CHEM 30C
Organic Chemistry III: Reactivity, Synthesis, and Biomolecules
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 30B with grade of C- or better. Third term of organic chemistry for Chemistry, Biochemistry, and engineering majors. Chemistry of enolates, enamines, dicarbonyl compounds, and amines. Molecular orbital theory and conjugated pi systems; UV/vis spectroscopy. Aromaticity and reactions of aromatic molecules. Heterocycles, pericyclic reactions, carbohydrates, and lipids. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - I was worried about taking this class after seeing the previous BruinWalk reviews, and it seems like a lot of other people were too since the class was less than half enrolled by week 2. However, I think Maynard is a very fair professor who gave us the resources we needed to do well in the class. Our grade was based on 3 in-class unit exams (worth 33.3% of our grade each) that were technically cumulative but only really focused on the past few weeks of content. Pros: -She does not provide practice exams, but the homework problems are extremely similar to those on the test so knowing how to do those will prepare you really well for her exams. -If you ask her, she will straight up tell you what she expects from you on the exams. (The average % on the exams went: 71, 87, 63) -She offered partial credit on the unit exams as long as you showed your work. -She and the TAs offered plenty of office hours, and she hosts additional office hours right before the unit exams. -Maynard is very kind during office hours and is happy to re-explain concepts or re-draw entire mechanisms. -Homework and discussion are optional but really help for understanding the content. I liked that they were optional because I enjoyed having more free time. Cons: -There is no extra credit, curve, or grade buffering, your grade is based solely on the in-class exams. -Homework is given on the platform Aktiv which I had to pay $30 for since I opted out of Inclusive Access. -There is no hand-holding in this class, and it is really easy to fall behind if you miss lecture (which is not recorded). -This class moves really fast (especially in the last three weeks) and covers a lot of content that builds on itself, so you do need to set aside a lot of time to practice mechanisms and do practice problems. Overall, the grading scheme is unforgiving and the content can be difficult but Maynard doesn’t make the class harder than it has to be. She uploads her annotated lecture slides and is happy to answer any questions you might have during office hours. She asked us for feedback about her lecturing style and listened by giving us more time to do practice problems in class. She is also clearly passionate about what she teaches, and I never felt like she was just reading off of the slides. Don’t judge the class based solely on the previous reviews since it seems like she took a lot of feedback into account.
Winter 2025 - I was worried about taking this class after seeing the previous BruinWalk reviews, and it seems like a lot of other people were too since the class was less than half enrolled by week 2. However, I think Maynard is a very fair professor who gave us the resources we needed to do well in the class. Our grade was based on 3 in-class unit exams (worth 33.3% of our grade each) that were technically cumulative but only really focused on the past few weeks of content. Pros: -She does not provide practice exams, but the homework problems are extremely similar to those on the test so knowing how to do those will prepare you really well for her exams. -If you ask her, she will straight up tell you what she expects from you on the exams. (The average % on the exams went: 71, 87, 63) -She offered partial credit on the unit exams as long as you showed your work. -She and the TAs offered plenty of office hours, and she hosts additional office hours right before the unit exams. -Maynard is very kind during office hours and is happy to re-explain concepts or re-draw entire mechanisms. -Homework and discussion are optional but really help for understanding the content. I liked that they were optional because I enjoyed having more free time. Cons: -There is no extra credit, curve, or grade buffering, your grade is based solely on the in-class exams. -Homework is given on the platform Aktiv which I had to pay $30 for since I opted out of Inclusive Access. -There is no hand-holding in this class, and it is really easy to fall behind if you miss lecture (which is not recorded). -This class moves really fast (especially in the last three weeks) and covers a lot of content that builds on itself, so you do need to set aside a lot of time to practice mechanisms and do practice problems. Overall, the grading scheme is unforgiving and the content can be difficult but Maynard doesn’t make the class harder than it has to be. She uploads her annotated lecture slides and is happy to answer any questions you might have during office hours. She asked us for feedback about her lecturing style and listened by giving us more time to do practice problems in class. She is also clearly passionate about what she teaches, and I never felt like she was just reading off of the slides. Don’t judge the class based solely on the previous reviews since it seems like she took a lot of feedback into account.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - Wow this class was something else. merlic was a fantastic lecturer and the content was so interesting but the grades were so all over the place? There were weekly quizzes (STARTING WEEK 1?!) and he did not explicitly have a grading scale so he would just curve individually. The class average was always an F or a D- which was kinda funny, but even though I scored higher or equal to the class average on every exam I ended up getting a B-?.... also I know someone who got below the average on every exam but ended up with an A- so I'm really confused. I guess he grades on how drastically your score increases not on how high your score actually is compared to the average.
Spring 2023 - Wow this class was something else. merlic was a fantastic lecturer and the content was so interesting but the grades were so all over the place? There were weekly quizzes (STARTING WEEK 1?!) and he did not explicitly have a grading scale so he would just curve individually. The class average was always an F or a D- which was kinda funny, but even though I scored higher or equal to the class average on every exam I ended up getting a B-?.... also I know someone who got below the average on every exam but ended up with an A- so I'm really confused. I guess he grades on how drastically your score increases not on how high your score actually is compared to the average.
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