Professor
Daniele Bianchi
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Don't believe these reviews. The only accurate thing they said was about a curve. Even then, this class is terrible. The professor is nice but is useless when it comes to receiving help. My TA is horrible- snobby and is not at all helpful when it comes to providing help. I decided to ask the professor for help because the TA was a waste of time and the professor was super vague and not helpful at all. The assignments are extremely difficult and have NOTHING to do with the lectures. They DO involve a lot of math and the wording is too damn confusing. The professor and the TA themselves tend to send an email clarifying for every assignment. The labs are worse. They are confusing and not clear at all. The mid-term was the exact same thing- it made no sense and the TA's told us to focus on the wrong things and to memorize stuff that was not even on the exam. Overall, a huge waste of time and this class will most likely bring down my GPA. The worst GE I have taken in my 2 years at UCLA!!
Fall 2018 - Don't believe these reviews. The only accurate thing they said was about a curve. Even then, this class is terrible. The professor is nice but is useless when it comes to receiving help. My TA is horrible- snobby and is not at all helpful when it comes to providing help. I decided to ask the professor for help because the TA was a waste of time and the professor was super vague and not helpful at all. The assignments are extremely difficult and have NOTHING to do with the lectures. They DO involve a lot of math and the wording is too damn confusing. The professor and the TA themselves tend to send an email clarifying for every assignment. The labs are worse. They are confusing and not clear at all. The mid-term was the exact same thing- it made no sense and the TA's told us to focus on the wrong things and to memorize stuff that was not even on the exam. Overall, a huge waste of time and this class will most likely bring down my GPA. The worst GE I have taken in my 2 years at UCLA!!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Horrible lab. TA refused to provide adequate help and had the tendency to make it extremely obvious that he thought you were stupid. I suggest taking your lab req with another professor. The assignments are usually flawed and they won't take the initiative to write an email explaining the mistake until the evening before it is due. I agree with the reviews that say it is absurd that we still have to turn in a hard copy of the assignment. These TAs should be banned from "teaching". The assignments were extremely hard and they had nothing to do with our lectures.
Fall 2018 - Horrible lab. TA refused to provide adequate help and had the tendency to make it extremely obvious that he thought you were stupid. I suggest taking your lab req with another professor. The assignments are usually flawed and they won't take the initiative to write an email explaining the mistake until the evening before it is due. I agree with the reviews that say it is absurd that we still have to turn in a hard copy of the assignment. These TAs should be banned from "teaching". The assignments were extremely hard and they had nothing to do with our lectures.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - I loveddd this class. I'm not an A&O major and haven't taken a chem course in years but this was super doable. Prof Bianchi is passionate about what he teaches and it shows. Each week there's a clicker quiz but it's mostly for attendance so you get free points for showing up. His powerpoints are well organized and made available before lecture so you can download them and follow at your own pace. There were 6 homeworks in total. They can be tricky but as long as you read the questions carefully and follow the powerpoints the answers will become apparent! Average for the midterm was pretty high. Highly recommend!
Winter 2020 - I loveddd this class. I'm not an A&O major and haven't taken a chem course in years but this was super doable. Prof Bianchi is passionate about what he teaches and it shows. Each week there's a clicker quiz but it's mostly for attendance so you get free points for showing up. His powerpoints are well organized and made available before lecture so you can download them and follow at your own pace. There were 6 homeworks in total. They can be tricky but as long as you read the questions carefully and follow the powerpoints the answers will become apparent! Average for the midterm was pretty high. Highly recommend!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - This class almost destroyed me. I ruminated on dropping this class countless of times....but I am glad I did not. I will tell anyone right now, if you are not good at unit conversions, you need to master that or get out of the class. I was great at unit conversions however it was hard for me to decipher his questions as all of them are word problems. Professor Bianchi is a passionate lecturer but do not expect to get any help from him as he will divert you toward your TA. Sometimes, even the TAs had no idea what he was teaching. Despite this, I remained indefatigable and sanguine. Here's my advice: - Do NOT lose heart. I am not exaggerating when I mean I got almost every iClicker question wrong. Just guess on it and move on, do not take them personally. Also the quizzes, they suck, do not feel bad. - Always and I mean always, try and review the lecture over again on your own, as in UNDERSTAND the concepts and attempt the iClicker questions again until you master it. - Take pictures of ALL the quizzes you take on canvas, these are imperative to your studying and I usually never got a 5/5 but after countless of practice....I legit aced my final and my last 5 home works. - Do not let the grade you see on canvas make you feel dejected, I had a C for like the entirety of the quarter and I ended up getting a 94% in the end. - GO TO YOUR TA!!! I legit had only about 15 minutes to see her because I was taking 19 units but those 15 minutes were the crux of my success. Go over any problem you have on the HW, they are always happy to help. Love you Paige. - Lastly, do not be lazy, this class requires a lot of work (practice). Before the exams I would practice redo every homework problem at least once and glance over the quiz problems. He gives you the equation sheet. I would print it out and write down the formulas and use a different color pen to define what the variables mean, and this helps because when you are ask to find e.g. time, or productivity, you can recall equations more efficiently rather than wasting crucial time scanning through the formula sheet. Understanding what the formula means in the mathematical sense and how it applies to the learning is what counts. - The tests are almost identical to the homework problems if not easier given the 1 hr constraint. From what I remember the tests usually have 1-3 problems with each of them having multiple parts, therefore it was absolutely vital for you understand formulas because if you mess up one part, it will collapse the entire problem. I found myself finishing tens of minutes earlier than everyone due to having just practiced the homework problems. - To nail the understanding part of the lecture, I would go back after every lecture and reupload his *updated* canvas notes that include iClicker solutions and the end of chapter summaries. This legit saved my life more than once when I was on a time crunch and needed to get the homework out of the way, the end of chapter summary recapitulates main ideas and includes necessary formulas to solve the home works. Lastly, for anyone who feels like this class will be the death of them, I am a grown man and I shed tears the first 2 weeks of this class....I just did what I put up there^ and it ended up being one of my favorite classes lol.
Winter 2024 - This class almost destroyed me. I ruminated on dropping this class countless of times....but I am glad I did not. I will tell anyone right now, if you are not good at unit conversions, you need to master that or get out of the class. I was great at unit conversions however it was hard for me to decipher his questions as all of them are word problems. Professor Bianchi is a passionate lecturer but do not expect to get any help from him as he will divert you toward your TA. Sometimes, even the TAs had no idea what he was teaching. Despite this, I remained indefatigable and sanguine. Here's my advice: - Do NOT lose heart. I am not exaggerating when I mean I got almost every iClicker question wrong. Just guess on it and move on, do not take them personally. Also the quizzes, they suck, do not feel bad. - Always and I mean always, try and review the lecture over again on your own, as in UNDERSTAND the concepts and attempt the iClicker questions again until you master it. - Take pictures of ALL the quizzes you take on canvas, these are imperative to your studying and I usually never got a 5/5 but after countless of practice....I legit aced my final and my last 5 home works. - Do not let the grade you see on canvas make you feel dejected, I had a C for like the entirety of the quarter and I ended up getting a 94% in the end. - GO TO YOUR TA!!! I legit had only about 15 minutes to see her because I was taking 19 units but those 15 minutes were the crux of my success. Go over any problem you have on the HW, they are always happy to help. Love you Paige. - Lastly, do not be lazy, this class requires a lot of work (practice). Before the exams I would practice redo every homework problem at least once and glance over the quiz problems. He gives you the equation sheet. I would print it out and write down the formulas and use a different color pen to define what the variables mean, and this helps because when you are ask to find e.g. time, or productivity, you can recall equations more efficiently rather than wasting crucial time scanning through the formula sheet. Understanding what the formula means in the mathematical sense and how it applies to the learning is what counts. - The tests are almost identical to the homework problems if not easier given the 1 hr constraint. From what I remember the tests usually have 1-3 problems with each of them having multiple parts, therefore it was absolutely vital for you understand formulas because if you mess up one part, it will collapse the entire problem. I found myself finishing tens of minutes earlier than everyone due to having just practiced the homework problems. - To nail the understanding part of the lecture, I would go back after every lecture and reupload his *updated* canvas notes that include iClicker solutions and the end of chapter summaries. This legit saved my life more than once when I was on a time crunch and needed to get the homework out of the way, the end of chapter summary recapitulates main ideas and includes necessary formulas to solve the home works. Lastly, for anyone who feels like this class will be the death of them, I am a grown man and I shed tears the first 2 weeks of this class....I just did what I put up there^ and it ended up being one of my favorite classes lol.
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