As someone who got an A in this class with veryyyy little preparation for most exams, here are some of my notes on Personick and advice for studying:
- In lecture, Personick was usually not the most helpful for explaining things apart from her slides, but it was still helpful to attend lecture/watch the recordings
- Reading the TopHat chapters is helpful, but not necessary for success -- often there is more content in the chapter than you'll need to know, which can be helpful, but if you have a background it's probably not the best use of your time
- Use the practice exams to your advantage! Many exam questions will be very similar -- I would often use AI to create the same kinds of questions with different molecules and found this method to be very successful
- Find a good group for your Expo! Group exams are very few questions and have a significant impact on the grade of your first few exams, so it's crucial that you find a group that can succeed off the bat
- Ask questions during Expo if you're confused! I've found that most TAs have certain tricks or easier paths that professors will not teach you

this was my very first time taking chemistry, and it was a good experience. professor personick isn't the best at teaching as she kind of rambles on about random topics and typically, she only covers like the super easy topics during lecture but runs out of time before going over the stuff that you're actually struggling with. TopHat will be your best friend. Spam the practice questions from LBLA and the BIT, and honestly that is pretty much all you need for the exams. Also the exams are split so that all the midterms are group, except for the final. I forgot the ratio, but the amount of your midterm grade that the group exam takes up goes down after every midterm. The individual exams are pretty easy and they are very similar to the practice exam, while the group exam is much harder. i didn't do as well as i wanted to in this class because my group bombed the first group exam, and that was like almost half our grade.

In my personal experience, the course was great. Ended the class with an A, and got a 100% on my final. The exams/midterms are very easy, as I do not know anyone who actually did terrible. Half of the content is review from high school, but there are tons of new information. It might be very shocking to start the course with quantum mechanics, but that was just briefly mentioned and not talked about later. The homework is very easy, the assignments are very easy, and basically if you just do your work, pay attention in class, and casually go to the TA help hours, you are more than set to ace the class.

The course setup is TRASH!! I learned 80% of it in highschool chemistry and was still confused. For some reason it's only one lecture a week, and Personick NEVER gets through all of it. Avoid her at all costs, if you can't, I highly recommend attending another professor's lecture as well so you can actually understand the material. She goes into very specific details that are not even in the course & you don't need to know, and takes up time doing that so does not finish the material you do need to know and will be tested on. The course material itself is not that bad, but the setup makes it awful. The website they use overcomplicates everything, making it way harder to understand than it needs to be. Go to P2L, get a study group, and ignore half of the textbook. Good luck soldiers 🫡