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- Daniel Neuhauser
- CHEM 20A
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Professor Neuhauser is a very nice person. He encourages his students to go to office hours and takes a good amount of questions during lecture. He tries his best, but unfortunately, his best isn't that good. He knows a lot of chemistry, but he can't pass down his knowledge efficiently. He doesn't do enough practice problems, as he talks about theory quite a bit, and when he is asked a question, his answer is not clear enough at all (he is still trying). The TA office hours were so much better, and honestly, it's the TA that run the show. His midterms are quite reasonable, but his final was pretty difficult. Word of advice, if something doesn't show up on the midterm, it's probably gonna show up on the final, so watch out. In the end, his class was doable with the TAs and online videos and everything. Not the easiest class; take someone better if available. Oh and one more thing, "do more practice problems!"
P.S. Thanks Wenfei!
Seems like a nice guy but you can tell he's here for research and not teaching. He's not clear in any of his lectures (which are also dull as hell). Fortunately I had done most of the syllabus in high school but if you've not taken any or little chemistry at all I suggest you move onto another professor. Saving grace is that the midterms are usually easy and you get a 5 page (yes, 10 entire sides) cheat sheet which basically means you can copy down the whole textbook onto them (not that the textbook really helps). Final for me was hard but fortunately did enough in the midterms and homework to get an A.
Basically what everyone says is right. He's really nice and really smart, but his lectures get pretty boring and you can figure pretty much everything out by reading the book or finding youtube videos. Also doing the homework is very helpful since it'll walk you through a lot of the problems. The midterms were pretty easy and didn't require more than a basic knowledge of the concepts and was mostly using the equations. The final was quite a bit harder, but he allows a lot of "cheat sheets" so there isn't much you need to memorize.
His midterms were doable but the final was really difficult relative to his midterms. He required everyone to purchase OWL and to do the assignments. He is not a very clear lecturer.
Professor Neuhauser is not the best lecturer. I often found myself lost in class and just finding YouTube videos later to learn concepts. Thankfully, the TAs write the exams, so usually if you get the basic gist of something, the exam can or cannot be plug and chug. He encourages students to use the test bank, even though most of those exams are outdated. There will usually be a practice exam posted. Oh, and make sure you write at least once in the discussion forum each week, or that's easy points missed. Take the OWL homework seriously, even if it's graded for completion because it will help you learn. Even though Professor Neuhauser encourages you to go to office hours, his usually aren't the best. It is better to go to your TA's office hours (Wenfei was very helpful). Professor Neuhauser is always willing to help, but unfortunately his help isn't the best. I would say that the final is harder than the midterms, but it definitely isn't on a way different level.
Going to Neuhauser's lectures, the first things you'll notice is his heavy accent and his insane intelligence. However, I don't really feel like he's a very effective teacher, nor that he really cares about teaching. During lectures and office hours, one of the most key components to understanding the material is knowing when to stop listening to him. A lot of the time he'll explain what you need to know in the first few sentences, and then go on random tangents or start to delve into deeper concepts that are overall irrelevant to the course which overall are extremely confusing. The main way I learned was just by going to discussion sections and my TA's office hours, which were both pretty useful. Thankfully, Neuhauser made the midterms pretty easy overall, and the final exam wasn't too bad either. Overall, it doesn't seem like any of the Chem 20A teachers are super good, Baugh also seems to be ineffective at teaching but has a nice grade distribution. About half of Chem 20A isn't that useful for future lower div chem courses or other courses (pretty much all of Quantum mechanics) which is good. There really wasn't anything from Chem 20A in Chem 20B, as well.
Neuhauser is terrible at explaining concepts, preparing you for his tests, or answering student questions. The OWL homework is better at teaching you the concepts than he will be. If you go to his review sessions, you will only end up more confused.
However, the midterm tests were very straightforward and almost easy, they followed the pattern of the homework assignments pretty nicely and using the homework was a good way to study for them. They didn't match most of the material covered in lecture at all. The final was incredibly hard, it was twice as difficult as any homework assignments or either midterm, but it still covered only homework topics (just with more difficulty).
The professor has a really thick accent, but if you can get over it, his lectures are probably one of the most on-point lectures out there. He stays focused. He is also REALLY good at explaining stuff one-on-one.
His tests are very similar to the homework, and all the formulas can be found from his lectures. Also, the tests are graded very easily. It’s almost impossible to get less than a B in his class. The class may be more of a physics class, but it’s still doable
The OWL book is actually mandatory, but it’s with every penny. Its activities explain stuff super well-probably better than any professor.
The professor is knowledgeable, but should not teach this very primary class with so many people. His accent is not as bad as the reviews say, but he takes incredible time, like 1/4 of the lecture, to answer questions from everyone who raises hands, and leaves less time for elaboration or examples for most people's better understanding. He is helpful and encourages us to go to office hours, but he's more like a physics professor(as which he identifies himself), and can't answer my "chemistry" questions from time to time. Fortunately, the grading policy is so generous and exams much easier than he teaches that I think it's basically impossible to get B- or below.
Professor Neuhauser is a very nice person. He encourages his students to go to office hours and takes a good amount of questions during lecture. He tries his best, but unfortunately, his best isn't that good. He knows a lot of chemistry, but he can't pass down his knowledge efficiently. He doesn't do enough practice problems, as he talks about theory quite a bit, and when he is asked a question, his answer is not clear enough at all (he is still trying). The TA office hours were so much better, and honestly, it's the TA that run the show. His midterms are quite reasonable, but his final was pretty difficult. Word of advice, if something doesn't show up on the midterm, it's probably gonna show up on the final, so watch out. In the end, his class was doable with the TAs and online videos and everything. Not the easiest class; take someone better if available. Oh and one more thing, "do more practice problems!"
P.S. Thanks Wenfei!
Seems like a nice guy but you can tell he's here for research and not teaching. He's not clear in any of his lectures (which are also dull as hell). Fortunately I had done most of the syllabus in high school but if you've not taken any or little chemistry at all I suggest you move onto another professor. Saving grace is that the midterms are usually easy and you get a 5 page (yes, 10 entire sides) cheat sheet which basically means you can copy down the whole textbook onto them (not that the textbook really helps). Final for me was hard but fortunately did enough in the midterms and homework to get an A.
Basically what everyone says is right. He's really nice and really smart, but his lectures get pretty boring and you can figure pretty much everything out by reading the book or finding youtube videos. Also doing the homework is very helpful since it'll walk you through a lot of the problems. The midterms were pretty easy and didn't require more than a basic knowledge of the concepts and was mostly using the equations. The final was quite a bit harder, but he allows a lot of "cheat sheets" so there isn't much you need to memorize.
His midterms were doable but the final was really difficult relative to his midterms. He required everyone to purchase OWL and to do the assignments. He is not a very clear lecturer.
Professor Neuhauser is not the best lecturer. I often found myself lost in class and just finding YouTube videos later to learn concepts. Thankfully, the TAs write the exams, so usually if you get the basic gist of something, the exam can or cannot be plug and chug. He encourages students to use the test bank, even though most of those exams are outdated. There will usually be a practice exam posted. Oh, and make sure you write at least once in the discussion forum each week, or that's easy points missed. Take the OWL homework seriously, even if it's graded for completion because it will help you learn. Even though Professor Neuhauser encourages you to go to office hours, his usually aren't the best. It is better to go to your TA's office hours (Wenfei was very helpful). Professor Neuhauser is always willing to help, but unfortunately his help isn't the best. I would say that the final is harder than the midterms, but it definitely isn't on a way different level.
Going to Neuhauser's lectures, the first things you'll notice is his heavy accent and his insane intelligence. However, I don't really feel like he's a very effective teacher, nor that he really cares about teaching. During lectures and office hours, one of the most key components to understanding the material is knowing when to stop listening to him. A lot of the time he'll explain what you need to know in the first few sentences, and then go on random tangents or start to delve into deeper concepts that are overall irrelevant to the course which overall are extremely confusing. The main way I learned was just by going to discussion sections and my TA's office hours, which were both pretty useful. Thankfully, Neuhauser made the midterms pretty easy overall, and the final exam wasn't too bad either. Overall, it doesn't seem like any of the Chem 20A teachers are super good, Baugh also seems to be ineffective at teaching but has a nice grade distribution. About half of Chem 20A isn't that useful for future lower div chem courses or other courses (pretty much all of Quantum mechanics) which is good. There really wasn't anything from Chem 20A in Chem 20B, as well.
Neuhauser is terrible at explaining concepts, preparing you for his tests, or answering student questions. The OWL homework is better at teaching you the concepts than he will be. If you go to his review sessions, you will only end up more confused.
However, the midterm tests were very straightforward and almost easy, they followed the pattern of the homework assignments pretty nicely and using the homework was a good way to study for them. They didn't match most of the material covered in lecture at all. The final was incredibly hard, it was twice as difficult as any homework assignments or either midterm, but it still covered only homework topics (just with more difficulty).
The professor has a really thick accent, but if you can get over it, his lectures are probably one of the most on-point lectures out there. He stays focused. He is also REALLY good at explaining stuff one-on-one.
His tests are very similar to the homework, and all the formulas can be found from his lectures. Also, the tests are graded very easily. It’s almost impossible to get less than a B in his class. The class may be more of a physics class, but it’s still doable
The OWL book is actually mandatory, but it’s with every penny. Its activities explain stuff super well-probably better than any professor.
The professor is knowledgeable, but should not teach this very primary class with so many people. His accent is not as bad as the reviews say, but he takes incredible time, like 1/4 of the lecture, to answer questions from everyone who raises hands, and leaves less time for elaboration or examples for most people's better understanding. He is helpful and encourages us to go to office hours, but he's more like a physics professor(as which he identifies himself), and can't answer my "chemistry" questions from time to time. Fortunately, the grading policy is so generous and exams much easier than he teaches that I think it's basically impossible to get B- or below.
Based on 34 Users
TOP TAGS
- Uses Slides (5)
- Tolerates Tardiness (5)
- Needs Textbook (4)
- Appropriately Priced Materials (2)