Professor
Craig Merlic
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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.
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.
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!
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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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - I cannot express enough the regard I hold for professor Merlic; he is easily one of best instructors I have had the privilege of learning from. On the last day of lecture, I even found the triumph of finishing orgo colored by melancholy, as I realized our time together had come to an end. Though organic chemistry is often discussed with a degree of dread, Prof. Merlic's wit and contagious enthusiasm, dare I say, made the class something to look forward to. He lectures at a brisk pace, but provides ample supplementary materials with which to study. He also demonstrates CONSIDERABLE patience, given some of the more "quirky" students in class this quarter. Though he initially grinned and bore the disruptions, by ninth week he began to lay down the hammer on the hysterics; in my opinion, he could have done this sooner. Exams and grading was fair. Complemented by a very competent TA team, I would fully recommend this course with Prof. Merlic. My only regret is that I did not have time this quarter to take his Honors Seminar.
Winter 2018 - I cannot express enough the regard I hold for professor Merlic; he is easily one of best instructors I have had the privilege of learning from. On the last day of lecture, I even found the triumph of finishing orgo colored by melancholy, as I realized our time together had come to an end. Though organic chemistry is often discussed with a degree of dread, Prof. Merlic's wit and contagious enthusiasm, dare I say, made the class something to look forward to. He lectures at a brisk pace, but provides ample supplementary materials with which to study. He also demonstrates CONSIDERABLE patience, given some of the more "quirky" students in class this quarter. Though he initially grinned and bore the disruptions, by ninth week he began to lay down the hammer on the hysterics; in my opinion, he could have done this sooner. Exams and grading was fair. Complemented by a very competent TA team, I would fully recommend this course with Prof. Merlic. My only regret is that I did not have time this quarter to take his Honors Seminar.
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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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Fall 2016 - For all Pre-Meds I'm selling custom made MCAT Full-Lengths which are custom designed with AAMC style questions. These questions mimim question packs and section bank. If you don't want to purchase the AAMC question banks separately you can get it in Full-length format to enable most important practice in your study schedule to gauge where you're at and how to improve. Contact **********
Fall 2016 - For all Pre-Meds I'm selling custom made MCAT Full-Lengths which are custom designed with AAMC style questions. These questions mimim question packs and section bank. If you don't want to purchase the AAMC question banks separately you can get it in Full-length format to enable most important practice in your study schedule to gauge where you're at and how to improve. Contact **********
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Although this is technically a lab class, you should honestly treat this class as a lecture class that has 8 hours of lab every week. The lectures are fast and go through all of Chem 30 with around twice as much content in each unit, and you'll need to study a lot to understand and memorize the reactions Dr. Merlic covers. He also assigns problem sets and pop quizzes during lectures. The content is pretty interesting esp. if you enjoy synthesis, but the sheer amount of information can get overwhelming. Every week or so, you basically learn a new set of organic reactions (oxidations, organometallics, aldol) and each set has its own set of stereochemistry rules. The lab component is not too bad (s/o to Tony and Roberto!) but the procedures are sometimes long and difficult. Labs are independent and self-paced, so your ability to get good NMRs will depend mostly on your own synthetic and purification skills. There will be times when your yield is incredibly low, requiring you to redo 2-3 entire lab periods of work. Hardest part of the lab reports is analyzing your NMRs, so really try to purify your products to make your life a lot easier.
Fall 2021 - Although this is technically a lab class, you should honestly treat this class as a lecture class that has 8 hours of lab every week. The lectures are fast and go through all of Chem 30 with around twice as much content in each unit, and you'll need to study a lot to understand and memorize the reactions Dr. Merlic covers. He also assigns problem sets and pop quizzes during lectures. The content is pretty interesting esp. if you enjoy synthesis, but the sheer amount of information can get overwhelming. Every week or so, you basically learn a new set of organic reactions (oxidations, organometallics, aldol) and each set has its own set of stereochemistry rules. The lab component is not too bad (s/o to Tony and Roberto!) but the procedures are sometimes long and difficult. Labs are independent and self-paced, so your ability to get good NMRs will depend mostly on your own synthetic and purification skills. There will be times when your yield is incredibly low, requiring you to redo 2-3 entire lab periods of work. Hardest part of the lab reports is analyzing your NMRs, so really try to purify your products to make your life a lot easier.
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