| Information | Review |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Anonymous 09/14/2023 |
Hated every moment. Exams are beyond college level making not sense. HW are dumb and long. Reviews are fake. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a W Anonymous 08/28/2023 |
Exams are nothing like online homework, homework are around 3 hrs + , lectures are fast paced |
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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. |
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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 |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/29/2023 |
Professor Griffith is incredible and brilliantly smart, she is very clearly an expert in the field and tries to make the material interesting and relevant to us as engineering prospects. She although seems salty about teaching CHEM 135? She makes a lot of condescending jokes during class if no one answers a question, and takes jabs at the fact that the students in the lecture are trying to go into engineering and don't have any interest in chemistry. She has very professional slides, and if you go to class you will do well. I think the tests were fair, and they are very generous with the curve, and VERY FAST at grading tests! It was impressive. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2023 |
Insanely good! She is so nice and welcoming, writes fair tests, and teaches AMAZINGLY. This course is obviously hard, and most students are doing it for the requirement, and she acknowledges it. I would have gotten a C with any other teacher. The slides are really detailed, she knows when to work through problems with us versus just showing us the information on pre-made slides. She answers all questions students ask, even if it is cutting into time she needs to teach more information. She provides practice exams and exam tips, and sends out an email about two days before the exams saying the broad topic each question will be with how many points. All questions on exams are clearly related to what we learned in class, so just make sure you are listening and study before exams (I personally do all of the textbook problems she recommends from the syllabus for the topics that will be on the exam). She grades SUPER quickly, like in three days for regular exams, and literally just one day for the final. The curving is fair. Also, what is really good about this class and how it is taught is that the topic we learn are not just chemistry topics on their own, but how they apply to things us engineers may actually use, like combustion engines, batteries, biodegradable stitches, solar panels, and for wastewater treatment. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2023 |
This semester Dr. Griffith taught this class with Dr. Schech. Dr. Griffith is a nice professor and willing to help her students, but her lectures move very fast so it's easy to fall behind on note-taking. Homework can be long and sometimes difficult. Exams make up the majority of the grade and are often challenging, but reviewing problems from the discussion sections can help. This class is doable and Dr. Griffith does a good job of making it interesting, but it takes work. I took this class as a non-engineer and without AP Chem and did fine. She curves at the end of the semester. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/18/2023 |
Great professor who explains things well. If you attend lecture, discussion, and do some practice you will be set up to succeed. You will see problems from discussion and the lecture worksheets on your exams so make sure to practice those. The final was pretty tough but the curve at the end of class was very generous. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/11/2023 |
I'm late reviewing her but she is just terrible. Yes, she is nice and does not make her lectures boring but her exams are rediculous and lectures do not cover exam material in the slightest. She does do around a 10% curve as I got a 75% at the end despite failing the final and I ended up getting a B. Take another professor if you can! |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM481 Anonymous 03/03/2023 |
I do not recommend |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/28/2023 |
It is chemistry so it is of course hard work. But the good thing is that I got an A- when I should have a B. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/30/2023 |
If you can take the biology version of chem 1 lab, do it. This class is the hardest 2-credit class you will take in your freshman year. Expect spending anywhere from 6-24 cumulative hours writing the lab reports. I guess all I can say is that this class throws the heavy reality of science as a profession directly into your face. It is absolutely a weed out class for chem/b-chem majors even though the department refuses to admit it. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/27/2023 |
I was pretty nervous going into this course that AP chem was a pre-requisite, that's not true at all. Griffith is very friendly and will do her best to prepare you for the "most accelerated class in the chem department." Homeworks and practice problems are instrumental in learning each of the topics. After the second exam, a new topic is taught per day and it becomes very important to attend lectures. During lectures, Dr. Griffith will tend to hint at possible exam problems and will go over problems by hand which is vital to staying on track. Clickers also give generous opportunities for extra credit, don't skip lectures. Exams are challenging, but the entire class is curved in the end to make up for this. Her office hours are also welcoming and very useful to answering questions. As long as you study hard and challenge yourself, it's possible to get an A, even if you have never taken a proper chemistry class before. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/26/2023 |
Griffith is an amazing lecturer. Every day, she enthusiastically engages with the class throughout her lectures. Although attendance is mandatory, she generously rewards participation points which are a great way to raise your grade. Expectations and deadlines are always clearly established, and she declares test material ahead of time! As a bonus, tests are always graded within 1-2 days. Although CHEM135 is an incredibly difficult class, Griffith makes it possible to get a good grade! |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/23/2023 |
Chem 135 is one of the toughest courses a freshman can take, but don't worry, Griffith is a great proffessor. As someone who never had a proper chem class before, this was a challenging class that moved quickly, especially in the last two units. That being said, Griffiths teaching and her assigned work will help prepare you for her exams. They are hard but the class is curved. If you are willing to put in the work, and understand instead of memorize, you can do well in this class. Also in case you are worried, AP chem is not a prerequisite. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/20/2023 |
FANTASTIC lecturer, makes everything very clear and actively takes feedback in lecture. Lets you use index cards on exams and final. Great curve and lots of extra credit opportunities. Lecture videos available. She's lowkey petty sometimes when the lecture hall gets talkative and sometimes she complains a lot but it's okay, her lectures were honestly a highlight of my week because of how clear and informative they were. Ask questions because she will answer them well. Relatively easy class if you've taken AP Chem, entire class is basically dimensional analysis. Definitely don't fall behind and don't be afraid to ask questions. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/10/2023 |
Overall Griffith is a pretty good prof for 135; she answers emails, has good lectures, and makes a lot of study resources available. Her exams are pretty brutal but the curve helps and she is pretty accommodating overall. I definitely recommend using the textbook because her lectures match the book content very closely. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a C- Anonymous 01/08/2023 |
Dr. Griffith was a very very sweet woman and seemed incredibly caring. The curve at the end of the course was very generous. With that said, this was the hardest course I have ever taken in my life. She moves through content incredibly fast, about 1 1/2 units a class. The content on the tests were incredibly difficult and the averages on the tests were 40's and 50's. I would recommend taking Amanda Scheck. I heard that her class moves slower and the tests are easier. If you have not taken AP Chem or are not good at chemistry, do not take Griffith. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/27/2022 |
Dr. Griffith is an incredibly nice person, but more importantly, is amazing at lecturing and makes chemistry genuinely interesting. Prior to this class, I only had bad experiences with chemistry and was dreading this class. I had heard terrible things and was beyond nervous. But since Dr. Griffith is a physical chemist, she explains chemistry in a way closest to how most engineers would understand. If you like physics and have experience with things like Coulomb's law from electrostatics, then this class is made significantly less stressful since so much of chemistry can be explained with physics and Dr.Griffith is the one who made that connection. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/26/2022 |
She is a great professor and a REALLY good lecturer, however her exams were very difficult (averages usually lie around 50-60). It is absolutely essential that you attend lecture to succeed in this class. Curve is really good at the end given the exam averages are so low (about 10%). |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/20/2022 |
Even though CHEM135 is a difficult class, especially if you did not take AP Chemistry in high school, you'll still do well with Dr. Griffith. She's really helpful and makes the lectures bearable, and there's a huge curve in the class. I'm not entirely sure how the course will look like after the redesign, but if you are good at test taking (unlike me), then you can definitely get an A in this class. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/18/2022 |
Griffith is a good lecturer, and although the exam averages are usually terribly low, she does give the letter grade cutoffs after each exam, so that definitely gave me some peace of mind during the semester and kept me from being stressed out about grades after receiving the score back. In Fall 2022, she did also allow you to take a notecard into the exam. I am not sure if the other professor(s) allowed you to do this or not. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2022 |
This class is DIFFICULT. As an engineering major, you just got to get through it. If you do not like chem(like me), you won't like this class. There is a ton of content to cover. Work hard and you can get through this. Griffith has all the PowerPoints for her lectures posted at the beginning of the semester. Get through your homework early and do NOT fall behind on the content. It is a lot and you want to be on top of things. Griffith curves nicely, but that only works out if you study hard. You can get through this, just do your best. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/16/2022 |
Basically have one homework a week and three exams plus clicker points. You have to go to lectures to get the clicker points even though she has all of them posted. Clicker points may seem insignificant but they add up and actually can make a big difference. I usually just watched all the lecture videos over and did a few practice exams to prepare for the exams and did average. She makes the exams way to hard which I think is dumb but its whatever because the curve is huge as everyone says. Honestly the difficulty of this class is overrated by everyone. It hard to get an A and you will need to work for it but if you just want to pass its not that bad just show up and do the homework. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/16/2022 |
Hard class but Griffith is a great professor and the exams weren't bad, even though the averages were in the 50s normally. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2022 |
I'd give this class a 3.5 if there were the option to. This class is one of the hardest if not the hardest class I took this semester, and it took a lot of stress and effort to get to the end. My problem with this class is that the grading is incredibly harsh—there is no consideration for the fact that we're first-semester freshmen who've never taken a lab-based class and don't have experience writing full research papers biweekly. My one advice is go to office hours. Even if you don't have questions, listen to other people's questions. Dr. Griffith is an amazing person and will answer all your questions during office hours, but she is very strict about grading so make sure to read the rubrics before submitting. **Be very careful about deadlines, even if it's a minute late it automatically gets 25% off. Double check, triple check, quadruple check, quintuple check deadlines, and whether you submitted. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2022 |
First of all, I want to say that CHEM135 is just a hard class, no matter your professor. However, Dr. Griffith made the class extremely bearable. Not only is she a good lecturer, but she provides a huge curve that helps a lot of people's grades. She posted online lectures from her previous online classes which helped a lot when you miss something in class. She answers all questions and tells you during lecture what questions she will consider putting on the exam. On top of that, either the two lectures or the lecture before the exam, she will give you a question layout of the entire exam so you know exactly what question on every exam will ask you. The lectures were sometimes weird, as we would end a unit halfway through class and start a new unit the other half, but she explains the concepts really thoroughly. If you don't understand something, make sure you clear it up as it's really easy to get behind in the class. If you don't understand chemistry or haven't taken a previous chem class, I would highly recommend you take it with her. But honestly, even with prior knowledge, this class will still be a little difficult. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2022 |
Separate the class from the professor. CHEM177 is not the best class because it is a lot of work per week. The work is a pre-lab assignment, a report, and an additional assignment per week. There are 7 experiments in the semester with two being more than a week resulting in major reports which are scientific paper style. The class is difficult but manageable if you put in the work. However, Dr. Griffith is always there to help. Go to her office hours! She will answer every question you have no matter how stupid it is. She is very approachable and knows what she is talking about. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2022 |
Lectures and powerpoints are detailed and the exams are fair |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ bermudarhombus 12/08/2022 |
Chem135 sucks as a class, but Griffith made it possible. There's too much material for one semester and so some of it ends up as rushed, but Griffith made what would have been an impossible class into something manageable. She's clear about grading and is very fast to start giving bonus points to give some grade boosts. Even though I only actually talked to her a few times, she genuinely felt like she wanted every single person in the class to succeed. I hope after the redesign, the class is less impossible, but regardless, if you have a chance to take Griffith, take it. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2022 |
Coming into the year I heard all the standard things about how chem135 was an impossible weed out class. Looking back, CHEM135 is not impossible, there's just a lot of material that you have to learn in a very short time frame. Thankfully, Dr.. Griffith does an amazing job at making sure that all of the material is approachable and easy to pick up if you pay attention and do the work. She's a great lecturer, she's always available, she maps out her exams question by question (content, not exact details) in advance so you know what to expect- I can't really think of too many things she could have done to make this easier for us beyond giving us the exam answers ahead of time too. If you're an incoming freshman engineer and need to take CHEM135, take it with Griffith; I'd imagine it'll be even easier once she finishes the redesign of the course she's working through. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/02/2022 |
Dr. Griffith is such a good professor. Sure, the content is hard but she makes sure to repeat concepts multiple times and answer any questions. She also does many practice problems during lecture and gives a lot of study material. Her old exams are almost identical to the ones you take in class. She is also extremely personable. She likes to banter and make jokes in class which definitely makes chemistry more enjoyable. She is easily one of the best professors here at UMD. She genuinely cares about the students doing well and always makes herself available to help with any material you may be struggling with. She also posts videos on ELMS so if you miss lecture, you can watch the videos. Do yourself a favor and take her class, I haven't taken chem in years and I somehow did really well in this class . |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a D Anonymous 12/01/2022 |
While CHEM135 is a difficult course, Griffith explains concepts in a way that makes sense, using a lot of examples and hand writing the examples down while working through them rather than just using a PowerPoint. her PowerPoints are very thorough and useful, but the handwritten examples are even more useful. She will answer any question as completely as possible and ensure you understand the answer. Make sure to do the homeworks. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/01/2022 |
Professor Griffith's CHEM135 is hard, that's nothing new. But she is a great professor to do it with. She explains things REALLY well. Her PowerPoints are well made (and evidently haven't changed much over the years), and discussions sections are a MUST. Also gives a lot of little extra credit clicker questions and super generous with the curve. Recommend. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM271 Expecting a C+ terpderp 11/05/2022 |
Nice professor, exams are hard, does NOT know how to curve. A C should not be curved to a C+ idc. Avoid |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Anonymous 10/13/2022 |
She's nice but sucks at giving proper instructions on assignments and sucks at teaching. She also does not grant you extensions on assignments even though it was a problem with lab materials, not a student error. If you haven't taken chem lab before that has a heavy workload, you will struggle. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting a W Anonymous 10/10/2022 |
this class sucks. professor sucks. no instructions. have fun self learning chem in a LAB |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM271 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/18/2022 |
honestly, she really does want her students to succeed and will give outlines of exams. However, they seem easy but they are not. Its all about how you perform as a student, if you are old at conceptual multiple choice questions - this is the right teacher for you. I am personally better at straight forward math and would prefer calculations on an exam. this class makes you work hard, but at least there are clickers and homework to boost your grade!!! PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT SHE SAYS. she hints at her exams while teaching and you do not even realize. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM271 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/15/2022 |
Dr. Griffith was by far my favorite teacher this semester. She is super energetic and encouraging which is fantastic in a chem teacher. She makes this very difficult class feel easier by a little bit making you feel like a kindergartener who just wants a treat for doing school, but like in a good way. Definitely take her if you have the chance. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/04/2022 |
Very nice lady, but worst class I have ever taken. I spent more time on this 1 credit class than all my other classes combined. Class averages were regularly in the 50s, and nothing was ever curved. Everything depends on your luck with which TA grades your assignment. There is zero standard. Spent 20+ hours on a lab report and got a 53 (class average was a 50). All of the little assignments brought my grade up, but it was miserable to make it to an A. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/12/2022 |
Dr. Griffith is an excellent professor who listens to the needs of the class and adjusts her lesson plans accordingly. The tests were fair for the most part and she was good about letting us know what to expect before each exam. If you are able to take her, do it! |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/12/2022 |
Dr. Griffith was very accommodating, giving extra credit and pushing back homework assignments. Tests were fair, would give an outline of each test the lecture before. Definitely recommend. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/07/2022 |
I heard a lot of bad reviews about CHEM135 before going into this class, and was completely surprised when I enjoyed class. TAKE GRIFFITH SHE IS AMAZING (plus the curve was insane). She is very organized, understands the concepts, sometimes jokes around, and adjusts to the needs of the class. If you took ap chem, you will be fine because it will all be review. The hw assignments are mastering chemistry (aka they take a long time and are boring) do yourself a favor and break up the hw into sections and don't do it last minute. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/31/2021 |
My grade really suprised me, very generous curve. Understands that the people who take chem135 do not care about chemistry and just want to pass. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/27/2021 |
I highly recommend Dr. Griffith for CHEM135. She is an amazing person but the class is super hard. She made this awful course somewhat ok. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/24/2021 |
My favorite professor for my first semester of college. No one brings the amount of energy and positivity into the classroom setting like Dr. Griffith does. It kinda makes you forget how hard the class actually is lol. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2021 |
Dr. Griffith is extremely fun and outgoing. All the TAs for the most part were ready to help--you just have to ask for it. The class requires effort for sure but she did apply a curve at the end and I think it was more than fair. You have to be on top of your shit in this class. Don't wait till the last minute to do your workups and reports bc it will just drain you!!! |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2021 |
I initially started with Dr. Koppel until she left and Griffith replaced her for the rest of the semester. This was a MIRACLE in disguise because Griffith taught exponentially better than Koppel. She always came to class energetic and ready to teach. She empathizes with her students as many engineers dislike CHEM135 by making the class more bearable, like giving use notecards on the exams. Although her midterms/exams are definitely harder, she goes through many examples during lectures and always gives us a chance to try the question first before she solves it. My tip for the class would be to go through previous midterms and practice them to study. 12/10 would take again |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2021 |
I highly recommend Dr. Griffith for CHEM135. CHEM135 is a hard class. It goes lightening speed and there is A LOT of material that needs to be covered which can be confusing. I was having a hard time keeping up even though I took AP Chem in high school. Having said all this, I believe Dr. Griffith is the only professor capable of going over this material all while making it comprehensible. She gives AMAZING examples which really help us understand the mountain of information we were presented with. Not to mention the practice problems and discussion worksheets she gives are almost always identical to the problems you will see on exams. So as long as you try your best to understand the practice problems she provides you with, you will do well on her exams. Now lets say you don't do well (which is bound to happen at one point or another), Dr. Griffith provides a very generous curve to the class at the end of the semester. Not an easy A class, but Dr. Griffith makes that A possible. Good luck :) |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/21/2021 |
Dr.Griffith is definitely the teacher to take for CHEM 135. She always seems excited to teach the material, and her exams test you on your ability to understand the underlying concepts for each topic rather than just memorize them. She also gives plenty of opportunities for her students to meet with her, and is very quick to respond to emails. TLDR; she wants you to do well and I think that's a pretty desirable trait for a professor. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2021 |
I really enjoyed having professor Griffith for CHEM135. She was energetic and was very flexible with the class and made chemistry as entertaining as chemistry can be. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2021 |
Literally the best professor I ever had. She made this awful course somewhat ok. If you have to take this course make sure you take it from her. I had Dr. Koppel at begging but for some reason the instructor changed to Dr. Griffith. I thought I was going to fail when I had Dr. Koppel but with Dr. Griffith I am pretty sure I will get an A. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2021 |
Dr. Griffith is an excellent teacher who did her best to keep us all engaged the entire year. She tries her best to make everyone understand the content, and wants to see people do well. She even openly acknowledged that people wouldn't be as interested in chem, and has this class designed to see people pass. She makes it clear that she wants her students to be engaged, and sometimes class is even fun! She always comes to class full of energy, with a smile on her face, excited to teach a subject that she very clearly enjoys, and successfully makes a huge lecture actually enjoyable, not droning on like other teachers sometimes do. I would very highly recommend Griffith for chem, as she is a superb chemistry teacher. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/08/2021 |
Dr. Griffith is a great lecturer and you can tell she loves teaching. She is a bubbly person and that makes going to lecture fun. Now the class is not a fun class however that is not Dr. Griffith's fault. The course is a lot of writing and the grading tends to be harsh. This class is extremely time consuming. I highly recommend going to office hours since you figure out things that are needed in the report that she may not explicitly say in lecture. I do not recommend taking Monday labs since you learn what you need to put in your report in the Friday lecture and then only have the weekend to write the report. Overall she is a great professor but this is a bad class. This was my worst course during the semester. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/07/2021 |
This class (CHEM135) is definitely a hard class regardless of what teacher you have, but taking Griffith is such a blessing. The difference between her and other teachers is that she actually wants you to succeed in the class and gives you multiple opportunities to do so (has a decent amount of extra credit opportunities, hold exam review sessions, gives previous exams, gives fair curves, etc.). Although her lectures can hold a lot of information, she tries to make sure that the class understands the material before moving on, creating different ways to explain a topic, or simply writing out how to do different processes rather than most teachers who just read off slides. She is the best teacher I've had at UMD so far, and would highly recommend taking her for this course. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/06/2021 |
AMAZING PROF you have to go to class!!!!!!! you have to study in class notes to do good on exams exams are 8-10 easier multiple choice or write ins then 1-2 problems that are CHALLENGING and require knowledge and work discussion worksheets are optional practice to do with your TA, i personally have an A- before finals and have never done one discussion worksheet. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 11/22/2021 |
I started off with Dr. Koppel and the beginning of the semester but for some reason she stopped teaching and our class now has Griffith. Her teaching style is a million times better than Koppel. She reminds me of a high school teacher in that even in a lecture with 200+ students she tries her best to engage students, answer all questions, and make sure students are following along. She has a great sense of humor and makes the class itself tolerable. Her online lecture videos are almost better than in person because you can pause the videos and go at your own speed. It's difficult to be a good professor for such a difficult and unfair class as CHEM135 but Griffith does a very good job. I'd highly recommend. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/18/2021 |
She is a really good teacher! You can tell that she really loves her job and that is seen in her teaching. She explains things really well and wants everyone to have a good understanding of the material. Her lectures are very clear and she does a lot of examples and a lot of them are similar to what will be seen on the exams. She even let us have a notecard that we can write stuff on for each exam. She also provides a lot of previous exams to practice with which a very very similar to what your exam will be like. SO I really recommended on studying with them. She also host review sessions before each exam which are really helpful and she brings the answer keys to all her previous exams. So overall if you can take her for CHEM take her. It is a hard class but she makes it a little easier and she curves it really well. This is coming from someone that didn't take AP chem in high school. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ belowocean 11/01/2021 |
Dr. Griffith explains things very simply and eloquently. The content in class generally lacks depth, but it is sufficient for an introductory course and the exams. The pacing is relatively fast, but not unmanageably so. I think some of the topics are covered too quickly, which makes it difficult to do problems without supplementing your knowledge with a textbook or online sources (e.g. hybridization). Exam average this year is a low-to-mid C, which isn't as disastrous as previous years, and better than most of my other classes. I heard the curve is relatively generous, and Dr. Griffith wants people to be as successful as possible. Exam formats are handed out before exam day, and exam difficulty is very similar to previous years and pretty straightforward. Discussions are good for practicing problems. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 10/12/2021 |
First, and foremost let me be clear that CHEM 135 is ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL no matter who you get. This class is so poorly designed and structured to set people up to fail and the order of topics covered makes no sense at all. If you have never taken AP Chem or if you have not taken chem recently (or not taken chem at all) then this class can become a nightmare. However, she did a great job at explaining things and trying to accommodate students. She rushes through the majority of the work however that is the fault of the pace of the class, not hers. Attendance is necessary. She gave students 1 index card of notes during exams. To make up for the difficulty of the class she does a pretty generous curve at the end of the year, somewhere around 15%. Assuming you do all your classwork attendance participation and homework and score around a 50 or 60 on all your exams you can pass because of said curve despite those horrible test scores. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/31/2020 |
The class is hard and a lot of writing, but I think Dr. Griffith does her best with what the class is. The class is curved a little at the end which was really good and she says she rarely gives - grades. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM134 Expecting a B rrex 12/18/2020 |
Dr. Griffith is an excellent lecturer and is very effective at communicating content from the course. She took over CHEM134 at the middle of the semester, so adapting to her expectations was a bit difficult, especially when it came to the final. Because of the switch, it was significantly different from most of what we did in class, although it was still manageable to a very well-prepared student. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2020 |
Dr. Griffith was nice but not very understanding, and the way that she structured chem177 this semester was pretty terrible. The labs were in person, but we didn't get lab partners which made things very tough and time-consuming. She made no changes to the labs themselves to make them more manageable for one person to do. It was very easy to mess things up in the lab, and with no partner you had no one to check you. For each lab you write a lab report which make up the bulk of your grade, and they can be graded quite harshly. Dr. Griffith left many comments on them, and could sometimes be pretty passive aggressive. As for the lectures, they were kinda dull and most of the time was spent in breakout rooms working on a worksheet with your group. The worksheets did help prepare us for writing lab reports, though. The midterm exam wasn't too difficult, but the amount of time you had was insanely low. Most people barely finished within 50 minutes, and there was no time to check anything. One major problem with the class was how Dr. Griffith expected us to read and understand some very complicated scientific papers. Each week we were assigned a paper to read and answer questions about. And for the final, we had to write a paper summarizing 3 of the articles published by a faculty member. It was bit extreme of her to expect us to understand and explain all these technical papers that went way beyond us. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/02/2020 |
Dr. Griffith is a fantastic professor and really cares about your learning. She takes her job as an instructor very seriously, and is willing to work hard for you as long as you show up and are respectful. I was super nervous taking chem135 because I was always so bad at chem in general, but she really helped me out in office hours and was very approachable. She expects a lot of her students, and her class is tough, but completely worth it for the quality of learning she facilitates. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a C Anonymous 09/02/2020 |
CHEM135 is already hard, but Griffith tries her hardest to make it manageable. If you are feeling stuck like I was, go to her office hours! Shes honestly really approachable and wants to help you and wants to see you learn. Only reason I didn't do better is because I waited until it was too late. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/10/2020 |
if you can get Dr. G for CHEM135, do it. She is one of those rare professors who clearly are here because they love to teach. The class is tough but the curve is generous and there are lots of bonus points |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/02/2020 |
Dr. Griffith is a really great professor! The class is challenging but she is very straightforward about what to expect on tests and teaches exactly what you need to know. And she does curve the class. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM177 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 12/15/2019 |
This professor is great at her job. But her TAs are horrible. You'll be lucky to scrape by with a B. She often has her TAs grade her assignments, if not all of them. It's obvious that they are not doing their job when it comes to grading based on the rubric and instead they grade based on whether or not they like the student. I was expected an A or A- in this class until the TA-graded assignments rolled in... |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM131 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/10/2019 |
She is an excellent professor who is very knowledgable and seem pretty excited whenever she teaches, and she is super sweet. However, her exams are tough, and she does in-class clicker questions so make sure you pay attention during lectures. The good thing is that she curves the class by 10 %. Also, everyone that I knew got a B or lower in this course. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A+ StardustGogeta 06/09/2019 |
Dr. Griffith is a great teacher who seems to know the content very well and is very good at managing the course. Her class is difficult, but there are no curve balls or tricks on the exams, and she will even explain the topic distribution of each test ahead of time. (On the final exam, we were given whole questions ahead of time!) Attendance is mandatory, and there are graded in-class participation questions, but they are not very hard. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Anonymous 05/16/2019 |
She's nice but I highly recommend looking at the grade data for her. If you think you'll excel with her teaching style, then go for her. However, you'll see in the grade data she curves so majority of the students get C's |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/29/2019 |
She is one of my favorite professors at UMD. Hilarious, straightforward, clear, and concise. She states her expectations, gives hints during lectures, and provides useful problems during both lecture and discussion. Her exams might be harder, but that only means that the curve is higher. Get her if you can because her teaching helped me so much. For course difficulty, I would give CHEM 135 4/5, since its a very difficult class. |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/19/2018 |
absolutely the best professor for chem135 |
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Elizabeth Griffith
CHEM135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2018 |
Griffiths taught the material pretty well and kept it interesting enough that I rarely wished I wasn't there even if I wasn't engaged. Hefty curve and reasonable exams, and from what I hear of other professors is that Griffiths is a lesser of a few evils for 135 |