Reviews for CHEM481

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Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/23/2024	Hands down the smartest person I’ve ever met. Can put together a lecture out of thin air (I’ve never seen him use lecture notes ever), and knows the in’s and out’s of thermodynamics. Im convinced I could name him a random page out of any physics textbook and he’d be able to tell me what was on it. Not only is he a genius, but he also explains concepts down to the 5th grade level. 10/10 need to take a class with him at least once in your lifetime.
Elizabeth Griffith CHEM481 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/10/2023	I would totally recommend taking Dr. Griffith. She recorded and posted every single lecture, which was great since chem481 is a 9am MWF class. She was also very transparent about the types of questions that would be on exams and would recommend practice problems that were very similar to what was going to be on the exam. The homework was a bit on the challenging side, but I think it was outweighed by how fair the exams were. Her lectures were very well organized and her pacing is pretty good, sometimes a bit on a the slow side though. I learned a lot from her and I would totally take a class with her again given the opportunity.
Elizabeth Griffith CHEM481 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/07/2023	Very fair assignments and exams. She is a good lecturer and also uploads lectures which is great since the lectures are always at 9 am. she is also very helpful if you have any questions or with exam help so def take her
Elizabeth Griffith CHEM481 Anonymous 03/03/2023	I do not recommend
Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/18/2023	The dreaded thermodynamics course... This material in this class is a devastating challenge. Prof. Jarzynski's lectures made it worth it though. He is such a clear and eloquent speaker that it was easy to follow all of the material during class. After lecture, he would post his own handwritten notes from the day on ELMS so you could always go back and check. He also made his own Slack for the class and used it for announcements, helping with homework questions, and exam practice. There were about ten homeworks for the class and they would be five-ish problems from the textbook and maybe one that he made up. He would go over the problem that he made up in class to stem any confusion. There were only two exams before the final and they were very challenging (the averages for both exams didnt break 60%) but you were allowed a cheat sheet, front and back, that you could write anything on. He allowed two cheat sheets for the final exam. The class had a FAT curve at the end. He said a a few points during the semester that he rarely gives out D's/F's and he was right as you only needed above a 30% to pass the class by the end. I hope anyone who reads this is lucky enough to take Prof. Jarzynski as their p chem professor as it looks like he rarely teaches (he said the last class he taught was in 2017). He's the man!
Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Expecting an A florm 12/24/2022	P chem is an incredibly difficult class no matter who you take it with, but I think Jarzynski did a good job making it as approachable as possible. There were definitely a lot of lectures where he rattled off a ton of different variables and formulas, but such is the nature of p chem so that's not really his fault. He writes everything out on the chalkboard and is usually easy to follow. After class, he'll post his own handwritten lecture notes that he uses, too. He assigned one homework per week of mostly textbook problems and an occasional problem of his own, which weren't too bad for the most part. The exams, however, were both long and hard. The first exam was kind of a shock in terms of the difficulty and length, but you get a bit more accustomed to it by the next exam. He also lets you write whatever you want on a cheat sheet and doesn't make you turn it in. He curved such that the cutoffs wound up being 90 for an A+, 82 for an A, 80 for A-, 77 for B+, 58 for B... Obviously these aren't gonna be the same in the future, but it at least shows that the curve is pretty generous; I think the top 25% get A's, and the next 55% get B's. In short, highly recommend taking Jarzynski if you can, he's one of the smartest people I've ever met. The man has an equation named after him for Christ's sake.
Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/24/2022	Very tough class..but he’s a great professor and is extremely passionate. This class was at 9:00 three days a week and was not recorded. The only grades were weekly homework problems , two midterms, and the final. The exams were fair but were also quite long. You were allowed a formula sheet for every exam. You need to spend A LOT of time outside of class to do well (luck also plays a part). I highly recommend using the textbook and looking back at his notes. As for curves for the semester, 82 was an A, 80 was an A-, 77 was a B+, 58 was a B, 50 was a B-, 45 was a C+, and 40 was a C
Pratyush Tiwary CHEM481 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/17/2021	Seriously smart professor. Would definitely recommend him for physical chemistry. CHEM481 is a difficult course, but Dr. Tiwary cares about the success of each student, and is receptive to any concerns or issues students may have. His manner of teaching is quite eccentric, but definitely in a positive way. Just be ready for pleasant surprises and unconventional class rewards, some of which I have not experienced in any other class. I think it makes the whole experience much more interesting. Dr. Tiwary's exams are fair, and are structured around the derivations done in class and the homework problems. It should be noted however that the homework problems are usually significantly harder. Rather than focusing on the mathematical derivations, the homework is heavier on theory and application. There were no practice exams given in preparation for his midterms or finals, but in all honesty, the homework problems and his in depth notes were sufficient for performing well on his midterms. Participation counts for a percentage of your grade in his class, so be prepared to answer and ask questions.
Pratyush Tiwary CHEM481 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/03/2021	Wonderful professor. He goes through the notes fast but will make anything clearer if you ask. He wants everyone to do well. As long as you follow his notes you'll do well.
Millard Alexander CHEM481 Anonymous 01/29/2016	wow, absolutely fuck millard alexander. to start: his lecturing skills were abysmal. he was unable to explain anything without making a gross number of mistakes. his concepts are incredibly difficult to grasp the way he presents them. they're convoluted and without direction so you can be sitting there and wondering 'what the fuck is the point of this' many times. his personality is also terrible. he's rude, makes snide comments to people who have some more obvious questions and if you walk into office hours like i did, it always seemed as if he was on the path to discovering the cure to cancer, and you just interrupted him. very rude and not very helpful in anyway. the textbook used in his class was near impossible for me to understand. do not be surprised when the exams average out in the 40's. 0/10 would not recommend
Millard Alexander CHEM481 Expecting an A ajchild 12/26/2015	This is one of the hardest classes you'll take as an undergrad, but you can survive, I promise! Dr. Alexander is a brilliant man; anyone who can get a Ph.D. in physical chemistry has to be. He wasn't the best lecturer, in terms of explaining topics conceptually or explaining how a lecture connected to previous lectures. He pretty much expected us to do that on our own; see below. But with diligence, you can get an A in his class! My tips for success in CHEM 481 with Dr. Alexander: 1) Always go to class, be punctual, and sit near the front This will accomplish several things: - You'll be aware of the material he's covering. Dr. Alexander didn't always stick to the book and often included supplemental topics in lecture. The homeworks reflect the lecture material, and the exams reflect the homeworks. - Dr. Alexander will recognize you, and therefore like you. He had no respect for people who regularly skipped class, and he said he thought they deserved to fail the class, even if they got passing grades. Don't be someone he doesn't like. On the other hand, if he knows you and knows you put effort into the class, he'll really really like you and care about what you have to say. That just might help if you're submitting an exam regrade or if you're on the border between two grades. 2) Read the textbook Like I said above, Dr. Alexander focused less on teaching concepts in lecture and more on showing us the difficult derivations and problems we would be responsible for. He expected us to fill in the easier, connecting-the-dots conceptual understanding on our own. So READ THE TEXTBOOK. Take notes. The McQuarrie textbook is incredibly reader-friendly and a life-saver. 3) Get as close to 100% as possible on the homeworks Dr. Alexander gave roughly one homework per week (excluding exam weeks) and each was worth 25 points, or a quarter of an exam. That's a lot of points. Don't lose many of them. His homeworks were partially assigned problems from the book and partially supplemental problems he wrote on his own. - For the textbook problems: you can reference the solutions manual to the textbook, but make sure you actually do the work out correctly. There were frequently small errors in the solutions manual, and the TA took off points heavily for a mistake that was clearly just copied from the solutions. - For the supplemental problems: ALWAYS do these early. My self-imposed deadline was to have the homework done by the class before the class that it was due; that way if I had trouble with a certain part, as I usually did, then I could go to Dr. Alexander's office hours after class and ask him. The ten minutes for him to explain whatever had confused me was well, well worth the hour I would have otherwise spent agonizing over a difficult problem. There was one week I didn't get around to the homework until the night before it was due because I'd had other exams that week, and it was awful. Spare yourself the pain. (Bonus: regularly seeking his help on homework will not only improve your homework grade, it will also help ensure Dr. Alexander knows and likes you. See above.) 4) Studying for exams - First, review all lecture and textbook notes until you understand what was going on in retrospect. (You may not have understood what was going on in a lecture if you hadn't read the corresponding textbook sections yet.) - Second, redo ALL the homeworks since the last exam. Each of our exams usually had a problem identical to a homework problem, and given that he posts solutions to homeworks, that means that's just easy points. Also, since this class is all about the curve, don't risk putting yourself behind the rest of the class just because they reviewed the homeworks and you didn't. - Finally, review your calc 2!! It may have been a while, so make sure you're really comfortable and speedy with differentiation, integration, partial derivatives, and power series/geometric series/Taylor series. The exams were very math-heavy, and you're more likely to miss points from a math error than a chemistry error. In the words of Monica Geller: "Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You're gonna love it." Dr. Alexander will make you work, but you won't ever have been as proud of an A as the A you get in his class!
Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Expecting an A infection530 07/06/2011	Jarzynski was a great professor. Tough class though.
Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Expecting an A mreese 04/28/2011	Fantastic teacher. Lectures are interesting, well-paced, and very thorough. Dr. Jarzynski chooses to go through derivations students can already understand (only calc 2 + partial derivatives required) and continually asks questions to make sure anyone who is paying attention can keep up. He takes even the dumbest questions seriously and is always friendly and respectful. Dr. Jarzynski will make the class seem very easy, but do not be misled. This is thermodynamics after all. For me, homework and weekly studying was very time consuming (minimum 10 hours/week). Tests are difficult to do well on, potentially soul-crushing if you're not fully prepared. Despite this, pchem with Dr. Jarzynski is one of the most enjoyable classes I've taken.
Christopher Jarzynski CHEM481 Anonymous 03/02/2011	I am currently taking Chem481 with Dr. Jarzynski and he is a wonderful teacher - he goes through problems in class and explains them so they are relatively easy to understand. He's also very understanding and easy to talk to. I would highly recommend taking Chem481 with him - he knows P-Chem and he knows how to teach it.
Millard Alexander CHEM481 Expecting a B+ hyeung1 03/08/2010	Dr Alexander would most of the time show a youtube video, an online model or some other things on the internet for at least fifteen minutes. He makes a lot of mistakes with his notes during class. He would derive equations on the board with minimal explanation. He doesn't go over or explain how to do homework problems so basically if you can't go to the problem solving session then you are really screwed. His exams are crazy. sometimes it will ask you to solve problems similar to the ones in the homework. sometimes it will ask you to derive equations. He did that thing where you would either get full credit, half credit, or no credit on a problem. The grading of the exams is ambiguous. Two people can have the same answers with different amount of points awarded. He lets you have a formula sheet, so that's good. write everything down. I did not learn anything from the course and it was a waste of my time. If you had to take a course with him, DON'T. Just take it over the summer.
Millard Alexander CHEM481 Anonymous 01/26/2010	Dr. Alexander is not good at communicating the content of the course in an organized and coherent manner. Frequently he would start a problem on the board and then not finish it, and it was difficult to follow him. He would go off on tangents, or not spend the class time in a useful manner. Also, the tests weren't consistent so it was hard to know how to study for them.
Millard Alexander CHEM481 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/24/2009	Dr. Alexander is a really nice guy, but he isn't that great in teaching. I mean you can follow him in class, but most of the stuff he goes through in class won't show up on exams. The bulk of what shows up is homework problems. But still, it is unpredictable what he will put on the exam. The TA was awesome and held problem solving sessions that were very helpful. The curve was small, even when the average on each test was ~65%. Don't mess up early, cause it will be hard to catch up.
Millard Alexander CHEM481 Anonymous 12/22/2009	He constantly lectures off topic. He does base questions on his exams after homework problems....sometimes. If he says something in class about what's going to be on the exam, don't take it heart. He told us that there were going to be more questions from material covered recently than material covered earlier on the exam....then when the exam showed up, most of the material was from stuff covered earlier. His exam formats are very unpredictable. Every exam felt like it was written by a different professor and not just one professor.