Reginald Penner - University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Professor: Reginald Penner

Department: Chemistry

College: University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Penner is hilarious and cares a lot for his students. He often repeats important information for students to note for the test, but it's a little difficult to understand his lectures. However it's pretty easy to study along with the textbook to supplement this. Test weren't very conceptual based. Do practice problems and you'll be fine.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Penner is a nice person and he is passionate about chemistry. The tests can be worded in a confusing manner, which makes it tough to receive an A in this class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Penner is a good professor for CHEM 1A. Though he does assume students in his class have previous chemistry experience, AP Chemistry would be very helpful, if lectures are attended and practice problems are done, the class should be straight forward. Some of his midterm questions were tricky and the final was very fair.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Understands the students struggle in trying to learn chemistry but lectures did not help in midterms or final. Midterms and final are mostly conceptual but was not written by him. Lectures at most can get you a C and professor does not offer extra credit but curved the final grade. I advise to do a lot of practice problems and read the textbook.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Overall good professor and you can tell he's very knowledgeable on the subject. He usually only goes over what he believes are the most important parts of the chapter so you'll have to read outside of class to make sure you get everything. He curved at the end of the quarter by almost half a letter grade.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

he's okay, he did not really teach, it was more you teach yourself. 2 midterms, 1 final (that he did not even write) + sapling which is worth nothing and some writing assignments sprinkled in. super disappointed with him.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

This professor doesn't teach, if you're trying to pass chem when he's your professor, expect to teach yourself. All he does is read off of the slides. Guess what Penner, we could do that too (WOAH) This is my first year of university and i enjoyed all my classes but this one, I actually love Chemistry but this professor is really really really bad.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Funny guy, get ready to hear "boom" a lot. Knows how to simplify concepts and cares about his students.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Wow this guy is great. He honestly deserves a much higher rating than he has right now. He knows that most people in his class don't remember much chem from high school so he tries his best to teach it well. He genuinely cares about his students and gives advice, whether it be life advice or academic advice. Take his class. You won't regret it.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He is a fine professor, but expects you to come in with a good chemistry understanding from high school, which is not the case for many people. It is very important to do practice problems from the textbook and to not skip assignments, because he doesn't offer extra credit. A good grade is attainable if you work hard for it.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Midterm 2 was a thousand times harder than the midterm he gave his students last year! (Really!!!!!) Totally unfair. There was a common final that another prof wrote and Penner didn't teach us some concepts on it so that was awesome..... I recommend taking Arrassasingham cuz he makes the final.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Get ready to do a lot of work on your own. His lectures are really fast and contain mistakes. The class is hard if you haven't taken ap chem, and you're expected to learn the concepts that he doesn't find "important" on your own (even though you get tested on them). Midterms and the final count for 90% of your grade.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Penner's excitement for chemistry was so cute! The only thing is that he's not so great at teaching it. I was one of those students that didn't take AP Chem and I feel like he just kind of expected us to know the material already. If you're good at self-studying this class will probably be a breeze, but otherwise, I would take someone else.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Without a doubt, the worst chemistry teacher I've had. I barely passed his class (C-). He has no idea how to teach non-chem majors. He is the biggest factor that contributed to me not passing Chem 1B and his class is hurting me in Chem 1C since there are so many concepts that build off of Chem 1A. DON'T TAKE IF YOU WANT TO PASS CHEM 1 SERIES.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Penner is very funny, but he was convinced that everyone in my class had taken AP Chemistry and was familiar with concepts I hadn't gone over since the beginning of high school. He made mistakes on his lecture slides and his midterms. His TAs were awful and didn't help. He was pretty average as a lecturer, it could have been worse.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CHEMM3LC
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I liked being in Professor Penner's class as a whole. He tends to go on tangents during lecture about (mostly) unrelated subjects that he finds interesting, but he mostly stays on topic and gives helpful information during lecture. He had several office hours every week and was helpful during them. Personally I would take a lab class with him again

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

if you haven't taken AP Chem, good luck. Nice guy not a great teacher for an introductory chem class. Lectures were confusing and explanations weren't clear. If you're willing to self-study or were good at AP Chem, then I would take him. If not, you're better off with another teacher

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Penner's ppt were very hard to understand. Too much unnecessary info and that guy is too smart to teach chem 1a. tough exams and unclear explanation.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Penner is a great guy with a good sense of humor. The class itself is pretty fair, you have to work a tad bit to get an A. Definitely would recommend!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Penner is a decent professor. Discussion and lecture are not mandatory. He often goes through his lectures VERY fast, so if you're trying to take notes, good luck. Thank God for the curve. You won't know your grade util the end of the quarter because he curves at the very end after the final. He does have a good sense of humor though!