Grant Wilson - University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Professor: Grant Wilson

Department: Science

College: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Entertaining guy. Seems very real. Sometimes tells bad jokes. Class wasn't too hard.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ASTRON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Hes terrible. Worst class I have ever taken. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. He does not understand its a 100 level class. got a 65 of a take home exam when I googled everything too. Went to the astronomy help desk and they couldnt explain 5 out of 15 questions on the homework.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Worst class I have taken at umass. His tests are actually ridiculous and when I asked for help he told me to go through lectures and just look up what I dont understand.. This is not a 100 level class and if I were a freshman and took this class I would make sure to have any major but astronomy. He makes me hate going outside. Homework sucks

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Grant Wilson is the MAN. Great lectures, knows his stuff and keeps the class engaged through various demonstrations and quick witted humor. Just an overall good guy. Also may or not be Tim Allen.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Grant Wilson is an awesome professor. Although the course material may be confusing at times, he cares about his students and is always open to answering any questions. Astronomy 100 is a challenging but interesting gen ed course.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Grant is a great teacher and knows a lot. He trys to make class interesting. This is kinda hard for a gen ed but its interesting material. there are 3 exams and 1 optional final. After the exams he lets you redo the test at home and averages your grades together. There are 4 homeworks, and 2 projects. The labs are very boring and pointless

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Best class Ive taken at UMASS. Very interesting lectures that he explains really well. All the assignments are super easy and 25% of each test is based on a take home grade.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The class itself is interesting. The hardness of the tests are a joke. It is a 100 class and no one in the class is going into the field. IT IS A GEN ED, and I feel like Wilson doesn't realize that. He evens says the tests are really hard. But then he also tries to make it okay because he allows you to take it home. DO NOT TAKE ASTRO 100 w Wilson!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

one of the hardest classes ive ever taken let alone for a gen ed. I went to every lecture and studied for all the exams and never got higher than a 70. Easy group project at the end. Labs every week are awful and none of the ta's speak english. Went to the astronomy help desk for help on my assignment and they couldnt even solve this question.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I dont know what some of these people are talking about. as the average person i thought this class was easy. if you get all the work done and put in a little effort its super easy to get a good grade. if you go to the astro help desk for the hw assignments and the take home part of the exams they give you the answers.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ASTRON100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Wilson is a really good professor. He is genuinely interested in the subject and does his best to keep the class interesting. Tests are a little difficult, but he gives you plenty of opportunity to boost your grade through take home exams. I really enjoyed this class

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ASTRONOMY100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Pretty good teacher, Wilson is a very nice guy. Grades on a fairly generous curve, drops lowest test grade out of 4 exams, online homework, final is optional(if you do well enough), and he grades easy on the creative project. Pretty interesting class, I learned quite a bit of interesting things and we covered Einstein!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

What are you guys talking about? All the hw's are online, so you can just look in the book for the answers. The tests are pretty easy, and he does a take home part for all of them. Plus, me and my roommate did the final project in a half hour and still got a 100%. Overall a very easy class.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Grant was a pretty chill guy, his tests were not hard one bit, these people that say he was hard most likely never went to lecture. HW and quizzes are online and you can basically read from the book and insert the answers into your computer.Exams are easy, he does scale so you can easily get 100+ on each exam. Pyramid style take home too.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's a really enthusiastic professor who really tries hard to make sure you understand the material. The Lab in this class is absolutely dreadful, but only once a week. He also curves the tests and gives you a take home for every one(including the final). Homework is super easy and if you can pay attention and attend class, its not very hard at all

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very difficult class. Lectures start off very interesting, but get very confusing into throughout the semester. Prof. Wilson has a serious interest and wants us students to think like astronomers. Not an easy Gen. Ed at all. I lost a lot of interest in Astronomy due to how difficult tests were. Very conceptual and hard to understand.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great teacher.. if you have an interest in astronomy this is the best class, if you have no interest whatsoever and would hate coming to class, wrong choice. Unless you like what you study then this is not some easy gen ed. Grant shows a large interest in what he does and does everything possible for us to learn.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Perhaps the most difficult Gen Ed. class ever. Do not take this class unless you want to have an extremely difficult time merely trying to pass. Attendance is mandatory, the textbook is useless in answering the questions that will be on the absolutely ridiculous exams, etc. By all means, avoid this class!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The class is pretty difficult but he alleviates some of that by taking 3/4 best test grades and offering a project at the end of the semester that's almost impossible not to get an A on -- you have to explore a topic discussed in class. All homework can be done with a partner. Lecure is boring.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very difficult for a 3 credit 100 level gen. ed. Manditory attendance..little attendance sheets and colored cards.no PRS. Lectures ok. Exams really hard..even with a small curve and takehome/open resources portions. Counts best 3/4 exams (including final). Reading/easy reading quizzes. Easy creative project, attendance grade, HW- not too much.