Sarah Hansen

Horrible vibes. Super inconsiderate to students. I found Joseph and Iris, the other Chem Lab instructors, to be way kinder having taken classes with them and spoken to students in their sections. If you have any issues throughout the semester, don’t expect her to show any ounce of empathy. She also forces people to loop in their advisor whenever a person wants a 24 hour extension (beyond the two she provides, which if you have an issue, 24 hours is not that much for a whole lab report) or if anyone has any issue at all, EVEN if they have accommodations. What if someone doesn’t have a close relationship with their academic advisor or wants some confidentiality (an academic advisor is not a medical entity so why loop him/her in for everything even if a student has a medically documented issue)? Super inappropriate and unnecessary. Also very harsh and condescending when answering questions and again very inflexible. Would not recommend. The class itself is also difficult (quizzes were tough) and expectations of lab reports are not explained. There is also a big group project at the end which is stressful in and of itself. Joseph’s section requires work of course, but he explains things way more thoroughly and expectations are much more clear. Take him.

Overall, pretty manageable if you took chem in high school, and I would def recommend you take it second semester freshman year (just so you have the gen chem 1 background). I would say that Hansen and Ulichny are pretty on par if you are reading this and trying to decide on the two. Personally, if you are given a chill TA with Hansen I would one hundred thousand percent do Hansen because she offers multiple extra credit opportunities, and her quizzes are MUCH easier than Ulichny’s. Likewise, Hansen is incredibly transparent with how points are distributed unlike Ulichny who would randomly add or not add curves to quizzes and randomly offer extra credit in lectures. Still, they are both wonderful people, and they are definitely gems within the chem department. It is very much TA-dependent (avoid grad students like plague since my TA quite literally told us they would laugh and joke about taking off points simply because they felt like it).

I took Chem Lab with Sarah Hansen back in the Spring 2023 semester, and I would say I had a very solid experience. The main “daunting” aspect of the class was that it was a 3 hour, 40 minute session every week, which stayed relatively manageable throughout the semester – especially when we could leave early if we were able to finish experiments early. Which brings me to my next point – the experiments. They weren’t too hefty to the point that they weren’t doable during the class time (I always left early), and I would say that they were designed well with the intent of applying concepts taught in general chemistry. The practical lab and the final lab (which involved designing an experiment as part of a group) also fell within the same difficulty as the other labs. The accompanying reports for these labs were also not hefty at all, so long as they’re spaced out as opposed to ground out. I appreciated the leniency with which the labs were graded (i.e. there weren’t penalties in the event that a mistake was made for an experiment, so long as you explain what went wrong as part of the lab reports). Lastly, I also appreciated the lunches she hosted with students (we had Nikko Hibachi – it was really good!) and the extra credit opportunity as a follow up to the midterm (correcting our answers and writing accompanying explanations).

This is more a review of the class and less a review of the professor. This class will make you rip every hair out of your head for 3 months, but is very rewarding at the end. The nature of the class is to penalize for every tiny, insignificant error (sig figs, rounding, measurement-error agreement, badly labeled graphs, etc), which can turn an otherwise great lab report into a B or C. Until you learn to give them what they want, it feels like guesswork trying to predict what they are going to be picky about next, but in the end, you turn out very neat, organized, intelligent work. You learn a ton of material, and acquire great confidence in a lab setting. Regarding the professor: The lectures are very fast and very worthwhile and are always on the next quiz. Sarah and Kim co-teach the class and both are hard to reach, but the TAs are usually very helpful. A word to the wise: This class is VERY competative because it is mostly a class of pre-meds and also your grade is based on standard deviations from the class mean, so everyone wants everyone else to fail. Not fun.

A pretty chill class that can really be a good resource especially if you're looking to take Gen Chem and you don't want to just immediately throw yourself off the deep end of the pool. Just know that the class can go slow and to fully take advantage of this class you have to do a lot of outside work. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: CHEMUN0001_001_2023_3-PREPARATION-COLLEGECHEMISTRY : CHEMUN0001_001_2023_3 - PREPARATION-COLLEGE CHEMISTRY Instructor: Luis Avila

I only chose Sarah because of my friend and I prefer her 1000 times better than Ulichny. Sarah grades all quizzes and the midterm herself, so you know your grade at all times and can further calculate what you'll need to earn a higher grade due to her grading everything (except lab reports, your TA does that). The quizzes are hard, and the study guide questions are somewhat similar to what the quizzes have. I was in the Monday lab section (same time as our lecture + when quizzes are taken), so during the weekends, I was forced to understand and create graphs that closely matched what the quizzes tested you on (besides the easy math), and I think that is what saved me from receiving lower scores. I definitely recommend understanding what the graphs represent, how to analyze them, and their corresponding axes for the quizzes along with the study guide. Don't worry too much about the quizzes though; I averaged around a 79% on them and still got an A :) . The lab reports are time consuming, as you will have to write detailed observations, submit a lot of calculations, and create graphs using any app, but they are easy As since most TAs are nice. They are due before your next lab section, so you have a whole week to submit your reports. The midterm is easy, so don't worry about that. As long as you understand the general setups for the questions, then you'll be fine. In fact, the m…

I entered this class near-distraught about having Hansen due to her previous culpa reviews. To my surprise, what awaited me was not some Shakespearean supervillain but an incredibly kind, organized, dedicated, and thoughtful professor. For example, at one point in the semester I came down with the flu, and thought I would have to get a zero if I missed lab. Instead, Hansen responded to my email within 10 minutes, telling me to take care of myself and suggesting a plethora of make-up periods and giving me extensions on the lab report. Outside of class, she does research on science education and is very dedicated to her students. Literally everything she does will be to help you and to make sure you understand.

This course is perfect for someone who wants to truly master and understand the material taught in CHEM1403. I do think I would have been too overwhelmed if I jumped right back into chemistry without taking a course like this one, and that would have hindered my ability to truly grasp the content and feel confident in my knowledge and understanding. I recommend this class to anyone who needs structure and extra time to ensure their success in chemistry without feeling lost and overwhelmed with the pace of Chem I. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2022 Course: CHEMUN0001_001_2022_3-PREPARATION-COLLEGECHEMISTRY : CHEMUN0001_001_2022_3 - PREPARATION-COLLEGE CHEMISTRY Instructor: Luis Avila

The class was honestly very time consuming because of the amount of work assigned throughout the semester. I did not find the lectures particularly helpful, but her notes and study problems were very useful when preparing for the quizzes (which were hard). She was very understanding when it came to personal situations and accommodating when needed. However, there were times when approaching her with questions about the class could feel intimidating because her responses sometimes came across as harsh. Overall, though, I do not think there is much risk of failing the class, especially since she offers many extra credit opportunities.

It's impossible for Hansen to possibly be any more in love with (as mentioned in another r view) her "creation!" She acts like it's everybody's only class, assigning ungodly amounts of work (useless, busy work) and expecting victims to treat chem lab like a part time job. You get out of lab just to be thrown into more lab work. Maybe if this class were not so redundant people would see the value in it.