I had professor Zink for Chem 171--Inorganic. It was one of the worst experiences of my career at UCLA.

Although the class itself wasn't hard, the tests were freakin' unrealistic. They would test on material that we hadn't gone over in class. The homework that he assigned was absolutely useless, since it would expand on ideas that we didn't even cover in the classroom or show up on his tests. One piece of advice: DO EVERY single problem on his practice tests till you can solve them in your sleep.

One time, we asked professor Zink to do a HW problem on the board for us, and he couldn't solve it because the numbers and variables became way too complicated. He, in the end, just told us not to worry about that problem being graded on the HW.

The TA's were also horrid. One of them didn't know what she was doing and completely depended on notes prepared by the other TA--if you asked her a question outside of the realm of her notes, you wouldn't get an answer. The other TA was also only barely competent.

It is true that professor Zink seems to care more about research than his classes. He did seem like he was concerned about student learning--but the learning we did in class and our homework was in no way connected to the tests.

I'm still reeling over his inability to teach. DO NOT TAKE HIM!