This man is rude, arrogant, and creepy. I would not take his class. He is very unclear about definitions and assignments. Also, his tests are very tricky.

horrible. made everyone feel like crap. we wanted MORGAN!!!

Just as an FYI for everyone else who is considering to take this course from this professor, just make sure that you DO NOT schedule an emergency wisdom teeth surgery during a test, because the make up test is NOT EVEN FOR THE SAME CLASS! The test I had to take for a make up was for the LAB astronomy course, therefore I FAILED IT!

Tests are very hard. I can take notes in class, read the chapters, take my own notes over them, study a lot, and still not do well on the tests. Grading is not fair, especially in the lab, where he can't tell you why you got the grade you did. What he teaches in lecture and the tests do not correlate well. I do not recommend this professor.

I took this class back in the Fall of 2013. Looking back I have to say that this was by far the hardest class that I have taken at UNI. Lectures are really boring and hard to follow. And no matter what we studied, there were always questions that weren't in the book, study guide or discussed in the lectures. Not very helpful either. Don't take.

Took Astronomy as an online class. DO NOT DO IT. Picky grader, tests are impossible to get better than a D or low C. Questions are get it or you don't, no partial credit.

Very dry sense of humor. Pretty dull guy too. Just sits at the front of the class and drones on about planets and stuff. The lab was easy, but the lecture was impossible to stay awake in. He's just a pretty weird guy in general, and isn't all that approachable. Avoid taking astronomy in general, but if you have to don't take it with him!

Probably one of the worst professors at UNI. Lectures are hard to follow as he is difficult to understand. Tests are ridiculously difficult and often contain material that wasn't covered class. Never available outside of class. I spent more time studying for this class that my two Intermediate Accounting classes combined. Do not take.

Took Astronomy with him and hated it 90% of the time. Lecture was hard to follow along with, he didn't explain things in a way that made sense to everyone. When you ask questions, he acts like you are dumb for asking them. Tests are "adult multiple choice" meaning they are very, very hard questions over material that wasn't ever mentioned in class.

I took Astronomy with him almost four years ago, and I absolutely hated it. Tests are totally unrelated to his lectures, the textbook, and even the labs. Lectures are extremely hard to follow and he's never available outside of class. Can be pretty condescending when you ask him questions. AVOID this professor.

Could not stand to be in class anymore. Super old, boring professor. 1 out of 3 seniors in class. Mostly freshman, they thought he was so funny. He is NOT! Planning to drop class!

Hockey isn't a great professor. He taught before the first test, but after that we just watched movies. If you ask a question, he'll probably make you feel stupid for asking and not answer it specifically at all. He also gave us the wrong reading assignments for unit two, but didn't tell us the correct reading.

Hockey is an okay guy, but not a great professor. After the first exam of the year he only shows videos. He does not post grades on blackboard, you have to wait until the end of the semester to know your grade.

He was horrible. Either did a boring lecture the entire time or had us watch a nova video for the entire class period. One day he showed up 30 min late and was upset that most of the class had left. He was not sensitive to students with disabilities and treated them like they were a burden. He had questions on the tests that were never discussed

Out of all the classes I took at the University of Northern Iowa this was by far my least favorite professor. Grades everything in a specific way so lots of people miss points. Also bragged a lot about how nobody did well in his classes. Wanted his students to fail.

This class is ridiculous. I really love a challenge, but through academics not through someone's insane expectations of the presentation of the work! He has little to no compassion either, do not expect any slack. I am on the deans list, with scholarships have never failed a course, and have never wrote a rating on a professor, this is the one.

If zoom doesnt cooperate then youre screwed. He doesnt send the lectures to you even if you missed because zoom troubles. Also has little content discussed on tests. Almost all questions are not discussed in class and youre left to assume. He seemed like a very cool person, but a terrible professor. I am an honor student and Im getting a c.

100 points available in the class, 4 quizzes (20 points each), twenty homework points available. No extra credit. Hw straight out of the book that you must buy, if your answer is doesn't match his, you don't get the point. 32 (ish) chances to get all hw points, but highly unlikely. Would not take again.

I took the six week astronomy class. He should not be teaching a level 1000 class. He makes it beyond difficult to pass. His test is a matter of a guessing game as there are more then one answer that is correct. He is strict on answers for hw questions as well. He is strict on how things are submitted and doesnt seem to care if you pass.

Thomas Hockey is by far the most disrespectful professor I have ever had while attending UNI. You get 20 HW assignments throughout the entire semester & fighting for your answer when you believe it is correct; is pointless. DO NOT take his class if you don't have to. He takes pride in his students failing his class. Decent human being- bad teacher

Im not ganna lie, this was definitely a hard class. He is not a good professor, the first day of class he said most of you will fail this course and laughed. He does not care to help and is disrespectful if you do ask for help. Do not take his class if you have a choice. Goodluck if you have to.

Chose this class because I'm fascinated by astronomy and thought I'd love it. Wrong. Tests were so specific over things that weren't really in the posted lectures and he was rude to me when I would ask questions over what I missed. Need the textbook for homework. Ended with an 88, but counted as a B because of the scale. Wouldn't recommend.

It was easy to follow along and understand his lectures, but when it came to the exams, they extremely specific and over information he never discussed during class. Homework was easy, but you only get credit for 20 questions out of the assigned 40. There is no extra credit offered. His explanations to students questions were very confusing.

Didnt seem to care when students would let him know that the giant beam in the room made them unable to see the screen. Wont share his PowerPoints to students gone for covid or athletics. Speaks so slow that its physically hard to actually want to be in class. When the class started he said most people fail his class and then laughed about it.

Worst grading I have experienced at UNI! Do not take if you have a choice. So disrespectful, he doesn't seem to know what he wants with his homework questions. I got a zeros for answers I knew were correct and he didn't care to fix and then he commented that it was "annoying" to read through my longer answers.

He doesn't explain what to do or how to do things. I am confused 100% of the time because he doesn't explain anything clearly. It's obvious that he doesn't communicate with the TA because they give me different answers to the same question. He grades tough and once stated to the class that "just getting the right answer is not good enough."

He doesn't grade things the way you would want. He also makes things very confusing and doesn't answer questions very well. I get very confused by things and it's not very easy to ask questions knowing you won't get a good answer back.

Very monotone could fall asleep every time and was a bit bland.