Jason Kahn

This professor has taught: BCHM461, BCHM463, BCHM464, BCHM477, BCHM661, BCHM662, BCHM673, BCHM698, BCHM889A, BIOE389F, BSCI338F, CHEM134, CHEM271, CHEM272, CHEM277, CHEM399A

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Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/28/2025	Dr. Kahn is a nice(ish) guy. However, he should not be teaching Gen Chem 2. I don't think I learned anything classified as gen chem 2 tbh. He referenced his slides, and the references were biochem, physical chem textbooks, and graduate level courses. Safe to say WAY beyond the scope of what we should know for gen chem 2. He also emphasized derivations (a LOT), and gave little to no practice material because the homeworks did not apply for exams, and his old exams from 2017 were not overly relevant, since he seems to cook up a new type of question from some biochemical or industrial chemical process I've never heard of for every exam. He is extremely intelligent, but it does not translate to his teaching skills. Seriously, whenever I'd ask a question, he'd confuse me even more. I really don't wanna be mean because he's funny but he just emphasizes conceptuality and doesn't give practice for it. I understand wanting to emphasize concepts, but putting extremely difficult questions on exams is just gambling with our grades. He also does not stop talking abt MATLAB, which idgaf abt. Like seriously when will this be needed on the MCAT. The final was honestly genuinely evil and went so badly for me but probably would've gone the same if I hadn't studied at all because of the limit of practice materials. I want to say again he's really nice but if you just want plug and chug and teaching yourself TAKE SOMEONE ELSE!!
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/25/2025	I dont have much more to add that previous reviews haven’t said already. Bad professor. Too conceptual for a course thats supposed to be math based. Hard exams and expects you to come in with knowledge from physics classes that many students haven’t taken. Condescending when he asks questions in lectures and no one knows the answer. You might be thinking “lesser of two evils”, but at the end if the day it comes down to teaching style; are you good at math or concepts? If the answer is concepts thrni really hope you have a PhD in chemistry bc thats the only way you can answer his exam questions even with his weird website that has exams from 7 years ago. DO NOT TAKE HIM PLEASE!!
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/23/2025	Nice guy, terrible teacher. Seriously, he couldn’t teach water to be wet. Every class turns into a random ramble about who-knows-what, and by the end of the semester, you realize you’ve learned absolutely nothing relevant. If you're looking to actually understand the material, good luck — you'll be teaching yourself. But hey, at least he’s friendly while wasting your time.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/23/2025	I usually do not look at ratings to determine my professor but with this one I did not luck out. Do not treat 7 year old reviews the same as you do with professors with recent reviews. In all honesty he is a very kind person. He wants you to succeed but his actions with the tests say otherwise. The class was composed of 2 midterms, a final, and around 3-4 homework's. If you want mental stability and a happy life take the other professor, shes plug and chug. Honestly with some topics he made the class interesting, but with others he sort of went off with random tangents. If you think to yourself that you will prepare for the exams by doing old exams he uploaded, don't bother. I guess maybe 2 problems out of the 5 pages would be good but the rest is up to whatever you hold your faith to. You can prepare yourself to calculate all the pH and pkas you want, but there would be very little calculations during his midterms. Killer final by the way, I looked around and it looked like a massacre in that room. I will not call names but do not trust the TA with answering questions during exams. A tip to those who choose or had lower priority in seating choices and have to take Kahn is that he loves to build off questions off of one another. Oh and also, he loves his math. I guess thats why he didnt bother doing relatively forward calculations and focused more on derivations of equations you would see on the equation sheet. Didnt hurt my GPA too much being that it was a 2 credit course, but that being said, the amount of time put into this two credit course with Jason Kahn should not be this much. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/21/2025	I don't think I have ever walked out of a lecture understanding what I had listened to for the past 50 minutes. Everything in this class is so conceptual that you have no idea how to apply what you learned in any sort of practice problem. He gave us almost no material to study off of besides some old past exams from 2017 and prior that had wildly different content than what we were learning in the class. His slides were so full of text and derivations of formulas that you could never tell what was actually important. He goes over topics very in detail, but you can't tell what you're actually supposed to take away from it and what he is just putting on the slides "for completion". Exams were very long and conceptual, so there was no way to really prepare for them besides watching the lectures and trying to absorb bits and pieces of information that you could hopefully regurgitate on the exam. He also uses MATLAB A LOT, which often confused students even more. Avoid him at all costs.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2025	Way too conceptual and he doesn't know how to explain the concepts well. To do well I would just do all the practice exams on his website and the night before the exam rewatch the lectures 2X speed and write down things to remember. His exam questions are heavily based on things he said in class so rewatching really helps you remember. Mid class overall.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/21/2025	Please do not take Kahn and do not be fooled by his reviews from past semesters. He made it clear on multiple occasions this semester that we can complain about him all we want but he is tenured and there is no getting rid of him. He talks in circles and the way he words his exam questions feels like a riddle. You can get a feel of his questions by looking at the test bank on his website, but the most recent are from 2017. He says not to rely on them to study since he has "dumbed" the class down - but this just means that its entirely conceptual and impossible to prepare for. The mastering chemistry homework takes forever and it is not helpful for the exams. His lectures are also not helpful: his slide decks have not been updated in years, he uses the chalkboard to repeat what is in the slides (but his handwriting is hard to read), he has not figured out how to use equations (ei. chemicals written as H2SO^4 which is hard to process when there are 20 lines of it), and he loves tangents.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/20/2025	The other reviews sum it up nicely. I just need to help lower his rating because no one should ever be fighting to get into this class. He has mentioned multiple times how the reviews don't matter and that he'll just teach again if the department asks. Just know you're a terrible professor, retire already. Too much effort necessary for a petty ahh 2 credit class.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2025	If you're reading this and deciding who to take for CHEM271 please do yourself a favor and take anyone else. Dr. Kahn is a nice guy but terrible at teaching undergrad level general chemistry. While his knowledge and expertise are apparent in his teaching, unless you're taking his class as a graduate chemistry student, you will have absolutely no idea what he's talking about for majority of the class. His exams are far harder than anything I have ever taken and they are 90% conceptual questions. You can do well on the first two exams if you learn from the textbook however Dr. Kahn does not teach the material on the final exam from the textbook. I recommend reading the chapters he covers and building off of that knowledge. To give an example on the difficulty of Khan’s exams, on the last question of our final exam he introduced a new concept that he didn’t have time to teach and expected us to answer questions on it. If you can self study and memorize formulas then I highly recommend taking Migneray. I’ve heard that she is a poor lecturer but if you read the textbook and can complete her practice exams then you don’t even need to attend lectures. However if you want to learn high level general chemistry/biochemistry in a conceptual manner then Kahn is the perfect professor for you. He’s a funny guy and pretty nice but I would not recommend him for the average student.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/20/2025	Absolutely horrible his final exam dropped me from an A- to a C+ half of the material on his final was not taught
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/20/2025	I took this class because I thought he was the lesser of the two evils, and oh my goshh I was so wrong! He makes this class way harder than necessary. His class is heavily conceptual! He goes over slides in class and goes on tangents. He loves MATLAB and will spent a lot of the classes just playing around with it to make a point, he doesn't go over any of the math that you'll see on his exams at all. He expects you to learn this math in discussion or GSS. Discussion is not even helpful at all, the TA does not know how to guide you when it comes to his exams and does a bad job answering emails with questions. The homeworks he gives takes long and you're not penalized for getting anything wrong, but its so timely and it does not help at all when it comes to his exams. He gives you his past exams to help but they're just so different from his current exams. One of our exams looking at his past ones, you would think they were heavily on math for once, but we got 2 pages full of conceptual questions. I went to his office hours and he is a nice guy and has expressed he wants his students to do well but he does not make it easy and he knows it. His exams are difficult to finish in 50 mins. This is definitely the hardest chem course I've taken by far.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/20/2025	While he is knowledgable about chemistry and especially biochemistry, he tries to incorporate other course topics into gen chem 2 that don't have much relation to the class. This makes all his exams unnecessarily difficult and significantly brings down the average. The homeworks seem easy enough but their topics are like almost never incorporated into his actual exams, which are all concept-based towards physics and biochemistry. Only thing somewhat helpful when studying are the old practice exams, because the lecture notes don't go deep enough into each topic to properly help you on the exam. Another thing, he goes through Matlab multiple times during each lecture that nobody knows what is happening or even properly follows, but he still does it anyway. The way he curves it is insane too, as it is based on how you do compared to everyone in the class, which is useless because then it becomes entirely based on tests since almost everyone does the homework and gets full points. Y'all are stuck in between a rock and a hard place with him and Migneray.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/20/2025	I genuinely wish I could give him 0 stars. To even think I fought to get him over the other professor is INSANE please do not be fooled by his rating not being one star. I have done well in the rest of the chemistry courses and studied so so much for this class but I just could not do well on his exams. Starting with lecture: his lectures are genuinely the worst thing I have experienced. He constantly rambled on about matlab and showed us graphs that did not make any sense to us because we had no clue what they were about. When he would try to teach us anything it would be him rambling on and making weird comments about the information with wordy slides that just didnt teach the material in an effective manner. He provides a schedule in his syllabus thats supposed to outline what will be on the exams, yet he almost immediately got off track of it and made it difficult to know what the information cutoff would be for our exams. The homeworks: dont get me wrong, i love a good mastering chemistry assignment, I think that they actually help practice and learn certain material, which would have been helpful if the VERY long mastering chemistry assignments had anything to do with what would be on the exams. Exams: so so long and he wants you to know the reason and theory behind everything, which hey might not be that bad, until you realize that this is a general chemistry class (should be a math based class) and not a philosophy course. He knows he makes the exams too long and too complicated but he simply does not care. I really really really hope you do not take this class, he should truly be your last resort. That being said, this is him being a bad professor, he is a sweet guy but he simply does not know how to teach and give exams that arent completely cruel to the students in his class.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2025	Just an absolute loser. Made this class way too hard, didn't know how to use Canvas, had people crying after his exams, made stupid jokes that no one laughed at, and gave hours of homework that was literally irrelevant to the exams. Doesn't even try to teach regular gen chem, instead he wants to teach the concepts behind the math (so biochem) and doesn't even apologize for it. His exams were also just not possible to finish within 50 minutes. Funnily enough, he's still better than migneray, even though he's awful. Enjoy this course!!!!!!
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/17/2025	Dr. Kahn definitely knows what he's doing quite well, and he records his lectures (a first for a CHEM professor I've had, and I had Davis for CHEM241). He has also been quite helpful in office hours and provides lots of free points (HW and "muddy/clear" completion quizzes) to buffer for the exams. That said, his exams are miserably hard. It seems like he completely overhauled his teaching after not teaching this course for a while (the last time he did it was Fall 2018). His exams from this semester are much different from the older exams he provided us. Many of the questions this semester were more conceptual and difficult than what he discussed in class or gave on the tediously long homework. He has also incorporated some biochem stuff into his exams. On top of that, the final was absolutely brutal. Also, he often goes off-topic in lecture, and we end up missing things that would be important for the exam, and uses MATLAB quite a lot without giving us any demonstrations on how we can use it ourselves. Overall, would not recommend unless there are no better options.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/15/2025	Kahn is a very interesting guy. It's clear that he's incredibly knowledgeable in the field of biophysical chemistry, but it doesn't translate well into his teaching ability. He definitely loves the content and teaches as such, but it sometimes feels like he expects us to know more than we actually do, just because he's an expert at it. He sometimes spends time inefficiently in class, talking about housekeeping matters that don't pertain to the content, or bringing up MATLAB. Kahn loves MATLAB like his own child and he often depicts reactions as MATLAB graphs but he isn't the best at explaining what happens in the graph. He often left me more confused about certain concepts after he brought up the MATLAB graphs. However, one-on-one, he is very good at explaining concepts concisely if you don't understand them- i.e. go to his office hours and pre-exam review sessions and ask questions if you can, they were pretty helpful to me. All lectures and review sessions were recorded but he writes important equations and reactions on the chalkboard a lot, which isn't visible with the camera, so being present for the lectures is your best shot. He also got upset about halfway through the semester because of attendance and threatened to stop recording if attendance didn't improve. He often says that his exams are meant to be difficult, and they are, but he gives out a lot of partial credit and grades leniently. Kahn prides himself on teaching conceptual concepts over plug and chugging formulas, which is something that works well enough for me, but I had to put in a lot of time to this class to not fail. He also draws on a couple of concepts from biochem and physics. He posts all of his previous exams and a dated syllabus on his group website under biochem.umd.edu, would highly recommend checking those out. Shoutout to the discussion TA Ryan, he's the goat.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2025	Overall, I think that Kahn is nice, pretty approachable, and obviously cares about how his students feel and the feedback they have to offer. I would think that the class is more difficult compared to a typical general chemistry 2 class, but as long as you do his old exams and mostly pay attention in lecture, you should be fine. You can tell he has a passion for teaching, but sometimes he can go on tangents or go into too much detail in lecture, which can be confusing. He does hold 2 hour or more review sessions outside of class time before each exam though, which most professors don't do. If I had to make the choice of which chem professor to take again, Kahn would be my choice.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/07/2025	I wish I could give this man a 0. Like, this was genuinely one of the most insane classes I've ever had to take. I actually tried to go to the lecture, and there was not even one lecture where I could tell you I understood what was happening. And then the exams have no real content on them, and he wants you to figure out some insane scenario from the diagram on the page before. Like, at least ask about what's on the slides. I don't think anything was ever clear, truly.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/30/2025	Odd guy, his lectures are useless he goes on tangents and shows us Matlab programs we don't need to use/ aren't that helpful for understanding material. Also will only give a regrade for an exam if the graders misgraded by 5 or more points which sucks when the points are genuine mistakes and 4 points is the difference for your grade.
Jason Kahn Expecting a B Anonymous 04/24/2025	Genuinely, I am not exaggerating when I say this is the worst class I've ever taken at UMD. As a Biological Sciences major, I have taken the other chemistry lecture courses and I've done well (A's in CHEM131/231, A- in CHEM241), but there hasn't been a course where I have not been actively taught the content like no other. Dr. Kahn is without-a-doubt a very smart professior and seems very passionate about the biochemical applications of General Chemistry II, but he is absolutely incompetent at effectively teaching the material. I'll tell you why: 1) He has unrealistic expectations for his students. He has, on multiple occasions, asked us if we've taken PHYS132 (Physics II), as it would important for the content he goes over, even though PHYS131/132 is not a pre-req for this course. I've gone to tutoring and other students, that have taken other professors for CHEM271 or CHEM276, and they have stated that the material is beyond the scope of what their professors covered in this course. Dr. Kahn loosely throws biochemistry and physics at the face of his students and fails to explain the relevance and importance of topics in a manner that students can effectively understand. 2) This man GLAZES MatLab. We've spent a strong portion of multiple lectures just watching Dr. Kahn play around in MatLab, which again he fails to explain why the information he displays is important. It is a complete waste of time when he does this. 3) His slides are just chunks of text with very practice problems that he may/may not assess. Most practice problems come from the textbook and Mastering Chemistry homework assignments. But, he does not assess students based on the textbook, so the only practice problems you can use are from his outdated practice exams from 2018 and beyond. However, the content is so different that it may not resemble what will be on the exam. As a student that people have described as a "sweat", I have never had a class where I contently accepted my fate and solely looked forward to its end. In retrospect, I would've 100% taken this class with another professor. I understand that chemistry progressively gets more difficult, but that doesn't mean that students shouldn't have an instructor that can't teach the material. The ONLY reasons why I decided to give two stars instead of one is his "30-30-30-10" grading, which means if you're in the top 60% you're most likely finish with a B or higher (top 30% with an A or higher), and that he rounds an 80% on each homework assignment to a 100%. I'm unsure how much homework is weighted but you ultimately aren't penalized if you get a few questions/parts wrong. The fact someone in the Spring 2025 semester gave him five-stars is actually egregious because I've taken five-star professors and he certainly is NOT in that conversation.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/24/2025	This man in no way, shape, or form should be allowed to teach CHEM 271, let alone any other chemistry class that isn't a graduate-level course. Makes his class impossible to follow, incorporating Matlab into his lectures, and expecting us to understand what he's doing for half the lecture when he's literally just playing around on a coding program on his computer. His lecture notes are the only thing that might be able to save you in some aspect of the class, but even then, the slides he puts on canvas aren't even properly formatted, and have "Loading..." on every other slide. He expects you to be familiar with every aspect of the theory and concepts behind a topic and loves to incorporate biochemistry material into his lectures and exams. His old exams sure are helpful if you want some aspect of practice but I don't know who took his class in years before COVID but they must've been the second coming of Einstein because his old exams are wayyyy too long and expect you to have a Ph.D in some of the topics just to comprehend what he put in front of you. Exams include critical thinking questions, theory, and maybe, if you're lucky, some math, and they require you to write an essay to earn points on some of the questions. I will say the only plus to taking him is that he is very generous with partial credit, but other than that this man cannot teach an undergraduate level class. He does curve but I don't know how strong his curve is since he doesn't tell us and just changed our canvas grades to a fixed score that we can't change. The fact he was brought back to teach CHEM 271 shows how horrible the chemistry department is at umd. No matter who you take for CHEM 271 its going to be horrible, so pick your poison
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/20/2025	Absolute loser. Makes this class way too hard for absolutely no reason. He would literally infuse biochem material onto our exams, and his lectures were literally useless. He just rambled on about useless information so eventually people stopped attending. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS GUY YOU WILL REGRET IT.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/28/2025	This class was chill. He's probably one of the more understanding and empathetic professors at UMD. He's engaging, clearly loves to teach, and takes time to actually drill the material into your head. He also reads reviews and takes feedback to improve his teaching (which all professors should do tbh) PROS - He wants you to understand and takes time to answer questions in lectures, regardless of how much time is taken. - The material itself isn't complicated, but he still expects you to understand it in depth - He hosts a 'review session' before exams and schedules it according to when students are free. It's just another office hour where you bring questions and he stays there until there are no more questions, but still super helpful. - Quizzes aren't hard if you keep up with the lecture material; it's just free points. - If you score above the mean on exams, you're set for a B or an A - No memorization needed, since he provides an equation sheet - Has a previous exam bank (I'd recommend only going back 1-3 years since content changes) - His lecture slides are pretty much all that you need to know + practice those old exams. CONS - Dr. Kahn loves to rant about some not-so-relevant things. And because he gets distracted, he can seem a little unorganized. - Exams can be a little long; problems can be wordy, and solving them can take a minute, so time yourself accordingly. - He assigns mastering chemistry, so be prepared to pay that online book fee. It provides practice questions that don't really match up to the exam but provide a better foundation for what you're learning. It's busy work, and if it wasn't worth a good portion of your grade, I wouldn't have paid for it. He makes you get the textbook but also dislikes a lot of the way content is taught in it, so....
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/01/2024	This dude is the GOAT. Easy exams, clutched up an A in the class
Jason Kahn BCHM461 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2024	Dr. Kahn is a tough but good professor. He emphasizes understanding over memorization, and often tells us that he doesn't want us to memorize mechanisms, but to understand the background information well enough to be able to figure a mechanism out in the moment. His exams are tough but he grades VERY leniently, so it makes figuring out a mechanism/problem on an exam less high stakes. He also explains concepts very thoroughly, and focuses on quality over quantity when it comes to course content. If he thinks something is too complicated, or that students won't understand it on an exam, he doesn't teach the topic or put it in his tests. I removed a star because he is SO slow with grading. We took our last exam over a month ago. The final is tomorrow, and it still is not graded. Because of how slowly he grades it can be hard to get a pulse on how you're doing in the class or how much you need to study. Also he is a very funny and nice person, and attending class is usually an interesting experience. Highly recommend
Jason Kahn BCHM461 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/12/2024	Dr. Kahn is a nice guy, but extremely unorganized. He grade assignments super late and frequently goes off on tangents about unrelated material. He refuses to use laser pointers so he just points up at complicated text heavy slides expecting us to what he's talking about. For BCHM461, he gave us very little resources to study for the exam, which greatly confused and stressed out many students. He is a great guy and cracks jokes during lecture, which he also records which is a pro. But his monotone, slide-only teaching style did not fit my learning style. Overall, he is alright, but I would not recommend him if there is another option available.
Jason Kahn CHEM277 Expecting an A florm 05/22/2022	277 is a tough course. With two labs per week, there was always a lot going on having to work on the analysis and report for one lab while prepping for the next one. There are 8 labs total, though most of them are broken into multiple parts with separate but related experiments. The protocols were generally easy to follow (as long as you read them beforehand), and could always be completed within the 3 hour lab time. Unfortunately, though, Dr. Kahn sometimes wouldn't post the protocols until the day before or the morning of the lab, at least for the M/W section, which was kinda annoying. In lab, we usually worked in groups of 3 and were able to keep the same group the whole semester. Logistically there were some small issues, like the bottleneck from everyone having to get chemicals from the same fume hood, but they'll probably get sorted out in the future. Most of the labs deal with absorbance/fluorescence spectroscopy, so get used to that. The last lab deals with three different titrations, and there's one lab that's a Matlab simulation about Einstein solids and entropy, but other than that it's all spectroscopy. After all the main labs are done, we had to come up with our own, student-directed lab where we basically just expand on the work from a previous lab. We got 4 lab periods to work on it, and yes we did have to present our results to the class, but they weren't that harsh grading it. Dr. Kahn's lectures were alright, he's a pretty funny guy and clearly cares about what he's teaching. Instead of using slides, though, he would go through a very long and wordy pdf which wasn't always easy to glean important information from. The pdfs were useful references when writing lab reports and studying for exams, but required a lot of digging through. And speaking of the lab reports, we didn't get a rubric for them. He gave a rough outline of what he was looking for on the first couple reports, but after that we were pretty much on our own. There were many times I lost points for things I simply didn't know I needed to include, which was frustrating. As for the exams, they were exceptionally challenging. There's one midterm on the first 4 labs, and a non-cumulative final on the last 4 labs (plus the student-directed lab). The kinds of questions he asked made the exams rather difficult to study for; they weren't excessively specific questions about the protocol, but they could be about almost anything related to the analysis and required a strong intuition which I felt I didn't have. He provided some practice exams, but they're mostly just helpful for familiarizing yourself with his writing style. The exam averages were in the 60s and he didn't curve them, but he did curve the overall grades, so even if you do poorly on the final (like I did) you can still get an A.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/18/2018	I love him so much!!!
Jason Kahn BCHM461 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/29/2016	I loved Dr. Kahn. He truly wanted his students to learn the material, even if it costed him precious lecture time. I think we did not have enough time to go over two units but we mastered everything else. Kahn used different programs such as Pymol and MatLab to go over certain abstracts that were difficult. He clarified many concepts and briefly went over GenChem II material in the beginning of the semester. That set the proper foundation for the entire course and I have to say, he clarified GenChem 2 information so quickly and easily, I do not understand why he has such bad reviews for CHEM271. The way he teaches CHEM271 definitely prepares you for biochem. Anyways, I went off on a tangent. Kahn posts all of his old exams on his website which definitely helps you prepare for his exams. The best way to study for his class is to master his classnotes two nights before the exam and then practice his old exams the night before. I always ended up getting very close to the high on all the exams (including the final). Also, when I took the course, Kahn did not make his final exam cumulative. We were relieved temporarily until we saw the exam. He included A LOT of derivations that he did not go over in class but he gave us the proper foundation in class to find the answer. Honestly, the reason why I respect Kahn so much is because students genuinely have to understand the material to do well. There are some professors that re-use problems and if you memorize it, then you are set for the exam. You are not learning. For Kahn, if you do not fully understand the material, then you will not do well on his exams. He also asked us very trivial questions like "In the MatLab project I gave you, what was this one file called that gives you this graph? [picture of the graph]" Now this Matlab project was very difficult and it took me days to get the correct answer. I had to look through all the files like 30 times each so even though I did not spend time memorizing the name of these files when I was studying for the exam, they were in the back of my head and I was able to get that question right. If a student just copied answers from someone else, then there will be no way that he or she can get that question correct. Anyways, if you get the chance to take Kahn, take him. Well at least take him for biochem!!! He knows his stuff and is very good at explaining it. For CHEM271, he will definitely prepare you for biochemistry. I guarantee it.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/04/2014	Great professor, and even better class
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/23/2013	I feel like I was truly blessed to have Kahn as a professor after having so many horrible science professors at umd. I heard a lot of bad comments about him but his class was my absolute favorite and i despise chemistry. He focuses on learning concepts which is difficult for some people to do. If you have a question he can figure out a way to explain it in a way that makes sense to you. He truly cares about his students and the education that he provides them. I thought I was going to get a B or C and ended up with an A just by following his guidelines. Don't be scared of his class. Just go to lectures, do the homework, review old exams, and have a good attitude about it and you'll be really happy that you took his class.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/09/2013	I was intimidated at first after hearing all the review about Dr.Kahn, but in the end was the most enjoyable chemistry class I have taken. Don't be scared to take it with him just because you've heard bad things. He is helpful, goes slowly, and is very willing to review concepts. He held long reviews before the tests and would answer any question, even those that would appear on the test. Definitely review old exams and ask reccuring questions during the reviews-he will show you exactly how he wants you to answer them and it really helps on the exam. I got a 90 on one of the tests just by reviewing old exams and lecture slides (rarely attending lecture)!
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/18/2012	Let me just start off by saying...this class is tough!!! So much unnecessary work for a 2 credit class! The material doesn't need to be difficult but Dr. Kahn finds a way to make this class a living hell. He is very interested in biochemical applications which he mixes in with general chemistry. The material is very boring (thermodynamics, kinetics, electrochemistry, acid-base titrations, etc)but it is definitely helpful for the MCAT or DAT. Course Structure: 2 midterms (100 pts each) 2 quizzes (20 pts each) Online HW (60 pts, unlimited tries) Final Exam (200 pts) I got a 340/500 and ended up with a solid B! The exam averages tend to be in the mid 60s. The overall class average was around a 65 percent. Dr. Kahn is a humorous professor and he is very knowledgeable and even holds exam review sessions. But he makes the class so hard that he eventually pisses you off. Overall, Kahn is cool but the class is tough! Enjoy...
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/17/2012	Since the +/- system is implemented this semseter, I unfortunately ended up with a B-. That being sad, I am really upset about the new law, but at the same time, I just wanted to say a couple of things about Kahn. He is smart. Enough said. Of course, this guy is a biochemist. Not everyone can even attempt biochemistry as a major. He applys biochemistry concepts into his lectures, which I found quite interesting, but extremely difficult. This class is suppose to be easy, but Kahn makes it so so difficult. I really wanted to drop the class. His quizzes are not easy in addition to his tests. I had to take this man because he was the only one teaching it this semseter. I suggest that you all make the right decision. Since his tests were on theories and concepts, I had a hard time figuring out what he wanted us to know. I recorded his lectures and listened to them religiously. I think that if you want to pull your hair out for a 2 credit chemistry course, that's suppose to be easy, take this man. You will learn, but you will hate yourself for taking it with him. I don't recommend this man to anyone. You might fail actually. But if you are smart and value perfectionism, take him. You will love this man.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/16/2012	Avoid this man as if he were the plague!
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/14/2012	Some things to know about Kahn: 1. He is incredibly smart. He is also incredibly nice if you are a sincere student. 2. He doesn't teach material superficially. He expects you to understand the material deeply. If you are going to get points on his test, answer the questions thoroughly. The numerical problems on his tests are easy. It's the concepts that make or break you grade. 3. Kahn actually goes pretty slow, so there's no way you should be lagging behind. 4. GO TO EVERY CLASS! and review his powerpoints... because only and exactly what he says in class will be on the test. If you understand what he's saying in class, you don't even need to study much for the final. It is easy to get an A if you know specifically the ideas he has talked about in class, which may not always be captured by the powerpoints. 5. Review old exams. He has been known to pull a couple of questions off them. 6. DO NOT miss the online homework. They are the easiest points in the world. Overall, an excellent teacher with a few idiosyncracies, but his class was very, very rewarding... People who usually give him low ratings typically either don't go to class, or don't pay attention because if you are doing those two things, there's no way you will get anything lower than a B.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/12/2012	Do yourself a favor and take someone else!!!! The dropout rate for my class was so high... i wish i would have dropped
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/07/2012	Kahn is a funny dude. Like everyone else said, he teaches a lot of biochem. Its kind of annoying, but it isnt too bad. The tests arent bad. Theres 2 of them and theyre impossible to understand whats going on. He gives A LOT of partial credit on them. He's funny and tells random stories, which keeps you engaged. He doesnt use the book like at all. Just beat the averages on the exams.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a D Anonymous 03/19/2012	TERRIBLE PROFESSOR. monotonous lectures, unfriendly attitude, unhelpful office hours, hard tests, barely any other grades beside the tests. If you do poorly on one test getting an A is pretty much impossible. Wants all his test averages to be low. literally said "If people are getting 80's or 90's on my tests I'm doing something wrong." He doesn't care if you learn anything, only about the bottom line of his grade distribution. Take anyone else you can.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/22/2011	Dr. Kahn is a nice guy and very chill. Although I think that he is too smart and what comes naturally to him might not be so for his students. As a result, his exams are very difficult and rely heavily on a conceptual understanding of the material. Workload for the class is not bad at all. Online homework is very easy and the quizzes are not too bad either. Large curve, but dependent on how well your classmates perform. So naturally, try to beat the average on every exam. Good luck!
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 05/15/2011	He's definitely not the best professor. He tends to rant a lot, goes off on tangents about hypothetical situations, and covers a lot of material that's nowhere to be found in his Powerpoints. That being said, I learned a lot of practical knowledge/application from his class. His lectures are almost solely theory-based. He does very few "examples" or calculations in the class -- these are all assigned for homework. But, his exams test the practical application of the theories that he's been ranting about in class. So, it's to your benefit to go to class, listen, take notes, and really understand the theories. If you're looking to learn how this type of chemistry relates to biology, the body, and life in general, then I highly recommend Dr. Kahn. His class is also very useful when it comes time to take biochemistry, as most of his exam problems are biochemical applications of chemistry concepts. But, if you just want the A and don't care much about the material, another professor might be a better idea because an A is definitely not easy to come by for his class.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A aralchen 04/23/2011	Kahn is the man. Yes, he's hard and he won't take your crap about how you don't like his class. But he actually teaches. This was hands down one of the most rewarding classes I took at UMD. Don't pass him up because he's an undeniably kickass prof.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/12/2011	Nice guy, but teaches very differently than most professors. Like others have said, he emphasizes theory and tends to go off on some pretty gnarly tangents that no one understands. You will probably be frustrated with his exams, probably frustrated with him sometimes too, but he grades on a monster curve so just be above the class average. My exam grades were roughly D, B+, D and I still pulled off an A since I was above the average. To do well in this class, I recommend looking at his old exams to understand what he tends to test on. Don't just give the old exams/answers a cursory run through--really look at what concepts he tends to cover and make sure you understand everything completely. Unfortunately, you'll have to study his slides as well. They're pretty long, but there are always test questions from the slides that don't appear anywhere on his old exams. If you go to class, you should be able to narrow down the exact concepts you need to focus on. He often skips through a bunch of the slides and doesn't expect you to know them. So going to lecture does help...just try to print out the slides and cross out whatever he glosses over. Cuts down on your studying immensely. Other assignments: 2 quizzes, online homework. Both very easy with some decent effort--should be free points so don't screw those up.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Phoenix_ourumd 12/22/2010	I personally thought that he was a good professor. Yes, he adds biochemistry to his exams but it only helps you to apply the concepts learned in class to real situations. Yes, there's a lot of text on his ppt slides in lecture, but you're not obligated to copy it all down. Just pay attention to the concepts/equations in bold. 2 Exams (100 pts each), 1 Final Exam (150 pts). 60 points for Smartwork (unlimited tries). 2 quizzes in discussion (20 points each, really easy). Substantial curve (350 points is an A). I personally used the textbook throughout the course but it depends on your learning style.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B+ Anastasia Samsonova 12/18/2010	He is a really good professor, in my opinion. He warns in the beginning of the semester that because he's a biochemist, the application that he's going to talk about are going to pertain to biology. His lectures are very interesting, because from time to time he goes on a rant about geopolitics and hydrogen economy, etc. and to me, it's very interesting. He's very helpful in his office hours and treats students with respect. He'll clarify himself in lecture if you ask him to and go over material twice for you to get it. Basically, if you ask good questions, you're on his good side. He has a pretty good curve, quizzes are straightforward if you study beforehand. For tests look at previous semesters, they'll help a bunch.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Biology Major 05/27/2010	Dr. Kahn is not the most engaging professor at the university. He is very pretentious, and speaks highly of himself and the professors he had as an graduate and undergraduate. In addition, he likes to dump plethora of information at you that is seemingly inconsequential, but really is what most of his quizzes and tests cover. For example, he spent a total of 20 minutes explaining the Blotzzmann distribution but had a 28 point problem about it on the test. The average on the quiz was a 6/15 because he failed to go over things in class which he put on the quiz, or deemed important. He teaches Gen Chem II as a prep class for biochem. And so you do not learn what is given in the textbook. He goes off on tangents. Alot of his problems are about DNA hybridization. He tests on theory. He speaks to the us as if we follow everything he says. He goes by fast, and assumes that we know the material. The only advantage to him is that he curves alot. When I took it this year, a 70% was an 'A.' But he only curves b/c the averages on the tests were very low. The average on the second exam was 50% flat. The tests averages were low, in part, because his questions are verbose and confusing. For example, we had a huge essay type question on the first exam which was all fill-in-the-blank. And you had to use the information from the essay to answer the next part. So if you did not get the first part, you were screwed for the second part. In conclusion, I would like to summarize his class by using a quote he told us about one of the lectures that he gave us: "it wasn't all it could have been," in short a huge disappointment.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2010	I wouldn't say Kahn has any flaws in his teaching ability. He's a nice guy and he goes over the powerpoints in class and posts everything online. He emphasizes theory, which shows on his exams, but you still have to be able to do the calculations. It seems like a typical Chem 271 class covers acid-base chemistry in depth, electrochemistry, and kinetics. He wants you to know the theory, be able to do basic problems, and then he tells you about applications in Biology. That is the biochemistry part that everyone is complaining about. If you're taking biochemistry later, its probably a good thing to get some intro to it. While he definitely does focus a lot on biochemistry, it's not like his tests aren't fair. They assess what he taught. But, if you think you would do better in a class without any biochemistry, then don't take him. His grade breakdown is purely based on curve, based on the following ratios: 25:30:30:15 A:B:C:D/F 2 exams, 2 quizzes, unlimited tries for online hw (free points)
Jason Kahn Anonymous 05/19/2010	Extremely boring. Does not even teach general chemistry. It's all biochem which would even be interesting if he wasn't teaching it. and you can read all the slides you want, you are still not going to do well on the test. just understanding what he is asking for will take a lot of your time on the exam. Basically if you have a chance to take another professor, DO IT.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting a B umterp111 05/16/2010	im not sure how anyone could write these positive posts on kahn (especially the ones recommending to take him) maybe he has changed since you have had him. i consider myself a decent student and will probably end up with a B in 271 but believe me that B was earned. kahn is not a good teacher his lectures are boring and monotonous. his tests are extremely difficult and the averages are very low. he does not do any sample calculations in class or his power points and then expects you to figure them out by yourself. he is in the biochem department which you can tell by the way he tested us. he consistently talked about biochem topics and even tested us on a few. i had friends who were taking the other section of 271 with the other teacher (minegery or something like that) and not was that class easier but they didnt even cover some of the material that we were tested on. he even likes to talk about how his quizzes are straight forward and to the point and yet the average on our second quiz was a 6/15. i would recommend taking a different teacher and i know a lot of people who were in my class that would feel the same way.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 hippoterp 05/06/2010	Firstly, he sucks at lecturing. His slides are pointless in that they have SO MUCH information on them and you can't understand what is going on. When he does math on the board he skips steps and it's really hard to follow. Also, he has these random excel spreadsheets that he expects you to understand. More importantly, if you're inclined in general chemistry you will do well on his exams. If you are not inclined toward general chemistry you will only score around or below average no matter how much you study. Literally-- no matter how much you study. I also didn't have the best TA, but if you can have a good TA, you may find that you do better.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/06/2010	When I first signed up for this course, I expected to learn about general chemistry...instead, I found myself in a situation where I was trying to figure out the basic concepts for p-chem and biochem without having the foundation of general chemistry II. If Dr. Kahn was able to convey the concepts in a clear and effective manner, I'm sure I would have still enjoyed the class. Unfortunately he merely read from his powerpoints (which were full of text and very confusing). He expected us to do derivations on exams when he did not even teach them in class. He also expected us to perform calculations that he never went over in class (He never goes over calculations in class). Overall, his teaching style was not at all effective...the worst chemistry teacher I have ever had. Although I currently have an A in this class, I will finish this semester feeling unsatisfied because I did not learn what I needed to from this course.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/20/2009	If you read his powerpoints and really understand the material, you'll get an A, easily. He basically just lectures straight from his powerpoints, so going to lecture isn't neccessary. And I don't reccomend using the book too much, if you waste your time taking notes from that, and use the powerpoints as a seccondary studying resource, you'll probably do poorly on the exams. His class involved a lot of biochem, so using the gen chem 2 book isn't really helpful. The work load is really light, and involves 2 quizzes and 2 problem sets.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Anonymous 06/05/2009	If you have the chance to take a professor other than Kahn for CHEM271, DO IT!!! I do not recommend that anyone take Kahn for Chem271. Kahn is a very smart guy but he does not know how to teach this course very well. It is very biochemically inclined. Although he curves and tells you an expected curve in the beginning of the class, he does not stick to that curve. Please do yourself a favor and do not believe the grade distribution shown for kahn on this site. It's not true. He gives two exams, one final (its extremely challenging), two quizzes, two problem sets. Discussions are kind of helpful especially for the problem sets and confusing material presented in lecture. He posts the lecture slides on blackboard but i recommend going to lecture (even if it is boring) just so you know what he focuses on for exams and quizzes. By the way, he is in love in Nash's book on elements of statistical thermodynamics (he mentions it constantly in class along with TANSTAAFL). So if you like that book too, then this class might just suit you.
Jason Kahn CHEM271 Expecting an A azn12icefarme12 05/19/2009	So I heard CHEM271 was completely calculation based... this class was the complete opposite with Kahn. There were calculations, such as titrations and calculating E, but a lot of it was theoretical AND there was a HUGE links to biochem. He had mentioned that he'd "throw in a biochem flavor" into the course but it was absurd. Workload is extremely light. 2 problem sets (which the TA practically tells you the answer if you go to discussion), 2 midterms, 2 quizzes, and 1 final. The only suggestion I have for studying is to read his powerpoints a lot and understand the theory behind it. If you want straight up calculations, take the other professor. I heard she (Migner-- I don't know how to spell her name) was easy.