James Cowan - The Ohio State University

Professor: James Cowan

Department: TBD

College: The Ohio State University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1920H
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Yes, Dr. Cowan does use the traditional blackboard method of instruction, however he is unable to use it to the advantage of the students. Lectures are a boring regurgitation of notes, and a lot of time is wasted on erasing and adjusting the board. Topics were barely covered in class, and most work was left up to the students. Would not recommend.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1920H
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He doesn't use powerpoints during lecture & just summarizes the text and important reactions on the blackboard. The material followed the textbook exactly so memorize that and you'll do fine. The midterm/final averages were around 40-60%, but there's a massive curve.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: 1920H
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

OSU is lucky to have Dr. Cowan. It is clear he know chemistry inside and out, and is clearly passionate for the subject. There is a good curve on exams and if you study you should be fine.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: 1920H
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Pretty much teaches from the book, and not very well at that, so you'll have to do a lot of work on your own if you want to do well. Curve is nice, though, and I love the Scottish accent.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1920H
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures were directly out of the book and so were his exams. So, reading the book is very important and memorization is key on his half of the class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1920H
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Cowan can't teach. He teaches you the basic ideas in lecture but expects you teach yourself more deeply with the textbook (reverse of a normal, good prof). His lectures are boring, monotonous, and made me dread going to a class covering a subject I love. His portion wasn't too hard, but most of his content is hard to study for (chemical trivia).

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Cowan is brilliant, but he is not the best at teaching the material. The textbook will become your best friend in this class. The tests will cover material not taught in class, but it is in the text. Cowan will teach the "basic" problems/concepts in class and expects you learn the more advanced things on your own via the text and the homework.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CH3510
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Cowan was arguably the smartest person I have ever had at OSU. He knows his stuff. That being said though, he does not present the information in a way for people to understand. Makes assumptions that we knew something already when in reality some people have never even heard of what he is talking about. Notes are up and down

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Not all materials are covered in class and the rest is hard to follow so exam questions seem very random. One of our exams asked us what a chemical he never mentioned looked like in solid form, even our TA got it wrong! Can be very intimidating when it comes to asking questions because he will laugh at you and give you a sarcastic answer.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• 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:

Cowan's lectures consist of him talking and writing on the board the entire time and the class taking notes. He's a good lecturer but doesn't cover all the material. You definitely have to put in a lot of work outside of class, but then again that is expected in chemistry anyway. He gives a couple practice exams every midterm which is nice.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Cowan was an amazing professor. He was very knowledgeable on the topics. The book covered one aspect of a subject while he would go in depth and use examples to to help make students understand. There wasn't much of a curve. I was close to an A- but ended up with a B+ sadly. Read the textbook, do practice midterms, study, and you'll do fine.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are fine, because he just copy things from his papers to the board. You can just read the text book and pass the exams. The grades of experiments depends on your TA. However, our final grads were curved.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great guy and brilliant researcher, but you can definitely tell teaching is not his strong point. Read the book and do practice problems and you'll be fine. He only teaches the first two of eight sections in each chapter so you have to read the book.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Really cares about his students, always ready to help, great lectures, really funny guy

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1920H
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Cowan had good lectures, but because his portion of the class was all memorization based, it all seemed very random as to what would be on the test. On the final, his questions just seemed random. It didn't seem like there was a way to prepare for his test.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He knows how to communicate the material he teaches but he does the absolute bare minimum. He shows up to lecture, writes his notes on a chalk board and you better hope you get it because his office hours are a waste of your time. He doesn't care if you pass or fail and his tests are very hard.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: 1920H
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

My class had Dr. Cowan the first time he taught this specific class, and that was obvious. His tests were insanely difficult, and were over material that was not covered in the class nor in the text book. He gives pop quizzes that are take home, but even with the entire internet as a resource, the tests are still impossible.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Cowan was always more than willing to help me when I came to his office hours. His lectures were pretty straightforward and the examples he did in class were really helpful when it came to his tests. I enjoyed his class a lot and would definitely take another class with him.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CHEM1610
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is very nice and cares a lot about his students. However, he is a bit confusing. Read the textbook and attend class and you should be fine.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CHEM3510
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is a terrible instructor. Never feel helpful. Lectures are boring. Notes are hard to read. No office hour. Don't choose him!!!