CHEM242 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Sonia Hirschauer CHEM242 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2024	Hirschauer is one of the best professors in the Chemistry department, hands down. She is very kind to her students and is always willing to answer questions. She is also the only lab coordinator I have had that I have met. I highly recommend going to the TA office hours. My only complaints were that the LCTAs (quizzes) and the practical were harder than expected.
Sonia Hirschauer CHEM242 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/06/2024	This was Dr. Hirschauer’s first semester as Orgo 2 lab coordinator and she exceeded my expectations. She’s hands-down the best lab coordinator I’ve had so far and the first who actually showed that they cared. Also, she responds to emails SUPER quickly and considerately. She came into my lab section a few times early in the semester to troubleshoot the faulty IR machine but was always willing to talk to students while there. The course itself is still a decent amount of work, and I could have certainly put in more effort, but her weekly resources were super helpful for the assignments. I also had a solid, chill TA who made the experience better in general.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/07/2024	Chem242 is, in my opinion, harder that Chem241, but not too too much worse. Definitely go to office hours though (with the nicest + most helpful TA you can find, not necessarily your TA). Some of those post-lab questions can kick your butt without help. My TA was lowkey incompetent (it seemed like he never read our lab manual, and he thought pH paper worked on dry powder) (it doesn’t) but it was fine anyways. I only met the actual professor one time because I went to his office hours but he was really nice. However, since you don’t have a choice in your prof or your TA, this review is mostly just to inform you that if you survived Orgo 1 lab, you should be fairly ok, and to say one more time GO TO TA OFFICE HOURS!!
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/15/2023	I found this lab to be pretty easy to follow in terms of doing the experiments. He has a bunch of helpful videos. Succeeding in this class is not difficult as the post-labs are completely reasonable. My only complaint is that studying for the practical was a bit difficult because there was a lack of communication about what material was going to be on the test. Additionally, he was completely unwilling to give any late credit on the quizzes so don't miss out on one them.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	Friedman is incredibly rude and aggressive. He is not understanding at all and extremely critical. Do not take this professor if you can manage it.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting a C+ ReakatheGOAT 05/15/2023	My time in Friedman’s class was the epitome of having a professor who does the bare minimum. Dr. Friedman was never around to help students, never visited lab sections and certainly was out of touch with his students. Averages on his finals and midterms were around a D. Prior to the final I had an A- in 242 and that dropped to a C+. Beyond that, the work given was unreasonable for a one credit course. I spent at least 12 hours working on experiment 0 to get a 60% on the assignment. Take 242 at community college if you must but DO NOT take it with Friedman.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/08/2023	Success in this lab depends on your TA. They're horrible at grading. He dropped the midterm and final for this class and it was significantly easier than how bad it would have been with them. Labs were clearly organized and were pretty long but it's 3 hours a week so it wasn't that bad. Most of the orgo labs are really bad but this wasn't as hard as I expected. The post lab questions could be tough, though.
Colton Houldsworth CHEM242 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/27/2023	Colton is very chill and helpful
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Anonymous 12/20/2022	This 1 credit course may have taken up more of my time than lecture did. Labs always take ~2-3 hours (except for like the 2nd week of Grignard which takes about an hour) and lab reports took me about ~3 hours to complete (going to TA office hours, figuring out the answers, then writing them down). Then, I would probably spend another hour completing pre-lab stuff (watching videos, reading, pre-lab writeup, and pre-lab quiz). The midterm and final have obscure questions and the past exams he provides are not very helpful since there are always new types of questions that show up on the real one. However, that is the case with every lower-level CHEM lab. The practical was pretty fair except for the hard spec question. He loves putting spec everywhere including post-labs so knowing how to work with IR, NMR (HEAVY on NMR), and mass (not as prominent, but still shows up) is crucial if you want to do well in this class. I honestly enjoyed the experiments in 242 more than 232 and Friedman is VERY organized. He responds quickly to emails and has a very nice ELMS layout so it's really easy to find everything you need. The lab manual is also really well written. He also curves at the end of semester which really helped everyone's grades. Friedman definitely knows what he's doing which is why I'm giving him 3 stars, but this was one of the hardest classes I have ever gone through. Basically, I would never want to go through this class ever again. However, Friedman is a pretty decent lab coordinator. Good luck and always go to office hours!
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Anonymous 12/16/2022	The lab reports are not hard to do but the exams in this class are ridiculous. Insanely tough spec questions, and a lot of free response on midterm and final that are all or nothing. I wish there was an option to take another professor, but he's the one lab coordinator
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/09/2022	Didn't really interact with Friedman but the mid-term and final are balls hard but that's a constant no matter who the prof is. TA Victoria Hayes was goated. Practical was pretty easy. PLQ's are borderline impossible but idk if that even changes with the professor. Go to TA office hours for sure.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/21/2021	go to office hours to help you complete the PLQs, carefully read the prelab to take the prelab quizzes. Also, there are a lot of components to the lab, observations, procedure, PLQs, and calulations. SO MAKE SURE YOU HAND EVERYTHING IN BEFORE THE LAB, you don't want to miss out on any points. The midterms are impossible, redo the practice ones, but they're so hard. The practical is not terrible, bt understand how to set up important procedures. Good luck! it will be fine!
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A florm 12/18/2021	There are some good things that Friedman does in 242 that prevent me from giving him one star, so I'll start with that. The lab manual is very clear and easy to follow. He posts videos of him doing each of the labs, which are very useful and often have small tips to help you do better that aren't in the lab manual. There are online prelab quizzes each week with 3 easy questions about the protocol or the basic premise of the lab. Grading on the lab reports was lenient, just don't forget to attach your calculations. Unfortunately, though, there are a lot of bad things about 242. First, the post lab questions are very difficult to figure out, and often make you come up with some complicated mechanism that seems to have no relation to the experiment itself. Secondly, the first assignment consists of four monstrously challenging spectroscopy problems, with highly complex structures and abnormal splitting and chemical shift patterns. Friedman knows that all his spectroscopy problems are hard, he intentionally makes them that way for no apparent reason. My orgo 1 professor spent almost no time on spectroscopy, so a lot of students are already at a severe disadvantage right when the course starts. Next, the midterm. Oh, how woefully unprepared we all were. Yes, he gives us a couple practice exams, but are they really that helpful? No. The midterm is taken in the lab, before the experiment with nylon/bakelite, and has 15 questions, 5 points apiece, with virtually no room for partial credit. Most are multiple choice, but a couple will have you draw a molecule or do a calculation. Now when I say multiple choice, don't assume that there will be only 4 or 5 options. Some questions will have up to 10 different choices, with some answers being combinations of previous choices, meaning no process of elimination. There will always be some questions on spectroscopy (IR, NMR, and mass), some on mechanisms, some on stoichiometry (generally the only easy ones), some on lab protocol, and some on general chemistry theory. You also have to memorize several pKa values, which was particularly frustrating. The questions on theory are almost comically difficult, requiring a level of intuition that no second-year student could possibly possess. The sheer variety in the questions he could ask render any amount of practice exams useless, because there is no way Friedman would ask the same or even a similar question from a practice exam. The average on the midterm was a 40.5%. The lab practical is very different; it tests your general lab skills, like setting up glassware or taking measurements, which isn't too bad. But of course, Friedman has to put a spectroscopy problem on it that yes, is very difficult. Not everyone gets the same problem, though, with some being notably harder than others. The average here was slightly higher, at 70.8%. Lastly, the final exam. The format and types of questions asked are identical to that of the midterm, but are about the latter half of the labs. The final is not taken in the lab, but rather in a filled lecture hall. Again, there are practice exams but Friedman will put some very weird theoretical questions that you simply cannot prepare for without being clairvoyant. The final was marginally easier than the midterm, but that was likely just due to random chance. The average on the final was a 47.3%. Friedman is basically the only professor for orgo 2 lab, so good luck.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A- blue_footed_booby 05/15/2021	His labs and post labs are very doable if you go to his office hours or just keep in touch with your TA. This course lines up well with the lecture which allowed me to further apply what we learned. He also responds VERY quickly to emails and has a very witty and sarcastic humor which not everyone might enjoy, but keeps things interesting. If you put in the time and are interested in chemistry, you can learn a lot from him.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Anonymous 12/25/2020	I think Friedman is a dedicated professor who teaches a difficult class. CHEM242 online was highly organized, and assignments and grades were posted promptly. He was very helpful in office hours and responds promptly to emails. But his exams hardly test you on the experiments, instead they test whether you've been paying attention in CHEM241/231/131 lecture. Yes, he tests some material from prior classes. In other words they're not really reflective of what you're supposed to learn in CHEM242. Although he curves to compensate for his exams, they're just hard to study for. Good luck.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/02/2020	I took this class online, and let me just say he acts like a child. He is so unprofessional, and when students would email him with valid concerns, his responses would be snarky and demeaning. His exam was completely unrelated to the class material, and frankly, if he took it himself, I don't think he would have passed. It seems that he wants to see everybody fail, and in a time where our world is quite literally falling apart, he seems to think his class is the only thing that matters. Buckle down for a semester of immaturity and irrationality if you take this class.
Daniel Jovineli CHEM242 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/26/2020	Dan’s a great lab TA. He tries to be helpful and funny and he explains stuff well but he can be really condescending and rude. But I’m giving him 5 stars since I did good and I think it’s because of him.
Lee Friedman CHEM242 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/11/2018	The first time I met this man was asking for help understanding NMR for CHEM242, as my Organic Chem I class did not cover it (I transferred the credit). I brought the assignment with me (I received a 20/40) to go over the things I did not understand by frantic Google searching. He quickly became frustrated with all of my questions, because I did not understand any of the terminology he was using. He started being very short with me as he was re-explaining things, until he started ignoring my questions all together for another student who walked in with the same assignment. I ended up crying in his office and he told me to hope for a curve. The other student actually hugged me in the hallway. That was my first semester at UMD and it caused a lot of anxiety just going to lab after that incident. His office is full of memes, but he has very little bedside manner or empathy.
Lyle Isaacs CHEM242 Anonymous 12/09/2008	He is kind of boring in lecture. The exams are not too bad if you know what you are doing. He is away a lot so do not expect his help outside of class.

Sonia Hirschauer
CHEM242

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/12/2024

Hirschauer is one of the best professors in the Chemistry department, hands down. She is very kind to her students and is always willing to answer questions. She is also the only lab coordinator I have had that I have met. I highly recommend going to the TA office hours. My only complaints were that the LCTAs (quizzes) and the practical were harder than expected.

Sonia Hirschauer
CHEM242

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/06/2024

This was Dr. Hirschauer’s first semester as Orgo 2 lab coordinator and she exceeded my expectations. She’s hands-down the best lab coordinator I’ve had so far and the first who actually showed that they cared. Also, she responds to emails SUPER quickly and considerately. She came into my lab section a few times early in the semester to troubleshoot the faulty IR machine but was always willing to talk to students while there. The course itself is still a decent amount of work, and I could have certainly put in more effort, but her weekly resources were super helpful for the assignments. I also had a solid, chill TA who made the experience better in general.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/07/2024

Chem242 is, in my opinion, harder that Chem241, but not too too much worse. *Definitely* go to office hours though (with the nicest + most helpful TA you can find, not necessarily your TA). Some of those post-lab questions can kick your butt without help. My TA was lowkey incompetent (it seemed like he never read our lab manual, and he thought pH paper worked on dry powder) (it doesn’t) but it was fine anyways. I only met the actual professor one time because I went to his office hours but he was really nice. However, since you don’t have a choice in your prof or your TA, this review is mostly just to inform you that if you survived Orgo 1 lab, you should be fairly ok, and to say one more time GO TO TA OFFICE HOURS!!

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/15/2023

I found this lab to be pretty easy to follow in terms of doing the experiments. He has a bunch of helpful videos. Succeeding in this class is not difficult as the post-labs are completely reasonable. My only complaint is that studying for the practical was a bit difficult because there was a lack of communication about what material was going to be on the test. Additionally, he was completely unwilling to give any late credit on the quizzes so don't miss out on one them.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Friedman is incredibly rude and aggressive. He is not understanding at all and extremely critical. Do not take this professor if you can manage it.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting a C+
ReakatheGOAT
05/15/2023

My time in Friedman’s class was the epitome of having a professor who does the bare minimum. Dr. Friedman was never around to help students, never visited lab sections and certainly was out of touch with his students. Averages on his finals and midterms were around a D. Prior to the final I had an A- in 242 and that dropped to a C+. Beyond that, the work given was unreasonable for a one credit course. I spent at least 12 hours working on experiment 0 to get a 60% on the assignment. Take 242 at community college if you must but DO NOT take it with Friedman.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/08/2023

Success in this lab depends on your TA. They're horrible at grading. He dropped the midterm and final for this class and it was significantly easier than how bad it would have been with them. Labs were clearly organized and were pretty long but it's 3 hours a week so it wasn't that bad. Most of the orgo labs are really bad but this wasn't as hard as I expected. The post lab questions could be tough, though.

Colton Houldsworth
CHEM242

Expecting a B
Anonymous
02/27/2023

Colton is very chill and helpful

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Anonymous
12/20/2022

This 1 credit course may have taken up more of my time than lecture did. Labs always take ~2-3 hours (except for like the 2nd week of Grignard which takes about an hour) and lab reports took me about ~3 hours to complete (going to TA office hours, figuring out the answers, then writing them down). Then, I would probably spend another hour completing pre-lab stuff (watching videos, reading, pre-lab writeup, and pre-lab quiz). The midterm and final have obscure questions and the past exams he provides are not very helpful since there are always new types of questions that show up on the real one. However, that is the case with every lower-level CHEM lab. The practical was pretty fair except for the hard spec question. He loves putting spec everywhere including post-labs so knowing how to work with IR, NMR (HEAVY on NMR), and mass (not as prominent, but still shows up) is crucial if you want to do well in this class. I honestly enjoyed the experiments in 242 more than 232 and Friedman is VERY organized. He responds quickly to emails and has a very nice ELMS layout so it's really easy to find everything you need. The lab manual is also really well written. He also curves at the end of semester which really helped everyone's grades. Friedman definitely knows what he's doing which is why I'm giving him 3 stars, but this was one of the hardest classes I have ever gone through. Basically, I would never want to go through this class ever again. However, Friedman is a pretty decent lab coordinator. Good luck and always go to office hours!

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Anonymous
12/16/2022

The lab reports are not hard to do but the exams in this class are ridiculous. Insanely tough spec questions, and a lot of free response on midterm and final that are all or nothing. I wish there was an option to take another professor, but he's the one lab coordinator

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/09/2022

Didn't really interact with Friedman but the mid-term and final are balls hard but that's a constant no matter who the prof is. TA Victoria Hayes was goated. Practical was pretty easy. PLQ's are borderline impossible but idk if that even changes with the professor. Go to TA office hours for sure.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/21/2021

go to office hours to help you complete the PLQs, carefully read the prelab to take the prelab quizzes. Also, there are a lot of components to the lab, observations, procedure, PLQs, and calulations. SO MAKE SURE YOU HAND EVERYTHING IN BEFORE THE LAB, you don't want to miss out on any points. The midterms are impossible, redo the practice ones, but they're so hard. The practical is not terrible, bt understand how to set up important procedures. Good luck! it will be fine!

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A
florm
12/18/2021

There are some good things that Friedman does in 242 that prevent me from giving him one star, so I'll start with that. The lab manual is very clear and easy to follow. He posts videos of him doing each of the labs, which are very useful and often have small tips to help you do better that aren't in the lab manual. There are online prelab quizzes each week with 3 easy questions about the protocol or the basic premise of the lab. Grading on the lab reports was lenient, just don't forget to attach your calculations. Unfortunately, though, there are a lot of bad things about 242. First, the post lab questions are very difficult to figure out, and often make you come up with some complicated mechanism that seems to have no relation to the experiment itself. Secondly, the first assignment consists of four monstrously challenging spectroscopy problems, with highly complex structures and abnormal splitting and chemical shift patterns. Friedman knows that all his spectroscopy problems are hard, he intentionally makes them that way for no apparent reason. My orgo 1 professor spent almost no time on spectroscopy, so a lot of students are already at a severe disadvantage right when the course starts. Next, the midterm. Oh, how woefully unprepared we all were. Yes, he gives us a couple practice exams, but are they really that helpful? No. The midterm is taken in the lab, before the experiment with nylon/bakelite, and has 15 questions, 5 points apiece, with virtually no room for partial credit. Most are multiple choice, but a couple will have you draw a molecule or do a calculation. Now when I say multiple choice, don't assume that there will be only 4 or 5 options. Some questions will have up to 10 different choices, with some answers being combinations of previous choices, meaning no process of elimination. There will always be some questions on spectroscopy (IR, NMR, and mass), some on mechanisms, some on stoichiometry (generally the only easy ones), some on lab protocol, and some on general chemistry theory. You also have to memorize several pKa values, which was particularly frustrating. The questions on theory are almost comically difficult, requiring a level of intuition that no second-year student could possibly possess. The sheer variety in the questions he could ask render any amount of practice exams useless, because there is no way Friedman would ask the same or even a similar question from a practice exam. The average on the midterm was a 40.5%. The lab practical is very different; it tests your general lab skills, like setting up glassware or taking measurements, which isn't too bad. But of course, Friedman has to put a spectroscopy problem on it that yes, is very difficult. Not everyone gets the same problem, though, with some being notably harder than others. The average here was slightly higher, at 70.8%. Lastly, the final exam. The format and types of questions asked are identical to that of the midterm, but are about the latter half of the labs. The final is not taken in the lab, but rather in a filled lecture hall. Again, there are practice exams but Friedman will put some very weird theoretical questions that you simply cannot prepare for without being clairvoyant. The final was marginally easier than the midterm, but that was likely just due to random chance. The average on the final was a 47.3%. Friedman is basically the only professor for orgo 2 lab, so good luck.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A-
blue_footed_booby
05/15/2021

His labs and post labs are very doable if you go to his office hours or just keep in touch with your TA. This course lines up well with the lecture which allowed me to further apply what we learned. He also responds VERY quickly to emails and has a very witty and sarcastic humor which not everyone might enjoy, but keeps things interesting. If you put in the time and are interested in chemistry, you can learn a lot from him.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Anonymous
12/25/2020

I think Friedman is a dedicated professor who teaches a difficult class. CHEM242 online was highly organized, and assignments and grades were posted promptly. He was very helpful in office hours and responds promptly to emails. But his exams hardly test you on the experiments, instead they test whether you've been paying attention in CHEM241/231/131 lecture. Yes, he tests some material from prior classes. In other words they're not really reflective of what you're supposed to learn in CHEM242. Although he curves to compensate for his exams, they're just hard to study for. Good luck.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/02/2020

I took this class online, and let me just say he acts like a child. He is so unprofessional, and when students would email him with valid concerns, his responses would be snarky and demeaning. His exam was completely unrelated to the class material, and frankly, if he took it himself, I don't think he would have passed. It seems that he wants to see everybody fail, and in a time where our world is quite literally falling apart, he seems to think his class is the only thing that matters. Buckle down for a semester of immaturity and irrationality if you take this class.

Daniel Jovineli
CHEM242

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/26/2020

Dan’s a great lab TA. He tries to be helpful and funny and he explains stuff well but he can be really condescending and rude. But I’m giving him 5 stars since I did good and I think it’s because of him.

Lee Friedman
CHEM242

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/11/2018

The first time I met this man was asking for help understanding NMR for CHEM242, as my Organic Chem I class did not cover it (I transferred the credit). I brought the assignment with me (I received a 20/40) to go over the things I did not understand by frantic Google searching. He quickly became frustrated with all of my questions, because I did not understand any of the terminology he was using. He started being very short with me as he was re-explaining things, until he started ignoring my questions all together for another student who walked in with the same assignment. I ended up crying in his office and he told me to hope for a curve. The other student actually hugged me in the hallway. That was my first semester at UMD and it caused a lot of anxiety just going to lab after that incident. His office is full of memes, but he has very little bedside manner or empathy.

Lyle Isaacs
CHEM242

Anonymous
12/09/2008

He is kind of boring in lecture. The exams are not too bad if you know what you are doing. He is away a lot so do not expect his help outside of class.

Reviews for CHEM242