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.

best chem professor at ucsb

Dr. Gainer is a real gem of a professor! At first, his lectures were super confusing, but doing the readings beforehand made his lectures easier to understand. He gives explanatory feedback on exams and during office hours. In hindsight, the answers to his exams were pretty simple. Do the book problems, read the book+ class notes, and STUDY HARD.

Gainer is an amazing professor; he's super friendly and explains concepts very well. His lectures are very interactive, with iclicker questions every lecture. He does use the chalkboard a lot so he goes at a reasonable pace, and wants students to ask questions. His exams require good time management and deep understanding of concepts, but are FAIR!

Dr. Gainer is a respected guy. He is somehow similar to Dr. feldwinn, a professor of gen Chem. They both have difficult tests but want students to really understand course materials. The average of final is 86 OUT of 200; I got 130, but received B because of my midterms. A really great teacher.

Fantastic!! Expects deep understanding of the material but encourages questions and coming into office hours. Tests are free response and critical-thinking orientated but very fair in terms of difficulty, but only if YOU put in the time to study diligently! My favorite professor at UCSB! Made me appreciate and even to enjoy my OChem classes...

Gainer is incredible. If u have the chance to take him for ochem, DO IT. What I loved most about him is that his lectures follow the textbook but present the material in a different way thas easier to understand (unlike other ochem professors who's lectures are the book verbatim...) his tests are hard but fair, lectures interesting and VERY CLEAR

Took for 109A and 6AL too, but 109C I took with him online. Guarantee he'll be better next time on timing out quarter better, but don't sleep on online classes. You'll be in a paradox if you like online classes the whole quarter, but its Gainer at his best and honestly am glad I had him for OChem, as hard as it can be.

Gainer is an incredible teacher. He teaches a tough course but I learned more from him in one Ochem quarter than I did the entire year with other teachers. I think I lived in his office hours and it truly paid off, he for sure bumped my grade. He wants to see an effort and if he sees you are trying he will really help you.

he's awesome truly.

I really enjoyed Gainer's lectures because he has a very systematic approach to working through ochem problems. You will not learn concepts in class, you must read before lectures. Don't memorize, it won't help, the trick to ochem is knowing all the exceptions to the rules, and that comes with practice problems. Large curve, 80% got me an A.

Dr. Gainer was the best OChem professor I had. He gets a lot of hate because his tests are hard, but he, unlike the other teachers, wants you to actually UNDERSTAND the material, not just memorize it. If you take the time to understand ochem, there is very little you actually have to memorize. His lectures were organized and he is well spoken.

The first two midterms were extremely fair. You just had to put in the time and do all of the book problems. The final was also extremely fair, except for one twelve point mech that no one got. If you are going to take Gainer, make sure you have a lot of time. He just goes off the book, but attendance is required, which was very frustrating

Midterm exam was so much easier than the final exam. The class is not as scary as everyone makes it seem. The labs are very easy and repetitive and the class is graded on a heavy curve. Quizzes are pretty difficult, but there are a lot of components that comprise of your grade (quizzes, lab reports, miderm, final, lab work, lab practical).