Galaxies and Cosmology · Astronomy
Very light workload. The homework assignments were very reasonable.
5 problem sets, take about 2 hours for each; two midterms one final, both pretty straightforward as long as you go to lectures; final paper that is also pretty chill
Some problem sets, a midterm and a final.
great course to fulfill a science requirement. I have a math background so the various simple calculations utilizing scientific notation were quite elementary. I heard some negative reviews regarding the level of computation in this class and I find that laughable. Anyone who knows exponent rules can complete everything necessary to complete this class. Prof Putman is a lovely woman who is very approachable. She was always happy to answer questions and even meet one-on-one to discuss the content of a missed lecture. She loves the content and was thrilled to be teaching it.
Johnston might be the happiest person I know who has a PhD. Her lectures are very well organized and pretty engaging, and she presents interesting and pretty state of the art astronomy materials that are understandable to people of all backgrounds. I feel like she is able to do that because she has lots of experience in the field and obviously cares a lot about this class. This is NOT a no work turn your brain off class, but this is a good thing because you actually learn a lot and I believe prof really tries to make the course as stressless as possible.
Putnam is a decent professor. Not extremely engaging, but tries to make the material interesting (this is coming from someone who is not inherently interested in the subject matter at all).... but the work is HARD! it's minimal (like 8 problem sets and a midterm and final), but you have to know what's what on the tests! If you're not going to do the reading, and if you're not good at science, getting above a C isn't a guarantee. That said, it was a semi-enjoyable class and i dont regret taking it to fulfill the science req.
This is one of my favorite classes I've taken at Columbia. Professor Van Gorkom managed to make this class simultaneously clear and deep. This class wasn't difficult but I learned a lot. This class works for both science majors and non-science majors. She's one of the only science professors I've had who really enjoys teaching.
She has a homework assignment due biweekly, they were a bit hard for me so I would attend TA office hours religiously, and got consistently good grades with the TAs help. She also has in-class assignments that are graded for participation. I only spent about two hours working on homework when they were due, and besides that there is no work required outside of class.
Tiny. An easy and short problem set every two weeks or so, a midterm and a final, both mostly multiple choice with some short answer. The textbook is good but entirely unnecessary.
A few problem sets before and after the midterm, a fairly easy midterm and a manageable final. Overall, a pretty light workload if you find the subject material interesting and don't mind studying for a bit.