CHEM 1410

Metcalf is the better option for Intro Chem over Leung. You can actually understand him, and his homework takes very little time to do. Lectures at the beginning are simple and easy to follow. Metcalf isn't as good at explaining the harder, later topics however. Lectures (overall) are sorta pointless, but with a book and Mastering Chem (the homework) the class is do-able.

Professor Metcalf is a really chill guy. However, I have felt that Professor Leung writes the majority of the tests and our class wasn't as prepared for them. Also, Prof. Metcalf sometimes gets clicker/practice test problems wrong and confuses the class. Just read the textbook, take notes from the book, get the clickers, do the Mastering Chem, and study an ass-ton for the tests. With that, you might end up with an B+. I still suggest Metcalf over Leung because I can understand the former. Choose the lesser of two evils.

I certainly hope you like math if you take this course with Professor Metcalf; he's a physical chemist, so he loves incorporating math into chemistry. On the one hand it makes the subject more structured, but on the other hand it makes it easier for you to mess things up on a test. Metcalf is pretty by the book with lectures; he'll occasionally show examples that aren't on the powerpoints or in the book. I wouldn't skip a lecture, though; clicker questions make for an easy boost to your grade. The tests are brutal; make sure you study your butt off for them. Keep up with readings in the textbook and write plenty of notes. Good luck!

I hate to break this to you, but the Metcalf-Leung debate is a lose lose situation. It doesn't really matter which professor you take because most of your learning will be done outside of lecture. Lecture is basically the professor telling you what subject you need to learn, but not actually teaching it to you. Base your schedule off of timing, not professor.

Metcalf is just boring. Not bad, just boring. I would recommend Leung. The quizzes are tough, and the discussions at night are absolutely miserable. It's a weed-out class if I've ever seen one

Horrible class, with two worst professors in the entire world! Leung and Metcalf are both completely useless. I don't think I have ever despised a class as much as this one. You will absolutely abhor chemistry after taking this class, so don't! If you can take a high school credit for it, do it! I could have done that, but preferred not to - worst decision of my life! This class is going to bring you and your GPA down exponentially

I actually really didn't mind Gen Chem and thought Metcalf was a good professor for a lecture hall class. His materials were clear and organized, and he even did some interesting demonstrations. He's kind of goofy, but really knows Chem inside out and does a good job showing how concepts interweave and build on each other.

ALEKS was annoying, but really useful. Quizzes were tough but I thought they were fair (Leung's class does do slightly better on them). I'd say discussions were a waste of time, but some people really liked them. Overall I think taking this class as a second year left me much less butthurt.

Do not take this class with Metcalf. I read reviews for both Metcalf and Leung on here before signing up for gen chem and figured that it seemed like both professors weren't too great, so I picked Metcalf because the time of his lecture was better for my schedule and honestly because I thought I'd be able to understand him better than Leung (leung has a thick accent). Do not make these mistakes!! I now go to both Leung and Metcalf's lectures because Leung is much better at explaining the broad ideas and concepts than Metcalf, but I still need clicker question points from Metcalf's lectures. Like other reviews say, Metcalf is a physical chemist, so his lectures mainly consist of him writing several chemical equations on the board and maybe only BRIEFLY explaining them. It's very confusing if you're not the most chemistry-minded person. No matter which professor you pick, you will be teaching yourself most of this course. Helpful hints: get the looseleaf textbook instead of relying on the e-book. So much easier to read and process. Get ahead on ALEKS (online homework system), but don't just get ahead. Do the topics related to what you're learning in class, not just the easy topics. Do the practice Weekly right before doing the actual Weekly (weekly short quiz after discussion section). Go to office hours!! Take the practice quizzes like you're taking the real quiz on the Saturday or Sunday before the quiz. Then go to office hours on Sunday and get the right answers. Make sure you understand the reasoning behind each answer! The practice quizzes are seriously so helpful in preparing you for the actual quizzes. Overall, take this class with Leung, do not hesitate to ask people for help, and make this class a serious priority!!

A lot of reviews say stuff like, "it doesn't really matter who your professor is, they both suck" or "Metcalf sucks and Leung is slightly better but still sucks." But the issue here is that you're really comparing apples to oranges. Metcalf and Leung both cover the same concepts, but in very different ways. Metcalf's style is very much "let me tell you everything you could possibly ever need to know about this topic with some emphasis on what I personally find interesting." While Leung's style is more, "Here's a concept. This is why this is the way that is. Okay? Don't get it? Talk to your neighbors while you apply these concepts to this clicker question."
I started the year in Metcalf, and I didn't do too poorly on the first two quizzes (one question above average on each), but I felt like my quiz grades weren't reflective of how much I actually knew. So I started to going to Leung's lectures in addition to Metcalf's. I just responded to Leung's teaching style really well. His main goal really isn't to teach chemistry, it's to teach you how to think logically in the context of chemistry. This is really why a lot of people hate the quizzes.
But overall, this course is hard. You really have to be willing to work your ass off to be successful in it. It doesn't deserve all the hate that it gets (so please ignore all the review that say, "Whatever you do don't take this course!") You do have to go the extra mile and attend office hours, read the textbook ahead of time, and do ALEKS every day in order to be successful. It's tough, but not impossible.
Also- make sure you go to all the final review sessions! They put some of our most-missed questions from previous quizzes on the final, but those just happened to the be ones that the TAs covered during the review session.

This class is a lot of work. The material isn't really that bad in my opinion, but Leung assigns a lot of work to make sure you understand the material. It is really easy to fall behind and have the work pile up, so it is ESSENTIAL that you keep on top of everything and not procrastinate. I definitely believe that Leung is a better professor than Metcalf. Metcalf would spend so much time talking about things that we didn't have to know and then gloss over the important details. After a couple weeks, I started to attend Leung's lectures in order to actually understanding the material and then showed up to Metcalf's lectures to do the clicker questions. It is possible to do well, but it will require a lot of work. Stay on top of ALEKS, do the practice weeklys, seek help when necessary, and take this class with Leung instead of Metcalf!! If you do all of these things (easier said than done), you should get a B/B+.