Her tests are very difficult, but she is a good teacher. She explains the concepts clearly. I feel she added unnecessary information to the curriculum like having to memorize the structures of random organic molecules such as capsaicin (the active ingredient in chili peppers). Staying on top of the material is essential, because there is a lot of content.

I feel like many people have the wrong idea about Dr. Kwon from her score here. Since she is the main professor for 30C, though, I want to reassure you that everything will be all right. As a C ochem student, I managed to get a B in this class with minimal effort (aka panic studying two nights before the exams after having done nothing for the past few weeks).

Materials
The book I guess.

Grading Scheme
20% Midterm 1
20% Midterm 2
60% Final
I guess the class is curved upward. No way in hell was I going to get a B otherwise.

Lecture
Although I had her class at 9AM, I never fell asleep. She knew a lot about how ochem applied to our lives, throwing in little tidbits of information that I always found fascinating. Her pacing was a bit fast, something common to the ochem series. No slides, just old-fashioned chalk and blackboard. I recommend sitting in the front and center to see her writing better (it can get small), especially now that the CS lecture halls use smaller whiteboards.

Discussion
Not mandatory and handled like a typical discussion. The two TAs came from her lab, but there was a surprising lack of communication between of the two of them and her about what material would be covered on exams and what kind of answers were acceptable. As such, I went to both of their discussion sections each week to get all of the possibly types of questions. The good thing about discussion was that the TAs gave us questions from her past exams. Many questions that they gave us reappeared on our exams.

Homework
Not mandatory. She basically gave a list of problems that she would recommend doing. I would do these if you're serious about learning this, but otherwise, you can get by without it.

Exams
Midterm 1 62.7
Midterm 2 58.8
Final idk
I scored about average on the midterms.

I am not an A student. I received Cs in 30A and 30B, despite having excellent professors. This was due to my laziness. I approached Kwon's class with more or less the same laziness. What saved me were the past exams. Go to the test bank and print out all her past exams. She gave out some of her past exams as practice, but you should make sure that you know all of them by heart. I remember on one midterm, I was studying really late the night before, skimmed through one of the past midterms and called it a night. Then one of the questions from that past midterm appeared, copied and pasted, on my midterm. Obviously I couldn't remember that question well and was livid afterward. The same thing happened on the second midterm, except it was with one that I got in discussion. Don't make these mistakes! Easy points right there.

Other than that, her problems have a similar feel across her exams. Just know all of the problems from her past exams and discussion section and you should be able to do it. I felt the homework was less helpful, but she did put one homework question on each exam. And make sure that you review your exams. One question from our midterm was copied and pasted onto the final.

Office Hours
She seems unapproachable, but really she's just blunt. Grow a thick skin and try her office hours. I found them largely unproductive because even though she had a group, she treated it like a one-on-one session. As such, I couldn't ever hear what she was saying unless I got really intimate with the group of people crowding around her desk. She only holds one two-hour session, so if you can't make it, that sucks. I went to TA office hours instead and found them more helpful. Other than that, she's a cool person who has lots of cool things to say beyond academics.

tl;dr
I was the type to do all the homework for the midterm content in the days right before it, so you can guess as to how much of that information I retained and understood. The key to success for me was studying her past midterms. The more you understand them, the better you'll do.

She is alright for Chem 30C. Dr. Kwon sends book problems you should/should not do as well as practice exams via e-mail. In terms of grading, she is quick for both midterms, but she waited until the last day grades were due to give us our final grade. Talk about suspense. The TAs seemed to be good. Attending discussion section is recommended since you are exposed to additional problems. Doing more problems and understanding them is key to organic chemistry.

Grading is as follows:

20% MT1
20% MT 2
60% Final

This means that you should take the final very seriously.

Here is my advice:

1. Attend all lectures. If you miss one, you are screwed.
2. Read the textbook and don't fall behind. Having an overall exposure to the topics before the professor covers them in lecture helps you retain the material a bit better.
3. Do the book problems.
4. DO ALL PRACTICE EXAMS. If you are behind on book problems and a midterm/final is coming up, I recommend that you focus on these exams. Try to find additional ones online/in the test bank besides the ones she posts. Also, memorize problems that are similar in style. There should not be too many surprises on tests.

I don't know her curve, but I got an A- and I can live with that. She is not terrible imo. I did not go to a single office hour, so I cannot comment on that. I think she is better than Harran but Merlic is the best of the three.

If you have her, just be prepared to stay on top of the material. Don't miss lecture and take good practice exams. There is an older review that recommends you re-write your notes. At this point in college, there just isn't time to make your notes so pristine, neat, and beautiful. Just write down what she has on the board and listen to the podcasts! Don't forget to take the practice exams.

On exams, when in doubt, think about resonance.

Also, the hardest part for me in the class was the Diels-Alder/stereochemistry part since you have to be able to visualize molecules and it can be a pain in the head. I looked online and was able to devise my own method. Just be prepared for that part of the course.

Again, attend all lectures, listen to all podcasts, and do all practice exams (find extra ones too on your own). If you are absolutely behind on book problems, then don't waste your time on them even though it is ideally better to do it. In the end, the practice exams are key to doing well. Finally, manage your time well on midterms (time goes by fast), and for the final, there is less of a time constraint, but don't work too slowly. Good luck!

She should learn from professor merlic and harran...

As a professor for chem she is okay but merlic was better. If you can wait for merlic for 30C. As a person she is horrible. She doesn't help for medical reasons if you miss a midterm. She brings up her story of missing a midterm at Yale or Harvard and how she still got an A in the class so anyone can. She crushes dreams and tells students medical school is not for them when she is not in the position to say that. She is rude and doesn't care what students handle in life besides chem.

Professor Kwon has to be one of the best chemistry professors I have taken. Lecture is actually enjoyable and understandable. She is very sweet. She wants everyone to do well. The tests are VERY fair. I was shocked at how similar they were to the previous exams she posted.

To ace this class:
1. Skim through the readings before lecture.
2. Go to lecture and write good notes.
3. Edit notes after re-reading the readings.
4. Do homework problems.
5. Go to her office hours if you have any questions.
6. Do all the practice exams.

Dr. Kwon is a great professor. Her knowledge of organic chemistry is great. Her organization is great. Organic Chemistry is only difficult if you're scared. If you're scared to not do well, if you're scared to be wrong, if you're scared to be embarrassed, if you're scared that it's difficult. Don't be scared. Accept that it is difficult, that you will be wrong, embarrassed, and perhaps not do well at first. And then embrace these. Be brave. Approach Dr. Kwon. Show yourself, show you're human. You'll see, she's a human too. And only then can you understand how much effort she puts in to teach students and make them appreciate the beauty of organic chemistry, how much time she spent learning it herself. At that point, you will know, organic chemistry with Dr. Kwon is as easy and efficient as it gets.

Professor Kwon is really well organized and obviously really intelligent. I feel like she had most of her lecture notes memorized. However, she moves pretty fast and she loves compound memorization and reverse synthesis. Lectures are focused way more on theory and product prediction - then it's up to you to work out reverse synthesis. And you'd better figure it out because it's all over her exams. Whereas most professors tend not to focus on things like nomenclature and compound recognition, Prof. Kwon definitely will and there are always nomenclature/compound recognition problems on the tests.

For future students, I recommend reading a few sections ahead (seriously, she goes really fast) and doing problems as you go along.

She tries to be accommodating with her office hours (takes a class vote) but she only has one/week so if you can't make it you can't make it.

I feel like the reviews below are not reflective of the Professor Kwon I had for 30C. She was very patient and articulate and managed to teach the course very well in my opinion. She picks her words very carefully and makes sure to clarify things that may be unclear. She stays after class for a very long time answering student questions and she almost always goes over her scheduled office hours. In previous quarters I noticed she answered a lot of questions on VOH & posted plenty of study material, but this quarter it seems like she didn't answer any and didn't post anything. So I'm not sure what to make of that.

Another good thing is that she really busts some butt to get the exams graded quickly (with the exception of the final because apparantly she went on vacation to China... but I assume this was a one-time only sort of deal).

My only complaint about her is that for some reason her midterms and final this quarter were pretty much a compilation of old questions from random exams/homework problems (moreso than in previous quarters I feel). Exams were probably a better measure of who has a better memory than of who has mastered the material. Also -- she has some very obvious favorite problems (they appear every time she teaches the class), so make sure you at least understand what's going on with those questions; don't blow it off and assume she wouldn't put the same question four years in a row, because she does.

Here's the deal: you gotta work for your A. U want an easy A and learn nothing? Then take Rubin. If u wanna learn something that will help you on your MCAT...DAT etc.. I highly recommend u take her. I worked REALLY hard..went to office hours and ended up with a B+ but honestly, DO ALLL the assigned homework problems..understand them.. cuz she uses those exact problems on the test and final. She also uses some from lecture. Lookin back, it would have been easy to get an A. She's a nice lady too. She wasn't my favorite, but she's the only teacher i learned something valuable with. Take her, i recommend her.