Prof. Sylvester is honestly (in my opinion) the best chem professor for gen chem at UCSB. I missed the last two weeks of lectures because I was out sick yet I managed to get a B+ after the curve. Her lecture videos saved me. Make sure to do the textbook problems and practice exams and you'll do great.

Sylvester was a great professor. I had her for Chem 1A and I really enjoyed her class. She is super helpful, caring and every time I went to her office hours, she helped me to understand the material. The tests were pretty difficult so take advantage of her practice tests. Although, after the final she had a curve and it helped significantly.

I enjoyed Professor Sylvester's lectures. I skipped the last three weeks of class but still managed to pass with an A using her lecture videos and midterms (still recommend going to lecture). The practice exams are the same as the actual exams so highly recommend studying those. She responds to emails quickly. She's funny too. Really liked her.

She is very much a self learning professor. If you miss something with her, she tends to not reexplain the steps. You can't just learn the stuff she does in class well, you must do book problems. The thing about this class is the content isn't actually too hard, but you have to teach yourself most of it. Do the practice exams repeatedly. Use CLAS.

I liked her straightforward teaching style in CHEM 1A. She taught just enough content, all relevant to the exams. I had a bad chemistry experience in high school, but her enthusiasm for chemistry and her simple, legible notes motivated me to attend lectures. I also did all the ALEKS, book probs, and practice tests to achieve my desired grade.

Very straightforward and kind professor. Very helpful during office hours and had the easiest exams. Only says what needs to be said, and is very nice.

Fair class, kind teacher, arguably the easiest exams among Gen Chem professors. She isn't the lecturer that Price is, but her exams are for sure easier.

She is an amazing professor who will teach you everything you need to know for the midterms and exams. She didn't make us do the book problems but instead seemed to pull a lot of the exam material off of aleks so make sure you really understand the modules. Always go to the lectures, its just better in person with the live questions people ask.

She is straightforward and covers the material well. The first midterm was a bit of a time crunch but the second midterm and final are much easier. Doing all the practice tests will prepare you well for the tests.

Extremely hard exams that have nothing to do with review questions.

Just don't. Extremely hard exam and has nothing to do with class review questions.

Great lectures. Make sure you do all the textbook questions recommended by the professor so you can succeed in exams.

Definitely knows what she's talking about. However she puts trick questions on exams that aren't shown in practice exams (takes big hit on grade). Make sure you hit the ground running with this class. Procrastinate on book problems/hw and you're going to struggle even if you get it done in the end. Make sure to always keep up with chem.

She's a great straightforward professor and won't overcomplicate the material but does have speedy lectures! She's very approachable/caring during office hours. The midterms and final are fair and extremely similar to practice tests. Got a 58% first midterm and 80% on the final. *hardest part of the class was leading up to 1st exam so master that!

The class was very straight forward. ALEKS was a pain, but not impossible. First midterm I got a 46%, and I got an 80% on the final, I studied the night before. She doesn't teach in depth, and her office hours were not helpful because she doesn't know how to answer questions. However, if I would have tried I could've have passed with an A.

Prof Sylvester is very passionate about her classes. She gives us relatively easy midterms and final. There is often a review class before each exam. ALEKS is the only graded homework. Practice exams are available and best for preparing for midterms. Just attend her class and get your notes down and you should be fine.

Her lectures are clear, concise, and easy to understand if you are a beginner in chemistry. She walks through the material step by step. Her midterms and finals are also extremely similar to her practice tests! If you score higher on your final than one of your midterms, that midterm score will be replaced by your final score :)

Her lectures are very good and thorough. She has her lectures pre recorded but I would recommend going to class as well. Definitely recommend doing the book problems throughout the course and when preparing for the exams do each practice test multiple times. The tests are very hard and often tricky.

Overall chem was very difficult but if you put in the time to do the book problems multiple times through, go to office hours, and take advantage of CLAS and her practice exams you will be fine. For me this class was stressful, but know it works out in the end even if you fail the first midterm!

The in-person lectures were not that great, she has online lectures (which are optional) that I found far more useful than her in-person lectures. Technically, her class is one of the easier options but she doesn't grade tests or the class on a curve so be prepared to put in a ton of extra work outside of class. Overall, a very meh performance

Sylvester is a great lecturer and is very clear on basic concepts. Always try to do the practice problems she gives in class before she tells you how; it's great practice! Exams are hard but do all practice exams. Some of the same problems from the practice exams appear on the exams. Difficulty comes from fact that its chem, not Sylvester.

The lecture isn't mandatory but I suggest attending it because you will fall behind. Every lecture missed is about 2-4 topics that will not be reviewed again. She moves extremely fast. Tests are uncurved and she is the one teacher that has no curve for grades at the end of the quarter. This class is a lot of independent work so beware of that.

The lecture is clear. The test is a bit more difficult than the class content but it is acceptable. The exam in general is not too hard.

I took Sylvester, Sepunaru, and Anyika for the general chemistry series. I enjoyed Sylvester the most as she is clear on the topics we need to learn and seemed to be the most streamlined out of the three. One of the exams was dropped and each was multiple choice.