CHEM 2410

Take everything said about Frantz with a grain of salt. People like to complain about stuff and organic chemistry is a very hard class, which makes it easy to complain about. Orgo 1 is considered a walk in the park compared to Orgo 2, so it is best to get a really good teacher who will prepare you for Orgo 2. If you can't get Samonina, I would highly recommend Frantz. I think she is a good professor and going to give you a very fair shot at getting a good grade in this challenging course.
First off, I enjoyed the structure of her class (Mon./Wed. are lectures, Fri. is practice problems) because she gives you a lot of chances to practice the material. She gives a lot of "easy" points. There are daily quizzes before class and weekly HW and you can basically get 100s on all of them. It seems like a lot of assignments at first, but they are super helpful in terms of understanding the material and you get used to it. You also get a lot of discussion and iClicker points that help your grade a ton so make sure you do those. The 3 midterms are very reasonable. You get 1/2 points back on the midterms through corrections which is a great grade boost. Even if you bomb one, your grade can still be okay in the end. The final gets a lot of hate but I thought that it was relatively reasonable. Obviously it was hard, but if you genuinely understood the material throughout the course and studied a lot you will do fine.
For this semester, our class average was an 84%. Overall I got an A-. I am not a chem genius, but I did put a whole lot of work into this class. Here is some of my advice:
1. My biggest piece of advice is to study throughout the course, Frantz tells you this on the first day. She is not joking. Make sure you are constantly reviewing topics. I had flashcards with me at all times and tried to study the material a bit every day.
2. Put in 100% effort through out the course because, in the end, every point matters and could be the difference between a 89.5% and a 90.0%. I know too many people who did well on the first exam, started slacking because they thought they could get away with it and ended up being super unhappy with their final grade. Do the EC discussion points, they can make a difference in the end.
3. Before coming to class make sure that you have done the readings. Her lectures are very beneficial if you have already been exposed to the material. I did all of the reading for the upcoming week on the weekend so I had the whole week to really understand the info. This made such a difference and, although it was kind of exhausting, I would HIGHLY recommend this strategy.
4. The integrated problems at the back of the book, the HW, discussion problems, and the Friday practice problems are super similar to the exam questions. Some of our exam problems even seemed to be based on these questions. Do them to study.
5. If possible, do not take other challenging courses while taking this course. I know for some people's schedules that is not possible, but it is easiest to succeed in orgo if you are just focusing on orgo.
At the end of the day, this class is emotionally exhausting. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the material and thought it was super interesting, but it was still super stressful. This is not a fault of the professor, it is just the truth of a medical school weed out course.

Honestly I think that a lot of people just like to complain about this class. While it was by no means easy, I would say that Frantz was a good and respectable teacher and did her best to cover the wide range of material that we needed to know within the constraints of class time. There are three main pieces of advice that I would give to anyone who needs to take this class: 1. When Frantz says to review every day, she absolutely means it. I did this pretty consistently throughout the semester and it makes everything much less stressful when test time rolls around. 2. Aim for 100's on the midterms. Not kidding. I know this isn't necessarily a realistic goal, but the point of me saying it is to emphasize how important it is to keep your grade as high as possible. Which brings me to 3. The final exam will be one of the most difficult tests that you take in your undergraduate career. There's no sugar coating it. I spent an entire week studying for around 8 hours a day and still struggled. This is probably the one bone I have to pick with Frantz, but I also understand that she has to make her class difficult in some way, and she does provide test corrections on midterms and lots of participation points throughout the semester to help offset it.
While this certainly wouldn't be a course I would take by choice, I definitely learned a lot and think that Frantz was not nearly as bad as many like to say. Go to office hours, do the practice problems in the book, and go to class and you will make it through.

This class is very much a weed out class. Frantz is a pretty nice person but her lecture style with clicker might not be for everyone as she goes pretty in depth, and expects memorization of lots of charts, graphs, and values the other classes are given on exams. There are people who succeed with Frantz but if you are unsure of your major or procrastinate a lot I wouldn't recommend because it will not be a fun experience. The homework clicker and discussion points make up almost half of your grade so try to get all of those points because exams are sometimes brutal. There are 3 exams for a total of (30%). The exam before the final had an average of a 50 or 60 so try to do well on the first two to set yourself up well for the final. That said the final was pretty rough and makes up almost the same amount as the exams but without corrections like the others(25%). The class is hard and stressful and I would have definitely preferred another instructor like Chruma, but if you do get Frantz it's not the absolute end of the world.

Professor Frantz tells you day one what you need to do in order to do well in this class. DO IT. She is not kidding when she says it requires studying basically every single day. If you do exactly what she tells you, you will do well. It just requires more work than your average class. Here's what worked for me: Read the text book BEFORE class! Use lectures to add to those notes. After lectures, go over the notes and fill in anything blank / reorganize. Do the suggested in chapter practice problems for that day. A week before exams, start hard core studying. The more practice the better. Do the end of chapter suggested practice problems, specifically the integrated and challenge problems. This class seems daunting and don't get me wrong its a lot of work. But there isn't any reason to be scared of it, as long as you are willing to put in the work

Focus on understanding the concepts that are delivered. Constantly review SQ3R style and you should have success. The three midterm exams get corrections, so they are pretty low impact (10% each, w/ corrections making them effectively 5%). The final is more consequential at 25% w/o corrections. The rest of the class is participation, where if you consistently do your homework and attend class, you get full points (45%). This is not a class to skip, so make sure you have a class before this one to create accountability. Also ask the stupid questions when Frantz walks around as she is quite helpful at explaining things. Her office hours are also nice to attend if you don't have class. Otherwise, good luck and hopefully the final didn't go too poorly :)

I am telling you right now you need to run. Frantz is the worst professor you could possibly have. Honestly, I think the upperclassmen lied to us 2nd years, so they could get the GOOD professor Samonina. They claim Frantz prepares you better for the MCAT...that's a lie. A complete lie. This woman will destroy your will, she finds joy in the class not understanding her and is not helpful. She's the kind of professor that simply REFUSES to answer your question, no matter how confused you are. Instead, she'll beat around the bush and waste your time.

Once, she casually mentioned that we'd have to memorize a bunch of carbonyls after a student asked a random question. None of us were aware and she said it at the very last minute. Her response to our shock? "I hope none of you want to go to medical school". Her exam averages are a complete disaster, if it weren't for her having exam corrections, this woman would be out of a job.

She needs to be fired. Immediately. As I write this I am preparing for her final which is known to be absolutely horrible and a gpa destroyer. Our latest exam average was 53%. by the way :) Please if you have any love for yourself, take Chruma or try to get Samonina. Unfortunately, she's hard to get if you arent a 3rd or 4th year because of enrollment priority, but please just avoid this woman. Chruma is better than her. Anyone is better. I hope after what I'm sure are very desperate course evaluations, UVA will at the very least increase Samoninas's class size.

Took this online (will be different if in person). Dr. Frantz expects students to work every day on ochem or at the very minimum at least 7 hours per week. This class requires a decent amount of practice but as long as you do the work that she gives, you should be fine. Her final is cumulative so make sure you keep reviewing previous chapters and you should be good to go! Best of luck. If you have any issues, feel free to contact her as she provides countless opportunities to do so.

I came into this class with the normal fear of organic chemistry, but it turned out okay! I took Welch 1st semester of gen chem and then Lisa the second semester. I think Lisa helped me prepare a bit more for this class. Frantz structures the class with three exams (10% each), homework/ discussion points (45%), and a final exam (25%). She does test corrections on each of the three-semester tests which allows you to gain up to 50% of the points you missed back. She build in that you will miss points on homework and discussions so that 45% should be a 100%. Then if you can manage to be around the 70% range before test corrections you will end with an 85% avg on the three tests. Then comes the daunting final (which if you prepare is really not as bad as people make it out to be. Because it normally is hard though expect to do around how you did on the third test before test corrections (in all the final normally seems to bring people down from an A -> A- , B -> B- etc.) My highschool chemistry was not great, but with hard work and Frantz's great teaching (and want for her students to succeed) I pulled off an A-. Therefore, it is definitely doable if you are willing to put in the effort. No matter what, organic chemistry is just a hard class. #tCF2020

#tCF2020
I thought the class was okay until the final where everyone’s grade blew up in their face. She offered test corrections for the first three exams, but the final will drop your grade a couple of letters. Take with caution

HARD. WORK. PAYS. OFF.
Do not procrasinate! This class is great if you understand the material and enjoy chemistry! Professor Frantz cares about your understanding beyond the textbook, make sure to go to her or TAS office hours! The exams reflect concepts on the discussions and Klein. Do not think you are not capable of suceeding based on horror stories of ORGO in general. You can do it. Just practice and MARK what you get wrong in practice problems, it will help you so much. I got an A both semesters and will gladly give tips to anyone who asks me because I really think this class is based one engagement and effort and I think anyone can suceed, regardless if you took Chem in highschool or at UVA.
#tCF2020