Keeps lectures interesting because he's a pretty funny guy but he skims over topics to the point where he may as well not even discuss them. Definitely be prepared to teach yourself

Russak is very helpful, clear, and heactually made me enjoy chem. He was the only lecture I looked forward to attending because he made the class interesting with his little stories and experiments at the end of class. Attend class and bring Iclicker, you receive pts that go towards quiz grades. Class is easy if you pay attention and do ALEKS.

Russak is the man! Go to class. Listen. Participate. Communicate with him if you're not understanding something, and he'll give you the time of day. The material really isn't too bad, and I found the book to be unnecessary. The most down to earth professor I've had at UCSB.

Not a great professor. For general chem he would use organic chem to explain things every day. Assumes students know most things already. I studied for hours from the textbook to understand concepts because he did such a poor job explaining them. Tests aren't that bad if you study a lot though.

Some people dislike Justin, but I found him to be perfectly suited for 6AL. He effectively communicates what he expects you to know for both labs and exams alike, and if you pay attention, he actually explains things decently. A little hard work goes a long way. He has a good ol' dry sense of humor and is also diligent when it comes to grading.

In 109A he had the nerve to tell us our test averages (50s) were so low bc we were dumber than the kids who took it in fall who were "on track/not behind." Funny because he was comparing our averages (winter) to that of his SUMMER class w/ averages in the mid 70s!! Blamed us before he even considered his inexperience in test writing. So chill.

Wont work with you. Its his way or the highway no matter what the importance is to you. A real d!ck and has a Justin Bieber poster up. I hope he gets a lot of crap for that. I passed the class and I will pass this one but if you have the chance to take it with someone else DO it. He has a nice personality but thinks hes cooler than he is. HARSH

What a d!ck this guy turns out to be by the end of the quarter.. Seems all buddy-buddy with you at first, funny (sometimes), & the midterms are based on general/analytical chemistry when they should be on Ochem LAB TECHNIQUES/EXPERIMENTS. Even the TA graded harshly. Usually labs should bring your GPA up, not with this guy. Good luck.

Russak is overall a good professor. His tests can contain unexpected material, and he is a little vague on some concepts but he gives you all the tools you need to succeed in his class. Add him on facebook, go to his office hours, go to class, read the book, and do the practice problems assigned. He is very relate-able and has become a good friend.

He may know O-chem, however lacks the teaching skills for gen chem. I wish I would have taken a different professor for chem 1C and after having VanKoppen I may have high standards but, Professor Russak was just awful. Made many mistakes during lecture, tests were unpredictable and unfair, and curve is very very small.

Some people really dislike Justin, but he's really not that bad. His jokes aren't funny/can be slightly offensive, but he is really organized and straight forward unlike many other chem professors. Read the assigned chapters and go to office hours if you need help. Practice tests questions and quizzes are a lot like the exams. I got an easy A!

He might seem cool and maybe even funny at first but then you realize that he's your professor and it's the teaching that counts--you're not in a comedy club. The way he talks is kinda lazy and he seems as tired as the students. Go to class (at least for the iClicker questions if nothing else), but more importantly go to CLAS. CLAS! CLAS! CLAS!

This professor sucks so bad. He doesn't know how to teach chemistry at all. His tests are unreasonable and barely even covered in class. Or there covered after the test. Would rather be your buddy than an actual professor.

Go to class for the I-clicker. His practice test are important. Tests are poorly written but not very hard.

Tries to help out students by focusing on some of the main aspects but you will have to learn a lot of it through CLAS or through bookwork. Tests are easy if you study and doable if you know the basic concepts.

Thinks he's cool and tries to act like he's one of the students. Responds to facebook comments but not emails. Unprofessional and kind of a jerk if you ask him for help. The final was also ridiculous. Went in with a solid A and came out with a B.

Throws you curveballs on the tests. Acts like ochem is common sense. Put the 109A class in terrible position to start 109B because he finished a chapter short. Tests you on things he doesn't go over in detail... CLAS, lecture, and book work are very crucial.

This guy really doesn't know what he is teaching about. If you actually look up the real information about the subject he is wrong a lot of the time (just ask his TAs). I don't know how he got his Ph.D. other than luck

good professor, but you need to put in a lot of work on your own. Go to lectures, CLAS and read the book and do the practice problems and you will do well.

Like the last post said, he continually goes off topic and starts telling random stories, which isn't helpful when the midterm roles around and he expects you to understand the material he never even explained. He grades on a major curve but I think its because he realized a lot of people did poorly in the class. CLAS was more helpful.

Very frustrating professor. He kept getting off topic during lecture and he showed up late several times, so by the second to last week he was 3 or 4 chapters behind and had to rush and skip a lot of important topics. His tests are a little bizarre, but not too hard. Make sure you use your iClicker. I honestly learned more in CLAS tutorial.

The previous midterms and final and clicker questions were very helpful. I didn't think the book was very useful but it is worth buying for future reference. I think he did a good job getting the concepts across.

He didn't curve the midterms, but he did curve at the end of the quarter. I think he did well teaching the main concepts of the class though I did feel like some details were rushed through. He is helpful during office hours. I enjoyed the class and I learned a lot. If you put in the effort you can do well in the class.

Useless professor, totally unclear and can't teach at all. Avoid taking a class with him.