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Hung Pham
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Professor Pham is amazing! I admit it's a difficult class, but he explains the material very well with his super organized slides and does his best to help all of his students succeed. He's always more than happy to address any concerns during office hours. He's also very approachable and wears cool chemistry t-shirts.
Pham is an amazing professor. Not only is he great at explaining difficult concepts, he is one of the most caring professors. He really wants his students to be learning and understanding the material. As well, he truly cares about us as individuals. He makes it clear that he wants us to be happy and successful. He also respects every students' opinion. I think those qualities are what makes him amazing. 10/10 recommend.
Dr. Pham is a really good professor who cares a lot for his students. I took this class during all the confusion with the virus and Pham spent time to talk about what professors were being told about the situation and other stuff like that. He gave fun facts every Friday that were separate from the material in the class but were pretty interesting. As for the material, I thought that it was pretty straightforward and if you do all the practice problems (which I should've done more) you should be fine with the exams/homeworks. Overall, I enjoyed this class but just make sure to stay on track once you get into the reactions and synthesis part.
Pham is the homie. People give him flack for being really sarcastic or satirical but he's real with his students and I find that endearing. He kinda got famous (or rather infamous) for his notorious email regarding 30B winter finals but he did apologize wholeheartedly. He cares for his students and he's pretty funny too. Trust. Overall a good guy. Regarding the transition to online learning, he was super understanding and flexible. No complaints.
As for the class, o-chem is o-chem. It's mad hard but possible to do well in. His slides are gold. His tests are kinda unorthodox compared to Chen (and Merlic from what I've heard) but they're fair. Huge time crunches but fair as far as content goes. Practice problems are mad helpful. Good luck dawg.
I had Prof. Pham for all three ochem courses (30A, 30B, 30C) and he is honestly the best Professor to have. Ochem seems very daunting, but Pham really broke it down clearly and in a way that's easy to digest. He was very understanding of his students and showed clear effort to ensure that his students were doing well during quarantine and the sudden shift to an online quarter.
With the online quarter for Spring 2020, we had 2 midterms (24 hours, gradescope), a final (ended up being optional no-harm), as well as problem set worksheets (newly implemented due to online learning, he didn't have these in 30A or 30B) that were graded on accuracy (they weren't too bad).
Overall, highly recommend him as a professor!
Professor Pham is an EXCELLENT teacher and explains concepts very well. He has also been excellent in making accommodations during the pandemic. I was so scared of taking organic chemistry based on what I’ve heard, but if you’re taking the class with him and review at least a little bit every night to make sure you stay up to date with concepts (the class builds on itself) you should be fine! I’d highly recommend studying for this class using his slides, but also Leah4Sci, the Organic Chemistry Tutor, and Professor Dave Explains on youtube. I also really liked the book “organic chemistry as a second language”, it helped a lot! Overall I wouldn’t worry about this class if you take it with him and make sure to attend lecture as it is worth extra credit.
I took the 3 week version of this class so it was very fast-paced. As the other reviews, Pham is a super engaging lecturer that explains concepts really well, they were all bruincasted (This class was fully online) so I found it extremely helpful to rewatch lectures at about 1.5x-2x speed. Youtube resources like Professor Dave and Leah4sci really helped as well. Overall, the tests are difficult and long but they are also fair. If you keep up with lecture and do the discussion/LA worksheets you should be good!
Oh boy, I am a classic student who really struggled with organic chemistry and this was my third time taking it after panic dropping it twice, but I'm glad to be done with it. Dr. Pham is very knowledgeable and approachable, and he did a fun AMA at the end of the quarter which made him appear more human.
Here is the course breakdown, which is very different for COVID times:
Problem Sets (x 5) 100 ~30% (open notes, 1 per 2 weeks)
TaH Exams (x 3) 150 ~45% (open notes, one was a final)
Discussion Participation 40 ~12%
BACON Tutorials 40 ~12%
Total 330 100%
Before I dropped this class, I took it with Dr. Pham in Winter 2020 and felt that the difficulty was similar, although the tests were more difficult without open notes. I also took it with Dr. Nag in Spring 2020 and felt that his class was way harder, probably because he published 24-hour take home exams that were open-note but very difficult.
This time, I actually committed to taking Chem 14D and I think I did okay. The material is hard, but not too reliant on Chem 14C. I had a poor professor for 14C, but you really only need to be aware of conformations (mostly chair conformation) and the idea of resonance and aromaticity and also the different functional groups.
I liked the exams had less weight, which alleviated a lot of my stress, although I still found them difficult. The average for the first exam was in the 70s and the average for the second exam was about 80, I believe.
Dr. Pham's grading scheme is also very kind, with the following criteria:
A+ (no EC) ≥ 99.0% 99.0% > A ≥ 94.0% 94.0% > A- ≥ 88.0%
88.0% > B+ ≥ 84.0% 84.0% > B ≥ 79.0% 79.0% > B- ≥ 75.0%
75.0% > C+ ≥ 69.0% 69.0% > C ≥ 62.0% 62.0% > C- ≥ 54.0%
54.0% > D+ ≥ 47.0% 47.0% > D ≥ 39.0% 39.0% > D- ≥ 30.0%
Also, he gives up to 8 extra credit points for clicker questions (0.5 pt/answer) and at the end of the quarter, he had students be able to make ochem-related media for up to another 8 points.
I would recommend taking this class with Dr. Pham, although be aware that ochem is challenging and while taking it online has its pros with open-note tests, ochem will continue to be tough if you have outside-of-school responsibilities that are taking up time in your life.
Aight Pham is a good instructor but I have to say he is overhyped. I don't mean this as an insult, I'm just telling you to not come into it thinking Pham is the best 14D professor in the world because you might lower your guard and take it for an easy class. If you can I'd recommend taking 14D with Nag because he does in fact take it easier on students.
Now that that's out of the way, Pham's class has its benefits: his class is super well-structured and organized (and grading was absurdly fast, it only took them 2-3 days after each problem set or exam to release grades) and the only thing you have to turn in besides the BACON quizzes (which are easy) are the problem sets. These things make the course mostly stress free because they make the content very straightforward & let you focus on studying. I've had to take very disorganized courses before, so taking this course was honestly such a breath of fresh air.
My warnings to future students: Pham's exam times (this quarter it was two midterms + one final that was shorter, but a bit trickier, than a midterm) are back to their limited "in-person" windows because of someone in the Chem 30 series that posted his exam on Chegg in Winter Quarter. This means 2 hours for midterms and 3 hours for the final with zero flexibility even for people in other time zones, so I had to take some exams very late at night. Also, don't bother with the textbook problems, they might be good to solidify some basic concepts but they're zero practice for exams; focus on the TA worksheets (all TAs' worksheets are available to all students on CCLE). Make sure to ALWAYS be caught up on material because topics builds on top of the other like nothing else and also because his in-class polls (which are questions on the previous lecture's content) give extra credit.
I disrespect him. He did not accommodate any of his students who underwent some difficult times. He lives by his syllabus. He does not care if you are out of state or country (you will be required to take the tests during PST) or if there is a medical emergency. YOU WILL BE TAKING HIS TEST NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE. and they are painfully brutal.
He is great at teaching, don't get me wrong, but the lack of compassion someone can have during this really weird/difficult time really deters students from enjoying this course.
good luck
Professor Pham is amazing! I admit it's a difficult class, but he explains the material very well with his super organized slides and does his best to help all of his students succeed. He's always more than happy to address any concerns during office hours. He's also very approachable and wears cool chemistry t-shirts.
Pham is an amazing professor. Not only is he great at explaining difficult concepts, he is one of the most caring professors. He really wants his students to be learning and understanding the material. As well, he truly cares about us as individuals. He makes it clear that he wants us to be happy and successful. He also respects every students' opinion. I think those qualities are what makes him amazing. 10/10 recommend.
Dr. Pham is a really good professor who cares a lot for his students. I took this class during all the confusion with the virus and Pham spent time to talk about what professors were being told about the situation and other stuff like that. He gave fun facts every Friday that were separate from the material in the class but were pretty interesting. As for the material, I thought that it was pretty straightforward and if you do all the practice problems (which I should've done more) you should be fine with the exams/homeworks. Overall, I enjoyed this class but just make sure to stay on track once you get into the reactions and synthesis part.
Pham is the homie. People give him flack for being really sarcastic or satirical but he's real with his students and I find that endearing. He kinda got famous (or rather infamous) for his notorious email regarding 30B winter finals but he did apologize wholeheartedly. He cares for his students and he's pretty funny too. Trust. Overall a good guy. Regarding the transition to online learning, he was super understanding and flexible. No complaints.
As for the class, o-chem is o-chem. It's mad hard but possible to do well in. His slides are gold. His tests are kinda unorthodox compared to Chen (and Merlic from what I've heard) but they're fair. Huge time crunches but fair as far as content goes. Practice problems are mad helpful. Good luck dawg.
I had Prof. Pham for all three ochem courses (30A, 30B, 30C) and he is honestly the best Professor to have. Ochem seems very daunting, but Pham really broke it down clearly and in a way that's easy to digest. He was very understanding of his students and showed clear effort to ensure that his students were doing well during quarantine and the sudden shift to an online quarter.
With the online quarter for Spring 2020, we had 2 midterms (24 hours, gradescope), a final (ended up being optional no-harm), as well as problem set worksheets (newly implemented due to online learning, he didn't have these in 30A or 30B) that were graded on accuracy (they weren't too bad).
Overall, highly recommend him as a professor!
Professor Pham is an EXCELLENT teacher and explains concepts very well. He has also been excellent in making accommodations during the pandemic. I was so scared of taking organic chemistry based on what I’ve heard, but if you’re taking the class with him and review at least a little bit every night to make sure you stay up to date with concepts (the class builds on itself) you should be fine! I’d highly recommend studying for this class using his slides, but also Leah4Sci, the Organic Chemistry Tutor, and Professor Dave Explains on youtube. I also really liked the book “organic chemistry as a second language”, it helped a lot! Overall I wouldn’t worry about this class if you take it with him and make sure to attend lecture as it is worth extra credit.
I took the 3 week version of this class so it was very fast-paced. As the other reviews, Pham is a super engaging lecturer that explains concepts really well, they were all bruincasted (This class was fully online) so I found it extremely helpful to rewatch lectures at about 1.5x-2x speed. Youtube resources like Professor Dave and Leah4sci really helped as well. Overall, the tests are difficult and long but they are also fair. If you keep up with lecture and do the discussion/LA worksheets you should be good!
Oh boy, I am a classic student who really struggled with organic chemistry and this was my third time taking it after panic dropping it twice, but I'm glad to be done with it. Dr. Pham is very knowledgeable and approachable, and he did a fun AMA at the end of the quarter which made him appear more human.
Here is the course breakdown, which is very different for COVID times:
Problem Sets (x 5) 100 ~30% (open notes, 1 per 2 weeks)
TaH Exams (x 3) 150 ~45% (open notes, one was a final)
Discussion Participation 40 ~12%
BACON Tutorials 40 ~12%
Total 330 100%
Before I dropped this class, I took it with Dr. Pham in Winter 2020 and felt that the difficulty was similar, although the tests were more difficult without open notes. I also took it with Dr. Nag in Spring 2020 and felt that his class was way harder, probably because he published 24-hour take home exams that were open-note but very difficult.
This time, I actually committed to taking Chem 14D and I think I did okay. The material is hard, but not too reliant on Chem 14C. I had a poor professor for 14C, but you really only need to be aware of conformations (mostly chair conformation) and the idea of resonance and aromaticity and also the different functional groups.
I liked the exams had less weight, which alleviated a lot of my stress, although I still found them difficult. The average for the first exam was in the 70s and the average for the second exam was about 80, I believe.
Dr. Pham's grading scheme is also very kind, with the following criteria:
A+ (no EC) ≥ 99.0% 99.0% > A ≥ 94.0% 94.0% > A- ≥ 88.0%
88.0% > B+ ≥ 84.0% 84.0% > B ≥ 79.0% 79.0% > B- ≥ 75.0%
75.0% > C+ ≥ 69.0% 69.0% > C ≥ 62.0% 62.0% > C- ≥ 54.0%
54.0% > D+ ≥ 47.0% 47.0% > D ≥ 39.0% 39.0% > D- ≥ 30.0%
Also, he gives up to 8 extra credit points for clicker questions (0.5 pt/answer) and at the end of the quarter, he had students be able to make ochem-related media for up to another 8 points.
I would recommend taking this class with Dr. Pham, although be aware that ochem is challenging and while taking it online has its pros with open-note tests, ochem will continue to be tough if you have outside-of-school responsibilities that are taking up time in your life.
Aight Pham is a good instructor but I have to say he is overhyped. I don't mean this as an insult, I'm just telling you to not come into it thinking Pham is the best 14D professor in the world because you might lower your guard and take it for an easy class. If you can I'd recommend taking 14D with Nag because he does in fact take it easier on students.
Now that that's out of the way, Pham's class has its benefits: his class is super well-structured and organized (and grading was absurdly fast, it only took them 2-3 days after each problem set or exam to release grades) and the only thing you have to turn in besides the BACON quizzes (which are easy) are the problem sets. These things make the course mostly stress free because they make the content very straightforward & let you focus on studying. I've had to take very disorganized courses before, so taking this course was honestly such a breath of fresh air.
My warnings to future students: Pham's exam times (this quarter it was two midterms + one final that was shorter, but a bit trickier, than a midterm) are back to their limited "in-person" windows because of someone in the Chem 30 series that posted his exam on Chegg in Winter Quarter. This means 2 hours for midterms and 3 hours for the final with zero flexibility even for people in other time zones, so I had to take some exams very late at night. Also, don't bother with the textbook problems, they might be good to solidify some basic concepts but they're zero practice for exams; focus on the TA worksheets (all TAs' worksheets are available to all students on CCLE). Make sure to ALWAYS be caught up on material because topics builds on top of the other like nothing else and also because his in-class polls (which are questions on the previous lecture's content) give extra credit.
I disrespect him. He did not accommodate any of his students who underwent some difficult times. He lives by his syllabus. He does not care if you are out of state or country (you will be required to take the tests during PST) or if there is a medical emergency. YOU WILL BE TAKING HIS TEST NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE. and they are painfully brutal.
He is great at teaching, don't get me wrong, but the lack of compassion someone can have during this really weird/difficult time really deters students from enjoying this course.
good luck