Baugh is a brilliant professor w/a really generous curve on midterms. Exams are not as difficult as you would think, since you actually do not need to know the derivations from lecture. Take him, you'll get an easy A!

Baugh is a brilliant engineer, and he seemed like he was going to be a great professor the first week. But the material is very confusing unless you're an engineer with a solid chemistry background, and he really is not good at explaining it to someone who isn't a brilliant chemistry student. His tests are like a different language with a huge curve. If you have to take Chem 20A, don't take the honors section with Baugh.

Where are the grades? It's over 2 weeks past the final, they are still not up! j/k

It\\s definitely impossible to rate this professor without rating the course he's teaching. About the usefulness of this course I cannot tell you much, for I am neither premed nor even a chem/biochem major. However what I can sya is that this course did not seem to me as hard as many people say here. Admittedly, it's no cakewalk, but still quite doable.

The first midterm was pretty hard. The second one was definitely easier, but it was so way off what people expected that the class' performance on it was almost on the same level as on the first midterm. The final was about as hard as the first midterm, but at least one part on virtually every problem was a "darn, where did he get that one from?".

The class is not curved, at least the Prof. baugh says so, so there are some reasons to worry if, besides the good knowledge of chem you want a good grade as well. However, the knowledge of chem is guaranteed. Baugh loads you with interesting and advanced stuff and does everything to ensure that you understand the material. If you don't get something in class, definitely go to his OH!!! In fact, the course is built in such way that if you don't understand a topic, you'll be , at best, on the verge of failing at the end. As a person, Baugh is really nice; as someone pointed out, he is "a real man" with his passions extending beyond chem (still remember his story about watching the flaps and air brakes work on a plane). He rarely responds to e-mails, though. What I really hated about the course, though, was the textbook. Completely theoretical, sometimes lacking even essential formulas and containing some confusing typos.

The TA has a manner of teaching that you either like or hate, very careless and laid back. A matter of taste. Just like the whole course.

I'm writing this now before i see my grade for chem 20AH so that i won't be as biased. There's really two things to rate here, the professor and the class chem 20AH.

Professor Baugh is a nice easy going guy who just happens to be a friggin genius. He's a good teacher in class because he asks the class (of 60 or so) questions and interacts with them, which helps you get the course material. The thing i really liked about him is that he liked the kids who were normal and disliked the freakshows (and let me tell you, there are a few in Chem 20AH) who went to the library for supplemental quantum chemistry books the first day and then bithed when they were all checked out. I reccomend taking Professor Baugh and i did like his TA as well because they were real people, not chem people who'd never seen the light of day. before you go leaping to take chem 20AH, read the next paragraph.

Chem 20AH is a kick in the teeth. I thought i knew at least a little something about chemistry before i took this class. It's absolutely nuts, if you're some kid who aced HS chemistry and is a humanities major looking for a "challenge" as so many of the people weeping were, then run from this class as far as your legs will carry you. If you're going into something this will actually be useful for, (biochem, chem etc.) take the class and get ready. Let go of everything you ever thought you knew about chem and just go with it. The first midterm was hard, the second was easier but still hard and the final was as hard as the first midterm, but was do-able provided you studied your a$$ off. If you go into this class expecting to be a jedi and get an easy A, forget it, but if you approach it with the mentality that you're a lamb going to the slaughterhouse, you'll hang in there and get a whole lot of high-level knowledge (i talked to one fo my third year friends and he said we got upper division classwork). If i get better than a C in this class im gonna frame the darn printout and hang it above my mantle.

ok... unless you r a physics freak do not take this class. This professor from usc will scare the crap outta you. When I first came into the class and sat through the first lecture I was shocked. The title of the course was "intro to chem" and no one in the class had any idea of what the heck he was talking about. All this professor does is give you information about higher level chemistry and research stuff. here's an example... give schrodinger's equation and use it to derive the potential energy of this atom. Nothing about introduction to chemistry. oh, and don't expect him to take into consideration your emails because I personally sent him an email asking him again and again not to set his office hours on tues and thurs from 3-5... and what does he do??? he sets his office hours on tuesdays and thursdays from 4-5... what kinda human being is this??? He has favorites in his class... which are the people who actually make it to office hours and he sort of dislikes the people who don't go to office hours. The midterms are set up this way:

1st: u got scared so you study a whole bunch and think you did ok... until u get it back and u get a C or D on the midterm.
2nd: u study a whole bunch again hoping to do better but instead, u find out that barely anything that was covered in class was on the midterm. It was all simple calculations and draw this structure stuff.

final: thinking that the final will be like the midterms, you still study a lot but when u go in, you can't do the 1st problem... then as you go on, u find out that u can't do parts on almost every problem.

so yeah, if you really desire hell your freshman year then by all means take 20AH with baugh... i hated this professor ever since 2nd week and now i hate him even more. All he does in class is do his Morpheus impressions and thinks he's funny. This is not a class to take.

I asked a chem TA about what he thought of the class and he told me that he learned this stuff in chem 113!!!! what does that tell you??? that we're all just supposed to miraculously understand upper division chem material in 10 weeks without having a clue or foundation of what he's talking about??? i got a 5 on my ap chem but i think im going to get a C- in the class... grr...

oh, and for all those who thought prof. baugh was a good professor, they probably all went to office hours and had the convenience of not having class during his office hours. so yeah, i would recommend going because that seems to be the general consensus but I still wouldnt retake this class... i would rather change majors than take this class over again.