ASTR 3420

This class was good, but it really had the potential to be great. I was so hype to talk about life beyond earth, seeing as that is the title of the class, but we really only got to that in the last 1/3 of lectures or so. Most of the lectures are spent talking about the background info and basic conditions necessary for life on earth and life elsewhere. That being said, I did enjoy this class. Bob's lectures can sometimes be a little dry, but he is very knowledgeable, really cares about his students, and is an incredibly nice guy. Class attendance isn't mandatory, and only about 1/3 of the class shows up. Prof. Dickman recommends reading the textbook, but I never opened it and I got an A+ in the class by just studying for 2 hours or so the night before the tests. This class is super easy, especially if you have taken some other astronomy courses, and fulfills one of the 3000+ level class requirements for the astronomy minor. I would recommend this class, but if you have a spot open and you havent taken some other astronomy courses, such as ASTR 1290, ASTR 1280, ASTR 3470, I would take those before taking this class. I feel bad only giving this class a slightly warm review, as Bob is such a sweet guy, but it just isn't quite as good as advertised.

This class sounds really cool but a majority of the semester was spent learning about how life on Earth started before eventually moving on to the possibility of life elsewhere so the material was pretty dry for a while. Professor Dickman's exams aren't too bad but some details like exact years and time periods do have to be memorized. Lecture isn't super mandatory; his powerpoint slides are pretty detailed and you can definitely learn on your own, but he really does care about his students so I always felt a little bad when I skipped. I started out reading the textbook before class like a good student but I quickly realized he lectures pretty much straight from the textbook with a few additional interesting facts so I wouldn't say it's super necessary to do, but nice to have if you do have questions after going through his slides. Homework is usually straight from the textbook (like the little quizzes at the end of the chapter), so you can always check your answers on quizlet too. I'd say it's a pretty easy A- class, but you'd have to work decently hard to get to an A.

This class was really great, and covered a wide variety of topics. It covers basic astronomy, biology, and concepts of evolution. Professor Dickman was really great and had interesting stories to tell during class regarding his work at NRAO or just knowledge he has from the fields. I appreciated how he also would sometimes include a slide about a cool new astronomical discovery or theory. He was a really good professor and made the class interesting. If you've taken other astronomy courses or biology courses, the material in this class will also be a breeze. You have several exams that are very straightforward, and all questions are answered in his lectures; he never tries to purposely trick you with the exam questions (which was refreshing). He provides lots of interesting concepts and I loved when we got into talking about the prospects of life elsewhere in the solar system or universe. It was a really great class and has been one of my favorite astronomy classes at UVA.