Shane Collins | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/30/2025	Goes over content in a digestible manner. The course is fast but that's not Collins' fault. As long as you skim/read the textbook before the lecture, or even after it, you should not have a hard time with the class. I don't blame him for not responding to emails/being a little slow fall 2024, as he was the lecturer AND the only TA for an entire lecture hall. He grades fair and is nice/personable overall. The discussions were not canceled with no warning btw, the discussion dates were in the syllabus or something and there wasn't discussion scheduled for every week, he might have canceled like once tho, I don't remember. Helpful in discussions and when you ask him questions in person. As long as you do the practice exams and textbook problems, you will be fine.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/22/2025	Shane is a very knowledgeable teacher, but beyond that, I didn't love him. Pros: - Allows a notecard on exams - Very helpful in discussion if you are willing to ask questions - Homework grades and extra credit for knowledge checks can be a dramatic grade boost, and there was a small curve at the end of the semester Cons: - He is teaching essentially Professor Griffith's class so he is essentially reading slides during the lectures and didn't always seem to know what was coming - On top of that, he gave out past exams that Griffith gave, but would add some content and take some away so you never really can know what test questions are gonna look like - Nearly impossible to contact him and have him respond (In a timely manner at least)
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/21/2025	Collins is a really nice guy. Most of the lectures were just him reading off the slides but occasionally there would be a comment from him that was pretty helpful. The best part about his class was that the tests were pretty much exactly like the practice tests that he provided. As long as you can do those practice tests you will get a good grade on your tests. Also, the homework was not that hard and was spaced out nicely so you're not stressed. The only slightly annoying thing was if you had a question or something happened, he would either email you really late or literally just wait till other people had the same issue and make an announcement on canvas. Other than that, no complaints.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/21/2025	I took him in Fall 24 and he was pretty solid overall. The content of the class itself is mostly AP Chem combined with some engineering scenarios, so having taken AP Chem, the class was not that difficult. The class was graded on 3 exams (~16% each), 1 final exams (~32%), and homework (~20%). In-class he would mostly go over slides and weave in a couple example problems, which I found helpful. He often went through slides pretty quickly though, which could just be a first-year thing or due to the sheer amount of content in the class. Discussions would just be worksheets that we would do then go over, and sometimes exam review. He mostly uses Griffith's resources to teach (slides, textbook, exams etc.) so despite the class covering a lot of difficult curriculum, there are moments of leniency. For example, on each exam, we were allowed to bring a notecard and at the end of the semester, there was a period to redo every homework. He posted most of the resources he used on time, but I wish there could've been more practice exams, especially for the final, where there were no practice exams with the new content. He could be sometimes late on emails, but very approachable in class. Overall, he a great teacher who wants you to do well, but teaches a modestly difficult course.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/21/2024	Was a decent lecturer but his discussions are really good. His exams are not that difficult but it is necessary to read the textbook and take notes. The final was a bit hard but there is around a 3% curve in the class.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2024	Overall he's pretty good. During lecture, he's receptive to questions and answers them thoroughly. During discussion, he's also helpful and although putting more effort into doing the activities in discussion means you'll get more out of it, I feel like just showing up to discussion would still help because he goes over things well and makes them make sense, or at the very least, it would highlight things that are good to know for the next exam. However he is unresponsive to emails, and I feel like he oftentimes just makes an announcement on canvas or at the start of class addressing things he gets asked by people a lot instead of responding to emails. Him being hard to reach was kind of annoying throughout the semester. Also he didn't give any study material specifically for the final exam, (like for example a practice final exam) but there was some for the other exams.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2024	Shane Collins is a pretty decent professor, which is good due to how much content there is in CHEM135. He goes over the content quite quickly but does explain things pretty well, which made going to lecture feel worth it. His discussion class is also pretty good, as he does over specific practice problems that we don't tend to go over in lecture. The grade is mostly made up of tests, so you will need to do good on those tests to get a good grade. His tests are fairly easy though as long as you understand everything he goes over, it's very rare that his tests will have a curveball. What I will say is it was rather hard to reach him, with him not responding to emails and having very poor timing for office hours. But in terms of being a lecturer he's a decent pick.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/17/2024	God awful. I can give him a break for reading the slides like its his first time seeing them because this was his first time teaching. But, his priorities are horrible. He canceled almost half of our discussions with no warning and when asked questions about tests or to elaborate on explanations, he failed miserably. On one of our exams I was marked wrong for stating that CH2S is a polar molecule. I brought this to his attention and he stated that I was wrong and when confronted WITH EVIDENCE he said and I quote "don't trust everything you see on the internet" and "I don't believe it is a polar molecule". That on top of his horrible teaching made my experience in this class hell. If you can avoid taking Collins do it. A teacher that cant realise when he is wrong and give me my one single point on a test should not be teaching. ALL OVER ONE POINT. This is pure speculation but I believe he missed a lot of discussions due to being hungover from going out on Thursday. He also didn't put more than half our grades in until the last day before the final. Also his office hours always conflicted with a freshman connection schedule or he just wouldn't show up to them. DO NOT TAKE HIM HE IS TERRIBLE.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/15/2024	Professor Collins tends to read off slides a lot, but his discussions are really useful and even though he does not do a lot of example problems, when he does he does it in a way to make the content easy to understand. Very fair grader and exams are not that difficult if you read the textbook and understand the content. If you have not taken AP chem before it might be hard at first but you will catch up to everyone else. He also allows you to bring a notecard for exams. One bad thing about professor collins is that he does not respond to emails.
Shane Collins Anonymous 12/13/2024	He’s okay overall, but he mostly just reads off the slides during lectures, which didn’t provide much value for me. Additionally, he’s not very responsive to emails. That said, he did his job adequately, so I don’t have major complaints."
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2024	I think he is a good professor for such a hard topic and crammed into such a small time, but he kind of reads off of the slides like he is seing them for the first time on the lectures, but his discussions is where he shines. He is very good in discussion and talks like he knows the content on the back of his hand.
Shane Collins CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024	Probably the best professor I've had so far. As long as you keep up with the content learned in lectures and the textbook, 135 is a pretty easy course. Collins is also really good at discussion. For an intro chem course, I would definitely recommend him.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/30/2025

Goes over content in a digestible manner. The course is fast but that's not Collins' fault. As long as you skim/read the textbook before the lecture, or even after it, you should not have a hard time with the class. I don't blame him for not responding to emails/being a little slow fall 2024, as he was the lecturer AND the only TA for an entire lecture hall. He grades fair and is nice/personable overall. The discussions were not canceled with no warning btw, the discussion dates were in the syllabus or something and there wasn't discussion scheduled for every week, he might have canceled like once tho, I don't remember. Helpful in discussions and when you ask him questions in person. As long as you do the practice exams and textbook problems, you will be fine.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting a C
Anonymous
01/22/2025

Shane is a very knowledgeable teacher, but beyond that, I didn't love him. Pros: - Allows a notecard on exams - Very helpful in discussion if you are willing to ask questions - Homework grades and extra credit for knowledge checks can be a dramatic grade boost, and there was a small curve at the end of the semester Cons: - He is teaching essentially Professor Griffith's class so he is essentially reading slides during the lectures and didn't always seem to know what was coming - On top of that, he gave out past exams that Griffith gave, but would add some content and take some away so you never really can know what test questions are gonna look like - Nearly impossible to contact him and have him respond (In a timely manner at least)

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/21/2025

Collins is a really nice guy. Most of the lectures were just him reading off the slides but occasionally there would be a comment from him that was pretty helpful. The best part about his class was that the tests were pretty much exactly like the practice tests that he provided. As long as you can do those practice tests you will get a good grade on your tests. Also, the homework was not that hard and was spaced out nicely so you're not stressed. The only slightly annoying thing was if you had a question or something happened, he would either email you really late or literally just wait till other people had the same issue and make an announcement on canvas. Other than that, no complaints.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/21/2025

I took him in Fall 24 and he was pretty solid overall. The content of the class itself is mostly AP Chem combined with some engineering scenarios, so having taken AP Chem, the class was not that difficult. The class was graded on 3 exams (~16% each), 1 final exams (~32%), and homework (~20%). In-class he would mostly go over slides and weave in a couple example problems, which I found helpful. He often went through slides pretty quickly though, which could just be a first-year thing or due to the sheer amount of content in the class. Discussions would just be worksheets that we would do then go over, and sometimes exam review. He mostly uses Griffith's resources to teach (slides, textbook, exams etc.) so despite the class covering a lot of difficult curriculum, there are moments of leniency. For example, on each exam, we were allowed to bring a notecard and at the end of the semester, there was a period to redo every homework. He posted most of the resources he used on time, but I wish there could've been more practice exams, especially for the final, where there were no practice exams with the new content. He could be sometimes late on emails, but very approachable in class. Overall, he a great teacher who wants you to do well, but teaches a modestly difficult course.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/21/2024

Was a decent lecturer but his discussions are really good. His exams are not that difficult but it is necessary to read the textbook and take notes. The final was a bit hard but there is around a 3% curve in the class.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2024

Overall he's pretty good. During lecture, he's receptive to questions and answers them thoroughly. During discussion, he's also helpful and although putting more effort into doing the activities in discussion means you'll get more out of it, I feel like just showing up to discussion would still help because he goes over things well and makes them make sense, or at the very least, it would highlight things that are good to know for the next exam. However he is unresponsive to emails, and I feel like he oftentimes just makes an announcement on canvas or at the start of class addressing things he gets asked by people a lot instead of responding to emails. Him being hard to reach was kind of annoying throughout the semester. Also he didn't give any study material specifically for the final exam, (like for example a practice final exam) but there was some for the other exams.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2024

Shane Collins is a pretty decent professor, which is good due to how much content there is in CHEM135. He goes over the content quite quickly but does explain things pretty well, which made going to lecture feel worth it. His discussion class is also pretty good, as he does over specific practice problems that we don't tend to go over in lecture. The grade is mostly made up of tests, so you will need to do good on those tests to get a good grade. His tests are fairly easy though as long as you understand everything he goes over, it's very rare that his tests will have a curveball. What I will say is it was rather hard to reach him, with him not responding to emails and having very poor timing for office hours. But in terms of being a lecturer he's a decent pick.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/17/2024

God awful. I can give him a break for reading the slides like its his first time seeing them because this was his first time teaching. But, his priorities are horrible. He canceled almost half of our discussions with no warning and when asked questions about tests or to elaborate on explanations, he failed miserably. On one of our exams I was marked wrong for stating that CH2S is a polar molecule. I brought this to his attention and he stated that I was wrong and when confronted WITH EVIDENCE he said and I quote "don't trust everything you see on the internet" and "I don't believe it is a polar molecule". That on top of his horrible teaching made my experience in this class hell. If you can avoid taking Collins do it. A teacher that cant realise when he is wrong and give me my one single point on a test should not be teaching. ALL OVER ONE POINT. This is pure speculation but I believe he missed a lot of discussions due to being hungover from going out on Thursday. He also didn't put more than half our grades in until the last day before the final. Also his office hours always conflicted with a freshman connection schedule or he just wouldn't show up to them. DO NOT TAKE HIM HE IS TERRIBLE.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/15/2024

Professor Collins tends to read off slides a lot, but his discussions are really useful and even though he does not do a lot of example problems, when he does he does it in a way to make the content easy to understand. Very fair grader and exams are not that difficult if you read the textbook and understand the content. If you have not taken AP chem before it might be hard at first but you will catch up to everyone else. He also allows you to bring a notecard for exams. One bad thing about professor collins is that he does not respond to emails.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/10/2024

I think he is a good professor for such a hard topic and crammed into such a small time, but he kind of reads off of the slides like he is seing them for the first time on the lectures, but his discussions is where he shines. He is very good in discussion and talks like he knows the content on the back of his hand.

Shane Collins
CHEM135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2024

Probably the best professor I've had so far. As long as you keep up with the content learned in lectures and the textbook, 135 is a pretty easy course. Collins is also really good at discussion. For an intro chem course, I would definitely recommend him.