CHEM 110A
Physical Chemistry: Chemical Thermodynamics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; tutorial, one hour. Requisites: course 20B, Mathematics 32A or 3C (for life sciences majors), Physics 1A, 1B, and 1C (may be taken concurrently), or 1AH, 1BH, and 1CH (may be taken concurrently), or 5A, 5B, and 5C (may be taken concurrently), or 6A, 6B, and 6C (may be taken concurrently). Fundamentals of thermodynamics, chemical and phase equilibria, thermodynamics of solutions, electrochemistry. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - Professor Bruinsma's sense of humor is incompatible. It is natural. He doesnt even try to be funny but he will make you laugh during every single lecture. Beside, he cares about his students. He takes the time to explain something that might not be clear or difficult to understand. His tests are reasonable as long as you pay attention in lectures and understand the homework. I had amazing TA when I took this class the Winter quarter so that was one of the reason why I was able to do well.
Winter 2017 - Professor Bruinsma's sense of humor is incompatible. It is natural. He doesnt even try to be funny but he will make you laugh during every single lecture. Beside, he cares about his students. He takes the time to explain something that might not be clear or difficult to understand. His tests are reasonable as long as you pay attention in lectures and understand the homework. I had amazing TA when I took this class the Winter quarter so that was one of the reason why I was able to do well.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I took this class online during Covid. It is solely based on one midterm (35%) and one final (65%), which is ridiculous. The notes he provides are very sloppy and handwritten in cursive. He has things scribbled out and arrows pointing to where things should be written. He just reads off his lecture notes but he jumps around when talking so it's hard to figure out what he's saying. He assigns about 20-35 HW problems per chapter but they are not graded and are not too helpful when it comes to preparing for the test. His tests are ridiculously hard and nothing like the HW problems. His office hours aren't of much help as he just explains everything the same way he does in the recorded lectures. Class averages on tests are around 50-60% and he seems to be proud of that as all he does is brag about that and tell us that we need to be prepared because the tests are "hard."
Winter 2021 - I took this class online during Covid. It is solely based on one midterm (35%) and one final (65%), which is ridiculous. The notes he provides are very sloppy and handwritten in cursive. He has things scribbled out and arrows pointing to where things should be written. He just reads off his lecture notes but he jumps around when talking so it's hard to figure out what he's saying. He assigns about 20-35 HW problems per chapter but they are not graded and are not too helpful when it comes to preparing for the test. His tests are ridiculously hard and nothing like the HW problems. His office hours aren't of much help as he just explains everything the same way he does in the recorded lectures. Class averages on tests are around 50-60% and he seems to be proud of that as all he does is brag about that and tell us that we need to be prepared because the tests are "hard."
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Homework was a lot, but the tests were much easier than homework problems and extra credit was offered on both the midterm and final (I think like 5% of the test grade available). I was nervous about this class from his other reviews on here but he explains everything well and clearly outlines what is what's important to know. only thing that frustrated me about this class was the textbook, it had multiple errors and used weird notation that was often unexplained but was necessary because it was the source of the homework problems.
Fall 2021 - Homework was a lot, but the tests were much easier than homework problems and extra credit was offered on both the midterm and final (I think like 5% of the test grade available). I was nervous about this class from his other reviews on here but he explains everything well and clearly outlines what is what's important to know. only thing that frustrated me about this class was the textbook, it had multiple errors and used weird notation that was often unexplained but was necessary because it was the source of the homework problems.
Most Helpful Review
There's a reader for this class. GET IT if you're taking this class with him. It's pretty helpful. The material for this class is very challenging. I think that's why a lot of people complain about him not being clear about thing during lecture. To do well in this class, you need to do more than attend lectures and doing the homework. Office hour is almost a must to do well. I learned a lot of interesting thing in this class and I really enjoyed it although I ended up with a B+ in the class. For the midterm, he gives you almost all the time there is in the world... well 3+ hrs. His final was a big challenging. But he's pretty fair at curving the class and such. Overall, this course was great, and I think Dr.Neuhauser does his best at teaching the subject. I would recommend taking the course with him.
There's a reader for this class. GET IT if you're taking this class with him. It's pretty helpful. The material for this class is very challenging. I think that's why a lot of people complain about him not being clear about thing during lecture. To do well in this class, you need to do more than attend lectures and doing the homework. Office hour is almost a must to do well. I learned a lot of interesting thing in this class and I really enjoyed it although I ended up with a B+ in the class. For the midterm, he gives you almost all the time there is in the world... well 3+ hrs. His final was a big challenging. But he's pretty fair at curving the class and such. Overall, this course was great, and I think Dr.Neuhauser does his best at teaching the subject. I would recommend taking the course with him.
Most Helpful Review
I thought PChem was going to be horrible but it really didn't turn out to be so bad. Schwartz really likes derivations so you wouldn't see too many plug and chug kind of problems on his exams. Be sure to go back to the most fundamental definitions when you solve his problems. You'll get the problems at least half right if you solve them this way. When I had 110A, the TA was Pep. Pep was so helpful. He gave out extra practice problems before the exams that really sum up what you should study. I go to the exams just doing these problems and I did fine (because the homework sucks). Also, be sure to look over Schwartz's old exams. He doesn't exactly recycle the questions but they are similar enough, if you know what I mean. He's taught 110A a lot of times so there should be quite a few exams floating around. Key to doing well in Schwartz's PChem class: practice, practice, pratice!
I thought PChem was going to be horrible but it really didn't turn out to be so bad. Schwartz really likes derivations so you wouldn't see too many plug and chug kind of problems on his exams. Be sure to go back to the most fundamental definitions when you solve his problems. You'll get the problems at least half right if you solve them this way. When I had 110A, the TA was Pep. Pep was so helpful. He gave out extra practice problems before the exams that really sum up what you should study. I go to the exams just doing these problems and I did fine (because the homework sucks). Also, be sure to look over Schwartz's old exams. He doesn't exactly recycle the questions but they are similar enough, if you know what I mean. He's taught 110A a lot of times so there should be quite a few exams floating around. Key to doing well in Schwartz's PChem class: practice, practice, pratice!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Yoffe is an intelligent researcher with a passion for thermodynamics HOWEVER, he is by far the worst professor I have ever had. Due to Yoffe's intelligence, he goes on explaining concepts in poor detail and does not talk about the assumptions he makes. I will be fair, the first three weeks of this class that had partial derivatives was an absolute nightmare, but by around week five, his lectures became significantly better so hats off to him for that. Regardless, even after his improvements, he continued to teach material poorly. What bothers me about Yoffe the most is not his teaching ability but rather his attitude. During office hours and even lecture he would make rude, sarcastic, arrogant comments when students asked questions and did not handle himself professionally. His office hours are okay but it's hard to show up when your intelligence as an upper division biochemistry student and the best public university in the world is constantly being ridiculed. His TA Chen was terrible and would mutter as he wrote equations on the board. Even after getting terrible TA reviews last quarter, Yoffe continued to let him teach. The other TA KJ was amazing. Although even she was sometimes confused, she was clear about the knowledge she could provide you. Outside of little things like Yoffe constantly showing up late to class and erasing the chalkboard before you could even write everything down, his exams were poor. He emailed us that Jule Thompson Expansion wouldn't be on the midterm when there were then conceptual questions about it. During week 2 I wrote in my notes because he explicitly stated only Pressure Volume work would be tested but on the final, he brings out tension work out of nowhere. Yoffe's curriculum is also lackluster. Although he has taught this class before and at community college, the homework questions often do not provide you with all the information you need, they are often irrelevant and do not prepare you for the exams, and you are not prepared to answer them with what you have learned in lecture. People who get the best grades on the homework are those who have Chegg accounts or money to buy online homework services, not kids who start the homework early. Yoffe lectures based off of another professor's notes, tells us to read the textbook and the other professor's notes. Between three different sources of information and a variety of handouts and emails that Yoffe constantly sends (I've received more than a 100 emails from this buffoon this quarter), it is hard to understand what you need to know for the exam and what is trivial. Yoffe also doesn't even seem to take his own final seriously because his phone went off multiple times in the middle of the exam. Yoffe is a physical chemistry genius and has a true passion for thermodynamics, but he has no business teaching students due to his poor curriculum, attitude, and inability to handle things logistically. 110A is a tough class, especially for people who will never use it again in their lives, but having a professor who can teach, can make this class which some consider the hardest one in the biochem major, much more tolerable.
Winter 2019 - Yoffe is an intelligent researcher with a passion for thermodynamics HOWEVER, he is by far the worst professor I have ever had. Due to Yoffe's intelligence, he goes on explaining concepts in poor detail and does not talk about the assumptions he makes. I will be fair, the first three weeks of this class that had partial derivatives was an absolute nightmare, but by around week five, his lectures became significantly better so hats off to him for that. Regardless, even after his improvements, he continued to teach material poorly. What bothers me about Yoffe the most is not his teaching ability but rather his attitude. During office hours and even lecture he would make rude, sarcastic, arrogant comments when students asked questions and did not handle himself professionally. His office hours are okay but it's hard to show up when your intelligence as an upper division biochemistry student and the best public university in the world is constantly being ridiculed. His TA Chen was terrible and would mutter as he wrote equations on the board. Even after getting terrible TA reviews last quarter, Yoffe continued to let him teach. The other TA KJ was amazing. Although even she was sometimes confused, she was clear about the knowledge she could provide you. Outside of little things like Yoffe constantly showing up late to class and erasing the chalkboard before you could even write everything down, his exams were poor. He emailed us that Jule Thompson Expansion wouldn't be on the midterm when there were then conceptual questions about it. During week 2 I wrote in my notes because he explicitly stated only Pressure Volume work would be tested but on the final, he brings out tension work out of nowhere. Yoffe's curriculum is also lackluster. Although he has taught this class before and at community college, the homework questions often do not provide you with all the information you need, they are often irrelevant and do not prepare you for the exams, and you are not prepared to answer them with what you have learned in lecture. People who get the best grades on the homework are those who have Chegg accounts or money to buy online homework services, not kids who start the homework early. Yoffe lectures based off of another professor's notes, tells us to read the textbook and the other professor's notes. Between three different sources of information and a variety of handouts and emails that Yoffe constantly sends (I've received more than a 100 emails from this buffoon this quarter), it is hard to understand what you need to know for the exam and what is trivial. Yoffe also doesn't even seem to take his own final seriously because his phone went off multiple times in the middle of the exam. Yoffe is a physical chemistry genius and has a true passion for thermodynamics, but he has no business teaching students due to his poor curriculum, attitude, and inability to handle things logistically. 110A is a tough class, especially for people who will never use it again in their lives, but having a professor who can teach, can make this class which some consider the hardest one in the biochem major, much more tolerable.
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