[CHEM 0107]
Advanced General Chemistry

Rate This Class

Professor: Byers J

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (18.2%
Average (81.8%)
Valuable (0%)

Material

Friendly (27.3%)
Average (54.5%)
Competitive (18.2%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (45.5%)
Average (45.5%)
Fascinating (9.1%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (36.4%)
3-5hr (45.5%)
6-8hr (9.1%)
9-11hr (9.1%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (18.2%)
Average (9.1%)
Easier (72.7%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (81.8%)
No (18.2%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (18.2%)
No (81.8%)

Evaluation Comments for Byers J

  1. No Comment
  2. No Comment
  3. Byer's is an interesting teacher. His lectures are somewhat unorganized, which can get confusing, but his tests are easy. The lab was fun, but also a little unorganized. All of the lab procedures have baby steps, so they're easy to follow (maybe a little too easy). The course wasn't the best, but it was a better alternative to taking a full year of chem.
  4. Although the class was a little disorganized and the material seemed to come from all over the place, it was nonetheless an interesting class. Byers is a great teacher and a really friendly person who's always there if you need any sort of help.
  5. This class is not what I expected at all. This is not a review of AP chem, though Byers says the course is partially a review. Lectures are hard to follow, and many concepts aren't fully explained. Reading the book is definitely necessary in order to fully understand concepts. Byers is a nice guy, and is willing to help, so if you take advantage of this, you should be able to do fine in the class. I always felt unprepared for tests, but they were never as hard as you expect. Overall, though the class wasn't my favorite, it is probably worth doing if you're considering majoring in Chem or going Pre-Med. Its nice to get GenChem done in one semester instead of two.
  6. I can't say enough good things about Professor Byers: he is an extremely nice, considerate guy and has a great sense of humor. Chem 107 was fun because it attracted a group of kids that were all very interested and highly motivated to pursue higher level chem. However, this (fall '08) was the first semester Byers taught the course and as such it was kind of in shambles. The labs did not line up with the lecture material and even the material in lecture seemed to lack any sort of overall relevance or cohesiveness. But the bottom line is this - Byers is an amazing teacher and it is clear that he loves his job and chemistry in general. If you plan on or are strongly considering majoring in one of the "hard sciences" definitely take this class with Byers, I'm sure that the curriculum mapping will dramatically improve over time.
  7. I just do not understand what purpose this course was supposed to serve, and it seems that Byers doesn't understand either. Nothing ever connected to the "big picture," which was the most frustrating thing for me. Problem sets were short and not too challenging, and weekly quizzes were easy. I felt unprepared going into exams (2 midterms and a final), and did not know what to expect. He was pretty good about partial credit, which was a good thing. Byers is hilarious, and a really nice guy, and I'm sure he's great in orgo and chem 103. This class is just bizarre.
  8. This class is a total mess. Byers does not have a clear concept for the purpose of its existence. As such, he presents material from all over the place, without any meaningful connection between each "unit". Also, he follows to textbook too rigidly in terms of content, and does too many calculation based problems ("plug and chug") rather than critical thinking problems. Often times in class he would become confused at what he was saying and cut himself short, or he would be unable to answer a student's question with a direct and meaningful answer.
  9. This class provides a great overview of much of the chemistry not covered in your high school courses, although a review of more basic chemistry would have been helpful. A lot of molecular orbital theory is covered with Byers, which is helpful for orgo but not necessarily useful for general chem. Byers is a bit scattered when he teaches but he is very helpful and approachable if you need him to be. The class itself is not too difficult if you really put in the effort, I think the lowest grade in my class was a B-, but make sure you prepare well enough for the first mid-term or you will spend the rest of the semester catching up. I would definitely take another class with Byers, but if you're deciding between this and CHEM 0104, I would go with the latter, it just seems more practical.
  10. This class was a bit random and disorganized. I understand that the purpose of this course is to fill in the gaps between AP chem and organic chem, but it just felt so ineffective. Professor Byers sometimes lost his train of thought and could not clearly explain the material being presented. The topics themselves did not relate, so everything was sort of a mish-mash of concepts. The labs should have corresponded better to the material being learned AT THE TIME, as opposed to far before or after the lecture unit. I have to say, I had no real problems with chem in high school, but this class left me a bit clueless of what I was just taught. Professor Byers is a nice guy, but he was not very helpful in furthering my education in the subject. Maybe he'll be better at organic chem, which I hear is his specialty.
  11. This class is really only worth it if you are planning on becoming a chemistry major or if you want to work with Byers in the future. The class is interesting at times but overall it's not very interesting and is often quite disorganized. Tests were fairly challenging. You are probably better off taking Chem 104 and getting a better grade in that class instead of taking this class unless you are really, really crazy about chemistry.

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