CHEM 1410

LC is so underrated! She emphasizes understanding the material rather than memorizing trends, which is admittedly harder, but pays off in the end. Her lectures serve as a supplement rather than a review of the reading, so make sure to put in the work to understand basic concepts before lecture and you'll get a lot of this course. #tCFF23

I would not recommend taking this course with Columbus at all. I had a group of friends who were all in her lecture and by the end of the semester all of us had started going to different lectures because, while she does have a nice and outgoing personality, she does not explain concepts well at all and hardly ever uses the projector. I ended up attending Morcowchuck's lectures (which were at 8am instead which sucked) just so I could actually understand the class. Also, she would never respond to my emails until many weeks later (or never) and had only one office hour a week which was when I had a class. 0/10 recommend my first impression of her was really good but sadly she did not meet my expectations whatsoever.

This course is incredibly difficult and requires a great amount of time to prepare. With that being said, if you are determined to do well in this class, no matter how much effort it may take, it is possible. I am not a huge fan of Columbus, so I often watched Welch's recorded lectures after my own so I could hear the material being taught in a different way. However, you do not need to do this to understand it. Here are some of my tips for succeeding (I received an A in this class, despite being distraught over the difficulty in the beginning of the year):
1. Take good TopHat notes, and actively try to understand each question. Take good lecture notes too. Do not skip it, ever. It's worth it to go and retain practice, especially of the more confusing questions.

2. GO to the review sessions the TAs hold before exams. They prepared me so much, and they often almost give away the important topics/question types on the exam.

3. When studying for the exams, but most importantly the final, go through each chapter and re-do every TopHat assignment. Every reading question, BIT, LBLA, and expo. This seems like a lot, but it led me to receive a 93 on the final, and these questions for 11 chapters total really only took a few hours over two days because a lot of them you can do in your head or use logic.

4. Make sure you actively understand what we do in expo. Expo often allowed me to get a better understanding of the topics. When you understand the depth and conceptual part of a topic, it makes the questions so much easier.

5. Last, use the tutor list. I was able to find a really strong tutor that I only went to twice and paid maybe $20 for one hour. They often explain things in better terms since they once struggled through the class too. It's not cheating or anything to be ashamed of to get a tutor- if you're struggling, it's okay to get help so that you succeed. He would write up a list of practice problems for me and I would complete them before the session. Any that I struggled with or got wrong we would walk through step-by-step. I cannot stress this enough- if you are seriously struggling, especially with the early units, PLEASE use your resources and get help. If a tutor isn't right for you ask your friends/classmates, or a TA!!!

Also, for the post labs, if you are struggling with a question 100% go to office hours. The TAs are so helpful in walking you through the process of solving/answering the more complex ones. As long as you put a decent amount of effort into this class (~6-8 hours a week), you can succeed!

If possible do not enroll in Chem 1410 with Columbus. Her lectures are very difficult to follow due to her random Q and A lecture format that she gives very inconsistent and contradictory answers to. Several lectures she would explain a concept only to come back to it ten minutes later and admit that she was confused herself about the principle in question. Lecture will only confuse you more so honestly just stick to Tophat (the textbook w questions) and YouTube video explanations. If you do these things and look at Welch's notes then you will do fine.

If you have Linda Columbus, good luck. Kevin Welch is objectively better in every possible way. If you can't get Welch, don't bother going to lecture, just ask a friend in Welch's class to send you the recorded Welch Lecture. Columbus in lecture will spend all of class on one problem and then realize she did it wrong. Welch will make study guides for the exams and extra review that Columbus simply doesn't provide. Try to get these materials from a friend as they are usually helpful.
The class isn't impossible but its annoying especially if you are only in it because its an e-school req and it doesn't actually have anything to do with your major. The "textbook" readings are bad and it's not a real textbook (it's written by the professors). It's hard to find other materials online that match (the organic chemistry tutor on youtube is ok sometimes).

To preface: I received an A- in this course and I am a fairly lazy student, thus for all my lazy students out there, this is for you. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this course-- warning, the first unit and the Final Exam are the hardest parts of this course. The first unit discusses quantum theory, if I recall, which is misleading because you believe that you will be discussing Chemistry, not Physics-- but I digress. Your exam grades are broken up into 3 portions: individual, individual group, and group. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD GROUP. If you do not have a good group, request to change your group IMMEDIATELY. For the first exam, your group portion is 70 percent of your overall grade. In my experience, I had a terrible group that would not listen to me and insisted upon choosing the wrong answer, I got an 80 overall because my first and second parts were nearly perfect. The second exam, I accidentally didn't wake up, and I was able to get a 95 overall because I had to make up the test with a different group. Afterwards, I emailed my TA and asked to change my group and listed my grievances. Guys, it is every person for themselves, don't carry a group that puts minimal amounts of effort. TopHat was not that bad, I learned everything I needed to through reading TopHat and watching MIT videos. I did not watch lecture recordings for doing my video quizzes because they sucked; you can get all your answers from the reading. Overall, class was pretty easy, final exam was extremely hard though. Study for the final exam by going through every unit. Do not think that it is "like the first part of the exam" like they always say-- frankly, it isn't. Many people failed. Do what I say and literally go to review sessions and read through one unit each day, its not that complicated. Good luck!

IF YOU'RE AN INCOMING 1ST YEAR READ THIS: this class is hard and will not be like your high school chem class. You need to work ahead, you need to do practice problems, you need to know every inch of the content for exams, and you will not be able wing-it and get a good grade even if you're super "gifted." Its not impossible to do well but the amount of effort you put in is going to be what determines your grade in this class, you'll be putting in a majority of work yourself, not much help comes from the professors in my opinion. That being said: do not let the difficulty push you away from pre-med and other things, you have so many other classes and years, you don't need an A in this to get into med school, dont let it scare you!

the hardest class I had this semester, I get lots of stress from it and had a mental breakdown at the beginning. It should be basic, but it's very confusing. There are some concepts that you can't understand clearly without background knowledge in chemistry, but there are also concepts that are different from high school chemistry so you have to forget some of what you learned already. I put most of my effort into this class but got the lowest score comparing to other classes. Lecture videos most of the time are not very helpful for me in explanation of video quiz questions (some are), I have to depend on tophat, which is terrible because it doesn't explain knowledge in good sequence. For example, it mentions a term you don't know at the beginning once, bewilderingly, then talks about the meaning at the end. I made a lot of notes for open book exams, which I think ask the harder questions than those from homework or quiz. Plus Part 2 is a strike for someone who's not very good at English reading (international students be aware), I usually get almost perfect on part 1 then lose more than half of the points on part 2.
I don't know much about Columbus, since instructors teach together this semester. I know she's been through a hard time. Though I don't know if it's my problem, when I go to her office hour, she answers other people's question of more than 5 minutes explaining lots of things that are more than what student asks, but when it's my turn, she was quick and it only took half a minute?
Advise: ask TA for help, they provide you answer to question that you probably can't find in textbook or lecture video.

My friends and I nicknamed her "Lazy Linda". Her grading is unfair and your score on assignments and exams are arbitrarily dependent on the TAs. When students ask her questions during class she laughs and struggles to find a way to poorly answer the question. Do yourself a favor and choose a different professor - I recommend Welch. The assignments and textbook are on a website called TopHat where there are sometimes typos, errors, and misinformation. The class is not super difficult, however, all of the learning is up to you - you must teach yourself by reading the TopHat and I suggest using other supplementary websites, like ChemLibre, if you do not fully understand a concept.

Note: I took this course Fall 2020 so my experience may differ from how the course is in a "normal" semester

So given that the entire course was virtual, it didn't really feel like Columbus was my professor? Pre-recorded video lectures were released weekly (on Sundays usually), and each of the professors teaching this course took turns doing these videos. So I only got "lectures" from Columbus like 3-ish times this semester. On Tuesdays, she would be on Microsoft Teams and go over the material from TopHat, lecture videos, and answer student questions. Overall, I felt like she was good at explaining concepts and was helpful during those Tuesday sessions and office hours.

The exams came in three parts (more like 2.5 tbh). First part is done individually and was pretty easy given that it was all open-book. Second part is just a few questions that are more complex and because they weren't timed, I ended up spending a lot of time on this part. Third part is the same questions as the second part except this time you did with your assigned group.

In summary, this class was a moderate amount of work. Sometimes concepts were confusing, but they're easily clarified by just going to office hours or asking your friends/group members. I haven't looked at chemistry since 10th grade, and I managed to do well and learn a lot in this course.

#tCF2020

This review may not be super applicable to people taking this class in the future, as I took it during COVID and had a much different experience than normal. And if I'm being honest, I think a lot of the issues I had with the course were due to my own lack of motivation to study and put the work in. That being said, I would not call Columbus the best teacher in the world. Her lectures were pretty good (though again with COVID the lecture videos just alternated between all the professors so I didn't have her for the whole semester technically), but she does take forever to grade stuff, which is irritating.
As a lot of other people have said on these reviews, TopHat pretty much sucks. It is often not super clear and sometimes doesn't cover all the topics that you need to know to complete the Expo assignments.
But if you are willing to put in the effort, study for the exams, and take some time to do some independent learning and research for when TopHat doesn't suffice, you'll be just fine.

I took this class with Columbus because she was the highest ranked professor but I honestly do not understand why. She laughs at answer choices and does not explain content well. I listened to one of Welchs lectures and I wish i took with him instead. Do not recommend Columbus

First things first, TopHat, for the most part, is not your friend. Moving on: I thought Columbus was a decent professor. She knew what she was she was talking about and was willing to help students. My main issue is that she often goes of tangents and tends to get off topic from time to time. Just make sure to do the readings and understand them ahead of time or you'll feel lost the entire time.

I liked Columbus for her character as she is extremely flexible and understanding with her students. The exams were all take home until the final which was great because we could use notes, however, many people claimed to feel unprepared for the closed-book, in-class final. As a result, the individual portion of the exams are closed-book and in class in CHEM 1420. As far as the learning style goes, the structure of the class involves a once a week lecture, an expo where you do top hat with your group-mates, and top hat homework online that is due throughout days of the week. Top-hat is kinda annoying because it grades your answer to stuff you just learned buy yourself for accuracy. Other than that the class was do-able, make sure you do top hat and use your friends as resources when you need help because the TA's are not super helpful and the professors are not available as often.

COLUMBUS IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER!!!!! TAKE THIS COURSE WITH HER!!!!! She really cares about her students and makes the course material fun. The content is taught at a good pace that is not too fast or too slow. Overall it's not too hard to get an A as long as you consistently go to office hours.

Great course! I highly recommend this professor since she created the actual textbook that joins the assignments. Do not feel pressured to perform here, rather attend office hours and learn the material. You will do great!

Columbus is really nice and wants her students to do well; however, she is not the best lecturer. I went to lectures to get participation points and did other homework while there. As long as you pay attention to the at home readings and assignments, you will understand the material enough to do well on the take home exams.

Course: Is taught on TopHat, which is in my opinion the worst online textbook I have ever seen. Multiple typos, etc. Consists of a lecture and an expo, where a class project is worked through in groups. It is nice not having the traditional M-W-F chem class but Mastering Chemistry seems to be a much more reputable source than Top Hat.
Professor: Linda may try her best but doesn't really teach anything. We are expected to read in preparation for the lecture (pretty common) but in her lecture she doesn't really clarify anything. I could have easily skipped every single lecture and received the same grade minus the participation grade. I've heard her office hours are better but 300 people can't go to office hours. The expo was a good way of figuring stuff out on your own, but she can't expect us to learn everything on our own when we're paying tuition.

Columbus uses TopHat which in itself is a world of issues, but she's a super nice and understanding person. Even if you get an answer wrong, if you have a strong justification for it, she will give you the point. There are 3 midterms which are all take home and open-book, and 1 final closed-book and individual. Every week you get a good amount of reading due Tuesday (before lecture), an assignment due Thursday or Friday (before your expo), and something due Sunday. There's also writing assignments right before your midterms that are graded by your peers. It's kind of arbitrary due the questions being so vague, but it usually works out if you know what you did wrong. Overall, the class is an easy A if you put a good amount of effort into it and ask questions. Otherwise, you could get by with a B for showing up to Expo and looking up answers for midterms and assignments.

Columbus does a good job using her evidence-based teaching methods (such as having her students do actively engaging tasks instead of just reading a paper and asking if people understand it the next day). The class is quite abstract and conceptual, as it's heavily based on quantum mechanics, but I've definitely learned about a lot about how atoms interact on a molecular and subatomic level. Columbus seems to care about her students and though not an easy A, it's also not a weed out course either. My main complaint was the use of Top Hat, but I've heard that they might not use it next year.

The course itself is not hard but she is very confusing. The lectures often leave me more confused than when I go in and she answers questions by responding with a question and it makes everyone even more confused. Since everyone is confused, everyone takes up lecture time by asking questions and we never actually go over the material.

This class has potential, but it is nowhere near ready. Linda, although knowledgeable and kind, is very disorganized during lecture and is not successful in making the textbook a good resource. The fact that she constantly tells us to utilize other sources for the class only emphasizes this fact... I feel that this class is a lot more work than it needs to be- coming from a person who took AP Chemistry in high school. Additionally, the CPR assignments are ridiculous and unfair (expecting us to have mentioned concepts that we never would've thought of mentioning, unfair peer reviewers with unrealistic expectations for an introductory-level course. Take this class with Welch if you can- you'll have a much better learning experience. It is essential to have a strong lecture to have a well-functioning course- they don't seem to understand this yet.

I would highly recommend this class to anyone interested in taking an intro to chemistry class. She is a fabulous teacher and is passionate about her students and teaching. One of the best parts about this class are the 'expos', which are very similar to discussions except they are interactive and focused on collaboration with a group you have semester long. Her tests are very difficult!! They are tests taken at home, except for the final, which means you have about 3 days to complete them. I would say that the 3 exams take me about 5 hours each to complete. I am satisfied with this class, however. Definitely take this course if you want to learn about chemistry in the most theoretical, hypothetical way

Linda Columbus is a fabulous CHEM1410 teacher who constantly pushes us to strive for excellence. She emphasizes the "why" of chemical phenomenon rather than dogmatically telling us to memorize, furthering understanding of the chemical concepts.

She uses online homework (similar to Mastering Chemistry) to teach this course, the majority of the class being independent study through this medium. Tests are HARD though. They are formatted like this:

Part I.
Standard Individual Questions, Easy from the Chapter
Part II.
Hard Group Questions, Answered by Individuals
Part III.
Groups Questions during Friday EXPO (similar to a group test).

Lectures are rather useless and disorganized; I only go for Dr. Columbus's humor because she is great!

This class is oriented towards organic chemistry in terms of material (seriously, we didn't even bother learning stoichiometry). It is different from traditional lectures with Welch, Metcalf etc. in that way.

A lot of math in this course is eschewed for physical understanding which I believe is wonderful! Leave the math to the physics guys...