Professor
Susan Walsh
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Most Helpful Review
Walsh is a decent professor. Her class isn't very hard at all. She gives out handouts in each lecture which provide a good summary of what you need to know for exams, but it's very helpful to go to lecture and listen anyway since she only lectures for about 20-30 minutes anyway. She also gives you practice exams before the two midterms (one during 5th week and one during 10th week). If you read the notes and do the practice tests you should do well on the tests. In addition to getting at least 50% on the tests, you have to turn in all the lab reports to get at least a C-. The lab reports consist of a pre-lab and post-lab due every week and are pretty easy (most post-labs are done with your lab partner). If you have questions, ask one of the T.A.'s because Walsh doesn't seem very approachable or helpful.
Walsh is a decent professor. Her class isn't very hard at all. She gives out handouts in each lecture which provide a good summary of what you need to know for exams, but it's very helpful to go to lecture and listen anyway since she only lectures for about 20-30 minutes anyway. She also gives you practice exams before the two midterms (one during 5th week and one during 10th week). If you read the notes and do the practice tests you should do well on the tests. In addition to getting at least 50% on the tests, you have to turn in all the lab reports to get at least a C-. The lab reports consist of a pre-lab and post-lab due every week and are pretty easy (most post-labs are done with your lab partner). If you have questions, ask one of the T.A.'s because Walsh doesn't seem very approachable or helpful.
Most Helpful Review
I have mixed feelings regarding Professor Walsh. She did go over all the lecture material in class, and she did so efficiently and with enough detail such that it was understandable. Her hand-outs were organized, and she was helpful when you asked her questions. She's really kind of a dork so lecture is a bit dry and she sometimes has students do absurd things (She made one person in our class sit on their butt and fall down the stairs). It kind of felt like a high school class in this respect. She also didn't use the whole time which was somewhat irksome since it was such an effort to wake up and get to this class. But lecture was a worthwhile venture for those who attended. My biggest complaint is with the grading system. It's simply absurd how difficult some TA's are in comparison to others. I ended up with an average of maybe 70% on the labs because my TA would brutally deduct all credit for errors rather than giving any partial credit, which many TA's actually do give. Furthermore, the exam grading key was very specific, I lost 2.5 points out of 48 for not writing "Equivalents of H+" despite the fact that I had the units in all the calculations (and I even cross-cancelled them, I just didn't write it in my final boxed answer). If you want an A in the class you must be very detail oriented and follow directions in the grading rubric PRECISELY, especially if your TA is a strict grader, since it's not curved I was basically screwed. Also they deduct one point for every error with significant figures which is very problematic for people who are not as detail oriented as others. First exam was relatively easy, second exam was much more difficult, but they were doable. The exam seems to have a curve centered around high C, low B, but only because you people really lose tons of points on those small nit-picky things.
I have mixed feelings regarding Professor Walsh. She did go over all the lecture material in class, and she did so efficiently and with enough detail such that it was understandable. Her hand-outs were organized, and she was helpful when you asked her questions. She's really kind of a dork so lecture is a bit dry and she sometimes has students do absurd things (She made one person in our class sit on their butt and fall down the stairs). It kind of felt like a high school class in this respect. She also didn't use the whole time which was somewhat irksome since it was such an effort to wake up and get to this class. But lecture was a worthwhile venture for those who attended. My biggest complaint is with the grading system. It's simply absurd how difficult some TA's are in comparison to others. I ended up with an average of maybe 70% on the labs because my TA would brutally deduct all credit for errors rather than giving any partial credit, which many TA's actually do give. Furthermore, the exam grading key was very specific, I lost 2.5 points out of 48 for not writing "Equivalents of H+" despite the fact that I had the units in all the calculations (and I even cross-cancelled them, I just didn't write it in my final boxed answer). If you want an A in the class you must be very detail oriented and follow directions in the grading rubric PRECISELY, especially if your TA is a strict grader, since it's not curved I was basically screwed. Also they deduct one point for every error with significant figures which is very problematic for people who are not as detail oriented as others. First exam was relatively easy, second exam was much more difficult, but they were doable. The exam seems to have a curve centered around high C, low B, but only because you people really lose tons of points on those small nit-picky things.
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