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Daniel Falvey CHEM237 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/25/2023	definitely one of my favorite professors at umd so far. i've never taken or had much exposure to orgo, but he made learning the material manageable and enjoyable. i had Robert as my TA and he is literally godsend. we had 3 exams and a final and Falvey was very clear about the format of the exams and what he expected. sometimes he would go on tangents during class, but he never tested us on them. he was always very approachable and made an effort to learn students' names. i went to his office hours constantly and he was very helpful and he took the time to answer my questions thoroughly. would highly recommend!
Daniel Falvey CHEM237 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/25/2023	Listen, the horror stories you hear about orgo—don't let them scare you. Yes, the content of organic chemistry is challenging and there's no getting around that, you will have to put in the effort to study, practice, and memorize. Dr. Falvey is a great professor, he is this jolly burst of energy who makes this class enjoyable and interesting. He does like random calling though, he walked into lecture one day with every single student's name memorized so don't be surprised if he suddenly knows your name and face and starts asking you what the first step of the mechanism is. I think what really makes this 5 stars is the TA Robert (now Dr. Martin! I'm not sure if next semester students will get to have him because he defended his thesis). He leads discussions (never skip discussions!) and hands out tons of practice packets. Honestly, I think he's one of the best TAs I've had, very organized, great at explaining, and always holding review sessions for exams. The only complaint I have is that Dr. Falvey's lectures sometimes felt a bit disorganized and he doesn't have recordings posted so if you miss a class you will have to make-do with posted slides. It's not the end of the world though, discussions are a nice summary of lectures. There is an extra credit section at the end of every exam including the final, and extra credit discussion worksheets. Plus, lab total gets added to your grade instead of showing up separately in your transcript unlike the normal non biochem/chem orgo class, which is a grade booster. Make sure you don't get lazy and go to office hours for lab though if you want good grades on your reports. Overall, highly recommend taking Dr. Falvey he’s awesome!
Daniel Falvey CHEM237 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/10/2022	By far my favorite professor I've had at UMD. Lectures are straightforward and interesting, lots of bonus points on every exam on concepts that were gone over in practice packets, and genuinely wants to help you learn. Exams are predictable and comparably very easy. Does do collaborative quizzes every class, but they're open note and you can work together. I had Robert as my TA, and he was also easily my best TA, he could probably have taught the class better than Falvey did even if it would have been much harder- the man loves orgo. His packets and quizzes were designed in a way that challenged the way you thought about orgo, and there was infinite practice opportunity for those who wanted it. Extra credit was also available in discussions, and he included fun facts and recommended songs on each weekly packet. The combination of Robert and Falvey was the best class I have ever had. His lectures are very easy to follow along and take notes to- he does them Khan Academy style, drawing as he speaks on a tablet that he projects. I highly highly reccommend taking notes during lecture to help you see where your understanding fails and help you ask questions. He and Robert are both very open to answering any question, no matter how stupid you may think it is. TL;DR: Made a class known to be hard very easy, grades fairly (almost inflates tbh), pray you get Robert as a TA for he is a god amongst men
Daniel Falvey CHEM237 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2022	Loved falvey, he’s funny in lecture and is easy to understand. Only downside is he doesnt record lectures (but still posts lecture PowerPoints so i guess it’s manageable). Class is mandatory cause he has clicker questions every lecture, but it’s an easy grade booster so def go to class. Exams are also very fair with extra credit opportunities for all them including finals. Extra credit is usually freebies as long as you pay attention in class. Overall I had a great time in his class.
Robert Martin CHEM237 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2022	I have never met anyone as passionate for organic chemistry as rob. Truly cares about the success of his students, and has put so much time and effort toward us. He’s been ta’ing orgo for like 7 years since this review, so trust me when i say he knows what he’s doing. and he’s also chill af outside of class.
Osvaldo Gutierrez CHEM237 Anonymous 04/12/2021	overall he is an ok professor. There is poor transition between topics and he doesn't clearly define any one concept. Also the TA will take off major points for the slightest mistake.
Osvaldo Gutierrez CHEM237 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/28/2020	Gutierrez was a great professor! He did a good job with both in person and online instruction. In class, Gutierrez goes over multiple examples which is really helpful for learning the material. We had weekly clicker questions which could be a bit challenging but overall not too bad. The exams are also very fair and our TA (Robert Martin) provided us with a lot of review examples. As long as you put in the effort the class is not too bad.
Robert Martin CHEM237 Anonymous 05/24/2019	Robert can be described as pure perfection. He put in a lot of effort into the class and he genuinely wanted his students to pass. His exam reviews helped soooo much and he's probably the reason i didn't fail the class. Just know if you get Robert as a TA you've hit the jackpot.
Robert Martin CHEM237 Anonymous 04/02/2019	10/5. Organic chemistry genius and a true fashion icon.
Osvaldo Gutierrez CHEM237 Anonymous 03/25/2019	I thought I was gonna hate organic but he makes it understandable & enjoyable. Thanks Dr. G!
Jeffery Davis CHEM237 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/18/2015	I took this class last semester and I struggled a lot with organic chem and obviously didn't do that well, but Jeff Davis - or as my friend and I called him, JD - was an awesome teacher. He definitely made the class better and he was very fun and even had silly demos where he pretended to be a molecule laying on the table and showed how a molecule could be held in place by adding certain things in the solution. Even though this was for majors, he kept the majority of the material the same. I felt only at a disadvantage because we didn't stress pKa and naming all that much like the other classes. Our tests were very similar to past tests that he posted on ELMS for us to do for practice. Not many surprises. We had a flat ~15% curve and lab was a large portion of our grade. That actually helped me since I did poorly in lecture.
Jeffery Davis CHEM237 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2015	Dr. Davis was a really interesting lecturer and his exams were extremely fair. Textbook problems and practice exams are helpful.
Lyle Isaacs CHEM237 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/08/2015	Dr. Isaacs was not a good Orgo I professor. He even told the class that he hasn't taught the course in over ~10 years (at least he warned us...). Reading the textbook is basically required for his class. If you did not read the chapters before hand, you will probably find his lectures to be very confusing. After the second midterm, literally only half the class came to lecture because we all thought that the textbook was a better way to learn. However, the reason why I gave him 2 stars and not 1 is because when we got to spectroscopy and other Orgo II units, he became a better professor... as in like, he was able to clarify concepts more clearly. Unfortunately, spectroscopy was like... the last 2 weeks of the semester, so we basically had a "decent" professor for only 2 weeks. Like the comments below, Isaacs is pretty boring and he does not have set office hours, which makes his class even harder. It is also basically required for students to read the textbook and do chapter problems in order to do well in his class. Anyways, if he is teaching orgo II, I think you will be safe taking him. But if he is teacing orgo I, I'd recommend enrolling in a different professor's section. Oh yeah, another thing that kind of pissed me off was that Isaacs changed the curve on us. After taking our final, he told us that he had to give us a smaller curve because he said "too many people would have gotten A's" with his original curve.
Philip DeShong CHEM237 Anonymous 06/19/2011	He is a GREAT lecturer and very approachable. He welcomes questions and really wants you to participate in lecture. He also has weekly review sessions where you can ask questions and do practice problems. However, he does push you hard! He expects a lot out of his students. His tests were very, very hard. I think our test average was in the fifties or sixties. He also doesn't drop any hints about his exams. The questions are really unpredictable.
Jeffery Davis CHEM237 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2010	He was a great guy! I have really enjoyed his class. Orgo is really easy, if you attend all of the lectures, and do the practice problems, and tests that he gives you. If you have any question, he is really approachable, and explains really well. I really recommend him if you want to enjoy Orgo.
Jeffery Davis CHEM237 Expecting an A sillyputty184 04/19/2010	Best professor ever. Great guy in general and very approachable. Animated, loves what he does and actually cares. Supplies you with sample exams and study problems (not collected but a load of help)Will take one question from the most previous exam and put it on the next exam. Usually the question everyone gets wrong on, say, exam one will appear on exam two. Fair guy. Had a great time; and it was orgo!