CHEM 2410

I took Professor Stains' class after reading reviews on here about how amazing he was. Unfortunately, I had a much different experience. If his teaching style works for you, then it is great, but if you can't learn by just watching him do problems, you won't be able to succeed. There were also homework assignments every week with at least 50 (very time-consuming) questions, but at the end of the semester, he scaled it all down to only be worth 70 points total. Many students report having good interactions with him, but I found he was not very accommodating. I had a few personal problems throughout the semester, which I kept him updated about, and while all my other professors were willing to work with me, he was not at all flexible and had a very "matter-of-fact" attitude that I either keep up with the work and get high marks on the exams or fail the class, and at the end of the day he would not be willing to help me at all.

Dr. Stains is the kindest and most fantastic professor I’ve met at this institution. I’m a transfer student, and at the beginning of the semester, I had a very weak background in chemistry. I couldn’t understand anything and honestly hated chemistry so much that I was ready to drop the class. I spoke to Dr. Stains about it, and he convinced me to stick with Organic Chemistry. He explained that taking Orgo 1 during the summer wasn’t a good idea because of how heavy the material is, so I decided to stay and work as hard as I could.

For the first exam, I scored an 84. That might not sound like much, but it felt like an accomplishment for someone who didn’t know anything about chemistry. I thought I was doing well until Quiz 2, where I scored 7 out of 20. That was a turning point, and I realized I needed to improve my efforts. I studied harder than ever for the second exam, which paid off—I scored a 94, which was incredible.

Unfortunately, I got very sick and had to be hospitalized for nearly a week. That illness changed everything for me academically, and I wasn’t able to recover my momentum. On Exam 3, which I found to be the hardest, I scored a 48. Luckily, Dr. Stains allows you to drop one of the three midterms, which really helped. I worked hard for the final, but between my illness and not being able to study enough, I didn’t do as well as I wanted and ended up with a B. That disappointed me because I had worked so hard, but looking back, I’m still proud of how far I came.

Dr. Stains’ grading system includes:

In-Class Questions: 50 points (which is easy to get)
Homework: 70 points
Discussion Quizzes: 80 points
Midterms (3 x 100 points, with the lowest dropped): 200 points
Comprehensive Final: 200 points

The final exam is crucial and can heavily impact your grade, as it did for me—it was the difference between an A and a B. If you want to succeed in his class, my advice is simple: go to every lecture, visit the TAs’ office hours as much as possible, and definitely attend Dr. Stains’ office hours—they’re incredibly helpful. Dr. Stains’ teaching and support changed my whole perspective on chemistry, and I’m so glad I didn’t drop the class.

Organic Chemistry is a hard subject but thankfully UVA has the amazing Dr. Stains. I was terrified coming into this class because of the reputation organic chemistry has so I started reading Organic Chemistry as a second language by David Klein over the summer which I highly recommend to get a surface level understanding of the subject. Nonetheless, I got humbled. The first exam was fairly easy and was pretty much a review of gen chem topics. I was able to achieve around a 90 by just doing the practice test and the online practice questions so I thought to myself man orgo is easy. Then the next exam I did the same with a little bit more studying and got around an 80 so I was like okay not bad but I should probably study a lot more for the next exam because I wan't some wiggle room going into the final since we get to drop our lowest test grade. The third exam rolls around which I studied for about 20 hours for with the hopes of getting at least a 90 on and I got a 60.... I wan't to be clear when I say this, this grade had NOTHING to do with how Dr. Stains teaches. He is an amazing professor and makes organic chemistry easy to understand which is what a good professor does. His tests are more than fair, very similar to the practice tests, and he does not test you on things that he does not teach you. The fact is, orgo is hard and if you think this is a class where you can just study a couple hours before the test, you won't get a good grade because you really need to deeply understand the subject. Objectively the final exam was the hardest test but I studied more for this test than I have for any test in my life. I'm talking not leaving my apartment for 5 days straight to the point where I could solve pretty much every practice question in my head. I was watching organic chemistry tutor final exam review videos on youtube 1.5x speed and was trying to get to the answer before him lol. On the final I was able to get around an 88 which BARELY got me an A-/90 in the class by like one question. I'm writing this review to let the reader know 3 things. One is take Dr. Stains he is the best professor I have ever had and literally everyone loves him for a reason. The second is don't make the same mistakes I did. He will tell you that you need to be spending a lot of time practicing outside of class and he is not joking. It will be easy to brush this off because he is such a good lecturer but you don't want to end up in the situation like I did where you find out what you should've spent more time practicing on during the exam lol. The third is for anyone reading this who just took the class with me. If you got a got an undesirable grade in this class, keep your head up high we all struggled at some point in this class you are not alone, you will still achieve your dreams.

Orgo is hard. I'm not going to lie to you. It is a hard class and requires a lot of time and effort outside of class to understand the material and be successful for exams. Professor Stains is pretty awesome and I really liked his teaching. He was never annoyed about answering questions in class and while I did not go to his office hours, I heard that he was very helpful during them. He made a conscious effort to teach us and make sure we understood. He was also very encouraging throughout the semester and made sure to remind us that our grades would not define us. He's a lovely person and I am thankful to have had him. The TAs are also pretty knowledgeable and helpful in my opinion. The only thing I did not like about Stains' class was that his grading scale is 66% exams including 2 midterms and the final. There are 3 midterms total and your lowest gets dropped. He also gives extra credit. I did decently well on the two midterm scores that I counted and got a B on the final, which is really good for an orgo class in my opinion. But, because it was worth so much, I didn't do as well as I hoped in the class despite doing decently on the midterm scores that counted. I really hope he changes this for the future. Obviously, a B in the class is not bad; in fact, most people get B's. However, if his grading scale were different, getting an A would be entirely possible and also extremely likely. Besides that, if you read the textbook and dedicated time outside of class to studying, you will be fine. Orgo is a weed out class, but you will be okay if you are dedicated. You don't have to be smart, you just have to work hard.

#tCFF23

Dr. Stains is one of the nicest professors at UVA, rivalled only by his lovely wife, Dr. Stains. I went into organic chemistry thinking I was gonna have to take the L but he almost made this class enjoyable. He's very enthusiastic about teaching, all the time. So he's more than happy to answer stupid questions, repeatedly if necessary. I will say that we had concerns about learning different material from the other sections, but I believe Dr. Stains just switched up our order a bit. We got one dropped exam, guaranteed 100% on the homework since you got like 10 tries per question, and an extra grade boost from PollEverywhere. The discussion section is kind of a waste of time so I didn't stay the full two hours most weeks. Since I haven't taken the second semester yet, I can't speak on how well this class prepared me for that. However, I can say that Dr. Stains is THE GOAT. Wonderful man. Absolute delight to have.

Professor Stains is one of the kindest people I have met. He genuinely cares about his students and emphasizes learning conceptually. If you want to succeed in orgo 1, take Stains. I am not a fan of chemistry but he made me genuinely like this class. I ended up finishing with a B-, but I felt incredibly proud of myself after completing each assignment.

The readings are helpful sometimes, but not necessary in my opinion. Most of the figures in the textbook you need to memorize but my best advice is to use flashcards for this class and GO TO OFFICE HOURS.

This is a hard class, but Stains makes it easier and doesn't treat the students as less than.

Great professor. If you are going to take Orgo I, take it with Stains. He genuinely cares about his students, and will learn your name if you raise your hand a couple times. Also, the TAs that work with him are all super helpful. They will do what they can to make sure you succeed. It also helps that he is a naturally interesting and talented lecturer. He also cancels classes on days before holidays when he knows many students won't bother coming.

Now, this is still Organic Chemistry, meaning it is going to take quite a bit of work relative to other classes. I studied about 90-120 minutes 5-6 days a week, and managed to get an A. I filled a good bit of this time by doing the practice problems he gives -- he gives a lot of practice problems. With that though, a lot of these practice problems aren't for a grade, so there is not pressure to do them. However, you really should be doing them. Once you're done with his practice problems, go online and find other supplemental videos (such as JoeChem and Leah4Sci). A week or so before the test, start ramping up your efforts a bit, and do the practice tests he gives -- they are really reflective of the actual test.

Lastly, his grading system is harsh in some ways but really good in other ways. For instance, the TAs will nitpick really small mistakes on the tests and quizzes. This will cause you to lose some points. However, he does drop one of the three midterms. And for reference, I only got an A on the first midterms -- I got a B and C on the other two, but I still managed to finish with an A. Long story short, if you put the time in, you can get a good grade, and you don't have to get As on every exam or quiz to get a good grade.

This is the best Orgo I prof.

If you are going to take Orgo I, Stains is your best option, by far. He clearly defines how to succeed and provides you with everything you need to do well. While you still have to put in the work and effort, his exams are fair, and TAs and discussion sections are the most helpful things ever. Stains will genuinely look out for his students, he is your best chance if you want to enjoy chemistry.