I have dysgraphia and he would not let me type up my lab reports. I ended up changing majors because I could not get past the 6XL series due to this. I really wish the administration would do something about this.

I have taken many hard professors but he takes the cake. Weird deadlines, weird rules. The class is full of absolutes. The curve is down not up. I had a 80% raw score on the final and ended up with a 67% after the curve. DO NOT TAKE HIM IF THERES ANOTHER OPTION>

Took gainer for 6AL and 6BL online during COVID. I would recommend taking him during COVID as the web final is less scary (only worth 6-8% of your grade). There were weekly quizzes (6-7 quizzes). Quizzes are moderate difficult, need to study well and you will do well. Lab report were a lot of work, GO TO YOUR TA OFFICE HOUR AND ASK WHAT THEY WANT.

Took this class during the summer 2020. He made sure there was a final and did not curve the class. Only dropped one quiz even though syllabus said two (very misleading). Quizzes are hard and based on videos and what he says. Wish he was more understanding. Spring quarter 2020 he didn't give previous quarter a final AND curved. good luck

I had Gainer for 109C and for Chem6AL. I thought he did a really good job transitioning the courses to online learning on such short notice. Both classes require a lot of hard work, but he was always willing to answer questions. Lab was only miserable because I had an awful TA. I have had Bruice, Read, and Gainer and Gainer was my favorite.

So many things wrong with this professor and class. Curves down (people were curved down entire letter grades), not empathetic yet makes several mistakes himself, isn't clear about assignment requirements or grading criteria, never answers his email, quizzes are too difficult, does not explain the material enough. I could go on for ages.

This review may be biased, due to the temporary shift to online instruction. The lab class was enjoyable, and I learned a lot, even though I could not be there to do the experiments. Dr. Gainer clearly tried his best to accommodate the CHEM 6BL students. Be sure to go to office hours to address any concerns about grading or lab concepts.

least favorite class and least favorite professor of my entire education

He makes this class so much harder than he needs to be. All of my friends who've taken ochem at other schools say that their series is nowhere near as hard as ours. It takes the joy out of learning about ochem and even about my other classes because I don't have the time to focus on them at all. Admin seriously needs to talk to him about this.

Gainer is a great professor overall, his content is simple and he makes the class easy to understand. The notion of Ochem lab being a really hard class kinda dies down with him lecturing and hes really helpful and caring which was shown throughout this pandemic. The only downside was the terrible TA I had and his silence on the issue

He was able to adapt to online much more quickly than most professors amidst the pandemic. Watching the videos is really important and the weekly quizzes were kinda okay- open book doesn't make it easier!! Pay attention to what he emphasizes because it's usually quizzed on. He's purposely difficult to get you to learn a lot, especially 6AL and 6BL.

W20 Quizzes and the amount of work you have to put in (6AL & 6BL) make it difficult because he really wants you to learn the material in depth. Your grade is dependent on your lab section average so as long as you get higher than that you should be okay. Really need to understand the material well tho and put in the work!

Lectures informative and straightforward. Weekly quizzes are quite tough, make sure you watch the Techniques videos he provides! Your grade in the class is mostly dependent on the TA you get. Did a lot to boost grades this quarter. Gave a short and cumulative final, worth much less than a normal quarter. Good and generous guy.

Gainer started off as just seeming like a tough grader on quizzes by marking down on any small issue even if it had nothing to do with the problem. But about 5 weeks in the lecture videos started getting to the point where he was just reading out of the textbook, not breaking things down, which really put a bummer on biochem for a lot of us :( GL

You will be expected to know things that nobody has told you and your lab reports will be scrutinized. It's now week 7 and I have not seen Dr. Gainer once. The fact that the class is solely taught by an overworked and underpaid graduate student should tell you enough. How the course goes will entirely depend on which TA you receive.

Disclaimer: This review is only for the ochem lab classes. He makes the quizzes unreasonably difficult and also makes the TAs grade lab reports extremely hard. On top of that, TAs tend to give you grades back really late so you don't receive feedback. Unfortunately, this class is required for the bio/chem major so good luck lol.

Best teacher at UCSB, wants all the students to do well and very helpful at office hours. His tests are really hard but fair and with a big curve. CLAS also helps a lot. More work that other teachers but his lectures are great and its a rewarding class

Gives clear, easy-to-follow lectures. Explains things without overcomplicating them. The videos he posted on gauchospace were very helpful for studying for quizzes, which were pretty hard but manageable once you get a hang of what type of question likes putting on there.

Dr. Gainer was super helpful and gave very clear lectures. The labs were also well-organized, and I can tell the purpose of what I was trying to learn from each lab. The quizzes, lab reports, and lab practical were all very fair but the final was super hard. You are graded based on your section, and the average is curved to a B.

I took Chem 6AL and 6BL with Dr. Gainer and I thought the labs were a lot of work definitely, but also felt like getting an A in both came pretty naturally with a proper amount of effort. The curve is very generous and you can tell he truly cares. This isn't a class where you can scathe by not knowing what's going on, but it is very fair.

He makes this class a complete weeder class. You must not only get every single detail and the experiment and you must get higher points than your lab class, no matter your raw score. The class prioritizes memorization highly in quizzes and he seems like a person who will get upset easily if a slight mishap happens.

Overall he's great! Dr. Gainer expects deep understanding of the concepts, needing to know the why behind it. His curves are extremely generous, I didn't do too hot on the second midterm but absolutely killed it on the final and ended with an A.

Great professor, makes you really understand the fundamentals of ochem lab. However, your final grade is curved according to your section, which makes it more stressful if you have a smart lab class. Make sure to go over the conceptual side of all the labs for the final!

This class is way harder than it needs to be. Most of the difficulty stems from the TA you have. The lab reports are graded unfairly I think. So many things I would do differently in this course. Gainer is a pretty tight dude and he definitely does a better job teaching this class than any other professor would.