I adored Geller's Astro 1 class. You can tell he loves teaching it. The class was thought-provoking and made me appreciate life more. If understanding the universe, stars, planets, and other celestial phenomena sounds boring to you don't take the class. His physics courses artificially lower his rating. Don't let that deter you from taking Astro 1!

Geller is so funny and his lectures are so interesting yet easy to understand. Homework is pretty simple. Lectures and hw correlate directly to exams so they're pretty easy. Since he wrote the textbook, his lectures basically follow the textbook so if you miss one it's not a big deal. Loved Geller and this class!

DONT TAKE HIS ASTRO 1!! RUN!!!

He does a good job explaining concepts and makes us laugh during lectures. The homework can look heavy, but it's all easy stuff that takes an hour max. The weekly essays can be daunting but it's seriously not bad at all and in the long run helps you understand things better for the tests. Overall an enjoyable time even though the midterm was rough.

Be ready to pay 60 USD to access the textbook and hw for a quarter. There are 3 online HW due dates per week and a mandatory in-class essay administered during sections each week. The exams are entirely MCQs so it is very easy to get thrown to B-. Lectures are fine but don't provide sufficient insight. Just take someone else's class...

Great professors, but the exams you need to take are harder than the assignments and harder to get a grade for.

This has been one of my favorite classes due to both material and professor. Geller is great and I loved the lectures. Tests were kind of hard, but weren't weighted very heavily (final = 20%). There is kind of a lot of homework, but it was generally pretty easy and didn't take long. Doing/understanding homework is necessary for good grade.

Only chance to ask questions is in lecture. He is responsive and helpful, but you're expected to rely on TAs for info outside of class. Lots of homework and reading per week. Lots of studying is recommended, you cannot just do the bare minimum in this class. Grading is dominated by your homework and quizzes but includes long midterms and finals.

In terms of difficulty, his class was not free, but I think if you put in the effort, you can get a decent grade. For his lectures, I attended every single one because they were so fun. He is clearly very passionate about what he teaches, and that passion is very contagious. I would suggest you do a quick review before the discussion sections.

The online version of Astro 1 is a blend of easy mathematics (Usually the hardest math being like AP Physics 1 level), really interesting concepts, and such. Expect to read a LOT for the online version of the class but it isn't hard at all. Great for a STEM elective, just okay for a STEM GE.

Geller's astro 1 is the first course I took in this UCSB which is great!. His lectures are interesting and he's a nice person if u join his office hour. However, the reading is mandatory and quite tough for a freshman if u have little astro storage (but not me). There the homework is not friendly for people deficit in writing and carefulness.

The class is not as math heavy as other sciences, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't expect any math at all. If you just suck it up and ask questions, the course is pretty simple. While there is a good bit of homework, it's pretty easy. The midterm and final are graded fairly, and they DO involve both lecture AND book material.

I loved this class! Not everyone did, but he was fair and made it really easy to get a good grade if you put the work in; weekly assignments that reinforce material were a huge portion of your grade, so just read the textbook and do your homework. lectures were boring but he was a cool guy and funny, either way the textbook covers the material.

Astro1was such a fun course to take if you want to know more about the universe in a very generic way. There were a couple of topics that we went super deep into, but nothing too bad. There is math involved, however it is very basic plug in equations. Reading the textbook is a must. Geller was a great lecturer and I enjoyed learning in his course.

I made a big mistake taking this class as a GE when I hate math, this class involves physics. He has his on own book which you must purchase online to access homework. TEST HEAVY your graded on the homework that is so easy to do because its online and everyone uses sources to do it, professor even pointed it out. Don't recommend taking this.

I can't understand why people would rate him badly. I think he is amazing, despite of what other people think. He is cool, does some amazing demos, and gives us quizzes on Achieve that let you earn an A on it. I do believe it is a easy A, as long as you show up to sections and the lectures, study hard and then it will pay off in the end. Love this!

Professor Geller seems like a cool guy, very knowledgeable on the class topics, but the class itself is very hard. Reading the textbook is a must, but it's overly complicated and hard to understand. Geller clears things up a little in his lectures, but even then things aren't explained very well. Overall, he's a cool guy, but the class is not fun.

I wanna attend any of his classes again. Each lecture he introduced only include a small part of chapter in the book. Sometimes when he had a cold he just skip the lecture and leave us to learn by ourselves. He always assign a lot of homework with tough and strange requirements. And what his lecture did little contribution and help for homework.

Most of the (many) issues I had with the course are due to the poor curriculum, which is set by the department and not the professor. However, Geller was often smug, condescending, and discouraged us from going to office hours for homework help. PHYS 1 is easy if you have taken AP Physics. If not, prepare for a long slog with little/no support.

Halfway through the quarter, and personally I dislike his teaching style. Lectures are pointless, only reason to go is because of iClicker points but otherwise you do not learn much through his lectures. The class is self-taught and he only provides demonstrations of the main concepts rather than actually going over what will be on tests.

Geller is the best professor hands down!! So fun and highly encourages class participation and questions. Lectures were interesting and he always had demos to keep it fun. Definitely recommend this class as an Area C requirement

Geller is a chill homie. He is super cool and loves questions. You will leave the class wanting to take another one of his classes.

Geller is eager to answer questions during lecture, and although there is assigned reading, the lectures cover most of the material so the textbook is only necessary for some terms or concept that you don't understand, and the homework. The class was pretty interesting

Robert Geller is a solid teacher. His lectures are not too boring and he encourages questions. If you pay attention and take notes you can do well. I felt like I really learned the material in the class.