James Applegate

As a astrophysics major my expectations going into this class were that it would be a fun way to learn more about the field without stressing to much over class difficulty. Professor Applegate was a very good teacher, explained concepts well and cracked jokes; all over a very likable Prof. Also very accommodating towards any questions you had and would always answer. Although his lectures were a bit unstructured at times, he always covered all the important topics and the lectures note were EXTREMELY helpful for the exams; essentially had all the information you needed on them for review. He definitely is a very old-school professor (ie. only uses chalkboard and printed hand-out sheets), so if that isn't your thing I wouldn't recommend but I had no issue with it. For anyone complaining that the class was too "math-heavy" I would disagree. I might be biased as a stem major but there really was no difficult math on the exams, it was all just plugging numbers into given formulas and–on the rare occasion–having to tweak a formula and change the units on certain things. The class more requires a good understanding of geometry, as a lot of things focused on planetary motion and it's geometry, but nothing was absurdly difficult; just takes time to wrap your head around but Prof. Applegate is very good at drawing the geometry out during lectures and in the notes. I would recommend thi…

Never take this class no matter what. I read the reviews, ignored them and it was the worst thing ever. He does not know how to teach. He is extremely old school just uses charkboard. Never has a prepared objective in for class just talks about whatever topic forever. Exams are hard. Hard to get an A or even a B... I have never disliked a class like i did.

This class was.....interesting. This class should be under the physics category instead of astronomy. The class is divided into two sections: first, calculate rotations, distance of stars and how they interact with other bodies in space, The second part is the evolution of stars and their lifespan. The first test is completely math based and the second test is math based and short answer. This class is an easy A IF you go to class and pay attention. You cant just sign up and expect to show up for the review sections and ace the test. Also I felt for the most part I learned stuff but one of the questions on the final I felt like we had to completely memorize what he wrote and I feel like that isn't learning. Also he would talk about stuff so deep it was almost irrelevant for the class because most of us were only taking it for the science requirement, My advice, this class gave me more stress than I wanted from a silly general ed class and I only missed class once or twice. There are better classes out there for the science requirement. Applegate is awesome as a person but you could tell it was hard for him to explain something so complex to students who will not continue this area of study. FIND ANOTHER CLASS

We learned about how to measure the distances to stars and planets, their size, their luminosity, and lifespan as well as other aspects of their existence.

I saw some negative reviews about this professor and was a little worried, but I had no issues with his class at all. I took it over the summer and it was an easy A. The practice problem sets helped immensely and mirrored the midterm and final exam. Had some stem background, but definitely not necessary for this course. He would lecture for about 1.5 hrs and then would let us work together on the homeworks and help us for the remainder of the class. Workload: 5 problem sets, 1 take home midterm, 1 final exam (40% of grade)

To preface this review: math and science have never been my strong suits and I think if they're something you're comfortable with, you'll probably be fine in this class. I am a humanities person through and through. I took this class thinking that as long as I did the homework, did the practice problem sets, and study for the tests, I would be fine. I was not! While Prof. Applegate's passion for astronomy is clearly there, his teaching style and my learning style did not mesh. What he talked about in class didn't help with what was on the homework and I was at the TAs office hours every week looking for help, along with probably half the class. The course description says that you only need a working level knowledge of high school algebra for this class, but when I brought my HW to my STEM friends to look at, they were shocked by how difficult and complex the problems were, pointing out that there were elements they learned in Physics II, Calc III, and Chemistry courses - NOT "high school level algebra" problems. I spent probably 20 hours studying for the first exam and failed it. I spent another 20 hours studying for the second exam and did even worse, as the math was getting increasingly harder and I didn't have the assumed physics/calculus levels needed to succeed in this class. At the beginning of the semester, I even asked Professor Applegate if he knew of any astronomy t…

After taking two Astronomy classes with Applegate, I strongly suggest this class to anybody wanting to boost up their GPA. There is absolutely no homework, but it is vital that you just SHOW UP to lecture. Applegate writes all the notes you need on the board, so you don't even need to listen to him, just write down what he says and pay attention when you are interested. There is absolutely no homework, don't even bother buying the book. His midterms are literally his problem sets, with one or two added questions. He is a very charming man, and his jokes start to grow on you. TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU WANT AN EASY A.

The math side of stars, distances to them, how to calculate luminosity, flux, and distance. Also learned about star lifetimes and their compositions in detail, atomic detail.

I don't care if he's a nice person, this man literally assigned a take-home midterm due during the last week of classes. He is the epitome of one the teachers who thinks his class is the only class you're taking. The workload is lighter than average but without the TAs, you have literally no support. Again, he's a nice person and his love of science is endearing, but you cannot be a good professor if you think it's okay to skew your assignments towards the end of the semester -- none of us know what our grade really is in this class

I LOVED THIS COURSE. I'm so suprised that Prof Applegate has such bad reviews on here. His lecture style is fun and he's very good at explaining the concepts. He tells very sweet little jokes throughout, so if you hate the little joys don't take this course. Office hours are very helpful. There's no homework and you absolutely do not need to do the readings. The problem sets were challenging but if you have any inclination towards math or science at all (coming from someone who does not) you'll be 100% fine. You do definitely need to study for the exams, but even as someone who studied very little I got high Bs on them.