He is a very good at explaining things and his lectures are clear and concise. The thing that sucks are his tests that tend to trip you up with conceptual questions. Grades are weighted to where the final will basically make or break your grade. Wasn't really a fan of his office hours as you really didn't get to talk to him much. DO BOOK PROBLEMS!!
Solid professor. An A is possible if you put the time and effort, pay attention to his lectures, do all the book problems (even more than once, I did the ones I didn't understand over and over until it clicked), do the practice tests/quizzes 2-3 times. Exams are fair game, they're always problems you've seen before.
Having taken Price, Joseph, and Mercy for the gen chem series, Prof. Crisjoe "it is on the money" Joseph was the best by far. He has clear & easy to understand ~15 minute videos for every topic, allowing you to learn at your own pace and not miss any information. He makes it clear what is important to know for the exam and never tries to trick you.
Amazing professor, better than Price. He is an interactive lecturer so you can always ask questions. Exams are always based on book problems and previous exam and quiz questions, so do them all multiple times. Took him and got an A in Chem 1B and am currently in his Chem 1C.
Well-organized slides and lectures. Has online videos that are similar to lectures in case you don't attend. A good amount of practice material and exams that are similar to actual midterms and finals. The only down part of the course is having to deal with the homework platform ALEKs. But you have to deal with that in any gen chem class.
By far the best chem professor I've had so far. He explained concepts really well and I never felt lost during lectures. Recommend doing the practice tests heavily, multiple times and book problems too. His office hours were definitely helpful too.
While Joseph definitely is not one of the worst chem professors, he is not accommodating to his students. He also made his tests quite a bit different than the practice and even book problems (I did both).
I would take Joseph again 100%. I had Price for 1A and thought his tests were so much harder. 1B is a really hard course, but Joseph makes it achievable to do well in the class. If you do all the book problems and fully understand them, you will do well as his tests are mostly all reused book/practice exam problems. Final was hard but class ok
Great prof, online videos a bit sparse on examples but book problem solutions will teach you everything you need to know for the tests. DO THE BOOK PROBLEMS! I went from a 45% on the first midterm to 88% simply by doing all the book problems once and understanding them. Guaranteed to see some book probs on tests and probs from previous tests too
I'm taking every series general chem at UCSB with a different professor and i will say Joseph's is by far the most consistent and most helpful in terms of the learning material and the actual test content. His expectations are clear and he is organized. He tells you how to succeed in the class + calendar. His exams are harder than most.
Professor Joseph's lectures were clear expect during thermochemistry (imo). His tests are very predictable. If you want to do well on the midterms, grind the textbook problems and practice test questions he makes it very clear that he likes to put these questions on tests. The final can be a bit of a curve ball but it is still fair.
Chem 1B is not easy by any means, but Joseph makes the class as simple as it can be. He is well organized and your week is always laid out in advance. The tests are based off the book problems: they’re not easy, but the questions are fair.
The lectures are really good and you learn a lot for them, but the midterms and finals are relatively harder than other chem professors. Doing book problems and aleks helps.
Took this course in Winter 2021. Prof. Joseph is super clear in his powerpoints and lectures of how to solve a problem. He does not share his notes to the students. 3 exams in total, very exam-based. Chapter exams are manageable but watch out for the final. Doing back-of-book problems are not enough. His questions on the exam can be very trivial.
ALEKS are easy free points so it sucks but do them. His lectures are great so I never needed to do the readings in the textbook. EMPHASIS ON BOOK PROBLEMS! Do them and you will do well in the tests.
Joseph is a solid choice for Chem 1B. I also had him for chem 1A, which was an easier course. 1B is a very difficult class but joseph is a good teacher. He does only go through easier problems in the lectures so you NEED to go to office hours. memorize the hard book problems because they almost always will be on the exams.
ALEKS helps the grade a lot, dont skip it. Good lectures and recommended office hours. If you do good on one midterm and the final you will be fine. Book problems your biggest friend
He's a nice guy, and his lectures are good, but it's so difficult to get help on problems during office hours because there are SO many people there. I understand it's a difficult time but I felt I had no chance of getting help from him. Also, his lectures go over only the easy stuff/problems when on the tests, he puts really advanced problems
Joseph's tests are not bad at all if you do the practice problems and if you review the old midterms, you will be fine on the final. Super organized and kind. Keep up on the book problems and you will pass easily
Do homework problems and make sure you understand lectures. Reuses some midterm questions on final. Chem1B is hard in general (tough tests and minimal curving) but Joseph is nice and his lecture videos are short.
I think chem is just a hard class in general for me, but this class seemed especially hard. Exams were difficult, you HAVE to do the practice problems to pass, but he was a nice guy. Only good part is that it was all async. Not a big curve either on exams.
Cool teacher. Took online/summer for 6 weeks, which made it so much harder! But he let us retake exams & offered lots of extra credit. One week students werent ready for the 3rd midterm so he gave more days to prepare. This isn't his fault but remote learning made it so much harder to grasp the material. Even so I felt like he was there for us.
I would definitely recommend him! Hard class but he and the TA made it very accommodating & worthwhile. Lecture videos were very well organized. He really cares about the students learning the material and that was proved several times throughout the course. Saw my performance improve significantly by doing book problems and going to office hours!
Quizzes & exams MUCH harder than practice ones. Good lecturer, on par with Price; however, in order to cover all the material he goes pretty fast, so you gotta be alert/not fall asleep. It helps your grade tremendously just to go to lecture & keep up with ALEKs. Sign up for CLAS-- if you don't like your tutor, switch ASAP & use Drop-In hours!