Didn't like him for Chem 1A but I blame myself for expecting it to be easy. For 109A, he understands the course is hard so he makes it less difficult to pass. There are 3 midterms (30% each) but only your 2 highest count towards your grade. The other 10% is iClicker which you get credit for whether you answer right or wrong. He curves class.
Justin Russak is a failure as an educator. Do not take his class and do not hire him as an instructor. During his 2013 summer 109B course he only covered 1/3 of the assigned material and did not give a final exam, leaving his students at a distinct disadvantage in the subsequent classes. If you care about your education avoid at all costs.
His 6BL class is multiple times harder than 6AL. You are also graded on your product, which sucks if you're on an off day. It's okay, because the TA's are there to ameliorate the downfall of poorly designed labs. It doesn't matter because everything is on the final, which actually requires thinking and not rote memory most bio majors are used to.
Not a great professor... What can you infer when the average for an exam is 43%. Enough said.
He LOVES to relate concepts back to lab which can be interesting however is never tested on so its a waste of lecture time. He doesnt teach well so read Bruice's text book, study his lecture slides, know obscure structure names. One saving grace is that his exams are the same format so you know what to study.
The WORST professor I've ever had! His lectures were slideshows of the book. The tests were incredibly hard, even after I always studied for this class. You know he's doing something wrong if the average for the final was a 35. Avoid him!
Russak's a self obsessed tool. That being said, he reuses questions (from midterm to midterm and midterm to final) and you can google most quiz questions. The class isn't curved but there is iclicker to replace your lowest midterm. Russak does seem to think he's hot stuff though, which is rather annoying
Quizzes are tough. He covers a lot in lecture but doesnt go into a lot of explanation. His tests will cover stuff from the actual labs. Jonathan is the best TA for lab, he will help you if you have any questions and is a fair grader. As long as you do good lab reports you can do pretty well in the class, even with not so great exam scores.
He has a friendly & funny personality, but his lectures don't go too far in depth & he lectures too quickly sometimes, so he's not clear. The experiments aren't bad, but the exams are a bit hard. Attendance isn't mandatory, but you get full credit for every iClicker response, & he uses your iClicker score to replace your lowest midterm grade!
This guy is absolutely useless. There are no point to his lectures. If you want a powerpoint version of the book with no new information, you will enjoy this class. He engages nobody in the class. Could be my least favorite teacher of all time
The biggest key to success in this class is reading before lecture. Russak is very good at reenforcing book concepts with examples in class and iClicker questions. His tangents can be pretty hilarious.
loved him, tests werent too bad compared to other chemistry classes. go to class and take good notes! his tests were all multiple choice which makes life a lot easier!!