Taking 130A with Pettus will definitely prepare you for the rest of organic chemistry because of the rigor and depth of the homework assignments. The exams are challenging on time and the lectures are fast-paced so notes are hard to make but getting a satisfactory grade is possible if you attend the lectures and put effort outside the class.

I think Professor Pettus has some prejudices against Chinese American students. Honestly speaking, I don't feel right in his class.

His lectures are ridiculously fast and impossible to take notes because he scrolls through prewritten notes. However, homework is extremely effective at helping you learn the content well, if you take the time to do it properly. He is very direct and no-nonsense which I appreciate, however it may come off harshly and crude to some. Disorganized af.

I don't know why his rates are so low. As long as you watch all the lecture video, you should be ok. He doesn't really use textbook.

He records his lectures, is enthusiastic about chemistry and gave a fat curve (My 50ish percent got curved to a 70ish percent). That's about all the good things I could say. His lectures go at a breakneck pace and homework is filled with trick questions and is incredibly difficult. The fact that noone got about a B on the midterm says a lot.

Anothe

I took pettus for 109A & lewis for B/C, & let me just say, Pettus was 1000 times harder. The avg on one of our exams was 35%. But, I'm glad I took his class; I feel like he set a strong foundation for the rest of ochem since u had to truly understand the material to do well in his class. lectures were a bit confusing but helpful if you really focus

This class was the reason why I dropped out of college. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT take him and his class if you want to feel happiness ever again in your life. The homework is filled with tricks and meant to "teach" you but by the time you've reached reviewing the homework, you're already 2 chapters ahead in the textbook. I would give a 0/5 but..

Such a great class! Yes, it was very challenging, but doing well in the class was rewarding. Tom's office hours were always helpful for questions and CLAS helped to clarify any further confusion I had.

If I could give him a 0 for a rating it would be more accurate. His weekly quizzes are very hard and confusing. expects you to read the book before class then actively says how he hates the text book then makes his own terms. the class average for the last midterm was a 35% and i think that alone says enough about him as a teacher.

He assigns book problems and advises us to read the textbook, but his exams are nothing like the textbook. His quizzes include paragraphs of instructions that makes it difficult to understand, let alone solve. Despite him giving us the answer key for some of the take-home quizzes, the average is still 74% (class avg for the recent quiz was 56%).

Instead of explaining concepts to us, he would make up his own jargon and reasons it with personal excuses of disliking the organic chemistry textbook or simply disagreeing with Lewis. He would go through his notes by circling things he already wrote down in his notes without actually doing any example problems.