CHEM 1620

Metcalf goes hard in the paint. He reps chacos and zip off pants. He's the man.

Metcalf's a pretty good lecturer. The only problem with this class (at least how it was in Spring 2014) is that the other professor, Leung, writes all of the tests and quizzes so there's sometimes a disparity between what Metcalf teachers and what Leung tests. Overall a good class.

Chemistry is tough. There's no getting around that. The second semester is more difficult than the first, so especially for the engineers who only need the first semester, stick to having just that one semester unless you are passionate about chemistry or are a chemistry genius. Although chemistry was not my favorite subject, I decided to take the second semester just for the options it would open up for me major-wise. Bad decision. It killed my gpa and was overall, not worth it for me. Metcalf, as you probably already know, is a bit more fun to have as a teacher than Leung and there is no significant difference in the grades of their respective classes.

I wouldn't recommend that anyone take this class unless it is a requirement. It's honestly awful. The tests are far more difficult than is necessary for an intro level class. Metcalf, while the lesser of two evils between him and Leung, isn't a great professor by any means. Don't expect to ever get an email back from him if you try to contact him and if you try visiting his office, chances are he won't be there. Avoid this class at all costs.

The class is the same difficultly no matter who you take it with (Metcalf or Leung), but I didn't learn that much from lecture with Metcalf. Most of my learning was done outside of class by reading the textbook and doing Aleks (which is actually helpful to do well on the quizzes even though it's pretty time-consuming). I think you will probably learn more with Leung, but as long as you understand what's in the textbook and can do the practice problems, you will be fine.

Metcalf was not the guy to take it with. He was a very boring lecturer, and did not cover the material well. I ended up going to Leung's lectures halfway through the semester because his were much better. Leung writes the tests, so I recommend taking it with him. Read the textbook and make all of your ALEKS deadlines and you'll be fine. If you know how to do each problem on practice tests you should be fine for the real test.