Don't take this class with him. Trust me. He's the only professor who does free response and there's only 2 midterms and one final they're all worth 80% of your grade. If you do take him prepare to study a lot and his questions are very weird, the way he words stuff is just very annoying. He's new so he doesn't know how to teach properly.
take another chem class, trust.
Nathan had slides that he went through very fast and was overall unorganized. I luckily had a TA would took sympathy on us and would grade more reasonably, however I basically had to teach the whole course to myself. The one thing that I liked was that he drops the lowest test grade (which could be 1 out of the 3 midterms or the final).
Nathan was very unorganized and very much all over the place. I would not recommend taking chem 25 with him. If you are an incoming freshman I suggest you just take chem 1A your second quarter rather than taking this course with a professor who will only complicate things more.
There are some typos on the PowerPoint, but not significant. He can explain the concepts well, and his exam is not too difficult. As long as you complete the problems he assigned in the textbook, you'll receive a good grade.
The operating system Aleks is terrible. The exam is not easy either.
I was in his Chem 25 class not 1A, but I would never take his class again. NEVER! His lecture was so messy I actually never understand it. It's just too fast to really learn anything. Second, He upload his notes to canvas but here's the catch. IT NOT READABLE! IDK WHY. No matter if I pull it out on my phone, iPad or my computer. It gets mess up.
He was very enthusiastic about chemistry, which was a plus! But his lectures were sometimes a bit erratic and (because he was very busy) chockfull of mistakes. If you like chem, go ahead and take it! If you don't, I would avoid.
Yall this man is the most spastic, unintelligible man I have ever had the displeasure of taking. If you do get him, godspeed, and prepare to study a lot on your own.
For Chem 25: I loved Nathan's class, If you do the Aleks and book problems you should know what to expect. It was pretty decent and I learned alot.
Don't take his class if you aren't planning to attend every lecture and do hours of ALEKS work every week. Lecture slides are pretty disorganized and usually not posted on canvas. lecture/section attendance isn't mandatory and grade is almost entirely based on tests
Love his passion. My favorite part is he teaches some non-test-related concepts, which might be why many students who have little to no experience with Chem struggle with his class. If you do the book problems, you will do fine on the tests, which are easier than book problems. He is generous at giving partial credit. Please go to his office hours.
Nathan seems to know a lot about chemistry and appears passionate. He seemed to try his best but unfortunately that did not translate to helping people who are either new or not very confident understand the subject. He was extremely unorganized and often made mistakes that led to distractions. TAs were GREAT.
I was in Nathan's first Chem 25 class not 1A. He was very disorganized. He wouldn't upload slides until he was done teaching them meaning it was very hard to take notes because he talks so fast. You had to be taking pictures. TA's carried the class. Study the textbook!! If you can do the practice problems then you're set for the tests.
Without exaggeration, he averages 3-4 mistakes per lecture. He will easily be in your top 3 worst professors, but his class is passable. CLAS tutors will be more of a chem professor than this guy. If I could do it over, I would have taken the 8am class than him.
His slides are funny but disorganized and full of mistakes that take up time. We were behind schedule all quarter, leaving the final with many rushed chapters. Very helpful during office hours. My one suggestion is stop telling students to drop after doing poorly on the first midterm. Most of us NEED to take the class, it causes unnecessary fear.
Chem 25: He is very disorganized and his slides have lots of mistakes. The syllabus is for Chem 1A and is mostly wrong for Chem 25, including the chapters that the midterms are on. Tests are all written response, but TAs are very generous with partial credit. Do all the book problems and read the book chapters if you want to understand content.
He had way too many mistakes on the lectures. He is passionate but very unprepared. He is nice about the aleks and he moves it probably more often than he should. His book problem solutions are hard to follow. The tests are open ended and gives partial credit. She svad on my lenak till I chem 1a
His lectures were messy however the textbook's easy to digest. If you do the book problems and keep up with ALEKS you'll be fine. I liked the free response, he's VERY strict with deadlines and gives no leeway. I wouldn't take his class if I didn't have to but I do feel more prepared for Chem 1A and confident in being able to learn and study it.
Nathan taught this course in a very disorganized way. The other chem 25 professor had study guides and multiple choice tests. I went to every single lecture, and the slides were too fast. Taught myself through the ALEKS assignments and youtube videos. Last midterm had multiple questions from a chapter that we didn't even finish learning.
If you can, TAKE ANOTHER PROFESSOR. I thought it would be fine, but it wasn't. Your grade is 80% based on exams which are free response, and 20% homework, which is ALEKS. And that's not even including the dozens of book problems that are not mandatory but are much of the test material. Very disorganized slides, gets off topic, just bad.
Took chem 25, and would not recommend, super smart but doesn't know how to teach. Lectures are fast-paced and he takes a while to post them. Hard to keep up with the material. Very passive-aggressive, and made me feel dumb when I asked a question. Would never take again.
Funny guy, truly engaging. Only reason why he only gets 3 stars is because his lectures are messy, disorganized, and he often gets off topic and doesn't finish the content. Crammed 2 chapters into the last 2 weeks as a result. Seems like a great guy, I'm sure he'll get the hang of it eventually, since he is still relatively new to teaching here.
I came into UCSB thinking worse than what he actually was and am most likely going to end his class with a barely passing grade yet I would not blame it fully for his 80% test and 20% HW criteria. His grading rubric may be test heavy and his lectures are often loaded but he is very accessible and tests are based off problems mostly off of slides.