James Leighton

For reference, I got an A both semesters. Going into orgo, I was expecting the worst, but I was kinda pleasantly suprised. Yes, it's another pre-med weed-out. Another hard class. However, it was not bio, and to me that is a win. For the Leighton vs. others debate, I feel like Leighton is WAY over-hyped. Don't get me wrong, he is a fantastic and engaging lecturer who is clearly passionate about the material. However, he is actually like really mean and judgmental. He does not really like people who do not understand. He also HATES when you propose another way to think about things, even if it is not inherently wrong. Just kinda mean. Would I recommend over Doubleday? Yes, 100%. Doubleday is BORING and not easier, so take Leighton over him. Leighton WORSHIPS his problem sets. Honestly, if you just memorize the problem sets, you will get at least an 80% on each exam. Not even kidding. So that is nice. He really rarely suprised us with a crazy question, which was kinda nice. Sometimes he actually makes his exams too easy, which is, unfortunately, an issue and not a plus. Since the class is curved, he grades based on how many standard deviations you are away from the mean. This semester, I dropped my 100 on exam 3 and kept my 86 on exam 2 because the average on 3 was too high for my 100 to be meaningful. That to me was one of the MOST frustrating elements of Leighton. You kinda hav…

I would honestly go for Eckdahl if he is teaching or another professor. Leighton gives basically no real way to prepare for his exams EXCEPT for problem sets which as stated in below reviews everyone does. Suggested textbook problems are unnecessary/completely different from his exam problems. He does not provide any practice exams whatsover, very different from other organic chemistry professors like Eckdahl and Doubleday who provide 5 practice exams minimum to prepare for each exam. He is actually very against providing practice exams and gets super offended when you ask him for any. So with Leighton's class, you go into every exam having no clue what to expect besides vague topics from lecture and problem sets, which the exams are much harder than. The exams are also VERY conceptual (so it is easy to lose point/not get what the exam question is asking). I.e., They are exam questions like draw/demonstrate why --- instead of "write the mechanism", so his exams were quite abstract and conceptual as compared to other organic chemistry professors at Columbia. Also, he gives barely any partial credit. If you get a question wrong and it is out of 12 points you're losing 12 points or even 20 points if that is what the question is out of. He also barely ever gives points back in regrades even if TAs agree you deserve a few more points. He only gives back if it is like a grader error…

This was hands-down my favorite class freshman year. It can be kind of intimidating at first - Professor Breslow is a genius (you learn about the Breslow intermediate second semester) and some of his lectures can go pretty quickly - but take solace in the fact that everyone feels lost. If you stick close to your TA first semester, you'll be FINE. Plus, because both Breslow and Leighton consider the class "above average," it's fairly easy to make an A+ (I made one both first and second semester). I think the class is itself scaled to an A-, which is a lot better than the gen chem or regular orgo classes. So if you are placed into this class, TAKE it. Also, orgo just gets easier as you go along. I must say that I spent a lot of time on orgo first semester (you need to read and understand the book chapters VERY WELL). But if you get through first semester, second semester is a breeze. Leighton doesn't care about the book (although he took some exam questions verbatim from his "recommended homework" so if you're smart, you'll look at those problems) and his exams come STRAIGHT from his notes. He's also really good about extra office hours and his class notes are very clear. Both semesters and both professors were absolutely fascinating. I am really going to miss this class - it made me a chem major, I loved it so much. So take it! It'll be the best decision you make freshman year.…

I learned so much from this course, but I also spent SO much time and energy every week going over class notes, doing problem sets, and preparing for the exams. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: CHEMUN2046_001_2023_3-INTENSVEORGCHEM-FOR1STYEAR : CHEMUN2046_001_2023_3 - INTENSVE ORG CHEM-FOR 1ST YEAR Instructor: James Leighton

did fine without attending rec 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: CHEMUN2445_007_2023_3-ORGANICCHEMISTRY-REC : CHEMUN2445_007_2023_3 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - REC Instructor: Christopher Eckdahl

Took him for Orgo I and II. Have to disagree with some of the negative reviews on here. As someone with no background in orgo, he provided the perfect conceptual baseline from the beginning. I was able to develop really strong intuition for the material by the end of the sequence, and I’m a very average student. Yes, his exams can be tricky, but they’re still completely doable and fair. You just need to be flexible with applying mechanisms, and his problem sets give a really good foundation for that. I would redo the psets like 3–4 times and rewrite my lecture notes until I felt super comfortable with the mechanisms to prepare for exams, and I ended up performing well. If I had taken orgo with another professor, I probably would’ve done way worse, while having to spend more time, so this was probably the least stressful experience I could’ve had with a class as difficult as orgo. I will add though, this semester the midterm averages were a bit scattered, so raw scores didn’t necessarily translate to the letter grades some people expected because scores were normalized.

1st semester: pretty substantial, you need to read all the book chapters and do all the hws to be prepared 2nd semester: really light - just do a weekly problem set (only every other one is graded by a check, check plus, check minus system) and pay attention in class and the exams/final are a breeze.

Aromatic substitution, carbonyl chemistry, enolate chemistry, pericyclic reactions, amino acid/peptide chemistry

He doesn’t give out lecture notes or use the textbook, which I found annoying because besides the problem sets he provides there are limited resources for practicing further.

Learned many reactions, lots of memorization and really in-depth understanding. Solve complex problems and must be able to see stereochemistry.