<p>Just found out on SDuncensored that they've added on another lecturer for ochem this fall. Kim Albizati's joining Ternansky, Whitesell, and Glazer as chem 140a lecturers, with his class being MWF 4 pm in Muir. I know he's probably too new for ratemyprofessors and most of you don't check the older CAPEs, but if I had to go back and retake ochem right now, I'd end up debating between Ternansky and Albizati. </p>
<p>I've met Kim a few times from his position as Pfizer liason to the chem club at UCSD; he's a really really nice guy and really smart too. I'll even go out on a limb and say that he's like another Ternansky (both are accomplished teachers with very-high-up positions in the biotech chemistry world), minus the bitterness and girl-ogling tendencies. He's also taught a lot before, "...He left Wayne State in 1992 to return to California, taking a visiting professor position at the University of California, San Diego. He taught a variety of chemistry courses until 1997, receiving the Revelle College Faculty Teaching Award in 1995 and 1997."</p>
<p>Moral of the story: If you're in Whitesell's or Glazer's class right now and want a really good professor with an accomplished teaching record, switch into Albizati's class. Now.</p>
<p>i'd really stay on-track with ochem if i were you; that way you'll actually have multiple class times/profs to pick from, plus you'll have more resources to use - think office hours, study buddies, etc.</p>
<p>and if ANLD 23 works for the diversity requirement, i'd really suggest it. james holden was the prof; we had one paper, one midterm, and one final -- and ALL the essay topics were given in advance. possibly the least amount of work i've done for any class at ucsd.</p>
<p>dunno about perrin; in my classification of ochem professors, there are those that 1) i'd take myself without any hesitation, 2) i've heard collectively positive opinions about and 3) i'd never take, based on personal experiences and collectively negative opinions. perrin falls into category 2. why not just take it this quarter?</p>
<p>Yeah, I was hoping to take it this fall, but couldn't find one that fit into my schedule. Only class that did was ternansky, but that proved to be a bust. </p>
<p>No go on the ANLD 23 either, not on the approved list. =/</p>
<p>Plus, tuition's already paid for and with welcome week a week away, I'm not feeling having to reorganize the schedule. </p>
<p>Believe me, if I could have taken it this quarter I would have (I was even considering taking whitesell!). I figure I might as well just wait the quarter, and take it in the Winter when I can schedule around it.</p>
<p>Edit:
On further consideration, I've decided to take O-Chem. Lets hope I don't regret this decision later...</p>
<p>every professor has to cover the same chapters ... assuming there weren't any funky textbook changes, this calendar should hold for the fall quarter.</p>
<p>So astrina, if you had to pick, would you pick Ternansky or Albizati? Albizati sounds so good right now because of pfizer (i worked there too :) ), but I dont know, would it be worth switching all my schedules around? =/</p>
<p>well, the only ochem professors to make it to my 'category 1' status (see above) are ternansky, tor, and albizati. any of them are an excellent choice to have. if it was really down to dr bob vs kim, i'd probably go by schedule. </p>
<p>and i guess i should mention that kim albizati was the head of CRD and got laid off along with the entire division in 2004 ... might not want to speak TOO highly of pfizer around him. (but i guess if you were a recent student there, you might not be thinking too highly of pfizer either) ;)</p>
<p>hmm, i really don't like the 6-8pm schedule ternansky has, so I think I'm going to switch.. do you know anything about albizati's teaching style/testing style/etc? (seems like he's pretty solid if he won the teacher's award)</p>
<p>thanks astrina!
haha oh yeah, pfizer and their layoffs.. :/ oh well, it was a good experience.</p>
<p>^ He does. Reason is that people caught on to the fact that his practice midterms/final are essentially = to the actual midterm/final. There were many problems on the midterms & final that would have been incredibly difficult if not for the fact that they were so similar to practice midterm problems. So the averages got driven up because of this (140A).</p>
<p>Thanks Longdayahead! Can you be a little more specific? I was told someone got an B even
she was 20 points above the mean. It seems too tough. IMO, 20 points above the mean should have been A.</p>
<p>Look, the girl you heard about just likes to complain. Think about it, because there are around 415 possible points she would have only beaten the average by around ~5%. The average is curved to an 80% so she would've ended up around the 85% mark, -> B. This is standard for all organic chemistry classes, all professors, not just Albizati. Though they are required to give x% A's, y% B's etc so that changes things a bit.
See my previous post for why beating the curve is a bit harder in his class, though.</p>