Professor K. is a good professor who cares about this class but the class is not as serious as she makes it seems. Homework is 45% of your grade and there are quizlets for the homework assignments, although some of the problems are not there. For the ones you cannot get, you can go to her office hours for. All the tests, including the final are worth 10% of your grade and she curves all of them. Reading the textbook is very helpful and her powerpoints are helpful . The class can be boring at times but overall, this class is a GPA booster.

Kallivayalil is not super dynamic as a lecturer, but she's nice, approachable, and reasonable. All her exams were curved so even if you practically failed, it would still be curved to at least a B. Because of the curves, easy homework assignments, and (2) pass/fail labs, I easily got an A-. I skipped lectures towards the end of the semester and just read the book before the exams. This class got me interested in astronomy so if you are interested in astronomy or just need a science credit, take this class. This is a fairly easy class.

If you want to take this class, take it with another professor. Prof Kallivayalil is a good person, but she doesn't engage well in class. She goes too fast, talks too low and makes the overall class boring (although the material is actually very interesting). I wouldn't say this class is an easy A, but it is a manageable A if you are willing to do the readings, homework and study (a lot) for the tests.

I would not recommend this class to anyone not truly interested in Astronomy. The class has "intro" in its title, but requires you to have a heavy knowledge of physics. The lecture itself was extremely boring--the longest 50 minutes of your life. The class average on the test was never above a 60. With the help of the curve, answering participation question correctly, and the tedious homework, you can pull at least a B- out of the class.