Monique Koppel

This professor has taught: CHEM131, CHEM131S, CHEM135, CHEM231, CHEM232, CHEM232S, CHEM232V, CHEM237, CHEM241, CHEM242, CPSP218L

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Monique Koppel CHEM232 Anonymous 12/13/2024	Very messy class in all the ways. Lacking in organization. The unfortunate part is that as of now there is no other lab coordinator for this course at UMD I think so you are stuck. But having a good TA might save you. It's just hard to get a good TA because a lot of them are undegrads and don't themselves understand the material well enough.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2024	This lab was a bit of a nightmare to take. The grading expectations for the post labs were not clear, and the post labs took a lot of time and effort. I quite liked the lab work itself, although a lot of it was unnecessary. Two of the most important things to do to succeed in the course is to go to the TA office hours and to properly read the lab manual, you would be surprised how much helpful information is in it.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/05/2024	Koppel is the GOAT. She is a great lecturer, from what I've heard from others, she goes at a better pace than the other professors. Her exams are decently difficult but they are fair, and as long as you study for them you'll do fine. Although the class averages are fairly low, a 50% is considered passing (at least when it concerns exams). She posts past exams and a whole bunch of other resources on ELMS. Go to lecture because she might provide extra credit for those who show up, but in case you can't her notes are online. Homeworks are easy (only need an 80% for full credit) and she gives plenty of extra credit. Her curve is also very lenient and she will change the curve based on how students do.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/04/2024	She is the goat. She provides a lot of practice problems on ELMS. The GTAs are quite helpful in answering homework problems and general conceptional problems. As people have mentioned, this course is not about memorization. You need to know the "why." I highly recommend completing all of her practice problems to ace this course. She is very passionate in teaching organic chemistry. She provides the time for students to ask questions during lecture. On Halloween, she even dressed up! Again, she is a nice teacher. This course is designed for STEM majors to actually practice good study habits. There is a cutoff for the course. So far a C- is about a 50% total grade (this is just from the two midterms and no homework graded). I expect this number to go down after the final. She also provides a handful amount of extra credit too (about 15 points total).
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/25/2024	I had an amazing TA, so this class wasn't that bad. The TAs run the classes and grade everything. I only saw Koppel once near the end of the semester because one of the machines in our lab wasn't working and the TA asked her about it. The worksheets and pre-labs are easy, but the post-lab questions suck. They have nothing to do with what you learned in lab and yet take up so much time. This class should be worth more than 1 credit since I was spending more time on the post-labs at some points than my core classes. To get a good grade on the post-lab questions, use Google and attend TA office hours. Also, make sure to watch the videos going over the lab procedure before lab because it will make doing the experiments much easier. Overall, lab was fun but the PLQs were not.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous_2018 08/22/2024	I took 232 Orgo 1 lab in Spring '24, which was honestly better than expected, definitely better than Gen Chem 1 lab. Like the other reviews, this one is more for the course itself than for Dr. Koppel. Overall, MOST of the labs weren't time-consuming and sometimes fun but the post-lab questions offered nothing but annoyance because they often had little to do with what we did in labs. I STRONGLY recommend going to office hours EVERY week, whether for the worksheets or post-lab questions. Either way, this strategy relieves unnecessary stress and guarantees a decent score on the questions. If your TA is great (like mine was), optimize their time sections. You need to maximize your points on ALL the lab reports as much as you can because THERE IS NO CURVE. Since Dr. Koppel removed midterms and finals, she no longer fancied one. Now there is only a practical "quiz" at the end of the semester, which is generally easy if you study well, BUT it can plummet your grade too since there are only two questions worth 25 points each, so don't take it lightly! Overall, complete all your assignments, study well for the practical, and most importantly go to office hours.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/31/2024	This class was just ok. My TA was amazing but other TAs were very rude and condescending. The worksheets are not hard but the post-lab questions are very annoying. You can never really tell what Koppel wants from your answer (also half the time I just paraphrased what was in the manual and got full points). But on some questions it was so hard to tell what she wanted and I lost a lot of points because of that. It also depends on the TA who grades it, some are very harsh other not. I will say tho, the curve (for me anyway) was non existent which kinda sucked because I ended with an 87 and expected the curve to bring me to an A- but it didn't, so don't rely on any curve for this course. I would advise you to go to as many office hours as possible and avoid Monday lab.
Monique Koppel CHEM241 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/23/2024	The first time I took Orgo 2 with her I ended up with a D, but this was partially due to my lack of effort. When I retook it, I ended up with an A-. I think that she listened to feedback from the previous semester as I found lectures, homeworks, and exams more doable. The TA, Donnie, had really helpful discussion sections, and I would recommend attending them if you can. Dr. Koppel's Late Night Shows and practice problems really helped me succeed this time around as well, as she went over a few problems that were similar / had similar steps to ones that ended up on the exams. If you attend lectures and ask questions in discussion, Orgo 2 won't be as hard as it seems.
Monique Koppel CHEM241 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/18/2024	Despite what other reviews say, it is very possible to do well in Dr. Koppel's class. I had her for CHEM232 and 241. She does a thorough job of explaining everything that you need to know for the exams. She posts past exams which are very helpful as they give you a glimpse of her exam style. Usually, you'll get about 8 questions on the exam. 1 NMR (will be on every exam), 2 mechanisms, 1 road map, 2 syntheses, complete reactions, and a bonus question. Sometimes she'll throw a trick question on the exam, but it's doable. Make sure you attend every lecture as sometimes she'll give attendance points that count towards your final grade. This semester she gave a total of 6 attendance points. She posts all her class notes and does the Late Night Show, which is also very helpful (I would usually watch the recordings). I never attended GSS or office hours and rarely attended Discussions due to my schedule, but the TA sometimes went over similar questions that would be on the exam, those are all posted on ELMS. The first and third exam were really easy, the second and the final were the hardest. No worries though, if you get 50% or more you'll pass at least with a C- and she curves so that should be enough. I really enjoyed her class. Good luck!
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/18/2024	i have never seen koppel or contacted her the whole time, its mainly the TAs doing everything. for a 1 credit class, it is a bunch of work. every week you have to do a pre lab write up & worksheet(s) for the current week and then the post lab questions & worksheet(s) for the previous weeks. the PLQs are so hard and long, sometimes the worksheets are confusing as well but the pre lab write ups are fine. i learned this later on in the semester (wish i started in the beginning), but you HAVE to go to the TAs office hours to make your life easier. especially find a TA who will just give you the answers bc some are stuck up and will only help if you attempt the question. there was a curve, i dont think any other reviews really mentioned this but my 78 got rounded to a B.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/17/2024	Never met her, you only interact with the TAs. The work for this class is actually insane considering it’s only 1 credit. You have to do the pre lab write up and pre lab worksheet for the current weeks lab but then another post lab worksheet and post lab questions for the previous weeks lab. Pre-labs arent that much work and sometimes the pre lab/post lab worksheets arent bad either, but the post lab questions are so long and tedious. The TAs lowkey grade harsh too. Go to the TAs office hours for help on the PLQs and sometimes the post lab worksheets too. Find a TA who will give you the answers bc some are stuck up and wont help you unless you attempt it first. If youre wondering abt the curve I got a 78% rounded to a B.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	ok so you actually never interact with Koppel unless you go out of your way to. the post lab questions are sometimes mad hard and she expects so much writing from stuff that isn't even mentioned int he question so rlly make sure you hit all the bases when answering and over explain yourself. also the labs you actually have to prepare for so just read the stuff and watch h the videos and you ill be fine
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	Honestly, she isn't as bad as people say she is. Don't get me wrong, orgo lab is a LOT of work, and her post lab questions are made to trick you and confuse you. However, if you go to office hours, and actually put in effort you should have almost no problem getting at least an A- in this class. I put in maybe 1-2 hours a week (not including the actual lab time), and managed to get all of the work done and get an A in the course. Overall not a problem, and she's actually kinda nice when you meet her, unlike some of the reviews below will tell you.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/30/2024	Ok the lab sucks, and the PLQs suck more. My TA didn’t really know what he was doing and told our class the wrong instructions more than once. PLQs took me maybe 2-3 hours average (though later ones were definitely longer). Don’t take Monday/Tuesday labs if you can help it, as you’ll be limited in office hours since data was not usually released until just before the weekend. However, 10x better than CHEM136 so I’ll take it
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/28/2024	Brutal. Took this course as the first class of the "new" organic chem curriculum. Dr. Koppel seemed angry about the change in curriculum topics from day 1, setting a very negative start to the semester. I took this as part of the Science in the Evening program, and it truly sucked. Most of the class had taken this course elsewhere before, so Dr. Koppel taught it like it was a review course, speeding through material and being incredibly condescending if you didn't already know the answer. She reduced the amount of homework since the new curriculum got rid of the online textbook homework. This means there is less points available to help your grade outside of exams. She said she would do an extra credit assignment at some point in the semester. When asked later, she said she was no longer offering it. It truly felt like she did not care about us as students and did not want to be there teaching us. For lab: the PLQs are just bullshit and terribly written. Almost impossible to get full points unless a TA helps give you the answers. Even then, the rubric seems to allow for subjective grading as I would get points off for the dumbest reasons--all at TA discretion.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/24/2024	TA's run the lab and make or break your grade. (I got lucky) Labs are based on completion. Hardest part was the PLQ's, office hours saved you if you were concerned on a response. Koppel only appeared like once and it was for GC analysis.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/22/2024	Your success in lab is entirely dependent on the TAs because you pretty much never see Koppel. Thankfully, you're never graded on the accuracy of your results in the lab. The workload is a lot for a 1 credit class but it's not hard if you go to office hours. Her post-lab questions are sometimes things you have never even learned and would have no way of knowing, so it's better to just suck it up and go to office hours. Just figure out who are the good TAs and go to their office hours for everything and you're pretty much guaranteed a a 90%+. I have messed up literally EVERY single experiment we've had so far but I still have a 96% because I just got all the answers from office hours. Benjamin Kim is the GOAT if he's still TA-ing.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/24/2024	You never see Koppel, only your TA, so this review is just for the class itself. It took more time outside of class than some of my 3 credit courses, so definitely make sure to have time in your schedule dedicated to it, and also make sure to have time to go to office hours every week because YOU WILL NEED TO - because sometimes the post lab questions just don't make sense. Sometimes even the TA's had trouble answering the questions, but even then they're helpful to talk to when there's anything you aren't sure about. The labs themselves are fun and not too hard, just be careful with those PLQs and don't be afraid to ask for help as much as you need it.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/28/2023	This class was not my favorite. The only thing that helped me survived was having a good TA and going to the right office hours. The PLQS literally had 0 connection to anything that we did in lab. Going to office hours for them was a must and even the TAs barely knew what they were talking about. Why would she make the questions in such a way that even the TAs can barely answer them? The directions in the lab were very poorly written, leaving everyone confused all the time. The labs were extremely stressful, and Koppel should seriously consider going paperless because the amounts of paper we have to turn in is ridiculous. I don't understand why we can't just upload them to gradescope or ELMS. The lab practical literally destroyed my grade, but the grading cutoff/curve (?) helped. This class probably took up the most time out of all of my classes.
Monique Koppel CHEM241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/18/2023	She's the best chem prof at UMD. I have had her for orgo one, orgo one lab, and orgo two. She's a great teacher and super nice. Her exams are always fair. She also adjusts the class based on the class's needs.
Monique Koppel CHEM241 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/06/2023	She gives three midterms, three homework assignments, and a final. Her lecture is very straight forward. She starts every unit with a little bit of context, and then teaches reactions. It's on you to go home and practice them to learn them. All her exams have the same structure, so you know what to expect and can predict what she'll put on them. She does put two tricker questions on every exam, but they're doable. She provides a lot of extra practice and can answer any question you have during office hours. Ignore everyone saying she's bad, it's orgo, it takes a lot of work to learn no matter who you have.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Anonymous 12/06/2023	Dr. Koppel is incredible. She's really nice and helpful when you ask her questions (even by email), and although her exams can be hard, they're reflective of the course material.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/26/2023	People are generally pretty dramatic about lab professors, especially when they perform poorly in the class, but Koppel definitely sucks. I can’t speak to her lecturing abilities but in terms of lab, Koppel leaves you stranded with a poorly written lab notebook and TAs that are just as helpless, often citing how unhelpful she is themselves. Particularly terrible are the Post Lab Questions. Almost never written in a way which even loosely connects to what you did in lab, these garbo time-drainers are beyond difficult even with a comprehensive understanding of whatever you learned in lecture. They are not difficult because the content is hard, but mostly in that they are confusing and contain needlessly tricky and unrelated BS, so my biggest recommendation is to SHOW UP TO OFFICE HOURS. This class will make you feel stupid, because it is stupid, so a good grade will only result from a lot of time and a lot of talking in office hours with TAs who are slightly less confused than you are. Good luck.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/14/2023	This lab has been the absolute worst part of my semester. Even though it is only a 1 credit course, it is definitely the one I have to do the most work for. In addition to the 3 hour weekly lab, you'll likely have to find time to get to TA office hours because the lab reports are beyond challenging and loosely connect to what we did in lab. The pre-labs and everything else is fine, but the post-labs are so horrible and they take off points for any little mistake. The ELMS page is helpful though and the pre-lab videos make it clear what you are supposed to do during the actual lab.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/18/2023	Horrible rude professor who makes you purchase her lab manual which is riddled which errors LOL. She is a complete joke who fails to convey any concepts yet asks you extremely difficult questions on lab reports, for which you have to go out of your way to cram TA office hours into your schedule so that they can do the teaching that she failed to do
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/02/2023	Dr. Koppel is alright. This class is going to be difficult and take up a lot of your time no matter who you have. I don't think she explains certain concepts very well (I ended up learning from the optional textbook much better). Her exams are pretty reasonable, averages are super low (final was a 43%) but I think that's because pretty aren't willing or don't realize the amount of time this class takes. Her late night shows are a must because she takes concepts and practice problems straight from them and puts them on the exams. In fact, there were a few times where we didn't talk about something in class, but she covered it on her LNS and it ended up on the exam.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A- Anonymous 07/27/2023	Koppel is the bomb!!! Super friendly and always willing to help students. Exams are fair and reflect the material covered.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/08/2023	Dr. Koppel is definitely the best teacher I've had so far at UMD. She is super nice and really cares about her students. Would definitely recommend going to her office hours as she will answer any questions that you have. Discussions were super helpful as well and I thought the TA, Praha, was incredibly helpful and did a really good job of explaining any concepts that students were confused about. Dr. Koppel did sometimes move fast at times during lecture but that was to be expected since there is a lot of material on Orgo 1 to get through. However I did like that we would usually finish the actual material that was going to be on the exam a week or sometimes more before the exam as it gave me a lot of time to make sure I understood the material and was prepared for the exams. The difficulty of her exams varied but on all of the exams it was definitely possible to get an A or even over 100% since she gave extra credit which was nice. If you want to do well in this class you are gonna have to study like you would for any other orgo teacher that you would take. I also really like the format of her exams compared to other teachers. From what I've seen on her exams she tends to have less problems but make them take longer and be worth more points while teachers like Dr. Stocker I think have more questions but each question is shorter and is worth less points. Overall, I definitely recommend taking Dr. Koppel as she is super helpful and accommodating, and I think that you can easily find success in her class!
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B- Anonymous 06/04/2023	She's okay. I liked the order she teaches the material but they grade the exams way too hard. I feel like they're looking hard to take points off for anything. But I think you will pass her class with a B- no matter bc of the way she curves at the end.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2023	I enjoyed Koppel's teaching, but orgo is TOUGH. Koppel doesn't record lectures, but posts the notes afterwards. If you miss the class though, you probably won't be able to tell what the notes are saying at all. Koppel tends to go over concepts and do simple practice problems in lectures, but they're not really in depth and the exams are more difficult than practice done. She posts many of her past exams for each midterm, and her exams have no surprises, so that's really helpful for preparing. I suggest that you find a PDF of Organic Chem as a 2nd language by David Klein for free to get practice problems. She also has extra credit and the homework assignments are all free 100% to boost your grade. Your grade just rides on doing decent on the exams, and there was a decent curve at the end of the semester. It can get overwhelming at times, so practicing concepts you don't get is really important as the class progresses. I wish I spoke with her more, but she's pretty chill, so use office hours to your advantage. Lab (232) is a whole different story. Just go to the TAs office hours and beg for mercy.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/19/2023	Personally I liked Dr. Koppel. She was very easy to access and was receptive when you’d need her help. She’d post old exams which other professors didn’t do. These exams were pretty similar to the ones she gave us. She also posted her notes on canvas and would host the late night show which was a helpful review session before exams. Tbh she was better than the other two professors and even with a 69% I finished with a B. Overall pleased.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2023	Do not recommend! Koppel doesn't care about her students actually doing well in the class, posts minimal practice problems, and actually complained to our class that she would not be failing as many students as she normally does. I have actual trauma from the final this semester, and the average was literally a 45%. The only good thing I can say about her is that she gives a really big curve. Good luck if you have to take orgo from Koppel (or anyone tbh)
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2023	Dr. Koppel is an amazing professor. Her reviews don't show that because she's also the lab coordinator, which I will say is a grueling lab where you HAVE to go to office hours if you want to even attempt at getting an A, but besides that, she's a great lecture professor. She does tend to go quick with notes during lectures, but she posts them immediately and doesn't cover a crazy amount of information in every class. You have over a month to prepare for the first exam, which for me, was the hardest, but the last three come and go so quickly, so just be ready for that, but it's nothing no one can't handle. This is a hard class no matter what, so you will most likely struggle, but don't blame it on the professor automatically. Go to GSS and discussions, and I can't stress this enough: OFFICE HOURS!!! She is there to help and will gladly try her best to explain things in more detail than she did in class. Sometimes she can be intimidating to approach, but as is almost every other prof, so please, just go, even if you don't have any questions, sit at the desk and do your work, and become a familiar face. Overall, she is only ever setting you up for success and understands it's a hard class (she even admitted on the first day that she failed Orgo 1 the first time she took it) so she's extremely understanding. That is not to say though, that her exams aren't hard, because they are, but as long as you put at least a bit of work into it, you'll do great. Good luck, and take Koppel!!!
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/07/2023	Office hours are essential to getting a good grade on the lab reports! The TA's are there to help you! Attempt the questions yourself, but then go to office hours and go over them. For Spring 2022, Koppel stopped having a midterm and there was just the practical, which wasn't too bad, it tests you on the lab set ups you've already done. It's a chem lab, so it's not gonna be a great class, but I would definitely say it's the hardest lab I've had so far.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2022	Not a fan of her lab. However, if you want to do well then go to office hours, the TAs will essentially tell you what you need to know to get an A on the post lab questions, which sometimes are impossible to answer correctly without a TA because the information necessary was just not taught. The exams are designed to lower the average, and it's very clear that they are. The questions are written to trip you up and go into aspects of the lab techniques that are not mentioned at any other time. The lab practical is also 50 points but only two questions and only 10 minutes long. The two questions are randomly given so each student is basically taking a different practical, and you have to hope you get a question thats simple. I can understand making a lab difficult, but she just doesn't prepare her students or test them on what she teaches them.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/21/2022	I hated this class. I had the best TA and I made friends which made it a little bit bearable. You must go to office hours to get above average on the lab reports. We literally have no knowledge on how to do the post lab like idk why she even made those questions. Our lecture doesnt cover what the lab cover. What the heck is an E1CB mechanism anyways? what happened to e1/e2/sn1/sn2??? But dont sweat this class. I got a 18% on the midterm and a 37% on the final. They are both way below average btw which is like a 50. And I still got a B. LOL. The curve is something else man.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	Labs (particularly the post-lab questions) are hard. Make sure to go to office hours!! Everyone says that because it is truly imperative for getting a good grade. The midterm and final are hard - I got ~60% on the midterm and ~50% on the final. But, all of my lab grades were high Bs or As, which saved me. There is a big curve. I had an 82% before the curve and I ended up with an A in the class, which is +/-. Don't rely on this curve, though. Work hard to keep your grade up, but don't cry if you do badly on the midterm and final, because almost everyone does. Also, lab reports are graded by all TAs, so your grade on them does not depend on one TA's grading tendencies. Good luck!
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2022	Lab reports are graded harshly and even if you go to office hours and work through problems with TAs and other students, you can still fail the reports. Instructions aren't always clear. Midterm and final want students to have a deeper understanding of the material that you cannot get from the lab book or Koppel's prelab videos.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/13/2022	i love her, i really like her way of teaching and she explains things very well. she offers a lot of resources for learning outside of lecture (late night shows, practice problems, past exams with answer keys) and i found them to be really helpful! this semester she used an online system for the homework and extra credit assignments and i also found those to be good ways of understanding the material. the only issue with them is that the e-book explains concepts differently from her, which is confusing sometimes. her method of teaching might not work for everyone as ive heard complaints from others in the class, but for me i feel like with practice and using lecture notes im able to understand the subject. it is unfortunately a Huge amount of material and has overwhelmed me multiple times, but if you're able to understand the simpler concepts early on it helps you a lot as you get to the end of the course.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/04/2022	Love her!
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/13/2022	Definitely the best orgo 1 professor there is in my opinion. Her class consists of 3 midterm exams, 1 final, and a couple homeworks. It is orgo so it obviously will be very difficult, but if you go to class and review your notes everyday after class and do a bunch of practice problems you will be fine. Koppel is always willing to help you if you have any questions in office hours and it is definitely helpful that she runs the lab as well. Yes, her exams are challenging, and there are a couple curveballs on every exam, but there was a great curve (at least when I took it). However do not miss class, missing one class will feel like you missed two months of lecture. Just go to class and OFFICE HOURS and practice everyday and you will be fine. I will say, do not take this class with any other extremely difficult classes. This class will require tremendous amounts of time and efforts and must be prioritized in order to do well. She is a very nice, caring, and funny professor in my opinion!
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/25/2022	Do not recommend. She goes over everything pretty fast. Her tests are somewhat similar to the old tests. You pretty much have to do the readings and go to classes every single time to understand her notes.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2022	GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS!!! If you actually show up to her office hours and ask her about things you are confused about, you can do well in this class. She does rush through material during class, but she can't help that the class itself is so heavy on content. You will be frustrated at many points in time during this class... but if you truly put in the time and effort you can succeed. ORGO itself isn't hard, its actually quite enjoyable once you get the hang of it. Practice problems and flashcards will be your bestie. Koppel is a very genuine, funny, and caring professor, and I wish I got to know her even better. She truly loves what she does and wants to help. Yes, Stocker is a great professor, but Koppel is also great in her own way! You will not be at a disadvantage with her as a teacher, if anything you will be at an advantage when it comes to the lab because you will be familiar with her style.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/23/2022	Labs were pretty organized, but the midterm and final were brutal, especially the midterm. There were some free points but this class was so much work for one credit. Hated that the exams also had no partial credit, just 8-point multiple choice questions. Your lab report grades also heavily depend on your TA, and same goes for the pre-lab quizzes since TA's get to pick the questions. You kinda just have to get lucky, with your TA and on the exams. I personally did better in lecture than this class, but I will say the class does have a huge curve which is the only benefit. Good luck!
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2022	Had Koppel for Lab and Lecture. In lecture she is pretty good at explaining concepts but she does spend time on theory and topics that are pretty mundane and not helpful with what we're learning. In terms of exams we had 3 with each being 125 points so higher than most professors. Averages ranged from 50-60 usually but each exam is 100% doable and she often pulls questions from homework and practice exams so constantly doing practice problems with the materials she gives you is a huge necessity, do these practice problems as well as the second language book religiously and you should be fine, GSS is also a huge help. Graders are also pretty stingy with partial credit so make sure to double check all exam answers. The final was much easier and works best for people who review practice exams. Overall very time consuming but completely doable once you find good study techniques. Lab had no contact with Dr. Koppel besides for a 2 hour review session before the final which was very helpful. Lab manual is super helpful at explaining topics but tons of procedures had some typos which caused a lot of people in lab to ruin their experiments completely and be left with no results. Midterms and final are 128 points with each average being around a 66. Going to review sessions are helpful but the only thing you can really do is hope to stay above the class average. Pre-labs and the labs themselves aren't too difficult but they are time consuming so leaving lab early isn't that common. Post-labs are very difficult and you definitely need to go to TA office hours for help. Some TA's genuinely don't know whats going on but there are amazing TA's who care about what your learning and are super helpful. On top of lab reports there is a 50 point practical quiz which tests on lab apparatus' and two 30 point literature and IR workshops which are easy points. As long as you do solid on lab reports you will be fine in class because the workshops help counteract the low exam averages. Overall Koppel isn't the best lecturer or coordinator but her classes are super doable if you find time to attend office hours for lab and grind out practice problems for the lecture midterms and final.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2022	Overall really good professor. Her teaching style is very modern, and her exams are very similar to practice/old ones. You have to attend office hours if you want help with homework or concepts, but an A in her class is not impossible.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/18/2022	Not the worst. I would always feel super prepared for exams, but she always purposefully put questions to trick you. Homework/quizzes were hard, but did help my grade. In the end, the curve is generous. If you put in the time, you will pass. In terms of teaching style, she never worked through complicated examples during class, so trying to do them on your own or on an exam felt unfair. She seemed nice and understanding, but definitely doesn't take an BS from anyone so don't offend her lol. I never felt that I was doing bad because of her teaching, it was because her exams were ridiculously hard. Then again, it is orgo so it is different for everyone!
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/26/2022	Honestly please take Stocker if you have the chance. Koppel explains okay but the examples she chooses in class are always stupidly easy compared to the ones she gives on homeworks and tests.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/03/2022	I don't know why people give her bad reviews. She is by far the most knowledgeable, respectful, and straightforward prof ive had at UMD. Her exams are fair but challenging and I think overall it is a great experience as long as you keep up, go to class, and study hard.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2021	I personally never actually met with Dr. Koppel- labs are run by your section TA. I will not review my TA here, though he was awesome. Other than the ten labs you will complete, there are two separate assignments (literature and IR spectroscopy), which are basically 60 free points. The lab manual is your saving grace. Almost everything you need in the semester is in there. Labs are straightforward- just follow the manual. Post-lab questions are the only difficult parts of the labs, and sometimes you will have to attend office hours in order to understand them. Otherwise, the labs constitute 490 of your ~860 points in the semester, so they are very important. Why? See the next section. The rest of the points come from the midterm and final exams. Each exam is 128 points, and the average is always around 50%. My TA told me that these exams are designed to bring the class average down, which makes sense. After taking the exams, they feel like they were designed that way. You will be fine, as long as you work hard on the post-lab questions. Again, all you can really study off of for the final is the lab manual. Good luck :)
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2021	While I'm not sure how Dr. Koppel is with lecture, I can say that her lab is difficult, but also passable. I do think that this course was too difficult for a 1 credit course. The actual lab manual is not difficult, but her post lab questions are extremely difficult, and you will need to go to TA office hours for help. I think the most frustrating past of the post labs were the article searches, as it seems pointless to make students waste their times finding a specific article that she could just attach to the assignment. Along with that, she decided to stop giving the TA's answer keys, which meant that it was very difficult for students to get help. Not all TAs knew what to do for all of those post lab questions. Her exams are known for being unpassable, especially the midterm. However, for the final, she will have an in-person review session, and that was extremely helpful in my opinion. I really like her lecture style, she is actually very easy to listen to, and she does a great job of keeping the lecture on topic. Don't panic if you do poorly on the midterm -- everyone does (including me). You will learn a lot from this class, but the class can be very frustrating at times. To be honest, your enjoyment of this class will be determined by your TA. Make sure not to miss any labs!
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Anonymous 12/18/2021	Lab coordinators are usually barely involved with the actual lab, so I can't really fault Koppel for that. However, she still made this lab far more difficult than it needs to be. She's essentially the only person who teaches CHEM232, so there isn't really a chance of avoiding her, it's more about knowing how to approach her lab. The number one thing is that her post-lab questions are ridiculously difficult. These are the questions that she will post on ELMS in addition to the post-lab questions that are already in the lab manual. They will ask hard questions that barely relate to the content of the lab and ask about content that most students don't learn in lecture. Usually, it's not hard to get full points on every other part of the experiments. Those are always graded by your TA (so it's pretty nice to have a chill TA in the class). A lot of times, the pre-lab component is only graded on completion. The post-lab questions (PLQs) are graded on rotation, so they're graded by different TAs every time. Every TA grades a little bit different, and they all grade at different paces, so do not expect to receive your labs back periodically/be able to use your graded labs to help with the future ones. If you want to ensure that you do well on the PLQs, GO TO OFFICE HOURS. Or find a friend who does. A lot of the questions are near impossible to answer unless the TAs tell you the answer. Also, the TAs for my class (Fall 2021) had the answer keys for each lab, so the literal answers were given out at office hours. Koppel eventually realized this and stopped giving them the answer keys, and so the TAs stopped being as helpful, but they were still better than nothing. I always saved doing my lab stuff until the night before, which I really regret. This lab has SO much more work than a one-credit course should have, and it's a good idea to get started on that stuff early so you have time to go to office hours. Also, try and find a TA you like or that other students like, they're likely to be more helpful. I never personally found the pre-lab videos that helpful, but definitely try to watch them, especially for the more complicated labs. Just read the manual closely for each lab and know the directions, it'll make everything go a lot faster (you're gonna wanna get out of those labs as fast as possible, some of them WILL take the full three hours). Besides the lab, there are a few additional assignments, which aren't hard. The midterm in this lab is excessively difficult. There is simply no way to study for it. Koppel published a review guide and it didn't help in any single way. As for the final, Koppel, hosted a review session for the exam, and it was so, so helpful. If she does that again, GO TO IT!! The final felt a lot easier than the midterm for me, and it also wasn't cumulative (just on the second half of the experiments in the course). In a way, there isn't a way to control your grade in this lab. It's impossible to answer questions exactly how Koppel expects. You just have to get through it, unfortunately, there isn't really a way to avoid Koppel.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Anonymous 12/13/2021	the lab this semester was a mess, and she kept making decisions that made it more so. this class is meant to supplement what we're doing in 231, which is a great idea in theory. in practice, all of the professors are covering the concepts on a different timeline. which would be fine, but there is hardly an explanation of the concepts in the lab manual. sometimes you get videos to watch before the lab, which are really helpful, but they can range from being over 2 hours in total to maybe 5 minutes for the week. and sometimes they don't even cover theory, just how to do the actual lab. a ta also called the recommended textbook useless. which would be fine since we can just go to office hours. but halfway into the semester she's limited how much the ta's can say when they answer a question. which would be fine, you don't want your ta's just giving out answers. but it's to the point where i've seen people ask basic questions on theory and the ta's still can't answer. there's literally not a single source to find the theory we NEED to know, considering it's almost all of what's on the midterm/final/PLQ's, which are HUGE parts of the grade. the lab is ran so poorly, for being just 1 credit i find myself putting in a stupid amount of effort for disappointing results. if the lab manual that she wrote was just slightly more extensive, that would be so helpful. if the ta's weren't kept away from explaining even basic theory, that would be so helpful! i know there's no other choice for the lab, but be prepared for a really difficult, frustrating semester if you do have to take it.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting a D Anonymous 08/31/2021	Worst professor at UMD. Very strict on grading and is very disrespectful to her students. Took this course online during peak COVID and she had no remorse or sympathy for her students who were trying to learn organic chemistry ONLINE. Her lab videos were poor quality half of the time so it was difficult to record correct measurements which lead to getting poor lab grades on the report. Avoid this processor at all costs!
Monique Koppel CHEM232V Expecting a B+ Anonymous 06/01/2021	It was kinda annoying that it was online, she seemed like a good teacher but because it was online it was annoying. Some labs were really great and you could do independently pretty well, but some were pretty vague and could not be done without office hours. So it ended up being kind of annoying that some labs I aced 50/50 but others were just randomly like a 30 which just is weird. Like the grades for a consistent class shouldn't be so inconsistent, but that's because the labs really were not so consistent. I do think that Koppel was good though, and Orgo lab is probably best with her.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2021	The labs were generally fair and she modified them well to let us get out early. There were tons of office hours with the Tis, which are essential to getting the Post Lab questions answered. However, you should try to good really good on the lab reports, because the final is very hard. Since it is multiple choice (for chemistry), you can lose a lot of points quickly and it will bring your grade down. There was a pretty good curve at the end (4%) though, to account for this.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/25/2021	Labs were difficult but TA office hours were very helpful. I was on track to receiving an A this semester, but went down to a B with the absolutely unnecessary final. The final was extremely difficult and it was very disappointing to be assigned one despite the fact that we have been home for a year due to the pandemic. Koppel was very reluctant to give any sort of leniency. Try to do well on the labs, because the final will bring you down a few percentage points. Again not sure why it was at all necessary, especially considering the fact that we were able to demonstrate our understanding of the material with our labs.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2021	Labs weren't too bad however the TAs could be very picky with answers to post lab questions. Overall not too bad, the final is challenging so make sure to study and get a high enough score so it doesn't completely ruin your grade. Office hours are very helpful for any confusion to labs. Make sure to do the prep work for labs because it will make everything easier for you.
Monique Koppel CHEM231 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/24/2021	Fall of 2020 lab wasn’t bad. Took about 6 hrs a week including the lab video you had to watch to “do” the experiment. Must attend office hours (hers and/or the TAs) to do well. Some TAs were more helpful than others. Definitely a doable class but had to go to office hours or else you won’t do well on the lab reports.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/05/2021	The online lab was a mess. Super disorganized and whenever people were confused she had a lot of attitude.
Monique Koppel CHEM232 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/24/2020	Dr. Koppel's lab was a mess! The lab videos were not helpful. You had to go to several office hours to understand how to do the labs. The final was AWFUL (less than 50% average) and not on anything we covered. She's super strict so don't think about cheating. Thankfully she did a huge curve at the end because she knew everyone failed her final.
Monique Koppel CHEM131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/26/2020	Dr. Koppel was a pretty good professor. She moved very slowly at the beginning, but after we transitioned to online learning she went pretty fast to "catch up". In the beginning she did a really good job at explaining the basics, but possibly too much time. After transitioning to online learning, she uploaded multiple lectures at once sporadically to watch at our own pace, which was nice because her lectures are usually fast paced. Her online lectures very good most of the time. It was much harder to learn online personally because discussions and GSS (which are super necessary!!) were not at the usual times and did not feel the same. There is 8 online homework assignments due at the end of the semester which helped me understand concepts and they were not too difficult Dr. Koppel will tell you that you need to put in the work outside of lecture, which is very very true!! I put in about 3 hours/week in person and probably 6-10 hours/week after the online transition. Organic Chemistry is not as intimidating as it seems if you put in the hard work and Koppel was a pretty good professor.
Monique Koppel CHEM131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/12/2020	Dr. Koppel is one of the better teachers offered for CHEM 131. Her lectures tend to be slow, but as long as you do the textbook readings, homework, and attend discussions, it should be a manageable class. Exams are fair and accurately reflect practice tests, and what is learned in class.
Monique Koppel CHEM131 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/09/2020	Great professor for Chem 131! As long as you work for it you’re fine.
Monique Koppel CHEM131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2019	I took AP Chemistry in high school, so this class came easier to me than others. Koppel does a good job of what you need to know for the exams and warns us about what we will need to know for organic chemistry. She comes off a bit sassy at times, but it's important to ask her questions during office hours if you're confused or else you'll fall behind. She does a lot of practice problems during class, which I would pay close attention to because those questions are very similar to the questions on the exams. I recommend doing all the extra practice problems and previous exams that she posts online. The class is curved but only at the end of the semester and it depends on the class average. Overall, if you go to lecture and understand how to do practice problems, you will do fine in the class.
Monique Koppel CHEM135 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 09/19/2019	She's average - not the best but not horrific either. Just understand as many of the given problems as you can, and you'll pass for sure.