Western Kentucky University / H / Richard Hackney

The best part about this class is the lab is just looking through the telescope one night of the entire semester--that's it. Hackney is somewhat dull, but he will work with you and isn't difficult or a butthead.

The course was pretty simple. The accompanying lab was mainly integrated into the course. There was one outside of class telescope viewing session, which I skipped because it stormed on my scheduled night. If you do poorly on one of the tests, he will let your grade on the final replace it, if you do better on the final. The lecutres are sometimes hard to stay awake through.

Although I do not like science and physics, I actually enjoyed this course. As long as you go to class and take notes, you'll do fine. You have about 3 test including the final and for the 2 test during the semester he gave you a old test from another semster that you could study from. Lots of the questions that were on that test were on his test in class.

You take notes everyday, but there are not that bad. Before each test, Dr. Hagney tells you what is going to be on it and gives you a copy of an old test. Tests are basically the only grades you have though, so you have to study.

I usually hate science, but this ended up being one of my favorite classes at Western. The material is really interesting and Dr. Hackney is really nice. He gave the class access to his old tests as reviews. He definitely made an impression on me. Also, this is a great lab to take because you only meet one time for lab and look through a telescope which is cool. The rest of the time, you get to go to the planetarium at learn the constellations.

I rated this class okay because it was a struggle to stay awake during the lectures, even though most of the material was pretty interesting and presented in an interesting manner. There are three to four tests in Dr. Hackney's class, depending on how quickly the class moves. Notes are easy to take because what he wants you to know, he writes down or tells you. There are also outlines for each section of material that he gives you. Attendance is not really required, but in most classes there are in-class writing that we turn in, and that's how he takes attendance. He gives you more possible points than you'll need to make a decent grade though so you can afford to miss a few times. A lot of people thought this class was pretty hard, because Dr. Hackney works for NASA and apparently that had something to do with it. I thought the class was pretty easy though--the only preparation I did for tests was rewriting my notes and making sure I knew what was on the outline--two hours tops. Anyway, I hear that the other profs are easier than Dr. Hackney, but I didn't think it was that bad. Oh yeah, the lab is simple--you meet once and look at the sky.

Good teacher. Not too hard. Take him if you have to take the class.