Rik Blumenthal - Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Professor: Rik Blumenthal

Department: Chemistry

College: Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Hated him - class had a group me dedicated to hating him. His test are terrible and make little sense, he is also unwilling to help out after a test if you try to talk about it with him. Socially awkward so he's a weird dude. ALEKS homework comes with all chem classes and sucks too. Studied a lot never did very well and I like science...

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: D+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

AWFUL. Had no idea what he was talking about, rude in his office hours, doesn't care about his students AT ALL, refused to round my grade .2 points,and got very annoyed when I asked him questions or sent him emails. If I had not read the book i would not have passed. AVOID AVOID AVOID.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1020
• 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:

worst teacher I've ever had in my entire life. Was all over the place and did not even know what he was saying half the time. Was available outside class but simply made you feel stupid. Would highly recommend not taking him because he makes it very hard to pass his class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1020
• Grade Received: D
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Rik didn't do much of anything. He would lecture over a single subtopic the whole class time and then would still assign 20 ALEKS every week! He overloads on ALEKS and expects people to pass his exams. He doesn't want you to know how to do the math, he wants you to know the concepts. And he doesn't give out study guides.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Good 'ol Blumy. What a guy. He usually teaches grad chem, so he assumes u know things u don't. I know it's difficult for someone to have to explain things that seem second nature to them,but he never helped me when i asked for it in office hours. get a different prof. Cagg is great. Parish is good if u don't have to take any higher chem.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

What he talks about in class (tons of drawings of experiments & deriving of formulas) is hard to follow & only about half of it is on the tests, you gotta do a lot of reading to understand. AP Chem served me well & i remember a lot, but still barely scraped a C in this class.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Avoid at all costs.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• 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:

Dr. Blumenthal seems to be a nice guy, but he is used to teaching upper level chemistry classes. He does not know how to slow down for a freshman chemistry class. I would avoid taking him if at all possible.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: F
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Just dont even take his class. If you even see this guy runaway. Unless you know chemistry already you cant do anything with this guy. He doesnt care about his students. I my class 60% of them failed still doesn't care.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is just plain hard. Do not take him at all. He needs to teach in upper level chemistry courses and it is very hard to follow his lectures. Tests are killers as all his questions are ones he has made.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Rik is not suited to teach freshman level classes. In short, he's too smart for his own good, and doesn't know how to put material in terms that we can understand. His classes are 100% lecture based, he spends the entire time writing difficult and vague concepts on the board that could be explained in much simpler terms. Be ready to teach yourself.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

By far the worst professor I've ever met. Avoid him at all costs. I've always been a 4.0 GPA student and I don't think I will be passing his class. He is brutal.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: D-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Where to start? He covers concepts in class and expects you to teach yourself everything else. As far as math problems go, he barely demonstrates how to do them. Overall very hard class to get an A.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures do not teach you chemistry concepts, but he still takes attendance. There is a lot of homework that is actually relevant to fundamentals of chem, but his test are completely unpredictable and hard to study for. I took AP chemistry in high school and got a C here. He's the worst possible option and likes to explain things "his own way."

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I took 3 chem classes in high school & made As. He teaches the hardest ways/reads form his notes/doesn't explain/won't give sample questions b/c it "doesn't actually teach u the concept, just sets u up on how 2 do the problem on the test." His lectures r the base line of a concept & tests r using all ur knowledge of chemistry to answer questions.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are not very thorough. He spends a lot of time on things that don't matter. It is helpful to sort of listen to his lectures just to see what topics he is talking about and then go to the book and read about it. Do review problems out of the book and try to learn the concepts through Aleks. Only did ok because of AP Chem in high school

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: D
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He's scattered-brained. You won't receive much info from lectures and his amount of ALEKs is ridiculous with being a full-time student.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He doesn't teach what he tests. The tests are very hard and on problems/chapters you didn't go over in class.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I took this Professors class my first semester at Auburn. If you arn't already really good at Chemistry from high school, don't take his class. The homework website was the only thing I learned anything from. And this was not due to my lack of paying attention and note-takeing during class(I have a whole notebook full of notes).

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1030
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Come to class. Listen to Dr. Blumenthal. His tests are based strictly off of his lectures. Don't read the book unless you just don't understand something he went over in lecture. He is not as bad of a teacher as people say. He is a reasonable college professor, and if you can't handle that, don't come to college.