CHEM 1810

An amazing chemistry course if you are truly interested in chemistry. Prof. Harman is a great lecturer and made all of us want to pursue chemistry as a career. The grades for this class don't really exist, so if you get over a 60 on average on the 3 exams you will end with an A, so it really makes you focus on learning as much as possible because you truly enjoy it. This course gives you what you give it; if you put effort into every (ungraded) problem set and do every reading, you will be much better prepared for every subsequent chemistry course. The 1811 lab is a lot of work, so not for the feint of heart, but this course is very low stakes and is so rewarding. I highly recommend it for every prospective chem major who has had some chemistry experience in high school. The subsequent courses in the 800 series are much more challenging, so be ready for them, but truly motivated chemistry majors should definitely take this course. 10/10 we love you Professor Harman.

Harman is genuinely one of the best professors ever. He is SO good at explaining concepts and will break it down to the simplest terms and metaphors for you if it doesn't make sense. For incoming first-years, this class isn't a repeat of AP Chemistry -- it's pretty different from what you've probably encountered in chem classes before. That being said, the class is doable for sure, and you will definitely end with a decent grade because of 1/2 points back test corrections and a curve applied at the end of the course. GO TO OFFICE HOURS!! Go to discussion sections if you can; the TAs are really helpful, and you just do problem sets that are very similar to the exams.

This class is amazing for setting up students into college chemistry, I took IB chemistry in high school and felt like this class was an amazing expansion on my knowledge. Prof. Harman is an amazing resource and I always enjoyed listening to his lectures. The exams were slightly stressful, but there are plenty of review materials. If you're on the fence between this and 1410, I would look back to high school and think about your level of enjoyment with chemistry as a whole. If you found it more interesting than mind-numbing, go to the first lecture of 1810 to get a feel of the class. Note: the 1811 lab is much harder than anything I've heard from 1411 (you can take either), but its also double the credits.

Professor Harman is a wonderful person, a fabulous lecturer, and he cares very much about his students. I highly recommend this course to anyone who enjoys chemistry or took AP Chem in high school. The lectures are extremely interesting and at times mind-blowing. There are 3 exams throughout the semester and 3 problem sets which correspond to each exam and are easily completed during the discussion section. The problem sets are easy since you can collaborate with your classmates, the TAs, or any resources you want.

The exams are absolutely the most difficult part of the class; they are 5 questions with typically around 4-9 parts (1. a-f for example). Harman makes it easy to prepare for the exams by providing two full sized practice exams for each exam and restricting the content to only what is taught in lecture, so if you take good notes at lecture you'll be able to study efficiently. Additionally you have access to recordings of Harman's lectures from 2020. You can also do exam corrections for half the points you lost back (60% goes to 80%), so it's difficult to fail this class.

I personally found myself really worried about whether I would get an A- or A going into the final exam, but Harman curves the class more than I was expecting so I got an A overall. While I don't know what i got on the final, I had gotten 11 points above average the first exam and 4 below average on the second (raw score), so getting an A is absolutely feasible even if you aren't always top of the class on exams. I will warn you that for the 2nd and 3rd exam I found them to be much harder than I expected even after the practice exams; though that may not be the same for each year because Harman doesn't have the same exams or practice exams year-by-year.

Finally, I've heard that going to office hours is very helpful, and I went to a couple on finals week (but couldn't otherwise because of a time conflict), so I'd recommend making it to those if you can. The biggest downside of this class is that Harman sets the bar really high for professors, so you'll potentially be disappointed by future professors thanks to Harman's greatness.

Like everyone else in this thread, I think that Prof. Harman is amazing at his job. He has a wide expanse of knowledge that he draws upon for class (so much so that he often lectures without slides, and has figures and constants memorized and easily pulls them out of his head), which makes lectures seamless and jam-packed. Often, we bounced from four to six subtopics in one lesson, and it wasn't unheard of for him to go past that. So if you're worried about this class being boring, trust me - it isn't.

I took both AP and DE chemistry in high school, so I thought I would already know most of the content. I was SO wrong. CHEM 1810 is nothing like AP or DE chemistry at all, and it was a breath of fresh air since I'd been learning the same content many years in a row. And while this course is probably nothing like what you've seen before, it perfectly compliments knowledge that you already have, going more into depth about topics you've seen in a way that challenges the brain. Prof. Harman likes to throw application questions at you, to really see whether you understand the concepts.

That leads me to the exam portion of the class. There are three exams, one of which is a non-cumulative final (though you should still brush up on everything prior because everything in this class builds on what comes before) and each is worth 25%. The three problems sets you are given are also worth 25%. The questions are incredibly difficult at first, and I was uncomfortable in the class for a while, since I didn't grasp the concepts well, as I was used to math-based chemistry (while there is math in this course, it is much more theory than calculation-based). I think that the problem sets and the exams are very hard, but once you understand them, it is incredibly beneficial for your understanding of chemistry, which is exactly what Prof. Harman intends to do. It is quite easy to tell that he cares about his students.

I word of advice I have for anyone coming into this class would be to review stereochemistry in depth when it comes up in class. It is the first 'hard' unit and lasts for about two months, before being followed by NMR, which should also be reviewed, as it is hard to understand at first. There isn't work outside of class (the problem sets are completed during the discussion section), so I highly recommend forming a study group or finding another way to keep yourself accountable, as it's easy to forget material if you don't re-commit it to memory, especially during the long second unit.

I recommend this class to anyone who likes chemistry. If you think you would be bored in 1410, take 1810. If you like chemistry, whether you intend to major in it or not, take 1810. Harman is generous with grades (you get 50% back on all exams after going corrections, and this is auto-applied to the final exam) and then curves your overall score. The point of this class is to impart a rigorous understanding of the principles of chemistry, and sets you up well for future courses.

Finally, Harman is nice, approachable, and answers all questions in class. This is sometimes unideal as people will sometimes ask remixed versions of the same question, leading him to explain the same thing multiple times, but he has office hours and is more than willing to meet with students outside of class. Please consider both options - he is here to help you learn, and truly wants you to do so.

As an anecdote, Harman will mention (several times, likely) the purchase of ThinkWell as an aid for the course. It contains many review and breakdown videos which can be beneficial. It isn't required, and you are able to to pass just fine without it (I did!), so don't feel pressured to nab it if it's not something you want to do. College is already expensive enough.

TLDR: Harman rules. Take 1810.

First off, as you can tell from other reviews that the guy is really nice and knowledgeable, and he obviously challenges you to make you learn. Also, I did get an A in this class. Most of the reviews I've seen from my classmates are from people that enjoy chemistry as a subject, which makes sense because I guess you're meant to take this class over 1410 only if you want to go beyond the knowledge of chemistry that you would probably need. I took this class because I already had the credit for gen chem 1 and 2 (1410 and 1420) from AP Chem, and the 80s series (1810 1820 2810 2820) allows you to take the two semesters of orgo required for pre-med in your 1st year spring semester and 2nd year fall semester instead of taking both throughout your second year, essentially allowing you to finish your pre-med chemistry requirements a semester early.

I don't really like chemistry and this class definitely developed my hatred for the subject because of how made up some of this stuff seems to be. If you are someone like me, its still not too bad to get an A in this class as all you really have to do is be average on the 3 exams. If you fall short on one of them, its still possible to come back from that, you just have to make sure you are above average on one of them and you should be fine. If I could take this class again, I would definitely try to do really good on the first exam, because thats definitely the easiest one and it will pretty much guarantee you an A in the class as long as you put in some effort to do decent on the next two exams.

The in person lectures aren't boring, but theres so much information that at least for me it felt like I was just writing stuff down just to write it down, I never completely understood what he was saying. I did average, below average, and significantly above average on the three exams. On the first two exams, I tried rewriting my notes as a way to refresh the information, but obviously since I wasn't understanding the lecture properly my notes weren't very helpful. I also tried using online videos from Organic Chemistry tutor, but its not really 1:1 with the information in class and sometimes it feels like Harman just does his own things. What worked for me was definitely to learn from the recorded lectures he provided from 2020, because the ability to pause and actually understand what he was saying was very helpful.

The 3 hour discussion section is not required but all you do is work on a problem set that consists of past exam questions for the unit, its helpful to go sometimes because the TA's are available to help you and check your answers (not important though because the problem set is a completion grade). At the end of the semester he curves the class so that the top 50% get an A, and the next 30% get an A-. Courseforum doesn't reflect that, but if you go to the UVA grade distribution information you will be able to see that.

He will mention buying something called Thinkwell Chemistry, which is like review videos that him and someone else made for like a review on chemistry foundations, I don't think you should use your money on that. Also, I don't think its useful to pay for the textbook, so you should probably opt out of that as well, but thats just my opinion. Finally he will recommend purchasing a model kit for the second exam. I didn't use one on that exam and that was my worst performance, so I would recommend getting one or splitting one with your friends since you can share it on the exam. Also though, he does bring like a box of model kit pieces that you can use during the exam, so that works too.

Pretty much even if you don't like chemistry but you're taking this class, its still not incredibly difficult to get an A as long as your average in the class.

Harman is a great lecturer, making chem both interesting and engaging. There is not much work outside of class, and the tests only contain material covered in lecture. However, much of the material is organic chemistry rather than gen chem (stereochemistry, NMR, IR), so be prepared to study study study. The exams were difficult but fair - Harman really wants his students to focus on learning rather than testing. You get 1/2 points back on tests, and Harman curves heavily for final grades. I got a 36% on the final and ended with an A. Overall, if you’re enthusiastic about chem, dedicated, and have a lot of background knowledge, this is the course for you!

Tl;dr There’s a reason why almost 30% of students don’t continue onto Chem 1820. This class is not it.

For background, I took AP Chem senior year in high school and enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t find it to be difficult, got A’s all four quarters and a 5 on the exam. This class is NOTHING like AP Chem and made me realize that I never want to take another chemistry class ever again. It is much more difficult to the point where some of the stuff seems made up. The entire structure of the class also makes no sense. Why are we going from learning about molecular orbitals straight into hardcore organic chemistry??

Harman’s lecture style also makes it difficult to keep up. Prof Harman doesn’t “believe” in using a slideshow and so his lectures are often him talking and drawing on the chalkboard for 1 hr 15 mins. This means you have to stay locked in the entire class period, if you zone out for even a minute, you’ll get lost and fall behind.

And reading through the reviews for this class you would’ve thought Prof Harman was some revolutionary luminary who could instantly change your life or something but he’s really not... He definitely knows his stuff but he often overcomplicates concepts or rambles in class expecting us to understand him. This is especially evident when he introduces the organic chemistry concepts which for almost everyone was completely unfamiliar. I had to learn almost everything on my own.

The one caveat about his class is that the grading is very very generous. You get test corrections on all midterms which give you half your points back, homework is graded on completion, and the final grade is curved.

Great class and loved Professor Harman. His lectures are entertaining and he is super approachable. My one complaint is that there was limited practice material available for each test, so even if you felt good about all of the provided practice material, this did not necessarily make you prepared for the test. That being said, it is very attainable to get a good grade in this class due to the way that he curves it. Overall I would recommend but only if you enjoy chemistry/want to major in it.

Overall, this chemistry course is extremely interesting and taught very well by Professor Harman. I took this class because I thought about majoring in chemistry, but throughout the course, I realized chemistry was not my passion. This class was extremely difficult for me and I spent a lot of time trying to understand the content. While I don't regret taking it, I think I would have thrived more in CHEM 1410 instead of spending so much of my time on chemistry my first semester of college. If you do take this course, I highly recommend spending time each week synthesizing what you have learned and how it connects to the previous week's topics. I also lived in office hours which helped a lot. Harman is an amazing professor and CHEM 1810 is an interesting, but extremely difficult, course.