Professor
Maher Henary
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I took this online. Henary is very hard to understand. It's not just his accent; his explanations just aren't very clear. One of the worst things that stood out to me is when he was going over how to solve a problem on his slides, and he just verbally did the calculations. It was impossible to follow. I guess you can't blame him if he doesn't own a stylus/tablet, but surely with a little effort he could've figured something out. Another thing that irked me, and maybe this isn't a valid complaint, is that he would constantly ask "is this clear to you guys? Hello? Hello guys?" and wouldn't move on unless he got a few replies like"yes makes sense." I know he was trying to get input but it wasted time on already short lectures when we had to constantly tell him to move on. IMO the etiquette should be to listen if anyone says "no I don't understand," otherwise assume everyone understands. On a more positive note, Henary was very accommodating to the lockdown/protest situation. He apparently made the tests easier for us, which was very nice of him. Still wouldn't recommend this professor though. Now for TAs. I heard from people that they relied heavily on TAs to clarify material. My online TA was Kevin Chandler and he taught us nothing. We joined zoom for 10 minutes, he took roll, and then we left. Even before tests, when Henary told us the TAs would hold review sessions, Kevin didn't prepare anything. He just asked every week if we had any questions. But as TA he should really prepare SOMETHING for us. Also there were two times he was more than 15 minutes late to class. He was a lenient grader on labs for the most part. First day of class, I was like "this guy is so chill that's awesome," but by the end I realized too chill was a bad thing.
Spring 2020 - I took this online. Henary is very hard to understand. It's not just his accent; his explanations just aren't very clear. One of the worst things that stood out to me is when he was going over how to solve a problem on his slides, and he just verbally did the calculations. It was impossible to follow. I guess you can't blame him if he doesn't own a stylus/tablet, but surely with a little effort he could've figured something out. Another thing that irked me, and maybe this isn't a valid complaint, is that he would constantly ask "is this clear to you guys? Hello? Hello guys?" and wouldn't move on unless he got a few replies like"yes makes sense." I know he was trying to get input but it wasted time on already short lectures when we had to constantly tell him to move on. IMO the etiquette should be to listen if anyone says "no I don't understand," otherwise assume everyone understands. On a more positive note, Henary was very accommodating to the lockdown/protest situation. He apparently made the tests easier for us, which was very nice of him. Still wouldn't recommend this professor though. Now for TAs. I heard from people that they relied heavily on TAs to clarify material. My online TA was Kevin Chandler and he taught us nothing. We joined zoom for 10 minutes, he took roll, and then we left. Even before tests, when Henary told us the TAs would hold review sessions, Kevin didn't prepare anything. He just asked every week if we had any questions. But as TA he should really prepare SOMETHING for us. Also there were two times he was more than 15 minutes late to class. He was a lenient grader on labs for the most part. First day of class, I was like "this guy is so chill that's awesome," but by the end I realized too chill was a bad thing.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Terrible, terrible required class. The UCLA chem department needs to revamp it. Or at least get Henary to stop teaching. He's often abrasive and doesn't answer questions well. Glad it is online and lecture isn't mandatory. This was my last STEM class at UCLA after being an LS major, where I loved the rest of my classes. You can learn some stuff about chemistry, but mostly the class focuses on doing stupid lab reports and getting assignments in. Really bad. This class kills learning. Anyways, that's my rant. You probably have to take this class for med/grad school, so good luck. Get your hand on previous exams and lab reports for practice and examples and you'll be fine. My TA was Yuting Miao and she was chill. Just kept us really long for some of the labs.
Fall 2020 - Terrible, terrible required class. The UCLA chem department needs to revamp it. Or at least get Henary to stop teaching. He's often abrasive and doesn't answer questions well. Glad it is online and lecture isn't mandatory. This was my last STEM class at UCLA after being an LS major, where I loved the rest of my classes. You can learn some stuff about chemistry, but mostly the class focuses on doing stupid lab reports and getting assignments in. Really bad. This class kills learning. Anyways, that's my rant. You probably have to take this class for med/grad school, so good luck. Get your hand on previous exams and lab reports for practice and examples and you'll be fine. My TA was Yuting Miao and she was chill. Just kept us really long for some of the labs.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Pros: - Very reasonable tests. What appears on his tests is definitely not harder than sample problems in lectures and practice exams (which are straightforward already). - Most of the stuff in his class is really easy if you took AP chem in high school or CHEM 20B before taking this class. - Only one midterm which is worth only 12.5% - Pre labs and post labs are worth a lot of your grade (around 20% and 30% respectively) so as long as you spend enough time on those you will be fine in the class. - Exams aren't open book but you do get to use cheatsheets you created Cons: - He doesn't explain things clearly in his lectures so you have to rely on asking TA's if you have questions - He is unclear abt what he's looking for in your pre and post lab assignments. We were pretty much asking the TA's constantly abt what the prof was looking for in the assignments and sometimes each TA has a different answer. Suggestions: - Do not expect to have a good grade without self-studying. The prof is, again, not a good lecturer. But as long as you understand every concept you will have an A in the class. - Make sure to spend extra time checking your pre and post lab answers they are graded pretty strictly and are worth a lot of your grade. - When the prof says "listen up guys i want you guys to focus" or "this might be on the midterm/final" during a lecture then whatever he says next is HIGHLY likely to be on the upcoming test. - Make sure to do his practice tests because they are extremely similar to what appears on his exams.
Spring 2021 - Pros: - Very reasonable tests. What appears on his tests is definitely not harder than sample problems in lectures and practice exams (which are straightforward already). - Most of the stuff in his class is really easy if you took AP chem in high school or CHEM 20B before taking this class. - Only one midterm which is worth only 12.5% - Pre labs and post labs are worth a lot of your grade (around 20% and 30% respectively) so as long as you spend enough time on those you will be fine in the class. - Exams aren't open book but you do get to use cheatsheets you created Cons: - He doesn't explain things clearly in his lectures so you have to rely on asking TA's if you have questions - He is unclear abt what he's looking for in your pre and post lab assignments. We were pretty much asking the TA's constantly abt what the prof was looking for in the assignments and sometimes each TA has a different answer. Suggestions: - Do not expect to have a good grade without self-studying. The prof is, again, not a good lecturer. But as long as you understand every concept you will have an A in the class. - Make sure to spend extra time checking your pre and post lab answers they are graded pretty strictly and are worth a lot of your grade. - When the prof says "listen up guys i want you guys to focus" or "this might be on the midterm/final" during a lecture then whatever he says next is HIGHLY likely to be on the upcoming test. - Make sure to do his practice tests because they are extremely similar to what appears on his exams.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - The professor definitely seemed to try his hardest. He isn’t the best lecturer per se, but if you can understand his accent, his lectures are generally useful. So, I’d go to them. Also, Henary always had extra office hours, which was convenient. The class is like 20al in terms of rigor, and is basically a watered down combo course of 20b and 30b. That said, the workload is definitely heavy at times, with two lab write ups per week. Also, some labs take rather long to complete, but usually they are fairly interesting. The class itself is easy; 50%+ of his students get A’s for a reason. During the midterm you’re given all formulas, while during the final you get a one page cheat sheet. Students only need the lab manual. The other book that isn’t the lab manual is basically useless for this class, and basically a waste of money. Henary grades like Pang’s 20L class but his lectures aren’t as good though.
Fall 2019 - The professor definitely seemed to try his hardest. He isn’t the best lecturer per se, but if you can understand his accent, his lectures are generally useful. So, I’d go to them. Also, Henary always had extra office hours, which was convenient. The class is like 20al in terms of rigor, and is basically a watered down combo course of 20b and 30b. That said, the workload is definitely heavy at times, with two lab write ups per week. Also, some labs take rather long to complete, but usually they are fairly interesting. The class itself is easy; 50%+ of his students get A’s for a reason. During the midterm you’re given all formulas, while during the final you get a one page cheat sheet. Students only need the lab manual. The other book that isn’t the lab manual is basically useless for this class, and basically a waste of money. Henary grades like Pang’s 20L class but his lectures aren’t as good though.
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