CHEM 2410

So honestly I was a bit disappointed in this course. I thought Orgo was supposed to be the big killer, but, at least for me, it was a rather straightforward class. I'll mention that I had about a 60-70% attendance rate to Serbulea's lectures, but managed to still pull off an A. To be blunt, Serbulea's lectures and exams all branch off of major topics covered in the book for the class. The weekend before an exam, I would just read and maybe re-read chapters covered in the upcoming exam, and score easily 15 points above the average. While Serbulea is not a bad lecturer, I'd have to say that she's rather superfluous to learning the material, seeing as 90% of organic chemistry builds off fundamentals you should have learned in general chemistry. And while her syllabus may say that the class has absolute grading (no curve), she still will give a huge curve at the end of the semester. So just stay 12-15 points above the average and you're set for an A at the end, and that's if you forget to do your homework or decide not to get clicker points.

There are 3 exams and a final which are all free-response. Her lectures, presented in a powerpoint format, follow the book strictly which I like because you can easily go back and review topics that you don't understand. Overall, she's pretty good at presenting the information. If you keep up and read the textbook and do all the practice problems in the back of the chapters, you wouldn't have a problem because the tests are pretty straightforward. She would never try to trick you on the exams. For our year, she created a bunch of weird extra credits (instead of curving the class 3% at the end which she did for previous years). However, the extra credits were incredibly confusing and made it difficult to calculate your grade (maybe I'm just stupid or too lazy to figure it out). But in the end it worked out in my favor so I didn't investigate further.

My first advice would be to ignore all the negative comments in the comment section. This class was not that bad. As a transfer student from CC, my first mistake was to read all these comments! The class requires you to read the textbook before coming to class and doing all the problems from end of chapter and in chapter problems. I didn't do so well on the first two tests (a D and an F) because I was still adjusting and was feeling burned out already, but I pulled through and ended up getting a B overall (B+ on third test and B- on final). I recommend that you divide up your work instead of doing all of the problems at once; if you don't have time, do half of the in chapter and end of chapter problems. The textbook is amazing at explaining things and the powerpoints in class are good as well. I did ok on the iclickers for discussion and lecture; at first they will seem difficult, but then you will get used to them and will do well. She also provided extra credit opportunities by making some of the iclickers in lecture and discussion as extra credit. Also, she "curved" the tests by adding in 4 extra points for first test, making the test out of 96 and not 100 on another test, and sometimes giving extra credit questions on other tests/final exam. She is an awesome professor, and you should definitely meet her outside of class (she is very nice). The TAs were good as well, but my favorites were James, Emily, Khatija, Chi, and Erin. Work hard and everything will be ok! don't stress out!

I don't understand why so many more people prefer McGarvey over Serbulea because she's definitely a better teacher. Her lectures are kinda straight from the book and sometimes she skips over stuff but overall she's fair and knows what she's talking about. She's crazy good with names if you go to office hours and there's a lot of TA office hour opportunities too. There might be no curve but if you study hard enough, understand how she writes her tests, READ THE CHAPTERS AND DO PRACTICE PROBLEMS, and get as many extra points as you can on homework and iclickers then you'll be fine because I actually ended up with a pretty decent grade and I suck at chemistry.

If you have to take Orgo, take it with Serbulea. The discussion sections are actually really helpful too and give you a nice grade bump.

Professor Serbulea is a great professor who is willing to help you whenever needed. The class is extremely difficult, but she is very concerned about her students and presents the material in the best way possible.

Don't listen to everything you hear about orgo! If you are going to take this course, I HIGHLY recommend taking it with Dr. Serbulea. During lecture she has individual PowerPoint slides with all of the topics, and she goes over everything thoroughly. She also has clicker questions which greatly help your grade! You definitely need to read the textbook outside of class and keep yourself caught up, but this class is so doable. She is a take-no-shit woman, so she commands respect from the class in the best way possible. She teaches you everything you need to know. Her exams are hard (duh) but fair!!! And don't be discouraged because there isn't a "curve." I ended up with an 89.8 for the semester and still got a solid A. You learn naming and other things that the other classes don't learn, but it is to your benefit!!!! McGarvey and Fraser have to teach themselves from the textbook. Serbulea teaches you and makes the class doable. Discussions are also extremely helpful even though they are at an unfortunate time. I highly recommend this course for anyone who is taking orgo!!! Do not listen to all the stupid gossip you hear-- Serbulea is the best!

Serbulea actually cares for her students. Yes, the class is big, but she knows every one of you and how you're doing in her class. I really like how organized she is-- the way she sets up her tier of office hours. I wish I got to go to her office hours more just to get to know her, but going to her TAs' office hours are good enough. She knows how to pick them! They know what they're doing, which is pretty awesome (and surprising to me because when I went to gen chem office hours.... no one could help me hahah). Her class is challenging, but I suggest you read beforehand. Just get the basic understanding, confirm what you've learned in her class, and then do practice problems.
No one likes discussion, but it's useful. It helps with your timing regardless of how tedious it is. I RECOMMEND SERBS. SHE DA BOMB.
I would take her class again to be honest. I really like her learning style and I think I developed a better work ethic because of her.

I definitely recommend taking this class with Professor Serbulea! She is an exceptional professor and presents all the information in a clear and concise manner. Even though this class if difficult, her exams are definitely fair and 40% of the grade comes from extra homework, which is manageable. I really felt like I learned a lot in this class with Serbulea, don't be scared away by other reviews!

I would have to say my favorite thing about Serbula is that she is a very clear and concise lecturer. I would definitely recommend her if you have strong preferences for lecture quality. That being said, I found this class to be very difficult, but I am sure that is just bound to happen in any orgo class. READ READ READ. Most of her test questions are inspired by the practice problems in the book. In my opinion, her tests are very specific and a tad nit-picky. She will decide to add that one special exception problem on the bottom left corner of some random page. Always pay attention and read carefully. While she is the only chem professor who does not curve, she has the class weighted in a way that will still help you. Each test is 10% of your grade and usually has a few points of extra credit at the end. The extra credit is doable (I usually ended up getting all the EC points even though I found a lot of the test questions to be fairly difficult). The homework assignments are pretty easy, so KEEP UP WITH THEM. Your final homework (sapling) grade is worth a test grade. Mastering Chemistry is also worth a test grade. She does not assign this as often, but there is usually a bunch of MC due after each test. Do NOT put this off. Try to work on it bit by bit in the weeks leading up to the test. It adds up to be a lot. Good luck!