Stephen Schneider - University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Professor: Stephen Schneider

Department: Astronomy

College: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ASTRON170H
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very thoughtful, well-spoken professor. Lecture materials are posted on Moodle. 2 take-home essays and 3 in-class essay exams (the latter ones are stressful--50 minutes for 3 essays of your choosing & 8 MC). You really have to prepare to participate in discussion, but you won't be called on at random. The topics are really interesting.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ASTRON170H
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof Schneider and Prof Walker are awesome and interesting guys! The class is very interesting and I would definitely recommend it for anyone. Weekly debates, but very organized, interesting, and easy to speak in. Exams are essay exams, but preparation before is absolutely necessary. They are graded relative to the rest of the class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO170H
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Pretty good at explaining how relativity and quantum physics work. Very interesting material overall. There are weekly discussions but participation is only worth 5% of your grade. Grades easy on the two short term papers. You can prepare essay responses to exams beforehand and they are graded based on relative performance.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO170H
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are interesting and the discussions are fun. This class counts for a bio gen ed. Easy A if you show up. Tests are short. He gives you the questions before hand. The two papers are leniently graded.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Exams have questions that are worded quite tricky. Even to students quite proficient in astronomy, some questions are controversial. Extremely interesting class, and one of my favorites. Heard other professors teaching the same class are easier.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: 123456
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Easiest lab I have ever taken. It was not very interesting but it is an easy A.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO170H
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great lectures. Very easy exams and easily graded papers. Easy A.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ASTRON170H
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof knows what he is teaching. I highly recommend this class as a BS Gen Ed. The course is super interesting and there is no textbook and no homework. Although there are 3 essay exams. The class seems easy but is not an easy A. However the subject matter is AWESOME and you will love it.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

he was a bad teacher. he would do the weirdest stuff in class. His lectures were completely irrelevant to what he would have us do for homework and the information we needed to know on the tests. Pretty much I got a C by winging it the whole time in his course.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I really loved this class, but only take it if you have an interest in Astronomy. It is not an easy gen-ed to scrape a PS requirement. However, he provides a big extra credit project, and the final is easy. It's even possible to get an A with mediocre test grades, if you do the extra credit and ace the final, which is just review.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• 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:

If you don't absolutely need this class, I suggest u DON'T take it. If you do need it, then prs is helpful, a lot of extra credit, tests arent bad (if you study) but owls suck and have nothing to do with material or whats on tests. Stephen's kinda lame but demonstrations are cool.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

THIS IS GOOD ADVICE SO LISTEN. What ever you do. DO NOT take astronomy 100, this class (astro 101) isn't bad. If you study hard you can do okay on the exams. GO TO THE HELP CENTER for the homework. It saves time because the homework is impossible to do by yourself. There are a LOT of extra credit opportunities!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Attendance is mandatory because he gives lots of PRS questions and participation counts as an exam grade. Class is pretty boring, but his demonstrations are sometimes interesting. The homeworks were hard and the professor wasn't always clear. You have to study really hard to do decently on the exams

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Previous post is well said. He'll answer your questions about hw and tests, holds review sessions, clarifies mistakes, is REALLY nice even when we make silly errors; great patience. He provides a lot of extra cred. Though his lectures can get boring, his experiments are fun. Go to class and you mostly won't have to read the book!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This definitely is not an easy class by any means, but he definitely makes it worthwhile to go. He's extremely interested in the subject and it's obvious that he enjoys teaching it as well. His demonstrations keep you active and interested and a lot of them are funny and/or cool.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I am a science major and took the class for the heck of it. The tests were tough and the homework was a pain. This is not a good class for non science majors.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I got a B-, C and C- on 3 tests, did all the extra credit except going to the observitory, went to all classes and did PRS (made up most answers, still got credit) and went to astro. help desk for homework they bacially do it for you..i never studied and still managaed to pull off a B w.o taking the final go to class do extra credit @ youll be fine

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This is by far the worst gen ed ever. The lectures are absolutely miserable and you have to go because of PRS. His homeworks are super hard and have absolutely nothing to do with the class or the tests. His tests are pretty hard. Overall I would NEVER RECOMMEND this class to anyone

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

do you need the book?

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ASTRO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Very easy gened. Make sure you go to class because prs is important. owl homeworks are hard but i worked on them with friends or you can go to a help session where they do the work for you. first 2 tests were pretty easy, third was harder and final was reasonable. go to class, pay attention and do prs and you should be fine.