Practice exams are your best friend- and time yourself; the most difficult thing about this class is the time crunch on tests (and tests make up 80% of your grade). Utilize CLAS worksheets for extra practice; ALEKS is also good concept practice (and helps your grade). Attend class and/or watch recordings. Good luck!! :)

Professor Sylvester is great. Chemistry is a beast of itself so get ready. You will have to study outside of class in order to understand the concepts.

She's a very good lecturer and has an awesome sense of humor! Her tests are very difficult but Chem1A is known to be particularly difficult anyways, so it isn't just her. She is great at answering questions and clearly exhibits expertise as she is able to thoroughly answer any question.

The lectures are required homework is easy, but her tests are extremely hard and there is no curve. Theres 3 tests (the lowest gets dropped) and the final that make up the majority of your grade. Id recommend doing the practice problems because even though I took Chem and AP chem, I still did average on the tests.

Took Feldwinn for 1A and Joseph for 1B (all online). Sylvester was pretty average and the lectures definitely were not as great or organized as Joseph but they were still fairly effective. There was a pretty big curve post final so that was also helpful. Not good, not bad either.

Not great, not bad. Lectures are OK, exams are tough but of consistent difficulty, just study the recommended book problems a lot, and ALEKS. Not as good as Price but a solid choice nonetheless, she also didn't troll us on the final like Joseph did to his students. Sometimes she sucks at explaining stuff but most of the time it's good enough

Her lectures are straight and to the point. Understand the book problems and youll have no problem getting an A in the class.

I took Joseph for Chem1A & 1B. I was TERRIFIED to take Sylvester at first, but she was by far the best and I wish I took her sooner. Her lectures were WAY more straight forward, there was actually a curve, she was available to Zoom anytime I had a question, and I spent significantly less time studying for her than for Joseph & I got a better grade.

in-person may be different but her online class was really bad. took her in spring, retaking it just to see her reusing all lectures (which are terrible bc she is extremely bad at explaining). however, i find her exams a bit less tricky than the other profs. sign up for CLAS asap, they explain things 10x better!

Overall solid professor with solid lectures and she is a very nice lady in office hours. I bombed the first exam and did okay on the second exam because I am very bad with chem but she was helpful and I was able to end up with a B+ in the class, almost an A-. Aleks can be annoying but its helpful and overall solid course, would recommend.

All lectures were prerecorded bc of covid and besides doing ALEKS, watching lectures was pretty much the only assignment so the class is very manageable time-wise. She posts practice exams that are similar to the actual exam so if you study those you will be fine. I didn't enjoy the class simply because I don't like chemistry but she is a good prof

Terrible Chem professor. Her online lectures are so bland and vague. She does not elaborate. Her audio sucks and her handwriting does too. Her tests are nothing compared to the practice exams and she puts questions that she's never taught. They are very difficult and even with CLAS this class is tough.

Compared to the other Gen chem lecturers, professor Sylvester is easily the worst. She NEVER elaborates on anything in lecture, doesn't connect topics well, and also doesn't explain things In a clear way. She gives a 20 question exam as opposed to other professors 15, but with the same amount of time given? Overall avoid if possible.

literally the worst lecturer ever. For the first 6 weeks her audio was busted so it sounded like she was underwater and she never bothered to fix it. Doesn't ever elaborate, is super vague, sign up for CLAS if u want to succeed

Her lectures are not going to blow your socks off. Do not be fooled into thinking that you "understand" the concepts after only watching the lecture and doing the examples in the video. I got an A, and my success hinged entirely on doing practice problems and internalizing the methods for solving these problems. Watch the lectures, do the problems.

Her lectures and tests were very similar and she was an overall great teacher! I would def recommend!

retaking chem because I was in her first 1C class that moved to online, and didn't pass. hard class, +her lectures are just bad. This quarter I had to retake with her due to scheduling, and when I clicked on the lectures, I literally facepalmed because they are the same bad videos as lastyear. she is reading offa note pad and barely elaborates.

Sign up for CLAS, do the textbook problems, and the practice tests she gives + CLAS practice tests. The lectures she gives and the ALEKS homework are nowhere near the questions asked on the test. I got a F on the first midterm and ended with an A. Good luck :)

A literal teacher who does not care for her students. Her lectures are reused and unorganized, does not connect concept to other concepts. Seems bored out of her mind when talking about lectures. Lecture videos are short and rarely go into detail. If you want to pass the class, do the practice exams and sign up for CLAS.

I had to retake chem this quarter and I would recommend anyone who is retaking Chem to do it with Professor Sylvester. Professor Sylvester's class was easy to go over, since her lectures aren't long. I would recommend everyone to use her practice tests and use CLAS since her exam problems were mostly from there. Overall, she's amazing!

The tests are fair if you do the many practice exams that are provided. However, her online lectures show minimal effort in teaching; professor covers only the basics and treats them like a 5 min. review, which is unacceptable for an introduction class. Do not take her online if you really want to be engaged in chemistry.

Her lectures were not the best and the tech quality kinda sucks, but theyre easy to follow along with. Its not too daunting. The exams are practice exams heavy. Book problems are not needed but can help. CLAS is great as a backup, but I didnt use it that much. Class averages on each exam was 65-70. There was a curve for us. My A- went to an A.

Definitely a tough course! Go to CLAS and take advantage of practice tests. Aleks was annoying but def will help for exams. Her lectures are 8-16 min long but heavy in material so itll take a while to get through. Get ready to study like crazy cause tests are crazy hard.

I do not recommend! She does not seem to care about her students. Her lectures are short and her tests are beyond what she covers. Her test make up 75% of the grade and are extremely difficult (1 hr, 20 questions). Even with studying 45 hrs/wk I had a B before the final, after a C. Only curved up 1 letter grade, even with the average being a D-.