Laura Kaufman

Coming from Savizky's Chem I class, Kaufman's Chem II is significantly harder. Two factors explain this: 1. I personally think chem II is just objectively harder than chem I, and my friends at other colleges mostly agree. 2. Kaufman doesn't seem to have the same desire to set us up for success as Savizky. It felt like I had to put a lot more into studying and came out with a lot less, although realistically I probably put in around the same amount of time last semester and just had more time on my hands/felt it yielded more last semester. Don't get me wrong, I worked hard in chem I, but with *helpful* weekly homework sets and at least 3 practice tests per exam, in Savizky's class I had access to the tools I needed to put in the work. Kaufman doesn't have weekly problem sets; our TAs send out recommended problems from the textbook but they are nowhere near the level of application required on exams and are also not enough in number to really drill the habits in. The recitation worksheets were usually pretty good indicators of the material to be covered on the quiz, although the quiz was somewhat consistently harder. Quizzes this year were online, 25 min time but designed to take 12 so you can submit and deal with technology (usually took closer to 18-20) on Fridays from 1:30-9 pm which was honestly a good method although it took away from my Friday. Come the midterms, though, K…

I came from Parkin's class which was a great experience compared to this class. Don't think you can get away with just going to the lectures. I made that mistake. Review review review the practice problems, the quizzes, and reach out to your TA's. I had Lea and she was honestly a life saver. I can't say I appreciate the professors' teaching style. Both are a lot of derivations and not a lot of showing how to actually solve the problems that would be asked on the exams and quizzes. Lea helped to summarize things and get concepts down. I disliked this class especially more since it was an early morning class. I found most lectures to be dry but I found Kaufman's slides to be especially more helpful. Gonzalez's tests were nasty hard. i suppose it could be worse but it also could be a lot better.

Professor Kaufman is an O.K. professor. She teaches basically straight forward from the book. It is more than possible to never attend class and do just fine if you are a diligent reader of the textbook. She seems kind of stand-off-ish, and not willing to help, but I could be wrong; it was just the vibe I received. Her teaching is mediocre. She doesn't present the material in the clearest way and goes on awkward paces. I am not saying she is a bad teacher, but she isn't a good one. She doesn't give homework which is bad and good, depending on how you look at it. She also makes you do clicker questions for extra credit, but it isn't necessarily useful, just a trick to attend the useless classes. Her tests are completely retarded, but not in a good way. It is one way to expect you to be creative in solving problems, but the stuff is completely different from what we learned in class. The tools necessary are not given.

I had this professor for General Chemistry II. First of all, this is her first time teaching general chemistry so I felt she didn't present the information in a concise, comprehensive way. The practice exams never mirrored the real midterms, in fact, they were on a whole different level of reasoning--deciphering the question was difficult to impossible. It seems that some professors are not ready to be teaching, and I knew that chemistry would be competitive and difficult, but she was no reassurance. I was unfortunate to have her but I believe if you work hard in the class, despite her inability to teach, you can do well in the class.

This class was pretty fun and stress-free! The assignments/expectations were mostly participation based and in-class readings which, as a chemistry enthusiast, were enjoyable! The final assignment was quite motivating as it prepared us for writing research proposals. And Milan is a wonderful professor, patient, knowledgable, and always willing to help however he can. I highly recommend taking this course or any course with Milan. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2024 Course: CHEMUN3920_001_2024_3-SENIORSEMINAR : CHEMUN3920_001_2024_3 - SENIOR SEMINAR Instructor: Milan Delor

Everything I learning in general chem lecture.

Overall, excellent professor. Her lectures are organized, clear, and paced perfectly to hold your attention from the beginning to end. Very approachable both inside the class and out, and very fair exams (although I think there were always 1-2 questions too many for a 50 minute exam-- if you didn't know everything you needed to before, there was very little time to figure things out or correct calculations).

This class is a drag, but possible to push through. Kaufman and Gonzalez are both excellent lecturers who have a great grasp of the material, which doesn't seem too hard at first when you are talking about the ideal gas law. Unfortunately, the exams are insane. Recitation can be helpful to understanding the material, but the quizzes always contain curveballs that require extensive preparation from questions in the book or assumptions that aren't spelled out for you. Many of the quizzes had an average of about 1.5/3. OWL questions are somewhat helpful in preparing for exams/quizzes. Be prepared for questions on exams that TAs even have some trouble solving. Gonzalez's tests in particular offer a particular brand of cruelty that makes you question taking the course itself. Several questions on Gonzalez's exams are trick questions that throw you off completely, and on other questions you have no idea which principles to apply or how to set up an equation. This is particularly true when studying acid base equilibria and titrations. Read the textbook or seek out other resources if you want to gain a better understanding of the material, (though Gonzalez takes his lectures from Zumdahl itself) but don't stress too much about this course because the exams and quizzes are difficult for everybody. Do all the practice problems on OWL and many problems in the book, and you'll do at least…

We reviewed all of the information we went over in the chemistry lectures course, though we focused more on the problem (math) side of things (from calculating the total pressure of a gas in ml to calculating the ΔE of a system).

COME TO CLASS!!! And copy everything down from the board and you'll be fine for the homework and tests. You're not tested on anything that she didn't write on the board, and you need to know what was covered in class in order to know what to ignore from the book. Sure, it meets three days a week, but Friday's just a 50 minute lecture which you could probably show up to hungover and be fine as long as you're capable of copying everything off the board. Class is supposed to be curved around a high B, with one standard deviation equaling a full grade difference (both above and below). Overall, she's a good professor- it's easy to stay awake in lectures, and she specifies everything that will be covered on each test. And all the notes are on the board. The absolute most important thing is to come to class and copy everything down.