough to be able to get a total of something like 81-83% in the whole class; just barely a B.
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