Professor

Craig Merlic

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Easiness 1.7/ 5
Clarity 4.3/ 5
Workload 1.4/ 5
Helpfulness 4.1/ 5
Most Helpful Review
Merlic is a really good professor. You can understand him during lecture, and he basically tells you what you need to know. His practice tests are very similar to his actual tests, although they are a bit harder, as expected. His office hours are very helpful, and he'll even give you practice problems if you ask. He also gives out review rxn problems before each test. The class is tough as it is, and he makes it a bit easier. I'm sure he makes it easier than other teachers do. The only bad thing about him is that he goes through the material pretty quickly during lecture, so that if you don't come to class prepared or are good at understanding ochem pretty quickly, it makes it difficult to understand lecture. But if you take notes and look back on them later, along with reading the book, it makes things easier. The good thing about him is that during lecture, he tells you everything you need to know. He doesn't make you go to the book and fill in blanks or leave you confused as to what you need to know for the tests. But be sure to read the book. He could ask you for definitions that he didn't completely explain during class, and you can better understand how to explain things, e.g. what makes a certain molecule acidic, what a Lewis Acid/base is, what makes something a protic/aprotic solvent (besides having or lacking hydrogens). His review sheets for the rxns really come in handy because you really start to understand how the mechanisms work. And be sure to know the mechanisms! Although, when you get to the Sn/E rxns, he mostly wants you to know what reactants you need or what reactants you start with or what products are created. But understanding the mechanism is the key way to know what reactants you need. And the extra credit problem for the second midterm asked for the H2SO4 mechanism and he had 3 2 mechanism problems on the final.
Easiness 2.1/ 5
Clarity 3.9/ 5
Workload 2.4/ 5
Helpfulness 4.0/ 5
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I'm not sure how Merlic is during a usual quarter when things aren't remote. However, if you have the chance to take this class with Merlic during remote learning, do NOT take this class. He was extremely unaccommodating during the pandemic and made the class harder than a usual quarter. Instead of having two midterms, our class had 3 midterms, one of which was the Friday before Week 9. His justification behind this was to give us a "progress report" on how we were doing, but nobody knew what they had in the course since the class was graded on a curve. The averages for each midterm were extremely low, usually around a 50% or a 60%. The exams themselves are already quite challenging to complete on time; however, we were also expected to scan and upload the exam within the given 1 hour time frame, which wasn't required for the in-person class. Merlic also made the exams more difficult and longer due to our ability to "look through our notes", but in reality there isn't any time to skim through your notes since you're rushing to complete the exams. For the final exam, Merlic gave us a sample final with 11 questions on it and ASSURED us that we would have plenty of time compared to the midterms. However, he placed 16 questions on our final, many of which required written responses which consumed a decent amount of time. In addition to his ridiculous exam formats, Merlic is extremely disorganized with his homework schedule. The first few weeks we were given a homework assignment each week; however, near the middle of the quarter we didn't have one for nearly three weeks. Towards the end of the quarter he would assign a homework assignment every 3-4 days under the excuse of trying to fulfill the 10 homework assignments for the class. There are also quizzes in this class during discussion, but those don't mirror Merlic's exams too well. Overall, I would never take this class again and I highly regret having someone as unaccommodating and ridiculous as Merlic for a professor. One last note, Merlic likes to sell himself as a "nice guy", but don't fall for this as he is usually highly sarcastic and lies about his schedule and exam lengths. Good luck to y'all!
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Easiness N/A/ 5
Clarity N/A/ 5
Workload N/A/ 5
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Easiness N/A/ 5
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