CHEM 1420

I enjoyed Lisa more than Welch, but this course does not have group exams. I think that I better understood Chem 2 because I took it with Lisa rather than Welch. I ended with an A- in both CHEM 1 (with Welch) and this course. I came in with zero chemistry knowledge, so it is completely doable. This class is more lecture structured than Welch which I appreciated. Also, mastering chemistry was easier to work with than Top Hat. It tells you when you got an answer right as soon as you submit it, unlike TopHat (welch's software) where you receive the answers at the end of the week.

Like a few have said, Morkowchuk gets a lot of undeserved flack. I thought she was a quality professor. She goes pretty in depth when speaking in lectures and cares about your grade. The number thing you need to do to succeed in this class is to simply do the work (ON TIME). I made this mistake and I ended up with a lower grade than expected. Really, if you go to office hours and do all the work and mini-quizzes, you should be fine.

This course was exactly the same as CHEM 1410 but with different information. I enjoyed this course more than 1410, though, because the information was more interesting to me. The TopHat readings were annoying, and the lecture videos were much more helpful for our learning (as always). Expo was fine, and it really helps to have a good group of people to work with. The exams were the same format as those in 1410 too. Take this if you need it as a prerequisite or a gen ed, but if you don't need it, don't take it.
#tCFspring2021

After taking this course with both Kevin and Lisa, I can honestly say that I think she is overall a better teacher of the material. I agree that Welch is often more friendly and entertaining during lectures, but Lisa dives deeper into the material. One thing I find really helpful is that she goes over examples in lectures and reviews challenging topics. This is definitely not an easy class, as with any chem class, but it is doable if you try your best with the TopHat problems and don't lose silly points. No matter what professor you take this class with, this course involves a lot of self-teaching, so be prepared to spend 3-4 hours a week learning new chemistry material. Use the expo portion to your advantage and ask TAs an annoying amount of questions to help you out. Overall, you just have to take this course for what it is and do your best!

Chem 1420 was a lot harder than chem 1410. In 1420, the chapters you read before hand don't really make sense, and even sometimes the lectures don't clear up the confusion. The tests also get a lot harder, especially part 2 so be prepared. I recommend taking the class with Lisa because I found that she made the lectures enjoyable. There are sometimes when she just does textbook problems the entire lecture, and it just makes you wonder why she would assign these graded questions before class when she's just gonna spend all lecture doing them because everyone got them wrong. My main advice I have for you during the textbook chapters is always write down units because for some reason the textbook chapters love to make you convert units like 5 times. #tCFspring2022

I took the first semester of chem with Welch, and the second with Morkowchuk, and thought both were good. Personally, I found the second semester concepts to be more difficult than 1410. I didn't study much in 1410 and did well, but struggled a bit in 1420 and had to study more. 1420 is the same structure as 1410, with tophat assignments, group exams, and expos.

I took Chem 1 with Welch and Chem 2 with Morkowchuk. I personally enjoyed the class better with Morkowchuk. They're both great professors, but I found her lectures to be much more helpful and engaging. If you take good enough notes on the readings/lectures, you don't really have to study for the exams bc they're open notes. I recommend taking a later expo section, so you have more time to complete assignments. If your expo group sucks, you're gonna have a hard time. Luckily, after each exam, you complete a survey on your group, and she gives you the option to switch groups. This isn't the easiest class in the world, but, if you put in effort, it's really not that hard.

To start off, please do not listen to the older reviews saying she grades things based on mastery etc. That is ONLY for the lab (1411/1421) now. Apparently she used to do that with her lecture work too, but she no longer does anymore. In fact, every single chemistry teacher (for general chemistry) has the same layout. Each teacher uses TopHat where you will access the chapter readings/content for the lecture part and the workshop part as well. So same setup as 1410 if you took that in the fall. I will definitely say chem 1420 is more challenging than 1410. 1420 is more math heavy, which isn't fun (in my opinion). On the contrary, you will always hear everyone say "take it with Welch!", but I do not think he is what everyone hypes him up to be. I had him for 1410 and I stopped attending his lectures halfway through the semester as they became unuseful. He mostly just goes on tangents and doesn't really go over the topics in the chapter. It's so scattered and overall not great. On the other hand, Lisa will take notes with you through out lecture as she feels it's best to take notes with her students rather than her students rushing to get everything down, go over any problems that WERE IN THE CHAPTER READING, and have "Big Ideas," which is what is considered the main focus of specific topics. She even posts all the slides and notes afterwards. Welch did none of that. Overall, I liked how Lisa lectured more than Welch and I would recommend her for 1420 since there are only two professors who teach it anyways! Hope this helps.