good at explaining, webassign takes a long time, and midterms and final were hard. practice tests help. CLAS is useful. can count the final for 90% of grade
She is a good prof who is willing to answer questions. Likes focusing on concepts which can help or kill you. If you pay attention and actually do the homework rather than looking it up, you should be fine.
Petrais definitely the best chem teacher at UCSB. Her tests are really fare and she gives you plenty of material to study by posting her old tests online. The class is hard, just as it will be with any prof. she really cares about her students and wants them to do well
Van Koppen is one of the best teachers I have had here at UCSB. I wish she was teaching chem 1c next quarter!
This class is no joke! She is serious about chemistry and it seems as if her life only involves chemistry. However, the first midterm was easy and so was the quiz. But the second midterm and final were hard. Some of the questions were from previous exams and Webassign. There is lots of Webassign. Take this class seriously; don't slack off!!!!!!!!!!
Probably the most difficult Chem 1A class, but she is the best professor. Some students sign up for different professors and attend her lectures so they can learn the material and take an easier test. She is very fair and if you have problems, go to her office hours. Even if you are good at chemistry, sign up for CLAS for extra help.
She is a good teacher, but I think RMP makes her seem overrated. I learned more on my own than going to lectures. My expectations were lowered after having her once now, but again, she isn't a bad teacher, just not great.
This whole class depends on your TA.
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She is an amazing teacher but this is a difficult course. You must put in a lot of study time to do well and attending CLAS helps also.
Great professor. Fair tests and homework. Really cares about her students succeeding. Keep up with homework and you'll be fine.
Great teacher but hard class. Material in Chem 1B is much more difficult than the material in Chem 1A. Van Koppen does a great job teaching you the material but her tests are hard and very conceptual. Very nice and fair teacher though, definitely recommend her for any chemistry class
Best chem teacher out there. TAKE HER IF U CAN! shes extremely nice, encouraging, and upfront and clear in lectures. only complaint is that she sometimes assigns hw problems that dont appear in the book nor did she go over in class - but this only happened very rarely nd didn't really affect my grade.
BY FAR the best chem teacher out there - prob cuz shes the head of the dept. She lectures really well. Keeps it interesting. Is really encouraging. My only complaint is that sometimes she would assign hw problems that don't exist in the textbook nor did she ever cover. But, that was very rare and hardly makes a difference on ur grade.
She is great! She really cares that students learn and understand. Tests are extremely similar to practice ones she has online. Go to CLAS it helps a lot. Assignments are easy because they correspond to questions in the book and you have 10 tries to get the right answer. All the other professors are horrible. She is AMAZING!
Great teacher. Really cares about her students (or it seems like it). I got 100% and 98% on first 2 midterms without studying much, but the last two chapters are hard and i didn't study much and I ended up with a B+ in her class. But still, she's great and does fun demonstrations to break up the monotony of chemistry.
Van Koppen is a wonderful teacher, great lecturer, fair/kind person. She sends out informative e-mails every other day, and tries to make chemistry as fun as possible. She is known to give the hardest tests out of all of the chem profs, so if you are a learn-it-by-yousrself person, choose a different professor so you can get the easy test.
Well....yeah lots of work. I ended up spending about 80% of my studying time this quarter in this class because of all the practice problems. I had a 94 in the class until the final when the last two chapters were the end of me. She was on her hyper turbo mode when she explained buffers and she killed my spirit.Dropped 1B due to my discouragment
She is the best chem teacher at the university... if you couldn't get in her class try and crash it. Excellent at explaining and very helpful.
If you don't have her, try to crash her course.
this woman is amazing. i hated chem in high school, but now i like it thanks to her... shes an awesome teacher, always wiling to help out, and most importantly she wants you to succeed. highly recommended!
she's absolutely amazing! very helpful and explains everything. So passionate in teaching, she really makes chem fun!
hard to rate a professor who's TA teaches her classes. major disappointment.
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