best chem professor at ucsb
Dr. Gainer is a real gem of a professor! At first, his lectures were super confusing, but doing the readings beforehand made his lectures easier to understand. He gives explanatory feedback on exams and during office hours. In hindsight, the answers to his exams were pretty simple. Do the book problems, read the book+ class notes, and STUDY HARD.
Gainer is an amazing professor; he's super friendly and explains concepts very well. His lectures are very interactive, with iclicker questions every lecture. He does use the chalkboard a lot so he goes at a reasonable pace, and wants students to ask questions. His exams require good time management and deep understanding of concepts, but are FAIR!
Dr. Gainer is a respected guy. He is somehow similar to Dr. feldwinn, a professor of gen Chem. They both have difficult tests but want students to really understand course materials. The average of final is 86 OUT of 200; I got 130, but received B because of my midterms. A really great teacher.
Fantastic!! Expects deep understanding of the material but encourages questions and coming into office hours. Tests are free response and critical-thinking orientated but very fair in terms of difficulty, but only if YOU put in the time to study diligently! My favorite professor at UCSB! Made me appreciate and even to enjoy my OChem classes...
Gainer is incredible. If u have the chance to take him for ochem, DO IT. What I loved most about him is that his lectures follow the textbook but present the material in a different way thas easier to understand (unlike other ochem professors who's lectures are the book verbatim...) his tests are hard but fair, lectures interesting and VERY CLEAR
Took for 109A and 6AL too, but 109C I took with him online. Guarantee he'll be better next time on timing out quarter better, but don't sleep on online classes. You'll be in a paradox if you like online classes the whole quarter, but its Gainer at his best and honestly am glad I had him for OChem, as hard as it can be.
Gainer is an incredible teacher. He teaches a tough course but I learned more from him in one Ochem quarter than I did the entire year with other teachers. I think I lived in his office hours and it truly paid off, he for sure bumped my grade. He wants to see an effort and if he sees you are trying he will really help you.
he's awesome truly.
I really enjoyed Gainer's lectures because he has a very systematic approach to working through ochem problems. You will not learn concepts in class, you must read before lectures. Don't memorize, it won't help, the trick to ochem is knowing all the exceptions to the rules, and that comes with practice problems. Large curve, 80% got me an A.
Dr. Gainer was the best OChem professor I had. He gets a lot of hate because his tests are hard, but he, unlike the other teachers, wants you to actually UNDERSTAND the material, not just memorize it. If you take the time to understand ochem, there is very little you actually have to memorize. His lectures were organized and he is well spoken.
The first two midterms were extremely fair. You just had to put in the time and do all of the book problems. The final was also extremely fair, except for one twelve point mech that no one got. If you are going to take Gainer, make sure you have a lot of time. He just goes off the book, but attendance is required, which was very frustrating
Midterm exam was so much easier than the final exam. The class is not as scary as everyone makes it seem. The labs are very easy and repetitive and the class is graded on a heavy curve. Quizzes are pretty difficult, but there are a lot of components that comprise of your grade (quizzes, lab reports, miderm, final, lab work, lab practical).
Listen. If you can get an A in this class (ridiculously hard), you could get an A in Bruice with way less effort. If you can get an A in Bruice, you might barely get a B in this class lol. This is way harder professor, 0 old exams or practice exams, way harder exams, and require way more knowledge. He is not an amazing lecturer, and goes fast.
Hardest course I've taken so far. Get the e-book and bring your computer to the class since Gainer is basically repeating the book and his pace is way too fast to write everything down. The average for tests is 53% and they are long & hard. I ended up getting an A with overall 79%. Just feeling really lucky since it shows the curve is not too bad.
I took 109C during Summer 2015 and it was okay. I like him better than Bruice but Aue is still the best ochem prof. in my opinion. I feel like this class was more chill during summer and he even offered extra credit. I did a little above average on both midterms. I thought the final was easy & straightforward but I didn't really study so I got a D.
Contrary to what people say, Gainer really isn't that great of a lecturer. He spends the first 2-3 weeks reviewing things we know already from Chem 1A/B/C and then whizzes past new and complicated concepts at the end of the quarter - by the end of the quarter, nobody ever understood anything he was talking about because of the pace of the class.
Anyone who says Gainer is a bad lecture-er just didn't read before class. And that's the thing about Gainer -- you need to read the sections BEFORE coming to class or else you won't know what he's talking about. His midterms are do-able if you do the book problems and the final is tricky, expect averages around 50-60%. Tremendous beneficial curve.
Do not pick Gainer over Bruice. He is not an amazing lecturer at all. He moves extremely quickly and expects you to study a lot on your own. His exams are way harder than Bruice, and you'll be expected to know a lot more. Don't listen to the lmao just need to know concepts, when ppl say that it means u have to know inside and out, to barely do well
He lectures so fast it's impossible to keep up, writes on the board and then erases it, so if you miss it it's gone forever. Work on your speed writing skills if you wanna pass this class. Offers no resources or help for preparing for test, completely blindsides you with questions you've never seen before. Pray for that curve
Dr. Gainer does a really good job but there's just so much material that it's impossible for him to cover it all in class. Read the textbook and do the problems! Going to class will help you (especially those i-clicker points) but it's basically just a repeat of the reading with some clarification of hard parts. Tests vary from difficult to insane.
idk what half the people on here are talking about. Gainer isnt the worst professor but hes not the best thats for sure. His lectures are so fast and he constantly messes up his own notes that CLAS tutors had to always correct him. Midterms not that bad but his final was completely absurd. His final is the reason I got a D in the class
Chem 109C was not my favorite class but I managed to get a B. The first two midterms were very easy, I got an A on the first one and a B on the second one. The final was very difficulty. I failed the final but got a B in the course. Be ready to do HW because those questions show up on the midterms sometimes and do book problems because they show up
Ochem is hard no matter what, but Gainer gets you through it. Very dynamic lecturer and really cares about his students. 2 midterms + final, and online homework. Definitely preferred over Bruice.