Tests are extremely difficult. I studied for hours upon hours and still failed both midterms extremely bad.

really difficult tests, exams are nothing like the practice exams

I had him for the entire Gen Chem series and LOVED him. I only got a bad grade due to my own lack of study habits, but he has very informational lectures, is super accessible and accommodating outside of class, and cares about his students' success. I guarantee negative reviews are by people who just struggled with the content/ didn't study.

Tough grader, I will never ever take this class again.

the GOAT of gen chem. super hard classes in general but josephs lectures are very helpful and easy to follow. he has lectures posted online which is helpful. work through all the book problems and practice problems until you understand them inside and out. his office hours are super helpful and accessible

I had Joseph for the whole gen chem series and I personally loved him. Lectures are incredibly important so make sure you watch the videos or attend class. The class is hard but if you put in the work, you will be okay. I came in having barely any knowledge of chem and passed each time with a B and 1C with a B+. Good luck!

Crisjoe is definitely one of the best chem professors out there. The class itself is hard, but his organized lectures and clear instructions of paying attention to the book for tests are very helpful, and he cares that his students succeed. There is a curve on the class as a whole, but not on individual tests. Recommend taking him for gen chem!

This class is brutal, compared to other standard 1st year stem classes (Math, phys, etc..) this class is more like 8 units of work not 3. There is a ton of material to cover, and the exams are very hard. However, the professor is very upfront about this, and does his best to help everyone despite the large class size.

Chem is a difficult class, but Crisjoe is clear about what he expects on the midterms and final. He provides practice problems and practice exams, and he uses those question formats on the tests. He also has a youtube channel with all of his lectures. Overall a great professor!

My favorite chem professor!! Really thorough and clear lectures, very clear what will be on the exam. Make sure to do all the book problems, take notes and go through the slides/videos if you miss class. He's a really kind person and is pretty funny too! Gen chem is hard but it's obvious he wants you to succeed :))

I had Crisjoe for Chem 1 A, B, and C and he was so great. Definitely a tough class but it's because of the material, he makes it no harder than it needs to be. His lectures were great and he is super helpful and responsive. Definitely recommend taking Gen Chem with Joseph!

Very organized lecturer with helpful online recordings of past years. He clearly has taught this class many times and knows his stuff. Do the book problems and the practice tests, and his office hours are so helpful, so take advantage of them. ALEKS sucks but is actually useful, so do it.

Great lecturer, every lecture and homework problem is carefully chosen

Lovely lad. Straight up G. Tries his best to help everyone. Love all his intros to his lectures.

I really loved him as a professor and his lectures were always engaging. Do some if not all of the book problems and definitely do the practice exams. Aleks is good practice but it's hard to learn from unless you read through the explanations and write it down too. Most of his material for the 1A final was repeated from the practice exams.

the class itself is difficult but crisjoe makes it a lot easier. attending lectures is very helpful as he explains the concept and then uses iclicker as example problems. watching the recorded lectures is also very helpful. make sure to do book problems because he uses them on the midterms and final (main things that determine ur grade)

had him for all of gen chem, very thoughtful, kind, and knowledgeable. fair tests and genuinely gives you the resources to succeed

An AMAZING professor, but the class is just difficult and a weeder class. Despite what he might say, Chem 1B is much easier, so don't lose hope. I took Joseph again for 1B, and he's still great.

Joseph is a great Chem 1A Professor, very clear guidelines about what to expect on tests and provided plenty of examples and practice exams for his tests. He is very accessible through office hours and relatively easy to reach by email with questions. His class was difficult as all Chem classes are at UCSB, but he makes an effort to help you pass.

Dr. Joseph is a great guy and truly has his students' best interests, but his teaching style was not for me. His class is EXTREMELY fast-paced. I'm retaking with Sylvester and the class is much more manageable and her teaching style makes complex topics easy. Dr. Joseph is a great professor for those who've taken ap chem. If not, good luck!

Professor Joseph genuinely wants students to succeed and makes it very clear that in order to do so, you need to do book problems. Follow his micro goals schedule and take practice exams before midterms/final and you'll be set. I didn't take AP Chem in high school and learned a lot; take his course, you won't regret it :)

He was an amazing professor. He made even the most difficult content quite easy to comprehend since he broke down the information to explain it in a way that made sense to most of us. ALEKs is a pain, but apart from that the course is very manageable.

Professor Joseph really makes an effort to answer questions even in such a large lecture hall, and office hours are helpful. Attendance isn't mandatory but the iclicker can help your grade at the end. He goes pretty fast with his slides, so the best thing I did was take slide notes beforehand and listen to his lecture and examples during class.

Very clear exam materials. Just do the book problems and practice exams and you'll be fine. To be honest I have never met such a kind and generous professor before...He really cares about students and want them to get a good grade.