CHEM 2410

Just found out I finished with an A in the class and here’s how to do it:
-Approach this class understanding that it is both heavily memorization based as well as application based. You need to take the time to get the large amount of info in your brain before you will be able to even approach the conceptual questions. This means a lot of intermittent review and quizlets (especially for pKas, solvents, reagents, etc.)
-Before every class there are readings that cover the content in the lecture, read and take notes diligently. It will take you a few hours to get through the content meaningfully, but it is worth it. Don’t ever fall behind on the readings. At first there’s so much content that it is overwhelming, but after a while you find a routine.
-Warmups are due before class at 11:59pm, don’t wait until the last minute. Some are easy, but some will be hard. You get to basically “drop” a few at the end of the semester, but always do them all, it’s your first line of practice after reading the material.
-Go to every lecture. Not only is she an insanely good lecturer, but she does clicker questions in class based on participation (not correctness) which are easy boosts towards your grade. You can basically “drop” a few at the end of the semester so don’t worry if you have to miss 1 or 2 lectures. Clicker questions are the second line of practice with the material.
-Wednesday nights you will have discussion where you go through problem sets in small groups. We always went through every problem together which really helped. Some groups split the work to get out faster, but if you do that, go back and make sure you can do them all yourself. It is the third line of practice with the content. You can drop two scores at the end of the semester, but don’t bank on it, always give it your all and don’t ditch your group, there will be peer evals.
-Fridays are always review based and no new content is reviewed. This is your fourth line of practice with the material.
-Homeworks are due on Sunday nights and are much more complex than the warmups. Don’t start it at 11:30, you won’t finish. You basically “drop” some missed points at the end of the semester. This is your fifth line of practice with the material.
-About twice a unit, or every 2-3 weeks, I would go back and study all the material I learned. Sometimes this simple repetition of notes and practice problems is what you need to get the info into your brain. She recommends every day to every week, but my schedule ended up working for me. This is your sixth line of practice with the material.
-Since I had 6 lines of practice with the material throughout the semester, the material was basically memorized before each exam and studying was purely practice problems. Go back and read through all of her slides, redo the clicker questions, do the hard questions at the end of the textbook, and redo questions from old tests (past test 1 ofc) at the minimum.
-Study like never before for the first exam. It is about 70% gen chem review with orgo based applications, so you have the best chance to do very well. However, do not underestimate her and study less since you “know it all”, trust me, that won’t go well. If you don’t do well, you can still succeed, don't worry, but having this exam in your back pocket will do wonders for your confidence.
-Every test has test corrections that you can do to get 50% back. Do them every time. You can drop one of the three midterms by the end of the semester, so you may not want to do corrections for your drop, but do it anyway. Her exams have questions unlike anything you’ll see, so using her own material to help with studying is vital.
-Whatever your raw score average is for your midterms, drop it about a letter grade and that will be your final exam score. The final is 25% of your grade and there’s no corrections, no drop. I did very well on my final, so I’m not the best example, but to be fully transparent I’ll say what I got. I averaged about a B+/A- raw score on my midterms and got borderline B-/B on the final. So you never know, it could help you, but my advice would be to cushion your grade by preparing for the fact that it will not help you.

Overall, Professor Frantz is probably the best professor I've ever had. She is an insanely good lecturer, everything she explains makes sense. Yes her class is brutal, but it sets you up so well for the harder challenge, orgo II. Speaking of which, if you don’t take Frantz for orgo I and get her for orgo II you will be struggling as she expects you to know everything we had to know in orgo I. If I had to do it again, I would take Frantz 10 times over. While you can take another professor and get a better grade easier, the comprehension and skills you learn in this course with Frantz are invaluable. It’s hard, but you can do it, and you’ll come out knowing orgo like the back of your hand.

This course is challenging but doable if you put in the work to be successful. Attend lecture (get completion Clicker Points!) and do the corresponding textbook practice problems the same day afterwards. Redo class practice questions (especially Friday Practice) before exams and utilize the Learning Objectives (on the course schedule) to make sure you understand the key concepts. You can do exam corrections to get up to half the points back. There are 3 midterms (drop lowest score) and a mandatory final that has no corrections. Definitely study the exams from the semester for the final to get a feel for Frantz's formatting. Going to Frantz's longer office hours where she does practice problems was extremely helpful. Also, utilize people who took this course the previous year and your TA's! They were amazing my year and super kind.
You have to do warm ups before each lecture which occasionally were helpful to see what I grasped from the reading but mostly frustrating busy work (don't study them for the exams). Frantz tests you on what was discussed in lecture, but I would recommend going through your notes from reading after lecture to pull out key points/details/clarifications. Definitely understand the "why" / reasoning behind concepts.
Study a little bit everyday so you don't get overwhelmed by the information and be patient - full comprehension of some concepts may take longer than you are used to.

Dr. Frantz gets a lot of hate and vitriol from previous students, but she honestly is one of the most underrated professors. She is an amazing lecturer. Whenever I go to lecture, I am able to understand the content so much better. At the end of the day, Organic Chemistry is going to be a hard class, so it's best to take it here with someone you know will thoroughly explain the concepts well. I'll admit, I was a little nervous about Dr. Frantz's class, as I heard so many things about her from other students. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had enjoyed the class as much as I did and that's a testament to Dr. Frantz. I won't say the class is easy, as it isn't. But with Dr. Frantz, I feel like she lets you know the tips on how to succeed in her class. If you do all the practice in the textbook and do her slides, then that's a pretty good standing for the midterms. The midterms were definitely a little hard, but corrections are there and your lowest of the three midterms gets dropped. One thing I would recommend is going to her office hours if you can. She is incredibly approachable and will help you in any way she can. I know some people say she's intimidating, but that couldn't be further from the truth. She truly wants you to succeed. 45% of your grade is essentially on lock, so if you do the bare minimum on the homeworks, clicker points, warmups, and discussions, you'll be set! As for the midterms, make sure to do all the textbook problems and even if you think you're done with all the practice, do practice problems again and again. Practice is what makes perfect. At least for her Orgo 1 Final, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. It was generally similar levels of difficulty as her midterms. I remember hearing so many bad things about the Frantz final and how it was gonna drop your grade a good ten points, but as long as you do all the practice problems in the textbook and all her slides, you would be in good standing. Overall, I would recommend her highly and don't feel afraid to ask her for help!

Organic chemistry is difficult, and there's just no way around that. It takes effort and a new form of perception, but coming from someone who hated chemistry before college, and I enjoyed this class and the material. Dr. Frantz is very knowledgable about each and every topic, and she is very straight-forward with her expectations and responses to questions. There's a weekly homework, readings before lecture, in-class poll questions, adaptive warmups before lecture, and of course exams, but your lowest midterm is dropped, and there is built in room to miss questions on assignments and still perform well. The lecture slides also have all the information you need. Dr. Frantz's exams are difficult and sometimes out-of-the-box from other questions/format types, but she offers corrections, and they are a lifesaver. Absolutely do them, even if you score well. The workload of this course is very manageable, and I would definitely take Frantz again if I had to choose.

Orgo is one of the hardest classes you will take but there are many ways to succeed. I think Frantz gets a bad rep, but she in my opinion prepares you more as the information actually sticks and will help with the MCAT. The grading and how she teaches the class are honestly set up for you to at leat pass the class. The grading in this class is split into points. So in total, all assignments are worth 1000 points. Clicker questions are 140 points, warmup quizzes are 65 points, homework is 145 points, discussion is 100 points, midterms are 300 points, and the final is 250 points. I will discuss each individually.

Warmup/Homework: These are mainly practice problems related to each reading. Before each lecture, there is a warmup that is based on completion. You have to get a certain amount right to get full credit. These are easy points so make sure you aren't waiting till the last minute to do them. Homework sets are 15 questions due every week except for the week with exams. This is based on correctness. You have three attempts for each question so use them wisely. I do recommend that you lean on others for some problems as I felt some were difficult. Also, even if you do miss some points, you can still get full credit in these categories.
Lecture: During the lectures, she has clicker questions. These are based on completion so as long as you answer you can get credit. She makes it so that you can miss at most two weeks' worth of clicker questions and still get full credit.
Discussion: This is an opportunity to practice so I recommend going even though your lowest two grades from discussion get dropped. It is also mandatory. You can ask TAs for help on the questions given.
Exams: There are three exams, all worth around 150 points each. The lowest of the three gets dropped. One thing I like about her is that she allowed for test corrections which gave you back 50% of the points lost. This was a lifesaver as it allowed for me to get a higher grade in the course. With the test corrections, I had a B average for exams. To study for her exams, I recommend going over discussion questions, Friday practice questions, and questions from the textbook. I also recommend finding the answer key for the textbook as it is really helpful for assignments and studying. I will say exams are the category I lost the most points on. In my opinion, her tests are hard but not impossible.
Final Exam: This is the hardest test you will encounter from her. I will be quite clear her final was mainly exam 2 and 3 content with a sprinkle of acid base. I'm not saying don't study stuff on exam 1, but you mainly want to focus on exams 2 and 3 things, specifically addition, substitution, and elimination reactions.

In all, you are very capable of getting an A in the class. I had an A- in the class until the final which bumped me down to a B+. If you have a perfect score or a higher grade in all the categories and at least a high c average in the exams, you are very capable of getting a good grade. I cannot stress this enough, you need to PRACTICE. Practice until it feels like repetition. It might feel tedious but in the end it will work in your favor #tCFF23

The class is very easy to get a passing grade in, provided you complete all of the Clicker questions, online Homeworks and online Warm-ups. Frantz uses PollEverywhere for the Clicker questions and Warm-ups/HW assignments are assigned through WileyPLUS. You have to do these assignments quite often, but if you have a study group that communicates often, you shouldn't miss any of them.

Your Discussion section TAs will answer every question you have and will check your work for you. As long as you engage them, it should be easy to get a good discussion grade overall.

The exams are the hardest part about Frantz's class. They are extremely difficult and require more application of advanced concepts than in anywhere else in the class. This makes it exceptionally difficult to ace them. Find an answer key for the textbook online, and run through all of the practice problems for each chapter that you're progressing through. If you do this, it will make your life much easier.

Thankfully, the lowest mid-term (of 3) is dropped, and you can get half points back through exam corrections after each mid-term. Even if you got a 50 on a midterm, you can still do exam corrections and end up with a 75.

Listen to Frantz, study every day, and try your best to understand the concepts. Memorization works until you get nervous, but understanding the concepts will assist your memory and will help you with those weird never-seen-before questions on the exam.

I would 100% recommend taking Orgo I with Frantz. Although this class is hard no matter what, she's an excellent professor who really knows her stuff. She makes homework and in-class clicker points a significant part of your grade, which is very helpful to balance out the exams. The corrections for half points back and the one dropped midterm are extremely useful and make the exams slightly less stressful since there's room for error. The best way to study for the exams is to really know the reagents, do the practice problems in the textbook, and memorize everything that she says to memorize (pKas, functional groups, solvents, etc). Orgo is a LOT, but you really bond with your classmates and discussion groupmates over getting through it. The TAs are incredibly helpful, especially when correcting exams. They really know their stuff and can often explain concepts in a more digestible manner in a one-on-one environment. Frantz goes FAST during lectures, and I almost always had to update my notes after class. The only way to make this teaching style work for you is to actually read the assigned sections and take detailed notes before class so that you can simply listen to her and add the few things she includes on her slides that you missed. This is not a class where you can come into lecture without taking notes beforehand. Orgo is one of the most difficult STEM classes, but it is 100% possible to be successful if you put in the effort and study/practice consistently. #tCFF23

Orgo is one of the hardest STEM classes, that is no lie. I got a B+ in this class and was at an A up until the final. It is true what everyone has said about Frantz's final, but I think people also give her too much hate. I'll start off with what I thought about her and then go into details about the class, plus some advice.
Frantz: I think she gets a lot of undeserved hate. This class is hard, and you know that coming in. She does tell you how to survive her class: do the readings, do many practice problems, do all the assigned work, ask her questions sooner rather than later, and focus on quality studying over quantity. That being said, you will put a lot of hours into this class. I took notes while I read and did many practice problems to study. Frantz's lectures go through content really fast because she expects you to have read/skimmed the reading. She will take the time to answer questions in class, and I felt she slowed down on more difficult topics. I loved how she took the time to get to know students who would introduce themselves to her, including myself. If you introduce yourself to her during office hours, she will remember your name. If you then ask/answer questions in class, she will call you by your name. It made the class feel more personal. Orgo will be hard no matter whom you take it with, but Frantz is more forgiving in points than others have made her out to be. There are a lot of opportunities for smaller points that you should do your best to get near perfect scores on.
Homework: There is a lot of homework, and a lot of studying. There is an assigned reading for each lecture, even right after exams. I recommend you take detailed notes while you read and add to them in lecture. There are many practice problems in the textbook. Get the Klein solution manual in some way. It is worth your money/web search to find a copy and get the practice answers. There is a warmup quiz every night before lecture. The number of questions will vary, as they are adaptive. The more you get right, the sooner you finish. At the end of each week, she has a weekly homework that is harder than the warmup quizzes. If you have the solutions manual, some of the answers are there if you know where to find the question in the textbook. But make sure you can do the homework problems without looking at the answer. I would only use the solutions manual to double check your work. Do not skimp on practice problems.
Discussion: Weekly, mandatory. Hope you get a good team. The TAs go over the answers to those problems, and as long as you have their answers, you're good to go. There is an extra credit opportunity each time. Try them, even if you aren't sure. Little points really add up in this class.
Lecture: She posts old recordings, but I always preferred going to in-person lecture. She has iClicker questions in class that are part of the participation grade. The questions she asks are super easy compared to literally any other orgo question you will encounter. Easy points, take advantage of them. She goes through content really fast on Mondays/Wednesdays. Fridays are practice.
Tests: Hard, but not unreasonable. Do many practice problems, and you should be able to apply it to the exam. Do integrated practice problems. Review the weekly homework and discussion problems because that is the closest you will get to her exam difficulty. Her exams can be challenging, but they aren't things you've never seen before in class. Like I said, she's more forgiving in points than others made her out to be. Out of three midterms, she drops the lowest exam score. She also gives the opportunity for half points back on each exam with test corrections. With her grading policy, she and the TAs give points where they can on the test. If you have perfect scores in the minor categories and average C's or higher on her midterms, you could get an A in this class. Her exams are cumulative in the sense that what you learn in
September will still apply later in the semester, though exam 1 content is not part of the focus in exam 2/3.
Office hours: I found them helpful. Ask her early when you get confused, as opposed to later. Everything builds on previous concepts in this class.
Final: Her final dropped my letter grade from an A/A- to a B+. However, it is the same style of questions as her midterms. There's nothing unreasonable, it's just a lot more questions that span the entire course content. Expect to do around the same/slightly worse than you averaged on your midterms before test corrections. It's a challenging final, but again, if you average C's or higher on the midterms and bring them up to B's/A's you could get an A.
Tips: Do a lot of practice. Study functional groups/pKas, anything she says to memorize. Create a reaction journal and add to it for every mechanism you learn. Know reagents and what they do to a compound. This is a hard class, but you can do it. (#tCFfall22)

RUN. I literally cannot emphasize how important it is that you turn around, pick literally any other professor and run away. If you are taking orgo you're either a) pre-med and taking it against your will or b) you are a chem major and should be placed on a watchlist. Whatever the reason, Frantz is not your girl I promise you that. Orgo is obviously a very hard class that covers very very hard concepts that will have you questioning your will to live on just about a daily basis. You do not need to take it with professor who enjoys torturing her students in order to meet her own satisfaction levels of understanding of complex (beyond intro level) concepts. I could quite literally write 5 more pages why this woman has single handedly put me into therapy, but I will just say do not let the retests fool you. You are much better off taking this course with any of the professors who do not spend their free time plotting how to make their students hate themselves. BFFR and do yourself a favor. #tCFfall22

Frantz gets a really bad rep, and I came into this class absolutely terrified. I did not do super well in my general chemistry classes, and was thinking I would do significantly worse in orgo because of it. However, I realized from the beginning that it takes a significant amount of work and dedication, and you'll be pretty much fine. She's a tough lecturer, but very straightforward in her explanations which works for me. Keeping up with weekly readings, doing homework with the intent of learning and practicing, attending all the lectures, going to her in person office hours, focusing during discussions, were all things that ended up making a difference as I studied for my midterms. I maintained a 95 overall throughout the semester, and was super proud of myself even though that was not my final grade! I did my absolute best while maintaining a balance with my life, and though I was extremely disappointed with the turnout, I know I did the best I could with what I had.
Even the final was not as bad as I anticipated. If I had gotten just a few more points in each category, I would have ended up with a 90. Unfortunately Frantz does not curve. So if you're me next year, do that one extra practice problem, do that one extra credit problem during discussion, give it your all, and it could end up being the difference between a B+ and an A-.