CHEM 1410

Welch is probably the best introductory chemistry professor at UVA. If you have to take this class, take it with Welch. He is extremely supportive of his students and very willing to work with you. Lectures are only once a week and he tends to work through the main concepts from the chapter. Welch does not have slides for his lectures. He typically draws out different problems and works through topics from the chapter conceptually. It helps with basic understanding of the chapter, however there are usually topics that he doesn't get to because we ran out of time. The only other class meeting during the week is Expo. You are randomly divided into groups of 4-5 to work collaboratively through difficult assignments. I had a really good Expo group last semester and we had to rush to make it through the whole assignment during our class time.

There are four assignments every week that you rotate through:
1. Chapter reading - One chapter per week. This is the longest assignment and usually takes a few hours on the weekend.
2. LBLA (Looking Back, Looking Ahead) - This assignment becomes available after lecture and must be completed before Expo. Typically between 10-15 questions and can be completed in less than an hour.
3. Expo Assignment - You do this with your group. This is the most challenging assignment of the week. Get as much help from the TA's as you need during class time.
4. BIT (Bringing it Together) - This assignment is due Sunday at midnight and wraps up all the chapter material from the week.
There is a constant stream of assignments and it feels like you don't get a break. You just have to keep up or else it will be very hard to catch up if you get behind.

There are three unit exams and one cumulative final exam. The exams have three parts:
1. Individual multiple choice and short answer
2. Individual attempt at 5 long multiple choice questions
3. Group attempt at same 5 multiple choice questions
The exams are pretty difficult but are open resource. Prepare for the individual multiple choice section by putting all your formulas on one sheet to eliminate time searching through your notes. During the group exam you have to write 1-3 paragraphs explaining why you chose your answer. Be prepared to defend your answer.

I don't even know where to begin. Gen chem is taught so awfully here. Starting from the structure to the fact they purposely want you to not succeed since it is a 'weed out' class. I feel you need to have a background in chemistry to do very well in here, I did mid and I did not but spent so much time on outside resources to make up for the lack of efficiency of lecture. Welch is VERYYYYYY overhyped. TAKE IT WITH STAINS. She is much more organized and clear in her lectures, as well as her exams (much clearer, more related to content, etc). I think the biggest issue was truly with the exams. I generally understood the content, but the exam questions were totally unreasonable and were huge stretches from practice problems, reading problems, and TA reviews. Godspeed to all of you who take it. (dont get me wrong welch is such a nice and funny guy, love him, but dont take 1410 with him)

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH WELCH (thank me later) Seriously such a nice guy who actually cares about his students and is very accommodating to any problems you are having. The class isn't too hard if you put in the work with the readings and actually try to understand the material. Whatever you don't understand, Welch is great at explaining. All exams are open book and open internet as well.

Prof. Welch was overall a very enjoyable professor to have. He made time for everyone's questions at office hours and after lecture, and he was relatively quick to respond to emails. I would definitely aim to have him as your expo instructor as well since he knows what will be on the exams and is sure to emphasize relevant points (which the other expo ta's cannot do). The group portion of the exams can be bit frustrating, but that's really the only complaint I had, and Welch is good about moving people around if you don't like your group.

Professor Welch was one of the best chemistry professors I have had between high school and college combined. He was incredibly patient in answering questions during lecture and office hours, and he always made sure to explain the content in many ways (visually, numerically, and in simpler language than the textbook would sometimes use). Although a difficult gen-ed to take, he makes the course much more interesting and accessible for all, especially with open-note exams. My biggest recommendation is to take notes on the textbook readings and use workshop time to understand the content at a deeper level than what may primarily be taught in lecture, as that is a significant piece of what the CHEM 1410 professors like to test students on. Overall, the course content itself can be incredibly difficult, as it is an introductory STEM class, but taking it with Welch will make it a much more positive experience!

Prof Welch is definitely the best intro chem professor at UVA. He is incredibly reasonable, fair, and overall has a genuine care for his students. His lectures are typically easy to follow if you read the textbook chapter associated with it. A few of the concepts in this class are difficult to grasp, but his office hours are pretty helpful and typically not too crowded. Generally, intro chem at UVA is designed so that everyone has a fair chance of doing well. If you put in the work, getting an A is doable. The exams consist of three parts, one of which is individual and take-home. This portion is always open note and open resource, meaning if you focus on understanding the concepts you should be good to go. I especially appreciated this structure because you don't have to memorize all of the nitty gritty details associated with each topic, the main focus is directed at understanding the concept first. I was worried that the take home portion of the exams would be especially difficult, but for the most part they are straight forward mcq's with a few free responses sprinkled in the mix. Pick Welch for chem 1410!!! you are guarenteed a fair chance at doing well.

Prof Welch is definitely the best intro chem professor at UVA. He is incredibly reasonable, fair, and overall has a genuine care for his students. His lectures are typically easy to follow if you read the textbook chapter associated with it. A few of the concepts in this class are difficult to grasp, but his office hours are pretty helpful and typically not too crowded. Generally, intro chem at UVA is designed so that everyone has a fair chance of doing well. If you put in the work, getting an A is doable. The exams consist of three parts, one of which is individual and take-home. This portion is always open note and open resource, meaning if you focus on understanding the concepts you should be good to go. I especially appreciated this structure because you don't have to memorize all of the nitty gritty details associated with each topic, the main focus is directed at understanding the concept first. I was worried that the take home portion of the exams would be especially difficult, but for the most part they are straight forward mcq's with a few free responses sprinkled in the mix. Pick Welch for chem 1410!!! you are guarenteed a fair chance at doing well. #tCFF23

This is definitely one of those courses you need to give the adequate time to in order to get a good grade. Prof. Welch's lectures are good, but they don't cover everything; the rest of the material is taught through a custom-written textbook on a site called Top Hat. This textbook is very expensive, especially considering parts of it are very poorly written, but you need to use it to get a good understanding of the course.

How this course works each week:
Before the day of the lecture, you have to read the Top Hat chapters and answer the questions in them. After the lecture, you answer some more questions to prepare for your discussion section (called Expo). In Expo, you work with your group to answer more questions, and after Expo you answer some more questions about the concepts. Your group will probably make or break your Expo experience—my group was helpful but rushed through the Expo material, which resulted in us forgetting to draw some diagram that we needed to submit later. TAs usually run your Expo section—if you ask them for help, they'll likely lead you to the answer very easily.

There were three midterm exams with three parts each (all open note/Internet, and for Welch, all online/at-home):
Part 1 is individual, and honestly not too hard.
Part 2 has five multiple choice questions, which are extremely hard. Make sure to read through the answer choices thoroughly, and take notes on why you eliminated certain answers. (this part is always 10% of your exam grade)
Part 3 is during Expo, where your group submits answers and explanations to the Part 2 questions.
The first exam's grade is majority Part 3, but as you get to exam 3 the grade distribution becomes majority Part 1.

The final exam (also open note/Internet) was a joke; as long as you have a decent understanding of the material, you'll probably get a decent grade. There is no final project anymore.

My advice: take notes on the Top Hat chapters, and try to understand all the questions in them. If it's very clear from the start that your Expo group isn't going to help at all, ask for a new group (luckily I wasn't in this situation). Each time the Expo material says "draw this diagram to add to your Portfolio", take a picture and immediately send it to your group chat. Each time you see a good diagram or chart in the chapters, screenshot it and put it in a "cheat sheet" doc which will help you a lot for exams. Make sure to attend the TA review sessions in person, or at the very least watch the recordings. Most of all, don't drop the course based on how intimidating the first chapter is—the next few are MUCH easier.

Overall, this course isn't fun and it doesn't make me want to take chem again, but you can get through it with the right amount of work.

#tCFF23

This course was set up very well and exceeded my expectations for an introductory chemistry course. This course included an active learning approach where students completed assignments in groups in their once a week workshop ("expo") session. Depending on your group, workshop can be a fun period and a great way to learn the content.

Welch was a great professor. He gave informative lectures that allowed me to better grasp the material. Most importantly, he cared about his students and did his best to accommodate each student in his large class.

#tCFF23

At first, I thought chemistry was my hardest course this semester in the first few weeks; however, that changed after the first few chapters. If you can get through the third of the semester, you'll do great.
Something to note is that the grading is a bit harsh. #tCFF23