Gainer seems like he genuinely cares, and I will say that the actual labs didn't waste my time like the gen chem labs do; we learned relevant skills we could take into industry. He also curves to a B, which is very fair, and the tests weren't that hard. However, I don't understand his rationale for the impossible final.

Gainer was a nice guy who cared about his students. HOWEVER, that man has an evil final exam. I got As on all of the midterms and the final, not only felt out of the blue, but also brought me down almost 10%. There's no way to properly study for it, try to get the small points on everything else.

As long as you try to understand the fundamentals of the lab techniques and put effort into learning IR/NMR/Mass Spec, an A/B is pretty much guaranteed. Gainer gives you enough resources to succeed in the class. I'd recommend doing all the book problems, and showing up to lecture/labs so that you can drop the lab practical for your lowest lab.

why the hell are these 2-3 unit chem labs obsessed with giving impossible finals. my grade dropped 10%...

I maintained a high A (> 95%) all quarter in this class. Gainer administers THREE midterms, a lab practical, and a notoriously hard final exam, all in the span of 10 weeks (3rd midterm was literally week 9). As if the class is not difficult enough, Gainer creates an incredibly difficult final exam, which brought me down an entire letter grade.

Gainer is approachable and nice, but I find the lectures to lack context/structure and I got lost in what we were learning. I have nothing against him but god does this class suck. I have a deep hate for this subject so I might be biased, but it really was the worst. 4 hour lab every week, plus lecture 2x a week (lab practical AND lecture final).