Professor

Marlius Castillo Rodriguez

AD
3.8
Overall Ratings
Based on 102 Users
Easiness 3.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.4 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 3.3 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.6 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (102)

1 of 8
1 of 8
Add your review...
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 6, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

First and foremost Prof. Castillo from winter quarter to spring quarter 2020 has pulled a massive 360. Take the old reviews with a grain salt, but some things still remain. Also 85-92.9 is A- and 93 up is A. She became hella lenient ngl. Lectures can be ass but go to Office Hours she's more responsive. In summary, she has shit communication and attitude problems, but hella rarely. Anyone can get tired and some of us were hella pushy for extra credit etc. She's a really smart woman tbh and in OH she knows her shit. I repeat ditch lectures and go to OH. Lectures get recorded anyways and use the powerpoint.

To begin with this class as a general consensus is not as hard as Chem 14A and 14B especially if you had daddy lavelle. The concepts till about week 8 are fairly easy in this class and even the last two weeks aren't bad. The thing is this class isn't exactly organic chemistry. We do not cover reactions like SN2 and SN1 reactions. We cover concepts such as conjugation and aromaticity and etc. These are fairly easy. They don't involve calculations and hard stuff. You can even cram them tbh I did and got a 89 percent on the midterm and ended up with an A in the class.

The quarter being online did make lecture kinda ass, but her powerpoint were pretty good. Also, use Chad's organic chem videos. Stereochemistry its the only bitch in this course tbh. The quizzes are 10 pts each and you get about 4 questions on each worth 2.5 its each adding up to 10. Lowest quiz is dropped. On top of that Prof. Castillo gave like 2 points of extra credit straight up in the quiz category. The midterm was also straight up similar to lecture problems and we got 1 pt of extra credit on it.

Now the tea. The reason everyone basically called her a first class bitch is because the TA's and the professors had a MEGA-MEGA screwup on the grading of the midterm. They used a wrong answer key and basically our first scores were hella shit. There were 400 regrade requests and the professor got quite annoyed lmao and passive aggressive. Sometimes her attitude can be wonky, but for the most part she's a G.

Finally, Dr. Castillo does not trick you at all on exams. I didn't find any trick questions on neither the midterm or quizzes. She also gives you past exam questions which are hella similar.

I'm sure half this class has a solid A rn.

Grade Break Down:

---30% quizzes - 5 quizzes lowest one dropped

---20% midterm

---20% discussion/hw --- everyone gets full credit on this basically free 20%

---30% final -- shit got cancelled for us but knowing her it would have been simple

Final thoughts are that while Prof. Castillo has shit communication bc she never replies to emails, she is a decent lecturer. You may not learn the best from her but her assessments are frankly a joke compared to lavelle. Also, people are ungrateful cunts which led her to get annoyed. None of you would talk to lavelle the way some people did to her. She already lowered the bar for an A- to an 85 and gave hella extra credit. Take 14C with Castillo.

Helpful?

13 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 22, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A+

TLDR; Dr. Castillo is a passionate professor who cares about her student's wellbeing. Throughout the quarter, she gave tons of EC (literally 3% worth), dropped our lowest quiz grade, and provided more than ample time for exams.

Tips:
1) Do not use the textbook - it makes everything harder than it should be; just look at her slides and you'll be more than fine
2) Discussion worksheets prelude to what is going to be tested on exams. If you go to discussion and work through them with your breakout group, you'll be more than fine.
3) Office hours are only helpful if you have specific questions about a problem - if not, Castillo sometimes goes on tangents and it could be deemed as a waste of time; instead just go on YT and try to learn from there if you're stuck

As many dread OChem, I would say that taking it with Castillo has been a godsend. I'll start off with the 'exams':
The quizzes she holds (6 total) are not cumulative and are based on the lectures that she says that they cover (and at the end of the quarter, she dropped the lowest quiz grade); you also have multiple attempts to do them.
The midterm and final were extremely fair and she gave 4-5 hours to finish them (if you're international or need more time, you can turn it in after with no penalty as long as you justify why you did). The only annoying part about her exams is that she put a ton of stereochemistry and that was a pain.

Her lectures are quite dry at times but I'd say it's because English isn't her first language (but she is very passionate about the subject and wants her students to all do well. If you don't understand something I would not recommend going to OH unless it's very course-specific as it could be even more confusing for you. Someone recommended Chad's Organic Chemistry on YT and I agree that this would be a great resource.

With respect to the content of the course itself, it is not too difficult - in a sense everything connects with each other very well and if you do ample practice you should be able to easily do the questions on the quiz. There are some topics that are conceptually harder to understand but they generally achievable with some extra practice from YT.

Helpful?

7 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 31, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A-

Listen. This was the first time I had ever gotten an A in chemistry. I understood the professor when I would review the slides + bruincast, even though I did need to watch some youtube videos online. It wasn't that bad. Ideally, I wouldn't have had to watch any videos at all, but I've had to do that with every other chemistry class and that was okay with me. I don't know if I agree with everyone else who calls her a horrible lecturer. She was kinda bad at handling questions and she did kind of make you feel bad for asking some stuff, but she did answer things when you asked. Her slides were more of a help than the bruincast was. The TAs were great though, they explained things super clearly and in a way that was really easy to understand.
Overall, I wouldn't take her again, but I don't regret taking her either. She was nice, and It was her first time, I just think she needs more practice.

Helpful?

11 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 5, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

Professor Castillo Rodriguez genuinely tries her best to listen and respond to her students.

Helpful?

5 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 16, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A+

Given that this was her first year teaching, she did struggle a little delivering lectures and explaining concepts. However, Dr. Castillo really cares about student learning and performance - providing extra credit, dropping the lowest quiz score, and making the final optional due to the change to online testing. I felt that her exams were very reasonable and simply studying her lecture slides and additional information on ccle were sufficient to do well on the exams. Organic chemistry is generally a tough and challenging course, but she made sure to provide enough resources that as long as you make sure to stay on top with studying, you can do well in this class and get a good grasp of the concepts.

Helpful?

9 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 1, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

Professor Castillo was very accomodating throughout the online quarter. You can really tell that she cares for her students and their growth. Like many, I was afraid of her class due to past reviews from previous quarters. She has definitely improved as a lecturer and professor overall. I found her resources (worksheets and practice exams) very helpful. Her tests were fair in my opinion because she made sure that the exams only included concepts we had learned in the lecture.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
April 11, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A-

She's a decent professor who cares about students learning. These reviews are really mean and do not reflect her as a professor. Shes not as bad as everyone says.

Helpful?

6 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 24, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A

This class was a lot of work because her lectures are not the best, but it's doable if you spend time reviewing/learning the material outside of class so don't lose hope! I spent most of my time studying her slides by myself and reading about the subjects online and it worked out for me in the end. This was her first quarter teaching here so she was a bit shaky, but she DOES care about student learning - we had multiple opportunities for extra credit and she changed the grading scale so that 90%+ was an A because the class asked for it. While some of her email replies and answers in class do seem a bit standoffish, I think that she really tried her hardest to answer questions to the best of her ability.

Helpful?

6 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 20, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

This review is long, but it's honestly because I loved this class so much. I'm not really a chemistry fan, but I enjoyed this class! Dr. Castillo made it extremely engaging and fun. She encouraged class participation and pushed us to ask questions, even during lecture. She would stop to make sure that all our questions were answered, even if that meant pushing lectures back or staying late after the allotted time. Her office hours were helpful, and she was always accommodating when it came to personal circumstances for the quizzes/midterm.
I took this class when it was all online (COVID), but I don't think that I was at any sort of disadvantage (if anything, it was an advantage!). She was really understanding of the general and individual circumstances and did her best to accommodate everyone.
The class was based on discussions (20), quizzes (30), the midterm (20), and the final (30). The quizzes were worth just as much as the final, and the discussions were worth just as much as the midterm, which ended up being a nice buffer for my grade. I also think she was more lenient on the discussion attendance (we had to attend 5/10 discussions for full points) than if the class were in person, but I'm not sure.
I will say that her midterm was difficult, but she was very understanding about the process. She listened to our suggestions/complaints and adjusted the grading scale to help us all (and our grades) out. I ended up getting at least 10% back on my midterm after submitting regrades, so it's really important to review your tests and make sure that you maxed out all the points possible. I didn't take the final because she gave us the option to take it/not take it, but she doesn't release the final and doesn't allow for regrades, so keep that in mind.

1. Go to Office Hours!
I found that the professor and TAs' office hours were extremely helpful in understanding the material. Dr. Castillo's office hours did get pretty packed (especially right before the midterm), but TA office hours are just as good!

2. Study for the Quizzes
I don't know if she'll maintain the same grading scale, but the quizzes REALLY affect your grade. I know that my quizzes saved me (I pretty much got 100s on all of them), and it gave me a really nice buffer for the midterm. She does give out some "free" points, but I wouldn't rely on those for grade bumps. If she does offer any extra credit, it's usually through the quizzes. For example, she gave us the option of submitting a concept map for a point of extra credit, and she also made a "Will you cheat on this quiz?" question a point as well. I found her quizzes fairly easy and fair, but there are some tricky questions! The hardest part for me was the time. She gave us 10 - 15 minutes depending on the quiz, and I found that time constraint a little stressful. She did give us two attempts per quiz which was nice, but the questions do change per attempt.

3. Do the Practice Worksheets
On top of the discussion worksheets (you had to submit 5/10 in order to get full points), Dr. Castillo provides a weekly worksheet of practice problems based on the concepts she taught that week. I skimped out on them the first couple of weeks because I was lazy, but after taking the midterm, I realized that these were probably the most accurate representation of her test problems (if not a bit harder). If you can solve every problem in her practice worksheets without help, I would say that you'd be pretty good for her tests.

All in all, I found this class so much more enjoyable than any other chem class I've taken, and I really wish she could teach 14D.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 5, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

I read about Prof. Castillo on Bruinwalk before taking her for 14C in the spring and was nervous because of her reviews from winter quarter. But, she has improved so much in her second quarter teaching. She is very accomodating to answering students' questions during lecture and always thanks students for their participation. Also, the pace of the class is completely dependent on how well the students are understanding the material. For example, this quarter we spend 4 days on NMR because students were struggling and then she cut out some of the lesson plan to accomodate. Her exams are also the same level of difficulty as the weekly worksheets posted for homework so, students are able to go into the exam confidently. I think Prof. Castillo made 14C a lot easier than 14A/B (I had Lavelle for 14A/B) because of the clarity of her lectures and her helpfulness. I have never written a Bruinwalk review before but because of how much Castillo is improved I thought I would leave a review. I have also recommended all of my friends to take her for 14C next year because she is teaching in fall/winter.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 6, 2020

First and foremost Prof. Castillo from winter quarter to spring quarter 2020 has pulled a massive 360. Take the old reviews with a grain salt, but some things still remain. Also 85-92.9 is A- and 93 up is A. She became hella lenient ngl. Lectures can be ass but go to Office Hours she's more responsive. In summary, she has shit communication and attitude problems, but hella rarely. Anyone can get tired and some of us were hella pushy for extra credit etc. She's a really smart woman tbh and in OH she knows her shit. I repeat ditch lectures and go to OH. Lectures get recorded anyways and use the powerpoint.

To begin with this class as a general consensus is not as hard as Chem 14A and 14B especially if you had daddy lavelle. The concepts till about week 8 are fairly easy in this class and even the last two weeks aren't bad. The thing is this class isn't exactly organic chemistry. We do not cover reactions like SN2 and SN1 reactions. We cover concepts such as conjugation and aromaticity and etc. These are fairly easy. They don't involve calculations and hard stuff. You can even cram them tbh I did and got a 89 percent on the midterm and ended up with an A in the class.

The quarter being online did make lecture kinda ass, but her powerpoint were pretty good. Also, use Chad's organic chem videos. Stereochemistry its the only bitch in this course tbh. The quizzes are 10 pts each and you get about 4 questions on each worth 2.5 its each adding up to 10. Lowest quiz is dropped. On top of that Prof. Castillo gave like 2 points of extra credit straight up in the quiz category. The midterm was also straight up similar to lecture problems and we got 1 pt of extra credit on it.

Now the tea. The reason everyone basically called her a first class bitch is because the TA's and the professors had a MEGA-MEGA screwup on the grading of the midterm. They used a wrong answer key and basically our first scores were hella shit. There were 400 regrade requests and the professor got quite annoyed lmao and passive aggressive. Sometimes her attitude can be wonky, but for the most part she's a G.

Finally, Dr. Castillo does not trick you at all on exams. I didn't find any trick questions on neither the midterm or quizzes. She also gives you past exam questions which are hella similar.

I'm sure half this class has a solid A rn.

Grade Break Down:

---30% quizzes - 5 quizzes lowest one dropped

---20% midterm

---20% discussion/hw --- everyone gets full credit on this basically free 20%

---30% final -- shit got cancelled for us but knowing her it would have been simple

Final thoughts are that while Prof. Castillo has shit communication bc she never replies to emails, she is a decent lecturer. You may not learn the best from her but her assessments are frankly a joke compared to lavelle. Also, people are ungrateful cunts which led her to get annoyed. None of you would talk to lavelle the way some people did to her. She already lowered the bar for an A- to an 85 and gave hella extra credit. Take 14C with Castillo.

Helpful?

13 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A+
Dec. 22, 2020

TLDR; Dr. Castillo is a passionate professor who cares about her student's wellbeing. Throughout the quarter, she gave tons of EC (literally 3% worth), dropped our lowest quiz grade, and provided more than ample time for exams.

Tips:
1) Do not use the textbook - it makes everything harder than it should be; just look at her slides and you'll be more than fine
2) Discussion worksheets prelude to what is going to be tested on exams. If you go to discussion and work through them with your breakout group, you'll be more than fine.
3) Office hours are only helpful if you have specific questions about a problem - if not, Castillo sometimes goes on tangents and it could be deemed as a waste of time; instead just go on YT and try to learn from there if you're stuck

As many dread OChem, I would say that taking it with Castillo has been a godsend. I'll start off with the 'exams':
The quizzes she holds (6 total) are not cumulative and are based on the lectures that she says that they cover (and at the end of the quarter, she dropped the lowest quiz grade); you also have multiple attempts to do them.
The midterm and final were extremely fair and she gave 4-5 hours to finish them (if you're international or need more time, you can turn it in after with no penalty as long as you justify why you did). The only annoying part about her exams is that she put a ton of stereochemistry and that was a pain.

Her lectures are quite dry at times but I'd say it's because English isn't her first language (but she is very passionate about the subject and wants her students to all do well. If you don't understand something I would not recommend going to OH unless it's very course-specific as it could be even more confusing for you. Someone recommended Chad's Organic Chemistry on YT and I agree that this would be a great resource.

With respect to the content of the course itself, it is not too difficult - in a sense everything connects with each other very well and if you do ample practice you should be able to easily do the questions on the quiz. There are some topics that are conceptually harder to understand but they generally achievable with some extra practice from YT.

Helpful?

7 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A-
March 31, 2020

Listen. This was the first time I had ever gotten an A in chemistry. I understood the professor when I would review the slides + bruincast, even though I did need to watch some youtube videos online. It wasn't that bad. Ideally, I wouldn't have had to watch any videos at all, but I've had to do that with every other chemistry class and that was okay with me. I don't know if I agree with everyone else who calls her a horrible lecturer. She was kinda bad at handling questions and she did kind of make you feel bad for asking some stuff, but she did answer things when you asked. Her slides were more of a help than the bruincast was. The TAs were great though, they explained things super clearly and in a way that was really easy to understand.
Overall, I wouldn't take her again, but I don't regret taking her either. She was nice, and It was her first time, I just think she needs more practice.

Helpful?

11 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 5, 2020

Professor Castillo Rodriguez genuinely tries her best to listen and respond to her students.

Helpful?

5 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A+
March 16, 2020

Given that this was her first year teaching, she did struggle a little delivering lectures and explaining concepts. However, Dr. Castillo really cares about student learning and performance - providing extra credit, dropping the lowest quiz score, and making the final optional due to the change to online testing. I felt that her exams were very reasonable and simply studying her lecture slides and additional information on ccle were sufficient to do well on the exams. Organic chemistry is generally a tough and challenging course, but she made sure to provide enough resources that as long as you make sure to stay on top with studying, you can do well in this class and get a good grasp of the concepts.

Helpful?

9 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
July 1, 2020

Professor Castillo was very accomodating throughout the online quarter. You can really tell that she cares for her students and their growth. Like many, I was afraid of her class due to past reviews from previous quarters. She has definitely improved as a lecturer and professor overall. I found her resources (worksheets and practice exams) very helpful. Her tests were fair in my opinion because she made sure that the exams only included concepts we had learned in the lecture.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A-
April 11, 2020

She's a decent professor who cares about students learning. These reviews are really mean and do not reflect her as a professor. Shes not as bad as everyone says.

Helpful?

6 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 24, 2020

This class was a lot of work because her lectures are not the best, but it's doable if you spend time reviewing/learning the material outside of class so don't lose hope! I spent most of my time studying her slides by myself and reading about the subjects online and it worked out for me in the end. This was her first quarter teaching here so she was a bit shaky, but she DOES care about student learning - we had multiple opportunities for extra credit and she changed the grading scale so that 90%+ was an A because the class asked for it. While some of her email replies and answers in class do seem a bit standoffish, I think that she really tried her hardest to answer questions to the best of her ability.

Helpful?

6 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 20, 2020

This review is long, but it's honestly because I loved this class so much. I'm not really a chemistry fan, but I enjoyed this class! Dr. Castillo made it extremely engaging and fun. She encouraged class participation and pushed us to ask questions, even during lecture. She would stop to make sure that all our questions were answered, even if that meant pushing lectures back or staying late after the allotted time. Her office hours were helpful, and she was always accommodating when it came to personal circumstances for the quizzes/midterm.
I took this class when it was all online (COVID), but I don't think that I was at any sort of disadvantage (if anything, it was an advantage!). She was really understanding of the general and individual circumstances and did her best to accommodate everyone.
The class was based on discussions (20), quizzes (30), the midterm (20), and the final (30). The quizzes were worth just as much as the final, and the discussions were worth just as much as the midterm, which ended up being a nice buffer for my grade. I also think she was more lenient on the discussion attendance (we had to attend 5/10 discussions for full points) than if the class were in person, but I'm not sure.
I will say that her midterm was difficult, but she was very understanding about the process. She listened to our suggestions/complaints and adjusted the grading scale to help us all (and our grades) out. I ended up getting at least 10% back on my midterm after submitting regrades, so it's really important to review your tests and make sure that you maxed out all the points possible. I didn't take the final because she gave us the option to take it/not take it, but she doesn't release the final and doesn't allow for regrades, so keep that in mind.

1. Go to Office Hours!
I found that the professor and TAs' office hours were extremely helpful in understanding the material. Dr. Castillo's office hours did get pretty packed (especially right before the midterm), but TA office hours are just as good!

2. Study for the Quizzes
I don't know if she'll maintain the same grading scale, but the quizzes REALLY affect your grade. I know that my quizzes saved me (I pretty much got 100s on all of them), and it gave me a really nice buffer for the midterm. She does give out some "free" points, but I wouldn't rely on those for grade bumps. If she does offer any extra credit, it's usually through the quizzes. For example, she gave us the option of submitting a concept map for a point of extra credit, and she also made a "Will you cheat on this quiz?" question a point as well. I found her quizzes fairly easy and fair, but there are some tricky questions! The hardest part for me was the time. She gave us 10 - 15 minutes depending on the quiz, and I found that time constraint a little stressful. She did give us two attempts per quiz which was nice, but the questions do change per attempt.

3. Do the Practice Worksheets
On top of the discussion worksheets (you had to submit 5/10 in order to get full points), Dr. Castillo provides a weekly worksheet of practice problems based on the concepts she taught that week. I skimped out on them the first couple of weeks because I was lazy, but after taking the midterm, I realized that these were probably the most accurate representation of her test problems (if not a bit harder). If you can solve every problem in her practice worksheets without help, I would say that you'd be pretty good for her tests.

All in all, I found this class so much more enjoyable than any other chem class I've taken, and I really wish she could teach 14D.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 14C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 5, 2020

I read about Prof. Castillo on Bruinwalk before taking her for 14C in the spring and was nervous because of her reviews from winter quarter. But, she has improved so much in her second quarter teaching. She is very accomodating to answering students' questions during lecture and always thanks students for their participation. Also, the pace of the class is completely dependent on how well the students are understanding the material. For example, this quarter we spend 4 days on NMR because students were struggling and then she cut out some of the lesson plan to accomodate. Her exams are also the same level of difficulty as the weekly worksheets posted for homework so, students are able to go into the exam confidently. I think Prof. Castillo made 14C a lot easier than 14A/B (I had Lavelle for 14A/B) because of the clarity of her lectures and her helpfulness. I have never written a Bruinwalk review before but because of how much Castillo is improved I thought I would leave a review. I have also recommended all of my friends to take her for 14C next year because she is teaching in fall/winter.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 8
ADS

Adblock Detected

Bruinwalk is an entirely Daily Bruin-run service brought to you for free. We hate annoying ads just as much as you do, but they help keep our lights on. We promise to keep our ads as relevant for you as possible, so please consider disabling your ad-blocking software while using this site.

Thank you for supporting us!