CH E 120A
HELGESON M E
Matthew Helgeson
18 reviews

CHE120A . Helgeson M E 6 Months Ago

120A is a behemoth of a class, fluid dynamics is often some of the most technically difficult math you will see in your coursework, so I know that Professor Helgeson did his best with an already confusing and hard subject. I appreciated that he was willing to meet me for extra tutoring, because I really struggled in exam-taking for this class.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

120A Mid lectures at best. Easy midterm but impossible final worth 40%. One of the problems we never once did anything related on a HW so no practice. I stg he picks HW problems via throwing at a dartboard, not whats covered in lecture. So many errors in notes, HW solutions, even exam questions. I feel like I barely learned anything. Underwhelming

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 4 Years Ago

A professor who tries his best but falls short in more fields than he succeeds. Lectures are jam packed with material in too short of a time frame that it feels like he's just regurgitating discombobulated information at you with little to no coherency. Assignments do not align with lectures and textbook felt close to useless. Bad at emails.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 5 Years Ago

I do sincerely think while he makes mistakes here and there, he is the best professor I have ever taken in UCSB so far and will be one of them by the graduation.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 7 Years Ago

Grades fairly hard but the class ends up having a nice curve, so it is passable. He told us that he did "very bad" on his first chemical engineering test, but he got a C! He also claims to give a lot of partial credit on tests, but I didnt experience that first hand. Overall, do the homework and put in the effort to understand it and you'll be fine

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 7 Years Ago

Tough class due to lots of problem sets, relatively difficult exams and it being the first real ChE class. Good lecturer, made some mistakes here and there but really helpful in office hours. Other than being super smart, he's very nice and not intimidating. Utilize office hours!!!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10CHE120B . Helgeson M E 8 Years Ago

Helgeson probably gives the most homework of all the chemical engineering professors. Good notes, good lectures. You learn a lot, tests are more challenging than the other chem e professors.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 9 Years Ago

Really nice guy. Lectures were awesome. Long tests and HW, but he is always willing to help everyone. He is by far my favorite professor.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 10 Years Ago

Helgeson Round 2. Pretty good class. Organized notes. Answers questions promptly. Good luck to future classes!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 10 Years Ago

Great professor. Very clear during lectures and office hours. Grades fairly but writes extremely difficult exams, but he's always willing to help students.

0 helpful 2 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 10 Years Ago

Really nice guy, and very willing to help students. The midterm was reasonable, and graded strictly but fairly. Unfortunately, the final exam was straight out of left field, much harder than the practice exam or any other problems we had ever seen.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

Nice professor. Very helpful. Exams are rather challenging

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

Great professor, expects a lot from the students but is rather fair. Many times he has accommodated due dates with concurrent class midterms. Very approachable and is wiling to work with students who are struggling. Taught a really great intro to che class. 10/10 teaching quality!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

Great guy, but gives so much homework. He's new though, so he'll probably get better. Good at explaining things, and you'll learn a lot. The class itself isn't hard, it's the workload that kills you.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

Helgeson is definitely still getting used to teaching, and he does tend to go overboard on homework/exam depth and quantity, but he is still a much better than average engineering professor. He is also very approachable and provides extra resources. Heat transfer is not the hardest class by any means but the sheer work load was unforeseeable.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE120B . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

Super nice guy, very helpful. He's pretty unorganized though, mistakes in all his notes, lectures, and homeworks all over the place - makes things kind of confusing. His homework and tests are LONG. Homework takes up almost your whole week. But, you'll definitely learn. It's still his first year teaching, so he'll definitely get better.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHE10 . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

Helpful, prepared, friendly, approachable. Quite reasonable with grading as well.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
CHEME10 . Helgeson M E 11 Years Ago

He's really nice and helpful. Go to office hours and ask him questions whenever you want and he will do his best to help you. Take him if you can. He's my favorite professor at UCSB so far.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful