[{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM3MjE1NDA4","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2022-12-21 18:06:10 +0000 UTC","comment":"Alexandre means well. He is truly passionate about the subject & course and wants his students to succeed. However, his lectures are pointless at times and I learned most of the material from the textbook. Read the textbook and study HW & textbook questions for the exam! ","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":3.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM2MzUyNTgw","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2022-05-16 21:43:21 +0000 UTC","comment":"Great professor, easy class to pass if you go to lectures","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":1.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM2MzUyNDQ0","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2022-05-16 21:27:22 +0000 UTC","comment":"He is a great professor who truly cares about his students. He sprinkles some good life advice into his lectures. Many students seem to struggle with astro 104, but if you have taken a physics class and go to most lectures this class will be an easy A in my opinion.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":2.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM2MzQyMDgx","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2022-05-15 05:53:17 +0000 UTC","comment":"The course is graded on 3 exams which often include questions from the homework, but there are some surprises on the exams. He does one \"practice exam\" at the beginning of the semester which isn't worth anything. His lectures were quite boring and it was often difficult to understand him. He did boost exam scores randomly, but don't count on that. ","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM1NjU1MTEx","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2021-12-26 03:38:56 +0000 UTC","comment":"Alex Lazarian is a lot of things - a professor, an astronomer, highly intelligent, occasionally funny - but he is not a good lecturer. I do not believe I learned a single thing during lecture; I learned almost all of the course materials out of the textbook. I would not recommend unless you are willing and able to do most of the learning yourself","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":1.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM0ODA4MDk3","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2021-05-17 15:00:10 +0000 UTC","comment":"Professor Lazarian likes to hear himself talk more than teach, his exams are 90% of the grade with homework being worth only 10%. I once asked him & TA's for help and he said that asking for help is taking advantage of TA's. There are 2 lectures posted every week. They're almost an hour each. This class is not fun or worth it.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM0NTExODAw","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2021-04-06 15:36:36 +0000 UTC","comment":"Communication/course page is not great. Lectures are minimally useful. Class is mostly self-taught from textbook. Homework questions and Exam questions often repeat themselves, so the tests aren't hard but are weighted heavily. Subject is interesting, but I don't feel like I'm mastering any material - you don't need to really learn much to get an A","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":2.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM0MzcyNDg1","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2021-02-18 16:16:38 +0000 UTC","comment":"He's an absolute mess. Canvas page is very unorganized, his lectures are y disengaging and hard to understand because of his lectures. Both he and the TA are very hands-off so expect to do a lot of self-teaching. The lectures aren't very helpful, don't waste your time, I would recommend just reading the textbook.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":1.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM0MTcxNTI5","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2020-12-22 02:12:41 +0000 UTC","comment":"Online learning was a breeze mostly because all you had to do was watch about 30 minutes worth of videos for discussion each week, 10 min max of homework and lectures were videos that are easy speed up since he talks pretty slow. The only thing I didn't like was that there were no announcements for lectures being posted. Quizlet is your best friend","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":4.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxOTY5OTE4","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2019-05-29 14:31:23 +0000 UTC","comment":"He has a heavy accent that takes a while to get used to, still, I could only understand probably 70% of the things he said. Lectures are just a bunch of slides that don't really cover everything on the tests, so get ready for quite a bit of textbook reading. All the tests are multiple choices so it's pretty hard to get good grades on them.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxODU4NzI0","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2019-05-13 17:52:33 +0000 UTC","comment":"I personally skipped most lectures as I had a very difficult time understanding him. From what I've heard though, if you're able to go to all lectures and pay attention to him/understand him, the class will be a lot easier for you.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxODQ4Mzgz","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2019-05-12 02:04:36 +0000 UTC","comment":"He has a strong accent which made it hard to understand him at first but you get used to it pretty quickly. Communication about the class was sub-par, he never said where the final exam was at and some people showed up to the wrong room. Lectures are super interesting and you learn a lot of cool stuff even if you aren't a science a major.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":4.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxNzgxMTQy","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2019-05-06 06:53:37 +0000 UTC","comment":"Attendance wasn't mandatory, but covered everything that was on exams. Gave make-up midterms and even curved them. Homework took 5-10 minutes once a week. Has an accent, but nothing you can't understand.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":1.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxNzM0NTMz","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2019-05-01 18:48:28 +0000 UTC","comment":"This was a great class for a non STEM student. Everything was straight forward and the tests are not bad at all, especially if you go to class because him and the TA cover the important stuff that makes it into the tests while the book covers a lot of extra stuff. Also, English isnt his first language, but hes still really funny. Great Class","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":2.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxMjg3NTEz","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2019-01-21 20:03:23 +0000 UTC","comment":"Lectures are boring to me because he speaks with an accent so I find it a bit hard to understand what he's saying but he does know his stuff. 3 midterms (only 2 counted). I'd say it's pretty easy he normally just recycle the questions from past midterms so shouldn't be too hard. Lectured aren't compulsory to get an A. Missed few and still get an A.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":4.0,"difficulty_rating":2.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMwODczNTMx","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2018-12-05 11:45:27 +0000 UTC","comment":"I found his class to be very easy, but a large part of that was my interest in the topic. I do not think that missing a lecture or two would have cost my grade, but I still never missed. He cares about the topic, clearly. His only flaw is being sidetracked and becoming distracted by a tangent for a few minutes, but other than that, hes great.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":4.0,"difficulty_rating":1.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMwNjUxNTg1","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2018-11-02 23:50:00 +0000 UTC","comment":"It is obvious that this guy knows a lot of stuff about his profession. However, he has this really weird accent that makes it almost impossible to understand what he is talking about. P.S: His favorite phrase is "Interestingly Enough"","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMwNTc3NTY1","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2018-10-17 00:11:35 +0000 UTC","comment":"He's a really great lecturer that knows a lot about the subject and is obviously interested and passionate about what he is talking about which always gets me involved. All you have to do is the homework and attend lecture and you will do well. What he teaches is super interesting as well.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMwMzc1Mzkx","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2018-07-26 12:13:53 +0000 UTC","comment":"As a person, this man is obviously very intelligent about physics/astronomy/science/etc. He was also super funny, but it seemed like the class didn't pick up on his humor much. As a class, Astron104 was very disorganized, discussion sections were basically useless, and questions from practice exams/homework were copy and pasted to exams.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":3.0,"difficulty_rating":2.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTI5MjgzMjI0","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2017-12-19 21:23:12 +0000 UTC","comment":"Tests are important but easy. You dont need the textbook to do well in the class. Study the homework, the some of the questions are on the test word for word. Going to lectures arent necessary either as long as the slides are posted online.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":4.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTI5MTc5Nzk2","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2017-12-13 16:20:01 +0000 UTC","comment":"Best class I've taken. Professor is a genius Russian guy who's hilarious. One 20 question homework assignment a week with all the answers online. Three tests and all the questions are the ones from the homework. You don't need to go to the lectures but I did because Laz is hilarious. Also learned a lot about the Solar System","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":1.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTI3MjIyMzY5","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2016-11-18 17:03:14 +0000 UTC","comment":"Lectures were basically review. You can get an A by just reading the book and going over the MC at the end of the chapter.  TA Sections completely worthless.  Homework was easy.  Easy A as long as you read the chapters and do some minor studying for the exams.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":3.0,"difficulty_rating":2.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:57:05.802826+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTI1MjY2NTcx","source_instructor_id":"rmp:1146908","instructor_name":"Alex Lazarian","course_label":"ASTRON104","course_id":"ASTRON 104","course_uid":"course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e","review_date":"2015-10-19 14:09:38 +0000 UTC","comment":"Alex is a smart guy, and you can tell when you're sitting in his class. However, he isn't the best professor; the class is pretty unorganized and topics unclear because he is all over the place with what he covers in lecture. TAs don't really know what's going on, and oftentimes there are questions on the tests that were not discussed in class.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1146908","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0}]