3.2
Quality2.8
Difficulty42%
Would Retake87
Reviews42%
Would Retake
87
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
87 total ratings5
31
4
14
3
12
2
9
1
21
What Students Say
“He does not explain well at all and just talks about how great he is”
152CHEM - 1.0 rating“easy grader but the trade off is an incomplete education”
CHEM200L - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
56%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.12 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM100
5.0
(2)200L
4.8
(5)CHEM201L
4.5
(2)130L
4.0
(1)CHEM152
3.6
(14)Difficulty by Course
151L
4.0
CHEM130
3.6
152CHEM
3.3
CHEM200
3.1
CHEM152
3.1
Reviews (86)
bad acccent! im not sure if he even knows what chemistry is...easy class- no tests or final, late work is accepted and he sometimes reccomends that you turn it in late! hes crazy and you wont learn chemistry but you will definitly pass easily.
he has an accent that is hard to understand! isnt very helpful and grades hard! he doesnt seem like he knows what he's doing! makes chemistry more confusing!!!
I agree w/ other ratings ...easy enough but a horrible teacher. Did not learn a thing from him. He should not be teaching chemistry!
I agree with the others. If I didnt have a good lecture teacher, I would do pretty bad on the labs. But I'm still going to take him since he is pretty easy. (As long as you have a good lecture teacher)
We need professor's like him in our class room. Excellent teacher.
He was very helpful. Nice to have him. Great.
Funny guy. Hes hard on the 152L students, but I had him for 200L also and he was nicer. Just be interested, go to all labs. no tests! easy write ups, good guy. He actually wants you to do good and will give you 2nd chances on labs :)
i agree with the other students! he is way cool as long as you got o lab and be interested. He gives 2nd chances, no tests(maybe a quiz), and the class is easier then 152L. try to get him for all your chem labs cuz he wont prepare you for a hard teacher.
Get on his good side. If he knows your name, it's a plus. I pretty much didn't do much and got B's for both classes. Good grader. Funny in his own way. He sure does love the ladies...
Ok as a lab teacher. Bad as a lecture teacher. Funny at times, creepy at others. Wouldn't recommend him. His test are really unfair especially in the summer he gets LAZY and gives up on his test making.
The best teacher ever had, he is nice. I like him. Hard exams and hard grader got a B in the summer 152 lecture and lab. Loved his style on 200L. GOt a B on 200L.
Easy lab teacher. Lets you leave as soon as done. If you have questions he will help you even if it's for another chem class. Really easy on grading of labs, basically if you try you get a good grade. Just have to attend the class.
Easy professor I had an extremely high A if you get less than a B in his class then chem is not for you. Hates lazy, whiny, and stupid people. Great Guy overall and he drops your lowest lab but sometimes returns your labs a little late
This professor is very cool!!! Take all of his lab classes if you can. He is really funny and fun to talk to! Dont turn in your labs late and do all the work. He will be watching you and he is a very good professor. I loved his class, take him for chem lab!! :)
discramminator, doesn't like asians, doesn't explain much BEFORE lab, sometimes he doesn't even study the lab before we start doing it, and he would give us WRONG answers for our questions. Heavy accent and can't explain stuffs too well. VERY picky about taking notes in class. no notes, no A.
Had him for 152 and hated him but love him now in chem 200L. He is a nice guy, and hilarious. Very easy although you may not learn as much in lab as you would w/ lecture teacher. It is nice to have such a cool lab prof. ...makes chem fun.
He is the best teacher is the best we had in long time. I did take 152L with another teacher, wooow what a difference. THis guy really makes the chemistry fun, with great real life examples.
He made chemistry fun
Cool guy. Grades hard on labs, but makes you laugh and makes chemistry fun. Understanding and patient. He will make the time for you if you need it.
He is one of the funniest and coolest professors I have had. I had him over summer for 152 and he was awesome, so he convinced me to do a saturday lab for 200L. He is really funny and has a funny "damn foreign accent". Take him if you get the chance.
No Comments
Easy A for anyone who wants an A for Chemisty but if you actually want to walk away from the class with information and satisfaction that you learned something, its not recemended. Otherwise if you want an A in Chemistry just to look good for UC or whatever, take his classes.
Nice, funny but somewhat unorganized most of the time. Takes too long to grade labs/tests. Unclear at times, so you need to READ the book b4 going to class. I am in his class now, and doing just fine but I study a lot. Not the best lab teacher, but always willing to help, and yes, he does play favorites! I like him - study and you'll do fine.
Well always helpful and a funny guy. I did not see any faverite at all. Must see tv, and what you goner do jokes are so funny, made chemistry funny.
He picks favorites; if you're not one you're out of luck. Doesn't lecture, just gives definitions and has class do problems. If you ask questions, he doesn't answer them leaving students frustrated (often times cursing under their breath). Always rushing to get out soon, answers phone during class. He says he's only there to pay off car payments.
Professor Rajah, always helpfull. His funny jokes are always made chemistry fun. At times he had helped us outside the class. I took this class as GE, and remember his jokes such as "whata kona do..when the moles comes to you".. and the class goes we will make into grams. Now that i learning for me.
He does play favorites, so get on his good side! By that, I mean show effort and hard work, and he will respect you for that. He hates lazy, winy people that always complain things are hard! He is a funny and nice guy, uses funny analogies and jokes, which makes class fun to go to. Study and success will "come to a town near you"!
He's Indian and has a slight accent that doesn't interfere with lectures. He's very funny and tells lots of jokes. If you're an attractive young girl then enjoy your A. If you're a guy then read the book! He threw a final party for everyone and bought food. Very nice guy.
Aaron is a great Chem teacher. Science classes will not get any better than this. Lessons are sometimes taught weaved into some odd stories. Very easy going. Spontaneously call on students to answer questiions. He`ll notice whether or not you put effort into the class. Highly reccommended, very personal teacher. He had a pool party for the class!
Not a very good teacher. The class is definitely passable, as long as you read the textbook. Don't rely on his lectures at all.
Makes jokes that seem off topic but really he is giving you hints to remember things he thinks are important. GO TO CLASS he doesn't have patience to help you catch up if you don't show to class. He grades his labs thoroughly Show all work. Easy if you pay attention to lecture. He tells you exactly what calculations you need to know for tests.
Not a good teacher. Gave lil direction & when given it was not clear &instructions contradict,Pulls grades out of a hat.I'm a UCSDgrad who took this class as a refresher for gradschool. I did all the require assignments & wrote extensive lab reports. This is the only class I got a B in. If you need the grade don't take him. Only gives A's if you go
Best teacher we ever had. Great in helping us in our lab reports.
This class is hard and theres no way around it but aarron is a great teacher.If you ATTENED CLASS everyday and DO THE HOMEWORK you will be okay.
This teacher is a jerk. He would kick people out the Lab if they didn't have a write up even though every other chem teacher didn't care. He's easy when its comes to the work but doesn't return lab assignments hence you don't know if you're doing the work right in case you're aiming for the A. Gave the class a POP FINAL at the end of the semester.
He was really strict with tardies. Don't be late, because he WILL kick you out. However, he does allow students to make up labs on other days, and as long as you do the experiments and complete the workbook, you'll have a solid grade. Sem Final, however, was only several questions so it was easy to do bad on it.
He tries to make the course understandable by entertaining the class. Be very familiar with the lab because he randomly chooses students to answer questions. Lab always helps if you are understand the fundamentals, so be sure to do well in lecture. He does not return lab reports weekly, which is frustrating when you don't know your progress.
He wants you to write a pre-lab prior coming to class; if you don't he WILL kick you out and you'll have to make it up at another time. He's entertaining, but I didn't really understand his lectures; I just remembered his jokes. He's very helpful too when you ask. Would take him again!
good lass easy professor but teaches you techniques well. usually finish labs in the first session.
Study the material and you will do well. He is nice but doesn't like slackers. He tries to help as much as he can. Show that you work hard in his class and he will respect that. I recommend him and learned a lot! He is extremely entertaining!! If you study the chapters, the test won't be hard at all.
Funniest professor I have ever had. Super laid back. Keeps it real 100% of the time. I love this guy.
I loved Professor T. He is really funny and helpful if you don't understand the assignments too well. Allows you to turn in labs up to one week late for a 10 point deduction. He's a nice guy.
Really knowledgeable professor. Doesn't bother with material you don't need in intro class. Tells great stories, all 100% true. Take his class, trust me.
I highly suggest you don't take this teacher. he is so rude and unhelpful. Ask a question and all he does is put you down and laugh at you. He does not explain well at all and just talks about how great he is. No care for his students and quiz every class.
Had some helpful tips, shortcuts, and ways of explaining difficult topics. Jokes a lot. Is very relatable. Heard summer chemistry was close to unbearable but he made the session easy! Brought us food. Was fair and added 25 extra points to the grading after whole class asked for it. Would take again!
He is a solid choice for a lab class. Cuts out the fluff and gets straight to the point in how he wants you to write out the labs. His jokes are very funny, and lab is fun overall. Attendance is important. Probably one of the best organic chemistry teachers at Mesa recently. Nice guy and is willing to work with you if there are any problems.
he doesn't care too much about the students, he just explains the minimum and doesn't go into the detail why it is what it is. easy grader but the trade off is an incomplete education. allows students to make up labs in other labs. sometimes can't explain things through email. doesn't follow lab manual because he shortcuts it.
Great professor for the lab portion of the class. But I wouldnt recommend taking him for lecture, hes the worst. We took 4/11 quizzes for the whole semester, he briefly reviews concepts and then moves on. Hes not very helpful when you ask for assistance and not to mention the final is worth 200 pts! It was a nightmare!
Great professor. Simplifies organic and bio chem very well which made it easy for us to understand. He's really funny and makes lectures enjoyable. Make sure you go to lecture, take notes, write/practice all the problems he goes over in class. I took his lab too and it was not bad! Overall, great class.
PROS: -Funny -Not a super tough grader but hardly gave partial points CONS: -Disorganized lectures -Poor feedback -No rubrics ever -Temper -Rude to those who ask questions/make him repeat himself -Not often available outside of class -Doesn't make himself very approachable The class was easy but I had to teach myself. Many students were unhappy.
He will look down/embarrass you if you ask any questions. He is rude and short tempered and expects you to know the material before he lectures them, he doesn't introduce any topics and throws random problems in the board as lecture starts. There is no homework assigned for credit, only quizzes and exams. Class is not design for students success.
This is my very first review - I feel it important for future students to be informed. This professor seemed troubled and came to class incoherent, had a temper when asked questions (I watched students walk on eggshells in fear) and was unable to articulate teaching. He is not a reasonable person to work with. I regret learning very little.
Worst teacher I have ever had in my college career. He gets mad when you ask a question, does not respond to emails, doesn't put grades on canvas so you don't know what you have in the class. Very unclear about assignments, doesn't know what he's teaching and very unprofessional. I don't want to ask questions because he will belittle me if I did.
Cool guy, ok teacher. Disorganized/forgetful (maybe due to Zoom format?). Prompt responding to emails sent through Canvas. Textbook optional. Didn't use one, still got an A. Easily frustrated if students don't get it. Willing to work with you if you miss something. Lecture graded by monthly exams & quizzes, no HW. Labfill out the lab and you pass.
Absolutely no feedback unless you forceI him!!! I had to fight for my grades. He posted grades 2 days before the semester is over. (He will tell you what you got on the exams). I was getting D" on my exams and wan't sure what I missed. I asked few times why but no response. At the end it was just not writing clearly and bump my grade to an A.
Honestly the worst professor I have had to date. He made numerous promises that he did not keep. For example, he would *promise* exam grades would be posted by midnight Sunday, but wouldn't post grades nor would acknowledge that he promised that in the first place. Exams are graded blindly. Zero feedback on what you got wrong. Short temper.
Avoid at all costs. He really has a temper and often made class stressful. There was no rhyme or reason to grading either. I would receive a failing grade, ask for which questions I got wrong and hed not answer the email but change my grade to an A. We would compare tests and 2 people would have the same answers and one would get an A and one a D.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!! Does not go over ANYTHING in depth and will skim over important content that shows up on his exams. When working through problems, he will get sidetracked and end up doing a completely DIFFERENT problem that isn't even on the worksheet. Easy grader, but you will not learn anything.
Professor Thiyagarajah is an extremely difficult person to get along with. He is very difficult to communicate with. Class is doable, but exams are nothing like the study guides or practice problems. Takes all his worksheets from the internet, doesn't create any resources on his own. Backtracks and is wrong a lot. If you can take someone else, do.
Horrible. He just hands out worksheets without actually teaching the materials, makes numerous mistakes when showing the problems, and his explanations are just terrible. You will be relying on tutoring and youtube videos. His Canvas setup is a total mess and the syllabus is completely irrelevant. His class will set you up for failure.
Professor Thiyagarajah overall makes lecture fun and jokes a lot in class. But the material isn't structured and it's hard to know how to have a good grasp of something if you don't already have knowledge from 152. The tests are hard to prepare for because they're not like the worksheets given in class. Outside sources necessary to learn material.
Aaron is a nice and fairly reasonable professor. He likes to make little jokes during lecture and keeps things moving and not boring. His syllabus is very fluid on timeframes/chapter coverage and he really only gives you a lecture grade based on 2 exams and a cumulative final. Do not expect any handholding from him, show up, find your own practice.
Yes he makes funny comments sometimes to keep the class engaged but he recycles them often so it gets old fast. Yes he is an easy grader but he does not explain the content well enough. You would need to rely heavily on outside sources to prepare for the exams. Cool guy, but the way he teaches is not for me. Very disorganized.
Excellent teacher, kind. Gives enough time to add the lab reports and take home quizzes. 3-4 exams, challenging, all lot of material covered in one semester. It can be done, try to go to all the lectures for sure. Jokes included in the lecture, took some seriousness of the course.
Hard class, made it fun. Get ready to work hard. 4 exams, including final. one dropped many in class and out of class quiz. Fair grading. Got a C, but I did understand the materials. Easy to understand him.
his lecture is hard with many exam and cumulative final. weekly quizzes. Easy on the lab, hard grading in the lecture. if you work hard, you can earn your grade. I like his jokes and lecture style.
This is a summer course, goes faster, but professor Aaron made it interesting, will be taking his 200 in the fall. excited.
Folks true story. Did earn a "C", but thru hard work both Professor Aaron and me. From the first day, we did all lot of math worksheets, me to get ready for the chemistry math involved. It's not about my grade, I earned it makes a big difference for me. And professor Aaron made sure I earned, it. by far, classy guy!
Many thanks to the Organic Chemistry Tutor on Youtube or else I would have fail this class. This professor put out class material that I study hours for just to not be on the test. He make the test the day before the test date and there were a lot of unclear, misinformation, and topics that he skims through before the test.
I am currently taking his summer 2024 class, awesome professor, all calculations are taught on the day one, woow, love it when he put all the calculations on the board.
summer is 8 week classs, thus far made it so easy for all of us. Like the phase and style of teaching. You can approach him all the time.
Avoid him. The PowerPoints he presented in class and worksheets he handed out are likely just ones he found online. Since the materials weren't made by him, they didn't help much with the exams. There were often mistakes and confusing wording on his exams. When people asked for help, he wasn't good at explaining things and he just confused us more.
Great professor. Took his summer class. You do have to study if you want to do well in the class, he is always accessible and is very flexible with due dates and assignments if you approach him correctly. His tests were as the study guide provided. Read and study to get a good grade! Provides worksheets that help a lot when studying for the tests.
Took the class over the summer, had fun doing all lot of math on the first week. If you do ask him questions, does help students. Summer does not have office hrs, but he did help us in the lab, any questions from lecture. Term exams are all based doing problems, which we did class, all lot of worksheets. Did like the relaxed atmosphere in his class
If you have the choice to have any other professor for this course, do that. Professor aaron is very disorganized and is often late to his own lectures. He gets upset and frustrated when asked questions and just reads off slides and hands out a worksheet which he gets off the internet. Expect to rely heavily on outside sources.
Like his jokes, organized ppt and worksheet helped me to retain my own grade in the class. Worksheets often help me in my exams, often repeat of worksheets are at play in the hour long exams.
Dr. Rajah is a really nice guy once you get to know him. He may appear a little strict and stern on the first few days but that all goes away quickly. He is a very easy grader when it comes to labs and doesn't expect comically long lab reports. He's also very funny.
the way that he write on Whiteboard is very dirty, even he get confuse where did he wrote his sig fig, he try to show everyone that he is expert on scientific writing , but actually it is not, when you see agenda is something else and he lecture something else,
Nice guy but awful professor. His lectures were often confusing and he would get frustrated when students couldn't understand despite his inability to clarify. He would sometimes spend entire class periods trying to teach a simple concept that could've been covered in 15 minutes. His exams sometimes contained topics that weren't covered in lecture.
He's a really really nice guy. He just needs to understand how to teach in conjunction with what he's going to test for. He tells you what to study for but then the test includes things he only mentioned 1 time for like 2 minutes? Study hard for this class. 🌶️🌶️
Good teacher, just use chat GPT to cover any gaps in the lectures / readings, and you'll be fine. Kaplan book also helps. Make sure to go to the tutors for 30 minutes to -1 hour for review after the lectures. 🌶️ 🌶️.
DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASES. Rude to Student, doesn't know what he is teaching, waits until last minute to grade. The only reason I got a good grade is because I taught myself everything. If you have no other option like me, make sure to go to his office hours.
Don't Ever try to get this professor if you want to learn Chem, his entire lecture is 10 min and entire time you have to write the worksheets ,the tests are the most difficult , test does not include the worksheet examples nor book examples, so totally i had very tough time tough test very bad grader, very bad lecture
Don't get his class, you will not learn anything, just wasting your time, there is no certain method of teaching. if you watch YouTube you will learn more than this class. Try to get the Chem 20 if you can, instead of this ,
Okay he's not horrible but I wouldnt take his class again. He makes dad jokes and lightens the mood during lectures. He's a nice guy and very approachable but has a different teaching style. He knows his stuff and has been teaching for years so if you have to take them then do it. It's not that bad!
Learned all lot more than my high school. Great professor, power points and onboard/class worksheet help me prepare the term exams, ease. Go to his office hrs, will help you all lot.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
56%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.12 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM100
5.0
(2)200L
4.8
(5)CHEM201L
4.5
(2)130L
4.0
(1)CHEM152
3.6
(14)Difficulty by Course
151L
4.0
CHEM130
3.6
152CHEM
3.3
CHEM200
3.1
CHEM152
3.1