Millard Alexander | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
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!
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.

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!

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.