I completely agree with all the negative reviews of this "professor" and can passionately argue with people who gave high ratings to Russell. But here's my opinion about such a difference in ratings: this class tought by Russell does not make any logical sense starting from her confusing lectue outlines and ending with the ridiculous on-line final on which people get 40-50% on average. I know students who are not that smart in chemistry saying that this class is an easy A. Other people who got top grades in Chem 14A and 14B are struggling with the class.
Yes, she is a very nice lady, no doubt, but how is that related to describing her as an effective instructor?? Nice lady, terrible teacher is my opinion. Can't answer questions without confusing you even more. Don't even waste your time going to her office hours, unless you feel lonely and want to have a cute little chat with the warm lady. Go to your TA's hours - more useful. Enroll with Gagik or Sarah - they're awesome!
Whatever Russell teaches in lectures is supereasy and you know all this stuff from 14A and 14B. However, she makes it so confusing that it's even better not to listen to her and just study on your own. Her exams are 100 times harder than the lecture material, and it's really not fair. How can a person who is doing a research on how to teach chemistry more effectively, be such a poor teacher herself?!
To make a long story short - don't take her if you like to be in control of your learning and your grades. Otherwise, good luck!

Russell is very approacheable and reminds me of someone's grandmother. Lectures are very organized and she provides us with the notes for the lecture. Everything she says in lecture relates to the labs; contrary to rumor, there are NO open-note tests (which is originally why I signed up for the class). CPR's are a pain, but they don't count too much toward your score. Midterm and final were "fair."(e.g. she didn't come up with questions that you were not exposed to through lecture). you MUST get a good TA (Stephanie is THE best) or else you'll be getting 5/10 points on a lab you worked on for like 4 hours.

Professor Russel is a joke. I never knew what to include in her lab reports and going to her for help was never a wise idea--as I often came out of her "OH" confused. Her lecture notes suck and really don't explain anything. She never responded to numerous e-mails that I wrote to her about grade distribution (yea, she's THAT helpful.) She often felt she was superior, saying things like "I BET you didn't even know what a pipet was when you first walked into the class." Her exams were ridiculous and her online final exam almost made me laugh because it was so poor and unfair. She pissed me off aGAIN and aGAIN and aGAIN! (that's an inside joke if you have ever taken her class...she has a weird foreign way of saying "again"). This may seem like mudslinging, but there's really no better way of describing good ol' Professor Russel. AND the people who think she's good can SHOVE it.

Lets see. CPR's are pretty dumb computer assignments. Russell tries to teach, but I think it would be more helpful if more concepts were explained and better sample calculations were taught. Otherwise it isn't really her fault that chem 14BL is a COMPLETE waist of a person's time in a classroom. Exams ask the most random questions in my opinion, studying did not necessarily mean a better grade in my case. The class isn't curved.... so get as many points as possible in the actual labs...because exams will bring your grade down. However I still managed to get a B+ in the class with just above average scores on exams. Ray is a cool TA, not like some of the others that I have heard about, try to get him. Notes are allowed on exams, but didn't offer me too much help. Let's just say she is one of the better lab professors you will have.

Waaay too much work for a 2 unit class. I spent more time finishing labs for this class than I did for two other 5 unit classes I was taking. Her lectures are extremely boring, so the best way to do well on the postlabs is to find tutoring somehow. The guy at AAP, Carlos, is very helpful.

While Professor Russell was really nice and a very good lecturer, there is absolutely NO GUIDANCE in the course unless you spend lots of time in office hours. The expectations on the pre-labs, post-labs, and midterms are ridiculous. She covers some of the topics in lecture, but thoroughly enough for understanding. If you want to put a lot of time into a two-unit class, take Dr. Russell.