James S. Nowick - University of California Irvine

Professor: James S. Nowick

Department: TBD

College: University of California Irvine

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51A
• Grade Received: Audit/No Grade
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I'm a PhD biochemist who is tutoring as a retirement career. I needed to refresh my knowledge of organic chemistry. This professor is GREAT at helping students understand rather than memorize. Professor's like him are rare.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51C
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is a good professor. He writes on the chalkboard. There is a quiz every week on the material in the book, if you do the book problems he suggests, then they are pretty easy. Exams are more difficult and tests on lecture material. Lectures are interesting and I always looked forward to them.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: 40660
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

nice guy, but his course is not ideal to end with in the series. final, midterm, 6 quizzes (lowest drops) quizzes were random and not up to par with the curriculum expected of 51c. His lectures are not reflective of the test material. The final had a mean of 40%. Prof is hard to understand for those who struggle with ochem, so prepare yourself.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CHEM203
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

good prof.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CHEM41A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Watched his lecture videos of the UCI open courseware. His lectures are good and he seems like a nice and enthusiastic guy, however he doesn't go deep or over details. He covers the surface or just enough to get a C. I've looked at online questions and questions in prep books, they are much more difficult than what is taught in class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Prepare for a very brain stimulating Organic Chemistry course. His exams require you to apply the concepts you've learned to new situations rather than just regurgitate and repeat reagents. Take a look at his old exams and finals on his old websites, he leaves them all up!! Go to lecture, it's a must for his course. Good Luck :)

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51C
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Nowick is great. He's super nice, he's very caring, and he's very nerdy in a cute way. His tests can be difficult, but they are very fair and doable. He uses the chalkboard and goes super slow so he's not hard to follow. He's also insanely smart and knowledgable when it comes to Ochem, which is very refreshing. Made me love ochem personally.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51COCHEM
• 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:

Nowick is so great. He is so clear in explaining main concepts. Need to read the book to grasp everything he expects you to know. Test focuses more on applying. Very interesting professor.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ORGCHEM51A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is great and super helpful!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This professor is definitely not recommended to take. His tests are super hard and does not give partial credits!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This professor is definitely not recommended to take. His tests are super hard and does not give partial credits.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Excellent

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I would say what i'm writing is pretty legit. My grades are just average, and I work hard to get around the mean. His test are not that bad as it sounds. You just have to know your nomenclature to even begin to give your answer. No product questions for first midterm. Lecture is useless if you don't know ochem. I hope 51a and 51b worked out.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

the greatest guy I've ever met. If you are confident about your level, you can choose him. HIs midterm and final exams are pretty easy!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: OCHEM51C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I had Nowick for 51C and I actually enjoyed him. He gets really excited about chemistry! Quizzes were easy! His tests were fair, a lot of applying the concepts rather than memorizing. Use the book to practice but study his notes. Overall I would recommend him for 51C!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CHEMH52A
• 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:

As nice of guy he is, this was by far the absolute worst course I have ever taken thus far. By all means avoid getting this professor because he is ridiculously hard, expects graduate level material, and is highly intimidating when you go ask for help :(

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CHEMH52A
• 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:

This guy loves teaching Ochem! He is very cool and very good at explanations. He is a good lecturer, maybe one of the best. Despite all the best qualities, he is one of the hardest professors I have ever had. He's an absolute organic chemistry lunatic... His tests are super hard. His hws are hard too... 6 pages of hw takes like 3 hours to finish...

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51A
• 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:

He is really passionate about Ochem and his quizzes are easy. The problems are straight from discussion and hw. However, his midterms and exams are nothing like the previous ones so don't even bother studying the old exams. This made the exams very difficult because you can't anticipate what to study for...

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51A
• 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:

Really nerdy but a really great guy, really cares and wants u to do well he even let me go to my car during the final for my kit, quizzes=EXACT hw/disc probs exams are really hard u must kno how to apply material and understand concepts, cant jsut memorize use past exams ONLY to test urself b/c similar in difficulty, but not exactly the same

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CHEM51A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I love Nowick! His enthusiasm for the subject shows in every lecture, which made class fun. Doing the hw &going to disc is a must cus quiz probs come directly from there. for the midterm&final, UNDERSTAND & APPLY what's going on in the book & in discussion. look to past exams for an idea of his exams but DO NOT use those as your only study guides.