General Chemistry II

AJ is wonderful. She is super enthusiastic about what she is teaching. She is fast-paced in her lectures, but she is more than open to reaching out to students and always answering questions. The course involves reading a few sections of the textbook every week, completing a weekly problem set, engaging and applicable lectures, and two exams (midterm and final). I felt more than welcome while speaking and asking AJ questions outside of class as well. She is always there to help you. She may be busy but utilize her office hours. Office hours were super helpful for clarification. Overall, I would suggest any person (stem or not) take this course with AJ.

AJ is wonderful. She is super enthusiastic about what she is teaching. She is fast-paced in her lectures, but she is more than open to reaching out to students and always answering questions. The course involves reading a few sections of the textbook every week, completing a weekly problem set, engaging and applicable lectures, and t …Read more

Prof AJ is an amazing professor. She is deeply enthusiastic about the material and will make the time to meet with you if you have any questions. If you put the effort in, she sees that and wants to help. She is accommodating and approachable. Overall an amazing professor who I would take another class with. Lab is what brings this course down, it is hard and Prof Dube is known for being very nit picky. She has made the lab a bit easier in the past, giving you time to work during the lab period for the first 2 lab reports where she can help you and give you feedback. This class is a pre-req for a lot so unfortunately there is no way around this lab. Go to TA hours and you will be fine.

Prof AJ is an amazing professor. She is deeply enthusiastic about the material and will make the time to meet with you if you have any questions. If you put the effort in, she sees that and wants to help. She is accommodating and approachable. Overall an amazing professor who I would take another class with. Lab is what brings this c …Read more

AJ was great- super enthuastic and very knowledgable in the field of chem. She is a super busy lady though, so was a little hard to pin down sometimes, but she is very open to meeting outside of her office hours. Be prepared to hear lots of anecdotes about her kids and her work. She goes through many clear examples and also introduces the general theory behind topics. Midterm was straightforward and she is a very reasonable grader. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect from a Gen Chem II lecture. Lab was tedious, and grading seemed unfair at times. Graders were very particular, especially on the pre-lab quizzes and the lab reports. Cannot stress enough how helpful the TAs were. It's a fine course, just requires a lot of work. The experiemnts themselves were pretty neat though.

AJ was great- super enthuastic and very knowledgable in the field of chem. She is a super busy lady though, so was a little hard to pin down sometimes, but she is very open to meeting outside of her office hours. Be prepared to hear lots of anecdotes about her kids and her work. She goes through many clear examples and also introduce …Read more

I found the exams in this course to be very easy. Lecture was not all that fast-paced and the material was digestable. Lecture was often way more in-depth, and practice problems much more difficult, than the exams themselves. The only thing is the lab component of this class was pretty difficult and was graded very hard.

AJ is a great professor who really wants to make sure you understand the material and will always answer all of your questions. The problem sets and in class examples prepare you well for the exams. The exams are very reasonable and she is an understanding grader.

Professor Dovey was nice and accommodating, but he would always give the world's most confusing examples that honestly just made me feel more confused than I needed to be. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on work for this class not because of the lecture, but because of the lab with Michele Dube. That woman is ruthless and a ridiculously difficult and unfair grader. She acts as if everyone wants to be an analytical chemist and demands lab reports be formatted as such. I spent an obscene amount of time on lab reports for her just to get mediocre grades, which significantly brought down my semester average. I'm not saying don't take it, but just know what you are getting yourself into. I thought I was good at writing lab reports before this class.

Professor Dovey was nice and accommodating, but he would always give the world's most confusing examples that honestly just made me feel more confused than I needed to be. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on work for this class not because of the lecture, but because of the lab with Michele Dube. That woman is ruthless and a ridic …Read more

AJ is an amazing professor. Although the class is fast-paced, she is always willing to slow down to answer questions or clarify. The exams are fair and about the same level of difficulty as the homework. AJ's grading is really generous and she's always willing to help out or sit down with you if you need help with a topic or assignment.

Professor Dovey is an engaging professor, whose explanations of lecture content are fairly effective. A lot of the content doesn't necessarily click in-class, but I found all my lecture notes made much more sense once I was unpacking the homework. Homework was one weekly assignment on Achieve, due Sundays--it should be noted that the syllabus phrasing of this is "due on Friday with an automatic extension to Sunday," and Dovey wasn't willing to extend homework due dates past Sunday in my personal experience. There were three total exams, all of which were friendlier in difficulty than the homework, and were asynchronous over Canvas (but taken nonetheless during class time). Overall, I would take this course with Dovey again because of his constructive lecture skills and the sensible structure of his exams.

Professor Dovey is an engaging professor, whose explanations of lecture content are fairly effective. A lot of the content doesn't necessarily click in-class, but I found all my lecture notes made much more sense once I was unpacking the homework. Homework was one weekly assignment on Achieve, due Sundays--it should be noted that the …Read more

AJ is a fantastic professor. She cares deeply about teaching and wants students to understand the material. That said, her teaching style can be a little avant-garde and was occasionally difficult to follow. However, nothing on the exams was something we did not cover in the lecture.

For people who have taken the AP, this class was mostly review and not much reading/studying was needed. The homework problem sets were good practice, however. AJ was an awesome professor who made lectures engaging. Every time I went to office hours, she was super excited to answer questions about chemistry and just chat in general. Also learned a ton in the labs, even though the reports could be tedious at times.

For people who have taken the AP, this class was mostly review and not much reading/studying was needed. The homework problem sets were good practice, however. AJ was an awesome professor who made lectures engaging. Every time I went to office hours, she was super excited to answer questions about chemistry and just chat in general. …Read more

I loved this class, I am not sure if the material was easier to digest for me or the professor's style matched my learning style, but the material over the lectures really stuck with me, did not have to do much reading outside of class due to the professor's skilled teaching style.

Lecture: While professor Dovey was a great lecturer, his examples are not always the best for clarification. For some students, his explanations seemed to work great. For other students, however, he wasn't always able to create an explanation that was easier to understand. Overall, though, he was very understanding and was passionate about helping students learn. As for the lab section - worst lab I've experienced in my history of college courses. Professor Dubé was very back and forth with attitude, as in some days she seemed friendly and other days she was incredibly passive aggressive towards the class. She was not respectful of student confidentiality in regards to personal matters, and not at all accommodating towards students who were struggling. Furthermore, her grading criteria is what truly makes this class feel like a weed-out course. The lab reports are very long, tedious, and difficult - and she marks off points for almost anything she can find. Formatting, tables being too long, things of that matter carry more weight than I personally feel they should. It didn't feel like the goal was to prove you're knowledge or growth of learning chemistry, it felt like the goal was getting on her good side and figuring out what she wants *exactly* on the lab report. This lab was very mentally taxing and made me reconsider my involvement in the department.

Lecture: While professor Dovey was a great lecturer, his examples are not always the best for clarification. For some students, his explanations seemed to work great. For other students, however, he wasn't always able to create an explanation that was easier to understand. Overall, though, he was very understanding and was passionate …Read more

Overall the content is very straightforward. The exams follow exactly what is taught. AJ made this course difficult because it was nearly impossible to get a hold of her. Additionally when she teaches she goes all over the place and is hard to follow. However, she is very nice and understanding.

Super nice and chill, really understanding if you need extensions. Problem sets were slightly difficult and not really useful but lecture was chill she does go a bit fast but somehow slow? by getting off topic or she goes into extreme detail to clarify but overall really good. Exams were fair and about what was taught, she grades really graciously but make sure you show ur work/thought process to get the points. Prob easiest chem class you can take.

Super nice and chill, really understanding if you need extensions. Problem sets were slightly difficult and not really useful but lecture was chill she does go a bit fast but somehow slow? by getting off topic or she goes into extreme detail to clarify but overall really good. Exams were fair and about what was taught, she grades rea …Read more

AJ is a very entertaining professor, and obviously has real passion for the subject matter. Overall, I felt she was a good teacher, but there were at times issues with her properly conveying information to the class. Namely, she often has trouble writing legibly, will sometimes make small math errors, and talks fast without always stopping to leave room for questions. Overall still a great class, although the lab component is very tedious and frustrating at times.

AJ is a very entertaining professor, and obviously has real passion for the subject matter. Overall, I felt she was a good teacher, but there were at times issues with her properly conveying information to the class. Namely, she often has trouble writing legibly, will sometimes make small math errors, and talks fast without always st …Read more

This class was literally just a review of AP chem. The last three weeks were new material but it was not hard. The lab portion was more challenging but not unmanagable. The lab prof is a bit of a stickler but if you get on her good side then its fine.

I really enjoy Professor Vasiliou's enthusiasm when she teaches this course. With a relatively larger class size, I never felt intimidated to ask questions during class or reach out to her. The only downside would be getting in touch through email—she's incredibly busy, understandably so, and rarely responds to emails in a timely manner.

Main homework for this class were problem sets that were pretty straight forward and aligned with course lecture materials. AJs very passionate about her work and teaches the material in areas of just reading off of lecture slides

The lecture was great but the lab with Dube was pretty tough. It is valuable to learn how to write a thorough lab report but it took up unreasonable amounts of time to write. Love Dovey and his teaching style though! Great guy and fair exams.

Cole is a very nice and somewhat awkward, but cares a lot for his students and will stay to answer questions. He cares a lot that his students work together. Although the amount of homework can really catch up on you.

I had to take this class for pre-med and overall good experience with AJ. She is kind and very approachable, and it is obvious that she wants everyone to succeed. Exams are fair, and she gave the opportunity to earn points back which was nice.

I thought the lectures were slightly boring. Dovey is an amazing professor though and is very smart. Exams are online and also straightforward- he throws no curveballs on exams. Homework takes a while at times but is harder than actual exams.

This class was great! I loved AJ's enthusiasm for the subject. However, lectures could be a bit hard to follow on occasion. Exams were graded very fairly and extremely doable as long as you had a basic understanding of the concepts.

Prof Dovey was really great! Made Gen Chem a lot easier by going through tons of problems with us. The exams were also based on exactly what we learned (which is rare these days) and he's overall really helpful in helping you understand the material.

AJ is not the best lecturer. They often seemed a little disorganized and all over the place and were sometimes hard to follow. That being said, AJ is literally the nicest person ever and her tests are easy. Dube is a tough grader and the labs are a lot of work but she is very smart. I think she was an analytical chemist too.

I took chem 104 with Dovey and found it to be fairly straightforward. While chem 103 focuses more on chemistry concepts, 104 was math-based which I liked. The exams all were reminiscent of the homework assignments so I felt prepared going into them. That being said, exams were out of very few points so any errors, even when partial credit was given, would significantly impact your overall grade. Lab was definitely the hardest part of this class.

I took chem 104 with Dovey and found it to be fairly straightforward. While chem 103 focuses more on chemistry concepts, 104 was math-based which I liked. The exams all were reminiscent of the homework assignments so I felt prepared going into them. That being said, exams were out of very few points so any errors, even when partial c …Read more

Dube's grading is authoritative and punitive, she grades for formatting more than understanding. You could include all of the information in a lab report and still score a C on it because it wasn't repeated 6 different times in 6 different places. AJ was a very good lecture professor, really just didn't love Dube.

I enjoy the class and don't find the material that challenging as long as you pay attention and do the problem sets. The problem sets are 25% of your grade and you have many attempts to get each question so you can do pretty well on them. The exams haven't been very hard so far and I feel prepared just by going to class. The lab is time consuming but also not very difficult as long as you do the prep and the work. Professor Dube is very clear with her requirements for the lab reports and the TAs are super helpful.

I enjoy the class and don't find the material that challenging as long as you pay attention and do the problem sets. The problem sets are 25% of your grade and you have many attempts to get each question so you can do pretty well on them. The exams haven't been very hard so far and I feel prepared just by going to class. The lab is t …Read more

This class lecture was a breeze. I took AP Chem and we just went over the same stuff, I still went to lectures, but I probably would've been fine even if I hadn't. AJ is super enthusiastic and brings some humor into the classroom which I really liked. Exams were pretty easy as long as you knew what you were doing. The lab with Dube was pretty intense. I probably spent an average of 6 or 7 hours on lab reports with the formal cobalt one taking me significantly longer, but you also only have 5 reports in the semester. Dube is a pretty nitpicky grader, but you just need to look at the rubric and make sure you do stuff. I did decently well, but I also know people who got perfect scores on their lab reports, so it's doable. My only real complaint with labs was that Dube would talk for the first hour about what we were going to do before we could start even though we went over it for homework. If you like chemistry like me then this class is not a big deal, but if it pains you to death, the lab might actually kill you.

This class lecture was a breeze. I took AP Chem and we just went over the same stuff, I still went to lectures, but I probably would've been fine even if I hadn't. AJ is super enthusiastic and brings some humor into the classroom which I really liked. Exams were pretty easy as long as you knew what you were doing. The lab with Dube w …Read more

Overall Professor Dovey is good at explaining things in class but it’s hard to follow If you didn’t read/review the chapter before hand, at least in my experience. Exams were pretty straightforward and were online through canvas. Professor dovey though is not lenient with extending homework or letting you turn it in late.

This class was taught extremely slowly and I only went to class about half the time because of that. Problem sets and exams are very easy. I was not a fan of Vasiliou's teaching style - it was long winded and disorganized, and her handwriting is quite literally impossible to read especially with her horrible spelling. In contrast, Dube's labs are organized but excessively difficult, and I often find myself spending 4-8 hours on lab reports. The pre-lab prep is arduous, with long quizzes and notebook formatting. The grading for the labs is also quite harsh. I found the actual work in lab to be exhausting at best, and Dube was not the least bit supportive if you make a mistake. Overall, this class was extremely strange, and I did not have a great experience.

This class was taught extremely slowly and I only went to class about half the time because of that. Problem sets and exams are very easy. I was not a fan of Vasiliou's teaching style - it was long winded and disorganized, and her handwriting is quite literally impossible to read especially with her horrible spelling. In contrast, Du …Read more

I really loved AJ's teaching style. She was always enthusiastic during lectures, which made class time fun. Problem sets and exams were very manageable. Lab was definitely challenging, but if you follow the directions and go to TA/office hours, you will be fine (it is also only 25% of your grade). Overall, I enjoyed this class a lot.

This class was educational and I thought it helped me to continue taking chem classes at midd. Professor Vasiliou was helpful and a clear lecturer. I felt the material was hard to keep up with at time but there are enough resources to keep up and understand. I did not spend that much time per week and the exams were very fair and not that hard. Overall I enjoyed this course.

This course was a good refresher on chemistry and left me feeling prepared for Organic chemistry. AJ is a wonderful professor however sometimes I felt myself getting lost in the lectures because they felt a bit jumbled. The homework was relatively easy as long as you took good notes during lecture. Tests are easy as long as you study the homework. Homework was assigned weekly and took about an hour to complete

This course was a good refresher on chemistry and left me feeling prepared for Organic chemistry. AJ is a wonderful professor however sometimes I felt myself getting lost in the lectures because they felt a bit jumbled. The homework was relatively easy as long as you took good notes during lecture. Tests are easy as long as you study …Read more

My lab professor, Professor Dube, had very specific standards and expectations for lab reports, including how they should look and be organized. In my opinion, they were a little too strict. I often went to TA office hours for help with the lab reports and found other students and even some TAs were confused as to what she wanted. This lab did have more homework than STEM labs I've taken before. Professor Vasiliou was an engaging lecturer and I enjoyed her lectures more so than other lectures. The tests were challenging but fair.

My lab professor, Professor Dube, had very specific standards and expectations for lab reports, including how they should look and be organized. In my opinion, they were a little too strict. I often went to TA office hours for help with the lab reports and found other students and even some TAs were confused as to what she wanted. Th …Read more

I loved AJ. I agree that she could be a little all over the place and would go on some tangents that were not always super related to my questions, but she was super duper enthusiastic and nice. A little hard to reach by email, but if you go to her after class or to her office hours she is great at talking to you and answering questions. Would recommend taking with her!

I stopped going to lecture after the 5th class because they were unnecessary. I had taken AP chem in high school and felt mostly prepared for everything; you can refresh how to do the problems while doing the homework because it gives you points back. Exams were easy, lab was very difficult.

Professor Vasiliou was amazing and I always look forward to attending class. She is very passionate about chemistry and finds away to relate it to real life things, making it easier to understand. Her exams were easy and if you study for them or you really understand the material you should pass with an A.

Cole Dovey is my favorite professor at Midd. His lectures were extremely to the point and interesting. His exams were easy and straightforward, no surprises or random tough questions. Try not to get Dube for lab, though I heard she has gotten better and does blind grading now (she was very biased when I had her). She was ridiculously picky when grading and was so boring. Overall, lecture was awesome and lab sucked.

Cole Dovey is my favorite professor at Midd. His lectures were extremely to the point and interesting. His exams were easy and straightforward, no surprises or random tough questions. Try not to get Dube for lab, though I heard she has gotten better and does blind grading now (she was very biased when I had her). She was ridiculously …Read more

AJ was an awesome lecturer, all of the material she presented was very clear. There are only 2 exams (both are a large portion of your overall grade) but they are pretty representative of the problem sets assigned for homework. The problem sets are graded online which is nice, and gives you unlimited redos at a only small expense of the grade. Overall this was a very fair class and a great intro to chem.

AJ was an awesome lecturer, all of the material she presented was very clear. There are only 2 exams (both are a large portion of your overall grade) but they are pretty representative of the problem sets assigned for homework. The problem sets are graded online which is nice, and gives you unlimited redos at a only small expense of …Read more

This was a pretty good course to take, the exams are take-home and the homework is adaptive through Achieve. The labs are pretty hard but they have gotten a lot easier according to the TA's and students who took the class in years past. Professor Rahn is very nice and willing to adapt due dates and such in order to help the class. I took after skipping chem103 and would take again.

This course was very helpful for my major and AJ taught in a clear and explanatory manner that made the content understandable. She brought great energy and used the chalkboard a lot to show equations and calculations.

Aj is a super nice person. She is always more than willing to help outside of class as well. During class however she occasionally will get carried away by tangents and get distracted. Also sometimes it is hard to read her handwriting. This class wasn't too bad but I was glad to be done with physical chem after this course. Exams were on topic, and first exam offered corrections.

I loved AJ and thought she did a great job explaining course material. While she doesn't really respond to emails very efficiently, if you show up to office hours she is extremely helpful and really good at explaining things. In terms of content, the material is a breeze if you took AP or IB Chemistry --- literally every single topic is covered in the AP curriculum and you probably don't even need to come to class; in fact, I found it rather annoying to be learning content that I entirely already knew. But AJ is great so that made up for it! Then there is the lab: a ton of pre-lab work and lab reports were cumbersome and graded ridiculously punitively, but relatively well-explained. I found Professor Dubé to be really kind some weeks and somewhat passive-aggressive other weeks but the content of the lab was definitely enjoyable. But I also felt that Professor Dubé emphasized the wrong things, focusing more on getting the procedure perfectly correct rather than the broader chemistry at work. To be honest, I would have given this class much higher ratings if not for the lab; I just wish the workload was a little more balanced --- for being only 25% of the course grade it took probably 90% of my time outside of class.

I loved AJ and thought she did a great job explaining course material. While she doesn't really respond to emails very efficiently, if you show up to office hours she is extremely helpful and really good at explaining things. In terms of content, the material is a breeze if you took AP or IB Chemistry --- literally every single topic …Read more

This class is much more relaxed, compared to 103. The concepts are more math-based and easier to understand. I highly recommend Professor Dovey as he really tries to incorporate examples into the lecture and is very understanding.

AJ was always very helpful, she gave us many opportunities to ask questions if we were confused during class. We did a lot of example problems together during lecture, which were very similar to the exam contents.

AJ is the greatest. I have never had a prof explain chem in a way that is so clear and easy to understand. The exams are easy because the problem sets cover all the material. Extremely fair system. She truly wants her students to succeed.

I think she knows a lot and the only way she could take it out is through teaching the course. Prof. AJ is very nice and helpful and likes research. She can make you like Chemistry. I think the only thing I did not like was the long explanations.

AJ was a very enthusiastic lecturer which made learning the material seem more manageable. The lectures did sometimes seem slightly unorganized, but AJ would always be willing to talk through material if you needed more information.

As far as the lecture portion goes, I loved AJ and she made class as interesting as Chem 104 could be. She made her exams super simple and similar to homework or class problems, especially the midterm. The final was graded incredibly generously, and AJ was the best. The lecture portion is a would take again, as well as very easy. However, the lab was brutal. Michele is unfriendly and stern. If you want to do well on the labs, you have to meet with her and your TA and learn how to formulate a really strong lab report just the way Michele likes it. She is not afraid to knock off points for tiny little details, and those add up. My best advice is to start the lab reports early and go meet with her and your TA as often as possible. Don't expect her to sugarcoat anything or be friendly in those meetings though. She will sound really judgmental and mean in her feedback.

As far as the lecture portion goes, I loved AJ and she made class as interesting as Chem 104 could be. She made her exams super simple and similar to homework or class problems, especially the midterm. The final was graded incredibly generously, and AJ was the best. The lecture portion is a would take again, as well as very easy. How …Read more

Professor Dube scares me a little. She’s nice one day and the next she’s making passive aggressive jokes when the class doesn’t answer. The labs are fun tho and she’s helpful during lab. Pre lab work is a little time consuming but not bad. She goes over what you have to do in lab before we start anyway. Lab reports are long and tedious. Way more specific than Bio classes I’ve taken or Physics classes. They take a couple days to complete if you want to do well on them.

Professor Dube scares me a little. She’s nice one day and the next she’s making passive aggressive jokes when the class doesn’t answer. The labs are fun tho and she’s helpful during lab. Pre lab work is a little time consuming but not bad. She goes over what you have to do in lab before we start anyway. Lab reports are long and tedio …Read more