Information | Review |
---|---|
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/26/2023 |
Dr.Wang is honestly a pretty solid professor. One of my only gripes was that I felt his lectures were hard to follow at times and did not get a lot out of them until I was able to return to the slides later. I also did not like that he allocated 150 points to clicker questions, which equalled an exam. If you do really well on them they are definitely a grade booster and most people did do well, but I didn't really like them because he quizzed you on the content that you just learned, and I thought the questions were quite difficult. Since I didn't absorb a lot from his lectures, it was hard to do well but luckily I had smart friends around me who helped out. With that being said, I am taking him over the other professors because his exams are very straightforward and they are easy to do well on if you complete the homework. He doesn't grade the homework but you must do it to perform well in the class because it is definitely difficult content to follow without practice. Also, he is very kind and welcoming and wants to see you succeed so go to him if you need help understanding concepts. |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2023 |
A sweet guy who is willing to help, but honestly one of the worst science professors I've had. The language barrier made it difficult to understand him (didn't understand any lectures, only went for the clicker points), and the homeworks (not graded) were difficult and did not relate to the exam as they looked like they were copied out of a random textbook, slides looked busy and were very difficult to interpret for me. The only reason I did well was because I had a tutor- I barely looked at his slides and never did homework. His exams are very fair and your grade is based on 3 midterms, the final, and clickers. Wang was not receptive to students' concerns with using in-class handheld clickers not connecting (instead of the free app?) and not posting slides before class. He is VERY old school- writing on the chalkboard sometimes and busy slides with images that look like they are from a textbook and didn't seem the best with technology/canvas. He does grade fast and is willing to answer any questions, but didn't always understand people's questions correctly. Some of the grading on exams seemed unfair (took off a lot of points for something that didn't seem like it deserved it), and he basically never gave points back unless it was a tallying points mistake. He seems too smart to be teaching this or assumes that students understand more than we actually do. Usually, if you can get above a 50%, you pass because of the curve. My class's averages were alwasy around 70%. Overall If you are someone who can understand busy, textbook-type slides and his accent you can probably do well, but of course, it's a lot of information regardless of the professor. Learning the material from someone else, I would never have been able to understand it from Dr. wang. |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2023 |
Dr. Wang is one of the only good professors on campus. He truly cares about our success and ability to perform. He spends half of the lecture following the midterms to go over some the main questions, and then conclude with a motivational talk on having a positive attitude towards life and chem241. His slides are very easy to follow, expect many reactions, but all the mechanisms you need to know are on there. He also spends the whole lecture the lecture before the midterm to review. He lists all the mechanisms that will show up so you only need to study for those,~3-5. His exams are by far the most straightforward exams which a few questions directly from the practice exam and homework. The exam structure is the same including the final exam, consisting of multiple choices for basic properties(nomenclature, mp/bp, acidity/basicity), reactions, mechanisms, and synthesis. I really enjoyed his class since I sit in the front row, he always comes and talks to me about my weekend/summer plans before class starts. I wish my professors are all like him. I've had many friends who taken other chem 2 professors, and I truly believe Dr. Wang will be the right choice; do expect a ridiculous waitlist though. |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/17/2023 |
Having taken this course, I feel like most of these reviews are relatively true. If you are coming from stocker, this is your warning: He does not provide as in depth lectures as she does and you will have to self study the crap out of this class. He gives out non-graded homeworks which you definitely NEED to do in order to do well on the exams. He also provides everything you need to know on slides but he runs through them and only draws a couple of mechanisms on a chalk board. I accidentally relied solely on the single practice exam he provides prior to the exam and this isn't sufficient if you want to get a good grade. Be diligent about your time and understand your syntheses. He is a great teacher and he won't throw anything particularly crazy at you but you have to be very proactive. I personally found he was great in office hours but again, you have to do way more work to understand things outside of class rather than just sitting in the lecture. I was a little upset we had to purchase clickers for our mandatory clickers since I had other professors who let us use the free app instead. TLDR; Overall, a great person, not the best lecturer, DO YOUR HOMEWORKS, and review the lecture slides! |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Anonymous 05/16/2023 |
Professor Wang was great, his lectures are all given on PowerPoints but emphasizes some important mechanisms or concepts by writing them on the board. Everything you need for the exams are on the PowerPoints and you just need to practice/remember the things on the PowerPoints. He has clicker (participation points) that really helps your grade (pretty much acts as an extra exam) but also means you have to get them right/go to class. His exams are very fair, although not easy or impossible, he has multiple choice questions, typical reaction/mechanism questions to write out. However all the reactions and mechanisms are fair and he usually gives you what mechanisms to know for the exam. He also has optional homework’s that don’t count towards your grade but usually he has one or two homework problems on the exams. No dropped exams. Professor Wang’s lecture style is pretty easy to follow and isn’t for everyone but if you’re really concerned about not doing well, Wang is your best option. You might not learn as much detail as other professors but you still learn a lot while the exams not being from hell. |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2023 |
Dr. Wang is by far the best professor I have ever met. Not just the professor, but the best dude in general. He is so caring about his students and all he really wants is for us to succeed and love organic chemistry (while not being so obnoxious about it as other professors). In regards to the class, the other reviews are completely accurate. He teaches basically only what’s on the exam, and he never tries to throw curveballs. Everything is straightforward and structured in the best way possible. Take Dr. Wang |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/11/2023 |
this class sucks but Professor Wang made it all worth the while. i love this dude and you will too |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2021 |
honestly, best professor I have ever had. His practice exams are extremely helpful, but make sure you truly mastered each question on the exam to be able to apply the material to a similar problem. He gives optional homework which may help your understanding of the material. Carefully review his lecture slides, because he may give a hint to topics that are important. His curve was generous and the TA's discussion is very important. Mechanisms are also important to take note of, they are not on the slides. TAKE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but remember, this is organic chemistry two, it requires a LOT of work. So if you don't put in that work, the professor does not matter, it is up to you to practice and master the material. there is usually free orgo 2 tutoring from AXS 2x/wk, so take advantage! |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A+ florm 12/18/2021 |
Dr. Wang is a fantastic professor who is very willing to help us. His lectures are exactly as straightforward and packed with information as you could expect for such a dense course. He does occasionally speed through lecture slides, but he always posts them after class so you can go back through and take notes on what you missed. That being said, the mechanisms are usually not in the lecture slides, he'll just draw them on the chalkboard so make sure you always copy them down. He also will post a couple pages of homework problems from the textbook after each lecture; these aren't graded but they're very helpful. GSS practice problems were also super helpful (and sometimes were almost identical to what was on the exams). Your grade is entirely based on exams: 3 midterms and the final, that's it. That definitely puts a lot more pressure on the exams, but I felt that they weren't excessively difficult, and they never had any surprises. They were graded insanely fast too, usually by the end of the day, and the averages were typically in the high 60s/low 70s. Dr. Wang also gives us practice exams for the midterms, and always lets you know beforehand which mechanisms you should focus on. One big tip: don't think that certain things won't be on the exam because they seem trivial or random. Chances are, there will be one question about it. There is a lot of memorization in orgo, regardless of what professor you have. So be prepared for that. |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/03/2020 |
Approachable professor who wants to help his students succeed. Dr. Wang's lectures are a little dry but very thorough and closely follow the textbook. Exams are very predictable and consist of nomenclature, reactions, mechanisms, synthesis and a few questions on general concepts. His exams are almost the exact same as the practice exams he gives out. Take his class if you wanna coast and get a good grade, but he doesn't teach as much content or as in depth as Stocker/MS. |
Lai-Xi Wang
CHEM241 Expecting an A bnketia 12/18/2018 |
For starters, Dr. Wang is a very nice professor and clearly cares for his students which I appreciated throughout this semester. However, I will say that his class was challenging especially given the language barrier that exists. Over time, it got easier to understand what he was saying but with a subject like orgo, communication is essential. Nevertheless, I appreciated how he gave us homework assignments (granted the textbook questions are difficult) and had clicker questions. I would say his exams are harder than average for 241 but he keeps the format for each exam the same so you know what types of problems to anticipate. If you do the homework problems (in Dr. Wang's words) and use Orgo as a Second Language, you will be able to succeed if the subject does not come naturally to you. The TA Steven is very knowledgeable and discussion is typically helpful so I would advise attending. The curve is always dependent on the semester but I had an 82% with the class average being a ~61%. |