CHEM 2810

This course was an abysmal experience. There is a lot more content in Orgo 2, but Dr. Serbulea's teaching made it so much more difficult, stressful, and frustrating than it needed to be. To begin with, her lectures are very off-pace: most days she spent an hour of lecture discussing some random introductory concept before jamming all of the actually important material into the last fifteen minutes. She would often end up spending the first hour of the discussion lecturing to catch up on relevant material. Moreover, we frequently had homework assignments completely unrelated to lecture content OR homework assignments based on content several chapters in advance of what we were learning. Dr. Serbulea's lectures were largely unhelpful, and my peers and I found ourselves having to learn the bulk of the material on our own. Additionally, the exams would sometimes contain material/reactions that she didn't even lecture on; this material was often hidden in the middle of the discussion problem set or mentioned once in the textbook.

The course structure is the exact same as CHEM 1820, but the exams and homework assignments are significantly more frustrating. Every exam contains a spectroscopy question worth 20/100 of the total points. If you do not get the molecule or key functional identifications correct, you instantly lose at least 10 points on your exam score. Taking this class alongside lab has been very stressful, and I don't recommend combining them unless you're a die-hard chemistry major. Much of the organic chemistry 2 content she focuses on is far beyond the scope of what's necessary for the MCAT.

Professor Serbulea is very knowledgeable and a great teacher during class. The exams this semester were harder in my experience, though; Median grades in Orgo 1 were around 90 while median grades in Orgo 2 were around 75. The final exam median grade was better at 85, but still lower than the final exam median grade in Orgo 1 which was 92. One thing I noticed that may be one reason is that often there will be material you are tested on that Prof will simply forget to let you know about/doesn't teach you in depth. You'll often find this out at TA review sessions (so it's very recommended you go, or talk to someone who did!) but these sessions are only a few days before the exam, so it may require you to do a lot of crammed self-study that you might not have time to do if it's during a busy week. So, my best advice is to prepare for the exams well in advance!! Start studying as soon as possible, two weeks prior ideally, anticipating the possibility that you may have to prepare more than you thought closer to the exam whether that is in self-learning material or just understanding problems from the discussions that were completely foreign to you. Where Prof falls short, the textbook will be your best help! Exams are similar to Orgo 1 where they are free response questions that require you to predict products/reagents/mechanisms and rank compounds based on properties. In that sense, you can learn everything from an outside source as long as you know how to complete the problem. In the end you will learn a lot however you learn it, haha. Do your best and good luck! #tCFF23

You will have a love and hate relationship with this class, but mainly love.

The class is broken up by:
-Clickers
The class clicker questions are a guaranteed 100%, super easy and straightforward. However, the dicussion clicker questions got harder this semester and a lot of days I got a 50-75% on them. Discussions this semester were quite stressful as the content was harder.

-Homework, Pre-Lecture Quizzes, etc.
These were on mastering chem, and should a be a grade booster. You have one for every class and also a homework due every Sunday.

-Midterms
You get a drop for one of your midterms. Serbs also offer us +10% extra credit for our lowest midterm if we attended a game called Orgo! Pretty sweet deal. You also on every exam have the opportunity to get +6 points extra credit at the end. With that being said, you can totally bomb 1-2 midterms and still get an A.

-Final
Same deal, you have +6 points extra credit (if you get the questions right). Was truly comprehensive and only one page was dedicated to the last topic (amino acids). So it was pretty chill.

Overall, this class is a lot harder than Orgo 1 because there is a lot of content. Thus, there is more textbook readings, etc. It is nice because Serbs exam format is always the same. And studying the textbook is highly recommended! It can be frustrating because you have to know everything in lecture AND the textbook — and it’s never clear what mechanisms you need to know and what not to know (since there’s so many). But my advice, would to be to focus on the mechanisms she actually goes over in class and not random mechanisms in the textbook that y’all didn’t even discuss. Serbs is such a great professor and she had high expectations for us. You can tell she truly cares about each and every one of us, and wants us all to succeed. She is a no b*llshit woman, and won’t waste time in class — she’ll take the entire time and lecture till the very last second (sometimes taking her lectures to discussion.) I’m sad this chapter is ending, and pray that she would teach biochem as well, but happy for the next bunch that get her.

ALSO SHOUTOUT TO THE AMAZING 800S SERIES TAs. WE LOVE YALL SO MUCH!! (Seriously they’re great!)

A lot more work than in 1820 but dare i say more enjoyable. Serbulea truly is a fantastic and caring professor, and I appreciated that a lot more this semester. I am very glad I took this class as opposed to the 400s series and would absolutely recommend to anyone interested in chemistry.

#tCFfall22

This class is pretty difficult, but rewarding. Serbulea is a tough professor, but she really cares about the material she teaches and is a good lecturer. You definitely learn a lot from her, although she can seem unapproachable at times. It is a lot of work, and requires that you spend a good amount of your time on this class. If you've already taken the previous courses in the 1800 series and did well, you might as well continue with this class as it is more of the same stuff.

#tCF2020

This is a hard class, but it's also super fun and really rewarding. Professor Serbulea is really passionate about chemistry and teaching in general and she really wants all of her students to do well and succeed. Unfortunately, she tends to take up time explaining things that have already been explained or going over a practice problem step by step, which is sometimes useful or sometimes frustrating depending on the topic of that particular lecture. She encourages students to ask questions but occasionally misunderstands the question so just make sure you are clear and rephrase if necessary. In terms of grading, this class is awesome because so much of your grade is from homework on Mastering Chemistry, Chemistry Class Advantage, or through lecture and discussion Clickers. As long as you attend each lecture (and discussion) and do all the homework on time you should be fine for a decent grade. There is a lot of reading in the textbook and it can seem like too much but I would advise doing it before the lectures if you can, they definitely help you understand what the lecture is on and can also help get the Clicker questions correct. If you don't have time to read the full chapter, at least go over the reaction mechanisms and conditions, that's how I studied for the exams. The exams are mostly reaction mechanisms, outcomes, and synthesis, so those are definitely the most important things to study from the book if you can't read it all. The exams also included spectra (IR, NMR, GCMS), but you get a lot of practice with those if you enroll in 2811 lab.

Long story short, this is a hard class but definitely worth the effort if you enjoy chemistry

TL;DR Serbulea is a challenging but great professor, the class is tough, but if you are interested in chemistry and put in the work, specifically, keep up to date with assignments and new information learned, you'll do well.

Okay here's the long version: Professor Serbulea is a very challenging professor, but she cares about the success of students (learns everyone's name in the class, encourages you to come to office hours, gave us snacks after lab during COVID). At first, I was a little apprehensive because I felt that her lectures were just a repeat of the textbook readings, and although they occasionally can be a bit dry, I came to appreciate that there was valuable information in them (they're mandatory anyways -- iClicker quizzes are 10% of your grade, but you get like 85% for just participating). She is scarily smart; obviously, all professors are smart but she just feels on a different plane of existence. You will spend a ton of time studying for this class, but all of it likely will be productive and I never felt that I was really doing any sort of busy work for this class. I surprised myself after two semesters how much new information I had managed to learn over such a short period of time. The TAs for my two semesters were fantastic; really knowledgeable and helpful in office hours, as well as great mentors if you're interested in a chemistry major. The exams are often a bit of a time crunch, so make sure you know your mechanisms and reagents for synthesis, but the format is the same so once you've taken one you'll kind of have it down pat. My score improved dramatically after the first exam. I didn't really realize how important the textbook was in this class (because her lecture usually covers every assigned reading), but I would really recommend reading before each lecture and reviewing all the sections prior to the exam as you are studying because I'd sometimes forget about a reaction. There are two/three midterms and a final, worth 12 and 24 percent of your grade respectively, and the other 52% of your grade is comprised of Mastering Chemistry homework, iClicker quizzes, Chemistry Class Advantage lessons, and a handful of other small assignments, and if you attend lecture you generally will be able to get a high A in that 52% of the class so don't worry if you mess up one (or even two) of the midterms -- that will frequently balance it out. Additionally, the grading, exams, and any other assignment for a grade is extremely fair in this class. I never had any questions or concerns about the grading scheme.

The course is very challenging and sometimes it is unreasonable for Serbs to expect her student to finish all of the exams, clickers, or discussion clickers in the amount of time given just because there is so much information. Also she teaches things on Thursday morning that will be on the exam Thursday afternoon, which isnt very fair given some students' schedules. BUT in terms of the effectiveness of the profesor, I believe that Professor Serbulea was one of the BEST professors I have had the pleasure of having at this university. In terms of knowledge, willingness to help her students, and overall enthusiasm for the subject, she is definitely very high up. In one sentence, I would summarize this class as "just as valuable as it is difficult"; it's a lot of work, but you do get what you put into it usually.