The origin of modern astronomy - an introduction, Learn to read the stars, Overview of the solar system, The beginning and life of stars, The mysteries ahead, The future of space exploration.
Comments
Astro is a Mother of All MCQs.
there are huge database of quiz banks (both online and in hard copies) floating around. some quiz banks may no longer be relevant as the tests change
there were a lot of students taking Astro per semester. Which means, more competition – even from Engineering students (they could take as elective). The only thing that I loved about Astro is that I don’t even need to show face at the lectures. I could just listen to the online lectures at my own timing.
The only difference from theirs and what you are going to expect is, the difficulty is no longer that easy. Why? Last time, the lecturer came out question from the question bank. But now, even if you memorise everything, you may not get A. Somehow, he hardly use the question from the question bank anymore. Final consisted of 60 MCQ. When I took it, I think only less than 10 came from the question bank. So don’t be too confident if you know everything from the question bank. However, the question bank serves as a good platform to test your understanding and concepts. So you must do. I gt A- for the quiz and I was expecting at least an A- after my finals. But I gt a B+ only. Astro is very competitive. The easier something is, the harder for you to perform well. As the name suggest, you will be studying about Stars, planet, sun, big bang theory etc. You will then realise how small how earth is!
Easy to score if you are good at memorizing
Aries, Scorpion, Sun, Milky way and many more. When you are young, you are fascinated by the stars, zodiac astrology and universe. This course will teach you all this. You will learn how to see the Orion belt, how the earth move, how the sun move and etc.
The content is very heavy. I don't understand a single thing from the course. However i am someone who is very good at memorising stuff and thus i managed to score for this course. I borrowed the textbook from the library and i studied the content every night after the lecture. I spent approximately 1 hour a week to revise this module. I managed to get a A in the end.
Many of my friends (who are bad at anything math-related) found Astro quite okay. It should be fine!! Just go for classes, or watch the recorded lectures
one of the popular electives. 100% MCQ (30% CA 70% exam) - not sure about now. very interesting (if you like black holes and big bang). heavy content. kinda physics. video recording yes. borrow some practice questions from your seniors with answer better. prof released some past year papers to let you practice.
-stellar graveyard
-birth of stars
-life cycle of stars
-solar systems, how it forms and the terresterial and jovian planets
-comets, asteroids, auroras
-eclipse,
-newtonian 3 laws, kepler laws
-famous astronomers
-unusual stars, neutron stars, black holes
-how to predict distance and age of galaxies, stars, using novae, stars etc.
-big bang theory
I regretted not SU-ing this elective because Astro is a brain-cell killer for me. There is a lot of memorising work to do. Maybe it's because I've got no interest in Astronomy so I didn't score very well for this. It consists of 2 separate assessments: MCQ mid-term and MCQ final paper.
Bell curve super steep. For mid terms, I guess lose one mark equal u drop one grade. For exams, half straightforward, half require thinking. I guess cos I didnt practice enough on the pyp tats explains my results. My frens who did pyp did well. First half of the exam paper super easy and straight forward. The second half is the part where it determines your fate. Those score A I heard mug like siao and are those who really understand what is going on for the whole thing cos all the chapters are interlinked. There are miracles of cos. My fren got midterm C+ and final A-. Dunno how he did it but its just possible if u mug like siao like them. S/U if u think u know u can't afford the time. For me, I think I did study but my mid term and the finals is the same results. LOL..
A heavy-content module studying the universe, such as the solar systems, different characteristics of the planets, stars formation and lifespan, etc. Quite Physics-intensive, will be advantageous if you have a background in Physics.
Recorded lectures are available. And lectures generally last for 2 hours, with the last hour used for showing videos, which is not compulsory.
Textbook not really required, most information are covered in the lecture notes.
I heard that there is a question bank available that provides good practice for the exams, though I have never seen the question bank before. So you may want to ask around for it.
The best thing about this module is that the exams are entirely MCQs. But because it is MCQs, this module is highly popular, and the bell curve is very steep, from what I heard. And even though it is mostly MCQs, there is still a lot of memorizing needed. The MCQs can be tricky also, and you will face situations where you have to decide between two or three choices which all seem correct. But there will be a lot of discussions after that exams regarding the answers, so maybe you can gauge how well you did and decide whether to S/U it or not.
Very Interesting. Especially so if you are into a huge load of memory work.
Programme: EEE
The origin of modern astronomy - an introduction, Learn to read the stars, Overview of the solar system, The beginning and life of stars, The mysteries ahead, The future of space exploration.