CHEM 1611

Don't worry about which professor to get... you will all have randomly assigned TAs. The class is basically run by the TAs and you have no contact with Wheeler. Grading all depends on your TA, but if you put the time into the class, you'll do fine.

Here's my rant. By put time into the class.... it's a LOT of time. As a one credit class, the work they give you is outrageous. Not only that, but I'd be happier if I actually learned something. Engineers hate STS 1500 because it's boring and you don't learn anything..... well, this class makes STS 1500 look good!! I can honestly say that I have learned nothing in this class. You only do two experiments during the whole semester. One of which, you measure the accuracy of measuring cups, which is completely useless. Every lab requires a Prelab, postlab, lab report, summary...etc you name it. I can't tell you how pathetic I looked writing a lab report on the accuracy of measuring cups.
The assignments are not graded on your knowledge in chem or chem lab either... it's graded on how well you follow directions. The grading is very strict and unless you read the 50 page lab manual, you'll have trouble keeping your grade up.
I don't even know why they use Mathematica when they can use basically anything else. You have to buy this stupid software and you use it to analyze the accuracy of fucking measuring cups.
The up side of this class is that you meet every 2 weeks.

Final Advice: Avoid this class unless you're required to take it. If you're an engineer and you can't avoid this, pray for a good TA. If that doesn't work, don't sweat it. In the end, it's only a one credit class.

Lindsay Wheeler is an idiot. Her lab manual is full of typos and her "rubrics" are extremely vague. When you get graded assignments back, you have points taken off for things she didn't say you needed. If you have a good TA, they'll try to help as much as they can, but you'll still be lost in a sea of confusion as to what the assignment actually is. The quizzes are pretty tricky compared to what she "teaches you" so don't take them lightly.

This is an incredibly stupid course. It is poorly organized, and graded harshly for no reason. We did less actual chemistry in this course than in a single high school lab session. Everything was graded based on formatting, actual content was irrelevant. Unfortunately this is a required course for engineers, so hope for a good TA.

This class was really annoying and disorganized...

Coming from a student who likes chemistry, this is a poorly organized and useless class. The worst part of the class is Ms. Wheeler forces Mathematica down your throat because she somehow thinks it will help you learn computer science skills. When in reality it ends up being a educational inhibitor for most students. Additionally, the rubrics used for lab write ups are vague and give you absolutely no idea what you have to include in the report. If you want a good grade, be prepared to head to TA office hours several times.