Professor

Albert Courey

AD
3.9
Overall Ratings
Based on 73 Users
Easiness 2.7 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 2.7 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.1 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.3 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (73)

1 of 7
1 of 7
Add your review...
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 19, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: N/A

Love the man, but what was that final.

Helpful?

10 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 24, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A-

*please keep in mind that the people writing these reviews are probably upset about the final*

Grade Breakdown:
Surveys (built in extra credit as long as you do them): 1%
Learning Catalytics (clicker questions used for participation during lecture): 5%
Weekly Mastering Chemistry HW: 5%
PTLs (pre-lecture mini quizzes): 10%
POGILs (weekly discussion worksheet; graded based on completion): 10%
CMCs (actual quizzes; we had three this quarter): 12%
PRWAs (peer-review writing assignments; there were three): 15%
Midterms (there were two; each one is worth 10% with 8% coming from your own performance and 2% coming from a group submission): 20%
Final: 23%

I took this class after taking 14AE with Dr. Casey. I do not have the most extensive chem background (no AP chem), so that's why I chose the enhanced series. I also heard good things about Dr. Courey.

I'll start off by saying that Dr. Courey is a really nice professor. He gave extensions to the whole class when he saw that many of us hadn't turned in one of the PRWAs on the night before it was originally due. He is very approachable and can easily break down concepts for students to better understand. His TAs are also very approachable and helpful. The teaching staff is fair overall.

This class is pretty assignment heavy. It will help solidify the concepts, don't get me wrong. But it is also a lot of time and effort. Take this class if you want to really understand the concepts. Don't take it if you are expecting it to take less time or effort. I think the main difference between 14BE and 14B are that BE has more structured time built into the class for you to practice and solidify material. But if you would rather do it all on your own, don't take this class.

With that being said, the grading in this class is generous in terms of the weight of each assignment. Dr. Courey listens and pays attention to his students. He gave extensions. The final was ridiculously long, so he curved it. That curve was appreciated, but didn't help that much (I went from a 60.8% to a 69% on the final... for reference, my midterm average was an 88.5% without the group portion, so I was pretty upset with the setup of the final). However, he redid the grading scale at the end of the quarter so that there was a wider range of percentages for people to earn an A, A-, etc.

Helpful?

5 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 25, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

The grade breakdown:
Participation: 5%
Homework: 5%
Discussion Worksheets: 10%
Pre-Lecture Quizzes: 10%
Peer-Reviewed Writing Assignments: 15%
Quizzes: 12%
Midterm 1: 10%
Midterm 2: 10%
Final: 23%
EXTRA CREDIT: Surveys: 1%

As you can probably tell, there were a lot of different types of assignments, meaning this class was a bit heavy on workload. However, those took some pressure off of the midterms and the final, which I appreciated (so it just depends what you'd rather have more weight on).

Participation, homework, discussion worksheets, and pre-lecture quizzes were time consuming, but you should get 100% on all of them if you do them.

The writing assignments were often tedious, as you had to write short essays on different topics that would usually take 3-4 hours (at least for me). However, if you did put the time into them, the prompts were fairly straightforward and your average on the three assignments will probably end up being an A of some sort.

The 3 quizzes (worth 4% each) were on CCLE and were a little tricky. Being open-source (like all exams in this class) definitely helped though, as there were a lot of conceptual questions you'd be able to find on his slides. With enough preparation you could probably score very well on these as they weren't insanely hard though. After the second quiz, however, a lot of the class complained so he made a policy where he'd replace your quiz average with your final grade if that was beneficial to you, so that was pretty nice of him.

The midterms were definitely doable and I'm pretty sure the majority of the class did well on these. 80% of your midterm grades were based on your individual score and the remaining 20% would be based on your group midterm score (same exact exam, just done with your discussion group after the individual attempt).

As the other reviews have already said, the final was really long and difficult. It was not a fair exam at all especially considering the precedent he'd set (with both time and difficulty) on the midterms. I genuinely think this was an accident though; I don't think Courey meant this maliciously at all. Also, I think most of the difficulty stemmed from the exam length itself– the questions were all doable with enough time to think them through and check your work. I know his bruinwalk reviews are tanking because of this exam, but tbh I don't think he's going to administer a final this long again, because he definitely got a lot of backlash for it. He did curve the final by making it out of 88 instead of 100, and he also lowered the grade cutoffs for the class (A became 91, A- 88, B+ 83, B 78, B- 73, etc). Still, I'm not giving him any excuses for the final– it was unfair and even with the curve/cutoffs it tanked a lot of peoples' grades, which really shouldn't have happened in the first place if we were given a final similar to the midterms.

In summary I totally understand where all the negative reviews are coming from, because I was extremely scared for my grade after the final as well. However, Courey really is a kind professor and a great lecturer, so I personally would probably still recommend his class with caution (as I think that difficult final won't be a trend). If you want a more comprehensive understanding of chemistry/have less of a chemistry background like I did, I'd still say take this class over 14B. If you have a strong foundation already, maybe the lower workload of 14B would be more beneficial for you.

Helpful?

4 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 23, 2022
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: N/A

I'm honestly shocked by how overwhelmingly positive Courey's reviews are after experiencing this class firsthand. I honestly think most of these reviews are a bit biased seeing as Courey's past exams were online and grades were extremely curved in 2020-2021. As a first-generation student who did not take AP Chem, this class had me absolutely lost and it truly ruined my motivation to pursue biochemistry. I initially was very excited for the topics covered in CHEM 14BE, but the way Courey taught the lectures and responded to all of my questions passive-aggressively, completely burned out my passion. I ended up spending over 40 hours a week studying and completing homework for this dreadful class, just to receive an awful grade after failing the final because I was sick when I took it. (Taking an 8 am chemistry final directly after taking a 24-hour calculus final while having the flu is insanely brutal.) He also offered little to no accommodations when I explained to him that I was ill and immunocompromised with privileges given to me by CAE.

I can't believe that the stupid exam was worth 30% of our grade on top of midterms being 30% and quizzes being a staggering 9%. Especially since we spent so much time working on homework, just for these exams (with very little time to prepare for) to completely obliterate our grades. I think Courey is a great researcher, but I difficult professor that I do not recommend for people who don't have a very strong background in chemistry.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 24, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: B+

Professor Courey is pretty understanding and after the terrible and long final, he made accommodations to the grading of the class which was really nice. At first, he was going to divide the overall final score by 0.88 (which did not do much for those who did not score too high, like me lol) but then he also curved the class and made an A from 91-98, A- from 88-90.9, B+ from 83-97.9, and etc. This was really great to see, but before taking the final, I was at an A and then dropped all the way to 84% which sucked lol. The PRWAs are time-consuming and homework is also quite difficult and takes a while to complete as well.

Honestly, my major complaint would have to be the fact that the final included so much new material. He dedicated a whole FRQ with 6 parts on a topic that we barely covered in the last lecture which was super annoying. The midterms are fairly simple and not too hard to do well on if you study the class material. The CMCs can get tricky with confusing wording. He had LA workshops which were great for diving into the class content more deeply but were not that helpful for studying for the exams.

Be ready to pace yourself on the final exam because that was what honestly screwed everyone up.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 24, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A

WHAT CAN I SAY ABOUT MY MAN, ALBERT COUREY. ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE THERMODYNAMICS WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS ALBERT COUREY.
I had started with 14A with Lavelle and I remember wondering whether I should switch to Courey or stay with Lavelle for 14B. I strongly encourage taking 14B with Courey. He genuinely cares about teaching us everything from Thermodynamics to Chemical Equilibria. So the course is comprised of:
Midterm I 16%:
So Midterm 1 based on the scheduling will be the midterm that has the least amount of material being tested on so it will be the easiest of the Midterms and the Final.
Midterm II 16%:
Midterm II is covers more material, but for some reason I think this test was easier and everyone did better on than Midterm 1.
Final 32%: Because of the COVID19 crisis, we could opt-in/opt-out of the test and I opted out because I already had the grade I wanted but my friends also said this was a very fair test.
Worksheets 5%: Graded in completion, but I highly recommend studying the format of these as they are just like his tests. Usually, you will get your worksheet and be like "WTF I cannot do this" but that is the point so you work in your discussion section with your LAs and TA. After a while, you'll get the hang of the worksheets and be like "wait WTF am I like lowkey smart??"
Pre-class quizzes 16% : These quizzes had unlimited tries and were online but Courey encouraged us to not use so many tries and actually work on them by offering some extra credit if we completed the quiz in 1-2 tries. The quizzes are also very similar to the tests especially his "Challenge Quizzes" 10/10 recommend finding friends to work on them with because these definitely require group effort for like the Challenge Quizzes.
Participation 5%: Participation was the hardest thing in the class. We had these minute papers due after Fridays lectures and they would open at 2pm and close at 8pm. A lot of people would forget about them and lose these participation points. Then the next way to get participation points was the Cold Call Discussions. Basically you sign up and as long as you sign up you get participation points. The bad part is that signing up makes you available to be called on in class so if Courey has a question he can call your name from a list to answer. You do not have to be right or anything he just wants to have the lecture attentive. But it easily is the most stressful 50 minutes of your life but it will make you attentive in class I must admit.
i>clicker 10%: these iclickers are based on just doing them in class there really is not much about them.

**WARNING: Courey is different than Lavelle in the sense that Courey mainly tests on conceptual rather than calculations. His tests sometimes only used variables instead of chemical compounds so we would be forced to critically analyze the problems in front of us. But lowkey I never thought I was a conceptual person but Courey is such an amazing professor that I understood the concepts. But of course there are people who are better at calculations than conceptual so keep that in mind.

Just wanted to shout out Jason, my LA. Literally a god but i think he is graduating this year. And Jessica Soule, my TA was also pretty good.

IN SUMMARY: COUREY IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 26, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

Dr. Courey is a great prof who genuinely cares for his students and wants to see them succeed. I definitely learned a lot in this class and although the material was tough, especially since I hadn't taken AP chem, Dr. Courey provided plenty of resources (extra OHs, CLC worksheets, extra videos) for us to learn. I think Dr. Courey did a great job given this was his first time teaching 14BE and I think he deserves more credit for how much time and effort he put into the class and into teaching us. When reading the rest of the reviews it's important to keep in mind that most people commenting are frustrated with their final exam grade.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 22, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A-

tl;dr: If you aren't comfortable with your study skills, don't take it. It's doable (except for that nasty final that dropped my grade by 6%), but create a schedule to get stuff done and find your support network.

Please note that 2021W was the pilot class, so there might be changes to this class in the future

Easiness: 2/5

I went to a high school that had an AP Chemistry curriculum, so several concepts taught in 14BE were not novel to me. However, each concept builds on each other, so make sure to master the foundations. I struggled with the later concepts largely because I slacked off on learning some earlier concepts.

Workload: 2/5

In any non-midterm/final week, you’ll be expected to complete:

- 1-3 pre-lecture quizzes (along with ppts and videos), with each assignment due before each lecture
- 1 weekly homework assignment
- Learning Catalytics questions during lecture (graded on participation only)
- 1 discussion worksheet, due before next week's discussion

As seen above, the workload for 14BE is largely similar to 14AE's. One major difference is that there are three peer-reviewed essays (aka PRWAs). These assignments are largely straightforward and weighted heavily (40%) on peer evaluations.

Regarding exams, 14BE has three forms of assessments: CMCs, midterms, and the final.
- CMCs: multiple choice tests that ask if you know the basics of concepts. These are not cumulative.
- Midterms are half free response, half multiple choice tests that are also not cumulative and test your application of concepts. 14BE, being a discussion-oriented class, also has group midterms which are worth 20% of your midterm grade.
- The final is a cumulative test like the midterms (I really hope he reworks the final for future classes).

I thought that most of these assessments (except for the final, again) were fair.

I highly recommend that you schedule time to finish this work because when midterms, writing assignments, and finals set in, the content piles up. You will still be assigned content for midterm weeks. I also recommend breaking down work over several days (i.e. reading the ppts first, taking the pre-lecture quiz next, then taking notes during lecture) so that you can digest the content. Go to office hours -- they can be extremely helpful, even if you don't have any specific questions. Find peers and make study groups.

Clarity: 4/5

I felt that Professor Courey is a good lecturer. For me, I generally understood what he was explaining. During lectures, he will read over the slides which he will have posted at the start of the week and solve out Learning Catalytics questions and powerpoint problems. His office hours are also helpful if you are struggling with concepts.

Helpfulness: 4/5

Professor Courey provides office hours throughout the week, and extra office hours before midterms and the final. In addition, he uses Piazza to answer student questions. However, I felt that he expects students to answer Piazza questions first before he adds anything.

One thing I loved about this class were the TAs and LAs, who made this class much more bearable. I found that my TAs’ explanations and suggestions provided a refreshing perspective on the content. Furthermore, the LA workshops are good sources for practice questions. Go visit them when you can.

Overall: 3/5

Would I recommend this class? Yes, but only if you are ready to challenge yourself.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 23, 2022
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: P

I would never take this course again, nor would I recommend to any love one. He is the king of not being accommodating. He did not care about any input you had. It was his way or no way!! His extra. credit was worthless. The TA did their best, but the issue was him.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 22, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: P

Some reviews are fresh out of the extremely difficult final (of which you have probably read about so far) so I am going to try be as objective as possible. This class is doable, IF you dedicate a good amount of time toward it. The lectures were very clear, the work assigned reflected the course content and strengthened our proficiency in these concepts, and the class was extremely organized. However, you have to know what you're getting yourself into; I took the class just to fulfill the gen chem requirement for a major I'm not even pursuing anymore with no intent on taking any more chemistry after this class, and it became a source for an unnecessary amount of stress for me. If you want to rigorously prepare yourself (perhaps for the MCAT or for biochemistry) with loads of group work, essays (in a chem class?!), and pre-lecture/during-lecture assignments on top of weekly homework and exams, this class may be for you.

The weekly two-hour discussions really drained me since it was two full hours of working on a chemistry worksheet designed to enforce concepts you learned every week in a group of 4 - if you haven't been keeping up with lecture and homework, you will not be able to contribute much to the worksheet. The three peer-reviewed essays were a bit annoying, since they combined a little bit of biology (I had taken none) with chemistry and were occasionally harshly graded by my classmates. The last of the stuff that might make this different from 14B is the pre-lecture quizlets, which were short, multi-attempt quizzes to make sure you read the powerpoints and textbook before lecture.

Lastly, the quizzes and exams. The quizzes and exams did a pretty good job of testing your knowledge, and you will do well provided you studied a good amount outside of class. I changed my major around midterm 2 (due to physics, not this class) so I started to slack off and things became much more difficult. Now the final: this was already difficult since I completely put the class on the backburner, but on top of that it was LONG. My 24-hr math and physics exams were shorter than this three-hour exam, and I got around a 38% on it without studying. It was formatted exactly like the midterms, except we had only three hours to complete 12 multiple choice-esque questions and TWENTY-FIVE free response questions. A plurality of students, most of which actually studied, received less than 50% on the 12 multiple choice part, and a vast majority left 2/3 of the free response blank.

Professor Courey is super nice and formatted the class well for what it is (a rigorous gen chem course for those who need some more direction regarding learning and/or have little chemistry experience), but some things could be tweaked (the essays and final). The pandemic made focusing in this class 10x harder than it had to be, so maybe it would have been much better in person.

Helpful?

4 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: N/A
March 19, 2021

Love the man, but what was that final.

Helpful?

10 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A-
March 24, 2021

*please keep in mind that the people writing these reviews are probably upset about the final*

Grade Breakdown:
Surveys (built in extra credit as long as you do them): 1%
Learning Catalytics (clicker questions used for participation during lecture): 5%
Weekly Mastering Chemistry HW: 5%
PTLs (pre-lecture mini quizzes): 10%
POGILs (weekly discussion worksheet; graded based on completion): 10%
CMCs (actual quizzes; we had three this quarter): 12%
PRWAs (peer-review writing assignments; there were three): 15%
Midterms (there were two; each one is worth 10% with 8% coming from your own performance and 2% coming from a group submission): 20%
Final: 23%

I took this class after taking 14AE with Dr. Casey. I do not have the most extensive chem background (no AP chem), so that's why I chose the enhanced series. I also heard good things about Dr. Courey.

I'll start off by saying that Dr. Courey is a really nice professor. He gave extensions to the whole class when he saw that many of us hadn't turned in one of the PRWAs on the night before it was originally due. He is very approachable and can easily break down concepts for students to better understand. His TAs are also very approachable and helpful. The teaching staff is fair overall.

This class is pretty assignment heavy. It will help solidify the concepts, don't get me wrong. But it is also a lot of time and effort. Take this class if you want to really understand the concepts. Don't take it if you are expecting it to take less time or effort. I think the main difference between 14BE and 14B are that BE has more structured time built into the class for you to practice and solidify material. But if you would rather do it all on your own, don't take this class.

With that being said, the grading in this class is generous in terms of the weight of each assignment. Dr. Courey listens and pays attention to his students. He gave extensions. The final was ridiculously long, so he curved it. That curve was appreciated, but didn't help that much (I went from a 60.8% to a 69% on the final... for reference, my midterm average was an 88.5% without the group portion, so I was pretty upset with the setup of the final). However, he redid the grading scale at the end of the quarter so that there was a wider range of percentages for people to earn an A, A-, etc.

Helpful?

5 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 25, 2021

The grade breakdown:
Participation: 5%
Homework: 5%
Discussion Worksheets: 10%
Pre-Lecture Quizzes: 10%
Peer-Reviewed Writing Assignments: 15%
Quizzes: 12%
Midterm 1: 10%
Midterm 2: 10%
Final: 23%
EXTRA CREDIT: Surveys: 1%

As you can probably tell, there were a lot of different types of assignments, meaning this class was a bit heavy on workload. However, those took some pressure off of the midterms and the final, which I appreciated (so it just depends what you'd rather have more weight on).

Participation, homework, discussion worksheets, and pre-lecture quizzes were time consuming, but you should get 100% on all of them if you do them.

The writing assignments were often tedious, as you had to write short essays on different topics that would usually take 3-4 hours (at least for me). However, if you did put the time into them, the prompts were fairly straightforward and your average on the three assignments will probably end up being an A of some sort.

The 3 quizzes (worth 4% each) were on CCLE and were a little tricky. Being open-source (like all exams in this class) definitely helped though, as there were a lot of conceptual questions you'd be able to find on his slides. With enough preparation you could probably score very well on these as they weren't insanely hard though. After the second quiz, however, a lot of the class complained so he made a policy where he'd replace your quiz average with your final grade if that was beneficial to you, so that was pretty nice of him.

The midterms were definitely doable and I'm pretty sure the majority of the class did well on these. 80% of your midterm grades were based on your individual score and the remaining 20% would be based on your group midterm score (same exact exam, just done with your discussion group after the individual attempt).

As the other reviews have already said, the final was really long and difficult. It was not a fair exam at all especially considering the precedent he'd set (with both time and difficulty) on the midterms. I genuinely think this was an accident though; I don't think Courey meant this maliciously at all. Also, I think most of the difficulty stemmed from the exam length itself– the questions were all doable with enough time to think them through and check your work. I know his bruinwalk reviews are tanking because of this exam, but tbh I don't think he's going to administer a final this long again, because he definitely got a lot of backlash for it. He did curve the final by making it out of 88 instead of 100, and he also lowered the grade cutoffs for the class (A became 91, A- 88, B+ 83, B 78, B- 73, etc). Still, I'm not giving him any excuses for the final– it was unfair and even with the curve/cutoffs it tanked a lot of peoples' grades, which really shouldn't have happened in the first place if we were given a final similar to the midterms.

In summary I totally understand where all the negative reviews are coming from, because I was extremely scared for my grade after the final as well. However, Courey really is a kind professor and a great lecturer, so I personally would probably still recommend his class with caution (as I think that difficult final won't be a trend). If you want a more comprehensive understanding of chemistry/have less of a chemistry background like I did, I'd still say take this class over 14B. If you have a strong foundation already, maybe the lower workload of 14B would be more beneficial for you.

Helpful?

4 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: N/A
March 23, 2022

I'm honestly shocked by how overwhelmingly positive Courey's reviews are after experiencing this class firsthand. I honestly think most of these reviews are a bit biased seeing as Courey's past exams were online and grades were extremely curved in 2020-2021. As a first-generation student who did not take AP Chem, this class had me absolutely lost and it truly ruined my motivation to pursue biochemistry. I initially was very excited for the topics covered in CHEM 14BE, but the way Courey taught the lectures and responded to all of my questions passive-aggressively, completely burned out my passion. I ended up spending over 40 hours a week studying and completing homework for this dreadful class, just to receive an awful grade after failing the final because I was sick when I took it. (Taking an 8 am chemistry final directly after taking a 24-hour calculus final while having the flu is insanely brutal.) He also offered little to no accommodations when I explained to him that I was ill and immunocompromised with privileges given to me by CAE.

I can't believe that the stupid exam was worth 30% of our grade on top of midterms being 30% and quizzes being a staggering 9%. Especially since we spent so much time working on homework, just for these exams (with very little time to prepare for) to completely obliterate our grades. I think Courey is a great researcher, but I difficult professor that I do not recommend for people who don't have a very strong background in chemistry.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: B+
March 24, 2021

Professor Courey is pretty understanding and after the terrible and long final, he made accommodations to the grading of the class which was really nice. At first, he was going to divide the overall final score by 0.88 (which did not do much for those who did not score too high, like me lol) but then he also curved the class and made an A from 91-98, A- from 88-90.9, B+ from 83-97.9, and etc. This was really great to see, but before taking the final, I was at an A and then dropped all the way to 84% which sucked lol. The PRWAs are time-consuming and homework is also quite difficult and takes a while to complete as well.

Honestly, my major complaint would have to be the fact that the final included so much new material. He dedicated a whole FRQ with 6 parts on a topic that we barely covered in the last lecture which was super annoying. The midterms are fairly simple and not too hard to do well on if you study the class material. The CMCs can get tricky with confusing wording. He had LA workshops which were great for diving into the class content more deeply but were not that helpful for studying for the exams.

Be ready to pace yourself on the final exam because that was what honestly screwed everyone up.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14B
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 24, 2020

WHAT CAN I SAY ABOUT MY MAN, ALBERT COUREY. ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE THERMODYNAMICS WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS ALBERT COUREY.
I had started with 14A with Lavelle and I remember wondering whether I should switch to Courey or stay with Lavelle for 14B. I strongly encourage taking 14B with Courey. He genuinely cares about teaching us everything from Thermodynamics to Chemical Equilibria. So the course is comprised of:
Midterm I 16%:
So Midterm 1 based on the scheduling will be the midterm that has the least amount of material being tested on so it will be the easiest of the Midterms and the Final.
Midterm II 16%:
Midterm II is covers more material, but for some reason I think this test was easier and everyone did better on than Midterm 1.
Final 32%: Because of the COVID19 crisis, we could opt-in/opt-out of the test and I opted out because I already had the grade I wanted but my friends also said this was a very fair test.
Worksheets 5%: Graded in completion, but I highly recommend studying the format of these as they are just like his tests. Usually, you will get your worksheet and be like "WTF I cannot do this" but that is the point so you work in your discussion section with your LAs and TA. After a while, you'll get the hang of the worksheets and be like "wait WTF am I like lowkey smart??"
Pre-class quizzes 16% : These quizzes had unlimited tries and were online but Courey encouraged us to not use so many tries and actually work on them by offering some extra credit if we completed the quiz in 1-2 tries. The quizzes are also very similar to the tests especially his "Challenge Quizzes" 10/10 recommend finding friends to work on them with because these definitely require group effort for like the Challenge Quizzes.
Participation 5%: Participation was the hardest thing in the class. We had these minute papers due after Fridays lectures and they would open at 2pm and close at 8pm. A lot of people would forget about them and lose these participation points. Then the next way to get participation points was the Cold Call Discussions. Basically you sign up and as long as you sign up you get participation points. The bad part is that signing up makes you available to be called on in class so if Courey has a question he can call your name from a list to answer. You do not have to be right or anything he just wants to have the lecture attentive. But it easily is the most stressful 50 minutes of your life but it will make you attentive in class I must admit.
i>clicker 10%: these iclickers are based on just doing them in class there really is not much about them.

**WARNING: Courey is different than Lavelle in the sense that Courey mainly tests on conceptual rather than calculations. His tests sometimes only used variables instead of chemical compounds so we would be forced to critically analyze the problems in front of us. But lowkey I never thought I was a conceptual person but Courey is such an amazing professor that I understood the concepts. But of course there are people who are better at calculations than conceptual so keep that in mind.

Just wanted to shout out Jason, my LA. Literally a god but i think he is graduating this year. And Jessica Soule, my TA was also pretty good.

IN SUMMARY: COUREY IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 26, 2021

Dr. Courey is a great prof who genuinely cares for his students and wants to see them succeed. I definitely learned a lot in this class and although the material was tough, especially since I hadn't taken AP chem, Dr. Courey provided plenty of resources (extra OHs, CLC worksheets, extra videos) for us to learn. I think Dr. Courey did a great job given this was his first time teaching 14BE and I think he deserves more credit for how much time and effort he put into the class and into teaching us. When reading the rest of the reviews it's important to keep in mind that most people commenting are frustrated with their final exam grade.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A-
March 22, 2021

tl;dr: If you aren't comfortable with your study skills, don't take it. It's doable (except for that nasty final that dropped my grade by 6%), but create a schedule to get stuff done and find your support network.

Please note that 2021W was the pilot class, so there might be changes to this class in the future

Easiness: 2/5

I went to a high school that had an AP Chemistry curriculum, so several concepts taught in 14BE were not novel to me. However, each concept builds on each other, so make sure to master the foundations. I struggled with the later concepts largely because I slacked off on learning some earlier concepts.

Workload: 2/5

In any non-midterm/final week, you’ll be expected to complete:

- 1-3 pre-lecture quizzes (along with ppts and videos), with each assignment due before each lecture
- 1 weekly homework assignment
- Learning Catalytics questions during lecture (graded on participation only)
- 1 discussion worksheet, due before next week's discussion

As seen above, the workload for 14BE is largely similar to 14AE's. One major difference is that there are three peer-reviewed essays (aka PRWAs). These assignments are largely straightforward and weighted heavily (40%) on peer evaluations.

Regarding exams, 14BE has three forms of assessments: CMCs, midterms, and the final.
- CMCs: multiple choice tests that ask if you know the basics of concepts. These are not cumulative.
- Midterms are half free response, half multiple choice tests that are also not cumulative and test your application of concepts. 14BE, being a discussion-oriented class, also has group midterms which are worth 20% of your midterm grade.
- The final is a cumulative test like the midterms (I really hope he reworks the final for future classes).

I thought that most of these assessments (except for the final, again) were fair.

I highly recommend that you schedule time to finish this work because when midterms, writing assignments, and finals set in, the content piles up. You will still be assigned content for midterm weeks. I also recommend breaking down work over several days (i.e. reading the ppts first, taking the pre-lecture quiz next, then taking notes during lecture) so that you can digest the content. Go to office hours -- they can be extremely helpful, even if you don't have any specific questions. Find peers and make study groups.

Clarity: 4/5

I felt that Professor Courey is a good lecturer. For me, I generally understood what he was explaining. During lectures, he will read over the slides which he will have posted at the start of the week and solve out Learning Catalytics questions and powerpoint problems. His office hours are also helpful if you are struggling with concepts.

Helpfulness: 4/5

Professor Courey provides office hours throughout the week, and extra office hours before midterms and the final. In addition, he uses Piazza to answer student questions. However, I felt that he expects students to answer Piazza questions first before he adds anything.

One thing I loved about this class were the TAs and LAs, who made this class much more bearable. I found that my TAs’ explanations and suggestions provided a refreshing perspective on the content. Furthermore, the LA workshops are good sources for practice questions. Go visit them when you can.

Overall: 3/5

Would I recommend this class? Yes, but only if you are ready to challenge yourself.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: P
March 23, 2022

I would never take this course again, nor would I recommend to any love one. He is the king of not being accommodating. He did not care about any input you had. It was his way or no way!! His extra. credit was worthless. The TA did their best, but the issue was him.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14BE
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: P
March 22, 2021

Some reviews are fresh out of the extremely difficult final (of which you have probably read about so far) so I am going to try be as objective as possible. This class is doable, IF you dedicate a good amount of time toward it. The lectures were very clear, the work assigned reflected the course content and strengthened our proficiency in these concepts, and the class was extremely organized. However, you have to know what you're getting yourself into; I took the class just to fulfill the gen chem requirement for a major I'm not even pursuing anymore with no intent on taking any more chemistry after this class, and it became a source for an unnecessary amount of stress for me. If you want to rigorously prepare yourself (perhaps for the MCAT or for biochemistry) with loads of group work, essays (in a chem class?!), and pre-lecture/during-lecture assignments on top of weekly homework and exams, this class may be for you.

The weekly two-hour discussions really drained me since it was two full hours of working on a chemistry worksheet designed to enforce concepts you learned every week in a group of 4 - if you haven't been keeping up with lecture and homework, you will not be able to contribute much to the worksheet. The three peer-reviewed essays were a bit annoying, since they combined a little bit of biology (I had taken none) with chemistry and were occasionally harshly graded by my classmates. The last of the stuff that might make this different from 14B is the pre-lecture quizlets, which were short, multi-attempt quizzes to make sure you read the powerpoints and textbook before lecture.

Lastly, the quizzes and exams. The quizzes and exams did a pretty good job of testing your knowledge, and you will do well provided you studied a good amount outside of class. I changed my major around midterm 2 (due to physics, not this class) so I started to slack off and things became much more difficult. Now the final: this was already difficult since I completely put the class on the backburner, but on top of that it was LONG. My 24-hr math and physics exams were shorter than this three-hour exam, and I got around a 38% on it without studying. It was formatted exactly like the midterms, except we had only three hours to complete 12 multiple choice-esque questions and TWENTY-FIVE free response questions. A plurality of students, most of which actually studied, received less than 50% on the 12 multiple choice part, and a vast majority left 2/3 of the free response blank.

Professor Courey is super nice and formatted the class well for what it is (a rigorous gen chem course for those who need some more direction regarding learning and/or have little chemistry experience), but some things could be tweaked (the essays and final). The pandemic made focusing in this class 10x harder than it had to be, so maybe it would have been much better in person.

Helpful?

4 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 7
ADS

Adblock Detected

Bruinwalk is an entirely Daily Bruin-run service brought to you for free. We hate annoying ads just as much as you do, but they help keep our lights on. We promise to keep our ads as relevant for you as possible, so please consider disabling your ad-blocking software while using this site.

Thank you for supporting us!