Chem 6BL workload is too much but Gainer is extremely helpful in office hours. Just ask him questions, and he'll tell you the answer for lab reports. Quizzes are TA dependent, but office hours really help for the final. (Nice professor but I'd never want to take 6BL ever again, make sure you have the time)

Gainer Challenge: Try not to assign an insane amount of monotonous work every week Impossible

When I started my degree at UCSB, I was told by everyone that Gainer was the worst and 6BL was the hardest class ever. Obviously, the class is not easy and requires a lot of time and work, but Dr. Gainer's expectations are reasonable and he makes himself available outside of class. Work hard and you will get an A.

He is one of the professors that does not care about his students (which was hard coming from Lewis who goes above and beyond). Slides are mostly blank. Recorded lectures missing chucks of material. He lectures in the barest bones of chemistry and expects you to teach yourself. Highly elitist.

Morgan Gainer is my favorite organic chemistry professor among all that I met at UCSB. He may not be as knowledgeable as Dr. Lipshutz, but his teaching is way better. He is the best evidence that UC treats the employees so awfully. He deserves to be tenured more than many of his colleagues in the department.

Gainer does his best to make this class as bearable as possible. He's a decent teacher who definitely has a passion for teaching. CHEM 6BL is seriously the most difficult and time consuming class I've taken. I highly recommend taking a light course load with this class, cause it's seriously a time-sink. Go to TA office hours and ask for help.

Tough class obviously, Gainer's lectures are pretty good though and the quizzes reflect the material. Class is still a pain but could be very much worse.

Very disorganized. Very charismatic person who is very fun and love to help his students.

I have taken many hard professors but he takes the cake. Weird deadlines, weird rules. The class is full of absolutes. The curve is down not up. I had a 80% raw score on the final and ended up with a 67% after the curve. DO NOT TAKE HIM IF THERES ANOTHER OPTION>

This review may be biased, due to the temporary shift to online instruction. The lab class was enjoyable, and I learned a lot, even though I could not be there to do the experiments. Dr. Gainer clearly tried his best to accommodate the CHEM 6BL students. Be sure to go to office hours to address any concerns about grading or lab concepts.

least favorite class and least favorite professor of my entire education

He makes this class so much harder than he needs to be. All of my friends who've taken ochem at other schools say that their series is nowhere near as hard as ours. It takes the joy out of learning about ochem and even about my other classes because I don't have the time to focus on them at all. Admin seriously needs to talk to him about this.

You will be expected to know things that nobody has told you and your lab reports will be scrutinized. It's now week 7 and I have not seen Dr. Gainer once. The fact that the class is solely taught by an overworked and underpaid graduate student should tell you enough. How the course goes will entirely depend on which TA you receive.

Disclaimer: This review is only for the ochem lab classes. He makes the quizzes unreasonably difficult and also makes the TAs grade lab reports extremely hard. On top of that, TAs tend to give you grades back really late so you don't receive feedback. Unfortunately, this class is required for the bio/chem major so good luck lol.

I took Chem 6AL and 6BL with Dr. Gainer and I thought the labs were a lot of work definitely, but also felt like getting an A in both came pretty naturally with a proper amount of effort. The curve is very generous and you can tell he truly cares. This isn't a class where you can scathe by not knowing what's going on, but it is very fair.

Lemme start off by saying chem is not my strong suit. However, Gainer is such a goat. Yes there is a lot of homework, yes you should do the readings, and yes the concepts are hard. However, he is a really good professor. As long as you come to him with where you are confused are what you don't understand he does an amaz job trying to get you there

Gainer is very active during lecture but doesn't teach as well as Lewis. You will have to learn material outside of class as he expects you to know more than you probably do. Has a hard final which he creates while his TAs make the quizzes. Do well on the lab reports and 3 of the quizzes and you will do well. Cushion your grade before the final.

Dreaded going to lecture because they were so dense, with little to no explanations (always left confused). The exams were quite difficult, you definitely have to study or at least review something. The labs are alright, it really depends on your TA to make or break your grade. The prof was passive aggressive, vibes were off, not very welcoming.

Study for the final - it basically determines your grade in the class. 6AL is not too hard except for the final. Gainer is really nice, but becomes a new beast on test days.

6AL really was just a pain. Not a single thing about it was fun. TA was passive aggressive grading assignments, and Gainer is also passive aggressive. The whole thing was just too uptight for literally no reason. I don't expect classes to be fun, but this class was so miserable for no reason. Miserable class, miserable people.

I honestly will 100% put him up there with Scott Price because they are that good. Chem 6AL by far, most work I ever had to do for one class but not impossible. He is such a clear lecturer, FUNNY and is SO nice during office hours (very understanding). He explains the concepts so clearly and I looked forward to his class sm! I also had a goated TA.

This class wasn't as hard as people say. I'm glad I took it as a 4th year so that I could focus on it more. Barely anyone ever went to his office hours which is weird bc I found them to be helpful. He is nice and will help you if you ask for it. He's not condescending like other chem profs can be. Gainer makes tests very difficult though so study!

Professor Gainer is super kind and I enjoyed taking his class. It wasn't super easy, as the ochem classes are typically not, but he was easy to communicate with and receive help from. I recommend any class that he is teaching especially since they made me excited to learn more about ochem and the field.

Highly disagree with the bad reviews. Amazing chemistry professor. Super approachable and gives plenty of resources. JUST DO THE RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK PROBLEMS, they are recommended for a reason. Slower paced than other chem courses. Take ASAP after finishing prereqs even if you don't like the lab time. The final was the only rough part. Lab is fun.