Professor
Albert Courey
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - WHAT CAN I SAY ABOUT MY MAN, ALBERT COUREY. ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE THERMODYNAMICS WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS ALBERT COUREY. I had started with 14A with Lavelle and I remember wondering whether I should switch to Courey or stay with Lavelle for 14B. I strongly encourage taking 14B with Courey. He genuinely cares about teaching us everything from Thermodynamics to Chemical Equilibria. So the course is comprised of: Midterm I 16%: So Midterm 1 based on the scheduling will be the midterm that has the least amount of material being tested on so it will be the easiest of the Midterms and the Final. Midterm II 16%: Midterm II is covers more material, but for some reason I think this test was easier and everyone did better on than Midterm 1. Final 32%: Because of the COVID19 crisis, we could opt-in/opt-out of the test and I opted out because I already had the grade I wanted but my friends also said this was a very fair test. Worksheets 5%: Graded in completion, but I highly recommend studying the format of these as they are just like his tests. Usually, you will get your worksheet and be like "WTF I cannot do this" but that is the point so you work in your discussion section with your LAs and TA. After a while, you'll get the hang of the worksheets and be like "wait WTF am I like lowkey smart??" Pre-class quizzes 16% : These quizzes had unlimited tries and were online but Courey encouraged us to not use so many tries and actually work on them by offering some extra credit if we completed the quiz in 1-2 tries. The quizzes are also very similar to the tests especially his "Challenge Quizzes" 10/10 recommend finding friends to work on them with because these definitely require group effort for like the Challenge Quizzes. Participation 5%: Participation was the hardest thing in the class. We had these minute papers due after Fridays lectures and they would open at 2pm and close at 8pm. A lot of people would forget about them and lose these participation points. Then the next way to get participation points was the Cold Call Discussions. Basically you sign up and as long as you sign up you get participation points. The bad part is that signing up makes you available to be called on in class so if Courey has a question he can call your name from a list to answer. You do not have to be right or anything he just wants to have the lecture attentive. But it easily is the most stressful 50 minutes of your life but it will make you attentive in class I must admit. i>clicker 10%: these iclickers are based on just doing them in class there really is not much about them. **WARNING: Courey is different than Lavelle in the sense that Courey mainly tests on conceptual rather than calculations. His tests sometimes only used variables instead of chemical compounds so we would be forced to critically analyze the problems in front of us. But lowkey I never thought I was a conceptual person but Courey is such an amazing professor that I understood the concepts. But of course there are people who are better at calculations than conceptual so keep that in mind. Just wanted to shout out Jason, my LA. Literally a god but i think he is graduating this year. And Jessica Soule, my TA was also pretty good. IN SUMMARY: COUREY IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER
Winter 2020 - WHAT CAN I SAY ABOUT MY MAN, ALBERT COUREY. ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE THERMODYNAMICS WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS ALBERT COUREY. I had started with 14A with Lavelle and I remember wondering whether I should switch to Courey or stay with Lavelle for 14B. I strongly encourage taking 14B with Courey. He genuinely cares about teaching us everything from Thermodynamics to Chemical Equilibria. So the course is comprised of: Midterm I 16%: So Midterm 1 based on the scheduling will be the midterm that has the least amount of material being tested on so it will be the easiest of the Midterms and the Final. Midterm II 16%: Midterm II is covers more material, but for some reason I think this test was easier and everyone did better on than Midterm 1. Final 32%: Because of the COVID19 crisis, we could opt-in/opt-out of the test and I opted out because I already had the grade I wanted but my friends also said this was a very fair test. Worksheets 5%: Graded in completion, but I highly recommend studying the format of these as they are just like his tests. Usually, you will get your worksheet and be like "WTF I cannot do this" but that is the point so you work in your discussion section with your LAs and TA. After a while, you'll get the hang of the worksheets and be like "wait WTF am I like lowkey smart??" Pre-class quizzes 16% : These quizzes had unlimited tries and were online but Courey encouraged us to not use so many tries and actually work on them by offering some extra credit if we completed the quiz in 1-2 tries. The quizzes are also very similar to the tests especially his "Challenge Quizzes" 10/10 recommend finding friends to work on them with because these definitely require group effort for like the Challenge Quizzes. Participation 5%: Participation was the hardest thing in the class. We had these minute papers due after Fridays lectures and they would open at 2pm and close at 8pm. A lot of people would forget about them and lose these participation points. Then the next way to get participation points was the Cold Call Discussions. Basically you sign up and as long as you sign up you get participation points. The bad part is that signing up makes you available to be called on in class so if Courey has a question he can call your name from a list to answer. You do not have to be right or anything he just wants to have the lecture attentive. But it easily is the most stressful 50 minutes of your life but it will make you attentive in class I must admit. i>clicker 10%: these iclickers are based on just doing them in class there really is not much about them. **WARNING: Courey is different than Lavelle in the sense that Courey mainly tests on conceptual rather than calculations. His tests sometimes only used variables instead of chemical compounds so we would be forced to critically analyze the problems in front of us. But lowkey I never thought I was a conceptual person but Courey is such an amazing professor that I understood the concepts. But of course there are people who are better at calculations than conceptual so keep that in mind. Just wanted to shout out Jason, my LA. Literally a god but i think he is graduating this year. And Jessica Soule, my TA was also pretty good. IN SUMMARY: COUREY IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Professor Courey was, without doubt, the best professor I have had during my time here at UCLA. He is very passionate about teaching, and it shows when he lectures. He posts the PowerPoints for lectures ahead of time, and there is a quiz that corresponds with almost each PowerPoint. You have unlimited attempts on these quizzes, and to encourage you from guessing your way through these quizzes, he awards you a point of extra credit for each quiz that you get a 9/10 or higher on in under 2 attempts. His first midterm was pretty hard, and time was extremely limited. However, he realized this, and allowed us to gain back some of the points we missed. Also, he made the second midterm significantly easier, and I think it was because of the feedback he received on the first midterm. The final was not super easy, but he was very understanding of the circumstances, considering it was during the whole coronavirus frenzy. He made it optional, but if you were to take it, you had ample time to do it. In addition, he allowed us to collaborate on it, and gave us the opportunity to earn 10 points extra credit on it. We had weekly homework due, but these were graded on effort, and we would go over some of the problems with an LA in our discussion, which clarified the concepts well. Overall, Professor Courey is a gem, and I would definitely take a class with him if I could!
Winter 2020 - Professor Courey was, without doubt, the best professor I have had during my time here at UCLA. He is very passionate about teaching, and it shows when he lectures. He posts the PowerPoints for lectures ahead of time, and there is a quiz that corresponds with almost each PowerPoint. You have unlimited attempts on these quizzes, and to encourage you from guessing your way through these quizzes, he awards you a point of extra credit for each quiz that you get a 9/10 or higher on in under 2 attempts. His first midterm was pretty hard, and time was extremely limited. However, he realized this, and allowed us to gain back some of the points we missed. Also, he made the second midterm significantly easier, and I think it was because of the feedback he received on the first midterm. The final was not super easy, but he was very understanding of the circumstances, considering it was during the whole coronavirus frenzy. He made it optional, but if you were to take it, you had ample time to do it. In addition, he allowed us to collaborate on it, and gave us the opportunity to earn 10 points extra credit on it. We had weekly homework due, but these were graded on effort, and we would go over some of the problems with an LA in our discussion, which clarified the concepts well. Overall, Professor Courey is a gem, and I would definitely take a class with him if I could!
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Most Helpful Review
I am currently taking him right now. He is yet another fantastic professor. He knows his shit WELL. He has a great sense of humor and the midterms are fair. There are no trick questions or anything. His office hours are VERY helpful too. 3 midterms 1 final (3rd midterm is given at the same time as the final) 2 homework assignments 2 articles
I am currently taking him right now. He is yet another fantastic professor. He knows his shit WELL. He has a great sense of humor and the midterms are fair. There are no trick questions or anything. His office hours are VERY helpful too. 3 midterms 1 final (3rd midterm is given at the same time as the final) 2 homework assignments 2 articles
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