Barbara Whitlock - University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI

Professor: Barbara Whitlock

Department: Chemistry

College: University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Shes useless, dont take it with her unless you need to. Her lecture notes are straight out of the book and her lectures are terrible. Exams unpredictable because she loves putting random material that you dont expect on there. Simple advice: memorize, memorize, memorize, if you memorize her lecture notes you should do fine, thats what I did.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM335
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Boring lectures but pay attention because all material is strictly from lectures. Do book problems...a lot of exam questions are similar to her suggested practice problems. If you have any questions just ask her and she will clarify. Also, ALWAYS check your exams when you get them back...I got all three exams scores raised due to summation errors.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great Prof, lectures boring as hell, but concise. She tells you everything you will need to know. Best of all, her curves are set at the B, just show up to lecture, and you'll pass

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CHM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures are poorly organized and do not flow, which makes it very hard to learn. She's one of the least well spoken professors I've met. I sat in on another lecturer because of this. If you want to learn, find a tutor and learn the book. I would recommend Dr. Clauss or Dr. Gellman.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Sweet lady, but super hard exams! I thought the first exam was going to be a piece of cake and got screwed over on that deal. Curves are forgiving.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Really good professor. If you read the book before lecture, you see that her lectures are very well organized and clear. Of course there is a lot of pointless memorizing and it's not a thrilling or exciting class, it's o-chem! But probably the best o-chem professor you could get.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Barb is a wonderful lady and definitely has a knack for teaching ochem. I had Gellman for 343 and compared to him, her lectures are incredibly slow. That said, I think by the end of the semester we covered an equivalent amount of material, and I understood it more in lecture. Studied notes, did a couple book problems, read through text once, got B.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Had her for 343 and 345. Going to office hours (which I did multiple times) was a complete waste of time. The worst part is she gives almost no material to practice with. The reviews and homework are not even close to the test. Her classic answer to any question "Go look it up in the book." I can't recommend enough to take it with someone else.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CHEMA
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Shes terrible. Absolutely useless lectures and material that you have to laboriously memorize to no end.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I cant imagine taking anyone else but barb for ochem. The class is curved heavily. Self teaching out of the book is a must, but that goes for any ochem class. After reading the book, her notes are crystal clear and really helpful. As long as you do that, it would be very difficult to get a bad grade.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Barb is very concise both in conversation and in teaching style. Read the book, do the problems, and study your notes (know mechanisms, intermediates, nomenclature, and reagents) GOOD LUCK! Its not too bad, the curve is forgiving

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Ochem is going to be tough no matter who your prof is. Barb lectured slowly, which was nice because you never missed anything but could also be boring. Her homework was useful, but exam questions were 10 times harder than anything in homework, lecture or book. She also stayed to answer questions after lecture and was helpful in office hour.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I think barb is the prof of choice for ochem. it may seem her lectures are hard to follow, but that is because it is all new material. actually if you look back at your notes, her lectures do make sense, a lot of sense. obviously ochem is going to take some effort and this includes both lecture AND book, but honeslty, what did you expect?

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Chem 343 with Whitlock is one of the harder OChem classes on campus. Especially if you've never had OChem before. The class goes very fast and although she is willing to help you in office hours, class is still very confusing. Tests much harder than the practice tests she posts online. If you have her, try and get a tutor!!!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This is a hard class no matter who you take it with, but I would not reccommend her unless you are amazing at learning everything from the book. She is a nice old lady, but I didn't understand a word she said until I went home and studied the books for a few hours afterwords. Tests are pretty hard, but the curve really helps.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Had her for 343 and 345 back in the day and LOVED it... She was arguably one of my favorite professors ever... Lectures were really clear and she was always available outside of class for clarification... If you do the problem sets and the practice exams you should be able to get an A... Taking O-chem with her was a privilege...

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I had her both semesters and she was a lot harder for 345 than 343. What is on the exams is often not emphasized in class, which is really annoying, so you have to read the book. She is really boring and lectures way too slowly

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CHEM343
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I went to her office hours, hired a tutor, and she even knew me by name,but I just didn't get her teaching style. I failed the class, and she refused to give me a D even though she knew I gave the effort. Try to avoid her.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

She is very boring and her lectures are torture at times. The only reason I went to lecture was so that I'd know what parts of the book I should read. If you learn via the book and do problems you'll be fine, but it won't be enjoyable. She tends to waste half the time going over useless information like naming compounds and synthesizing drugs

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CHEM345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

After two semester with Barb, I can honestly say that I enjoyed O.Chem. Her tests are hard in 345, but the curve is always helpful. Get your hands on some old exams. She repeats questions quite frequently it seems. She prob doesn't teach you the most, but if you put in the time to fully understand her notes and form a study group, you'll succeed.