No matter which professor you have, college chemistry is not going to be an easy A class. That being said, professor Welch is more than accommodating for anyone who reaches out for extra help and genuinely wants to help his students succeed. The course is very TopHat heavy and Expo is kinda annoying, but you'll run into those problems no matter which professor you get. I did chem online (Fall 2020) so we had to watch lectures from all the different chemistry 1410 professors, and personally, I found Welch's to be the most engaging, albeit a bit surface level of the material. He's genuinely a nice and approachable guy who will answer any and all questions you have without making you feel like a nuisance, which is hard to come by with college professors. All in all, I really like professor Welch and took him again for chem 1420.

Now, this is one of those classes that really depends on you. Welch is the better professor of them all because he does genuinely try to help you in any way he can and is very kind. However, you'll quickly realize that collaboration (AKA group chats) is key to this class. The material can be confusing at times so it is a massive help to be able to verify with other classmates. Youtube, Chemlibre, and the Organic Chemistry Tutor will also become your saviors. Overall, it is a lot of work and portals, but it can definitely be done and you can finesse a good grade. #tCFspring2021

Professor Welch is GREAT!!! In my experience a lot of STEM professors can be intense and intimidating but Welch is super friendly and approachable. He is extremely understanding so if you forget to turn in an assignment or make some other small mistake he is usually ready and willing to give you an extension or work with you to come up with a solution (given that you have a semi-decent explanation). He's also very accessible and responsive - he even replies to emails faster than TAs a lot of the time (usually I'd get a response in between 5 and 50 minutes). Welch goes out of his way to provide help for students, so if you're struggling in chem, there are always ways to get help (whether it be through office hours - his or the TAs -, out-of-class problem session, or even just email). He's also very understanding if you are struggling for some reason that isn't directly chem-related and will probably begin the year by emphasizing that there are many things in the world that are more important than first year intro chem, adding that if you're having problems with mental health or anything of the sort he'd be happy to help you out in any way possible. So, yea, Welch is a great person but he's also really good at teaching chemistry in my opinion. He was able to explain/clarify so many concepts that went over my head in high school chem and I left the course feeling that I had a really solid understanding of the foundations taught in this course. In terms of difficulty, the class was very doable in my opinion, though there is a fair amount of work. I'd advise you to find a couple people in your class to work/talk through concepts/study with. If you stay on top of things and address problem areas when they come up (take advantage of OHs, etc!!!), you should be just fine. My biggest tip would be to stay organized and make an assignment schedule: there are about 4 assignments due weekly and it can be easy to miss one if you're not keeping track of due dates.

I loved this class. If you actually study and go to TA hours you'll be fine. I'm pretty sure TopHat is written by the professors and it sucks at delivering the content we need to learn for this class. I would recommend doing your own in-depth research on things that you do not understand. It not that hard to get an A if you take the time to review and understand the content.
TIPS:
- I would also recommend taking DETAILED notes on the chapter notes, it comes in handy for the midterms and final exam so you don't have to reread the chapter books all over again.
- After reading the chapter notes, go to TA's office hours and try to clear up anything that you don't understand. The earlier the better.
- Our exams are split into 3 parts (1st individual portion (20-30 questions), 2nd individual portion with only 6 questions or so, group exam). Through the semester these three parts are weighed differently. The first exam will be weighted (20%, 10%, 70%) and fluctuates throughout the semester. I recommend that since your group portion is weighed heavily (on the first exam) if you do not like your group, please change. Your group should not be determining if you pass or fail the class, welch will understand.


If your wondering about exam distribution:

The second part of the exam is weighted at 10% in all the exams because it is the hardest part, we usually average on the lower scale.

Exam one ( 20%, 10%, 70%)
Exam two (45%, 10%, 45%) i think
Exam three (70%, 10%, 20%)

This is a difficult course that heavily relies on an online textbook TopHat, and weekly group work during expo sessions. I know most people would disagree, but I found TopHat pretty useful in teaching the information. The reading was easy enough to understand and the TopHat questions tested my knowledge on the reading. That being said, TopHat did not help in teaching me how to apply the stuff we learned, which was basically asked on all of the exams. Expo was really based on your group. If you had a good group, you could actually learn from each other and teach each other about the difficult concepts, which is incredibly important for the exams, as they all have a group portion, except for the final exam. I thought Welch was a great professor! He goes over frequently missed TopHat questions and answers any questions during lecture. I wish I attended them more, they are pretty useful. I would recommend taking this class with Welch because he is extremely nice, attainable, and helpful. You don't need to have prior chemistry knowledge before taking this class, but it really helps if you do. The first real chapter hit like a truck and everything just built on top of that, so keep up with the readings and all the TopHat questions! Also, don't forget to do the Gradescope quizzes. I took this class as a premed requirement and I wouldn't recommend taking it unless you have to. #tCF2020

Welch is a great professor. He explains concepts well and is a nice guy. I had experience with HL IB Chemistry. Overall the content is pretty easy except for a few difficult chapters and subsections. This class has a really weird format, and you ALWAYS have work to do. A lot of it is group work, so keep up with your group. You can boost your grade with the TopHat and Gradescope work, so I recommend you do all of those too. #tCF2020

Since this course was online this semester, the structure was a little different from the listed times. I had asynchronous/ pre-recorded lectures on Sunday (rotated between the four different professors each week), an optional Monday lecture, and a problem-session "Expo" on Thursdays. The Monday and Thursday classes were the ones listed in SIS, but it was a lot more work than I expected. Welch is a great lecturer and pretty fun. #tCF2020

If you don't need to take this class, don't. But, if you do, 100% take it with Professor Welch. He is, by far, the best and nicest professor who teaches this course. This class started off very difficult, but it gets much easier as the semester progresses. It is very confusing at the beginning because the professors use so many different platforms for grades, assignments, and lecture videos (multiple Microsoft Teams channels, TopHat, Gradescope, Collab, etc). Once you get through the first few weeks, the class isn't as bad. The tests are fairly difficult. Each test is 3 parts, so it feels super drawn out and takes up so much of your week. The first part, in my opinion, was very easy. The second and third parts are the same questions, but you have to do it first individually and then with a group. These parts are very difficult. However, with enough Googling, you can figure out all of the answers.

My biggest tip: go to a bunch of TA office hours at the beginning of the semester and find out who is more willing to give you help. Keep going to their office hours throughout the semester, and they might even help you with some of the harder test questions for part 2 and part 3 (they don't have a time limit).

If you've taken AP Chemistry, this class won't be too difficult since a lot of the material overlaps. The hardest content is at the beginning of the semester and I recommend watching Khan Academy and the Organic Chemistry Tutor videos to help.

I got an A in this class but I don't think Welch had anything to do with my success. I knew a lot of the material coming in because of AP Chem (didn't take the exam nor do I think I would have gotten a 4/5). This class is heavily self-taught through a really crappy online textbook called TopHat that is ridiculed with grammar mistakes, typos, and is overall just a pain to use. The class itself isn't too hard if you read the book and try to answer the questions in the chapters and assignments to the best of your ability. I would suggest taking detailed chapter notes because lecture is very pointless. I don't think I learned a single thing via Welch instead the textbook was sadly the main teacher. Expo is dumb but it's a relatively easier format I've heard than Morkowchuck's traditional but I think starting Fall 2020 it's all Expo style. The first 3 exams aren't too difficult but the final is a lot more challenging. I averaged a 95% on the first 3 exams and got a 78% on the final. There are a good amount of grade buffers with participation and writing to learn. Overall stay ahead of the readings and prep well for the final and you should be good! Good Luck!

Enjoyed the class. Had no prior experience in chemistry and barely ended the class with an A-. The textbook is online which was a little frustrating for me. This class is more conceptual than the second semester. Welch is a fun and engaging professor. However, I like having three days of lecture with Morkowchuck in the spring because it kept me engaged. However, if you are very self-motivated, you will do fine.