Current instructor

Amy Barger

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.13/5 from 54 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Simply, "meh." Class is a little more physics intensive than I expected as someone who has never taken an astro class, though that is to be expected. Not a lot of actual math you have to do, but you have to have a strong conceptual understanding of the physics. It's not the world's best class, but if you need a QR or a natural sciences, take it.
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ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
The class is straight forward and interesting, but she goes pretty fast. 3 midterms no final exam all online and can take anywhere between 9 to 1. do quizzes in lecture, but online/ can retake or wait till she puts answer on the board. In discussion had 4 projects all "group" projects. They honestly didn't connect to class content and were hard.
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ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
HORRIBLE. have never had a worse professor. everything you learn in lecture has nothing to do with the readings, which has nothing to do with the homework, and the homework has nothing to do with the section work. is basically is a figure out yourself with barely any guidance. The exam questions have nothing to do what is taught in lecture.
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ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Prof Barger is super sweet and is obviously very passionate about astronomy. Her lectures can be a little dry sometimes, but lecture slides were always posted on canvas. The weekly homework is super important and helps a lot in getting ready for the midterms and tests. Also, the honors optional assignments were 3-4 easy, 1 page papers.
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ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Amy is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about her field, but this didn't help her teach an intro-level class. She went through lectures way too fast and went into details far beyond a beginner's level (and what tests covered). Group projects were assigned that were equally complicated and in-depth, without helping you understand the essentials.
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ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Barger is clearly very knowledgable in her field, but this often made her lectures hard to understand. She went through them very quickly and rarely ever elaborated beyond what was on her slides. Discussions section activities and groups projects had little to no relevance to course content and it felt pointless to go. Exams were online.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Amy Barger

ASTRON 699 is a directed study course for junior and senior students to conduct independent projects arranged with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ASTRON 990 is a research and thesis course providing advanced mentored reading and research opportunities for graduate students.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

A graduate seminar covering current topics in astrophysics.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026
PHYSICS 990

Research

1–12 credits

PHYSICS 990 is a research course where students conduct supervised research projects with individual faculty members.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026ASTRON 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ASTRON 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ASTRON 699Directed Study
Fall 2026ASTRON 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026ASTRON/PHYSICS 910Seminar in Astrophysics
Fall 2026PHYSICS 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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