CHEM 30AL
General Chemistry Laboratory II
Description: Lecture, one hour; laboratory, six hours. Enforced requisites: courses 20B (or 20BH), 20L, and 30A (or 30AH), with grades of C- or better. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemical reactions and compounds, kinetics, separations, and spectroscopy. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - The professor definitely seemed to try his hardest. He isn’t the best lecturer per se, but if you can understand his accent, his lectures are generally useful. So, I’d go to them. Also, Henary always had extra office hours, which was convenient. The class is like 20al in terms of rigor, and is basically a watered down combo course of 20b and 30b. That said, the workload is definitely heavy at times, with two lab write ups per week. Also, some labs take rather long to complete, but usually they are fairly interesting. The class itself is easy; 50%+ of his students get A’s for a reason. During the midterm you’re given all formulas, while during the final you get a one page cheat sheet. Students only need the lab manual. The other book that isn’t the lab manual is basically useless for this class, and basically a waste of money. Henary grades like Pang’s 20L class but his lectures aren’t as good though.
Fall 2019 - The professor definitely seemed to try his hardest. He isn’t the best lecturer per se, but if you can understand his accent, his lectures are generally useful. So, I’d go to them. Also, Henary always had extra office hours, which was convenient. The class is like 20al in terms of rigor, and is basically a watered down combo course of 20b and 30b. That said, the workload is definitely heavy at times, with two lab write ups per week. Also, some labs take rather long to complete, but usually they are fairly interesting. The class itself is easy; 50%+ of his students get A’s for a reason. During the midterm you’re given all formulas, while during the final you get a one page cheat sheet. Students only need the lab manual. The other book that isn’t the lab manual is basically useless for this class, and basically a waste of money. Henary grades like Pang’s 20L class but his lectures aren’t as good though.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Dr. Pang is awesome. After coming back from quarantine and getting throwing into 30AL after taking 20L virtually, the transition was made extremely comfortable thanks to the setup of this class. Dr. Pang's lectures are very clear and engaging, and are also podcasted online. The workload is very manageable and labs are structured quite well (and you can leave early if you finish—physics department has something to learn from this class). You spent most of this class in the lab (go figure) with the TA, but Dr. Pang always drops into the lab and looks around and is generally available for questions. He's also a total chad and will notice if you're doing something wrong with your sulfuric acid solution and step in and fix it without wearing gloves or goggles. He's never upset if you mess something up, and your grade won't suffer if your percent yield is low, as long as you can explain why (again, physics department, you really got to step it up). Tests are fair and not too hard as well, and this class is a great complement to CHEM 30B, which will take all your time anyway, so it's nice that this class is much easier.
Fall 2021 - Dr. Pang is awesome. After coming back from quarantine and getting throwing into 30AL after taking 20L virtually, the transition was made extremely comfortable thanks to the setup of this class. Dr. Pang's lectures are very clear and engaging, and are also podcasted online. The workload is very manageable and labs are structured quite well (and you can leave early if you finish—physics department has something to learn from this class). You spent most of this class in the lab (go figure) with the TA, but Dr. Pang always drops into the lab and looks around and is generally available for questions. He's also a total chad and will notice if you're doing something wrong with your sulfuric acid solution and step in and fix it without wearing gloves or goggles. He's never upset if you mess something up, and your grade won't suffer if your percent yield is low, as long as you can explain why (again, physics department, you really got to step it up). Tests are fair and not too hard as well, and this class is a great complement to CHEM 30B, which will take all your time anyway, so it's nice that this class is much easier.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - there's QUITE a bit of work for this class, but nothing is difficult. I think a lot of negative reviews here are from COVID season, and I don't think it's because of Dr. Russell herself. It's because online lab is an impossible concept. Ours was half online / half in person, and the in-person lab was completely different, and significantly easier. Given the circumstances, Dr. Russell has done a fantastic job. She's a sweetie, she cares a lot about students, responds to emails fast, and is very knowledgeable. All of my graduated friends look back on her lab fondly. :') tl;dr negative reviews are because online lab sucks (not dr russell), and she's quite a lovely person and good lecturer
Winter 2022 - there's QUITE a bit of work for this class, but nothing is difficult. I think a lot of negative reviews here are from COVID season, and I don't think it's because of Dr. Russell herself. It's because online lab is an impossible concept. Ours was half online / half in person, and the in-person lab was completely different, and significantly easier. Given the circumstances, Dr. Russell has done a fantastic job. She's a sweetie, she cares a lot about students, responds to emails fast, and is very knowledgeable. All of my graduated friends look back on her lab fondly. :') tl;dr negative reviews are because online lab sucks (not dr russell), and she's quite a lovely person and good lecturer