2.3
Quality4.3
Difficulty32%
Would Retake99
Reviews32%
Would Retake
99
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
9
4
11
3
13
2
29
1
37
What Students Say
“Please take the review under mine with a grain of salt”
CHEM1061 - 2.0 rating“It's so crazy how messy a class is”
CHEM1061 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
12%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.87 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM2302
2.7
(17)CHEM1062
2.5
(4)CHEM2301
2.4
(29)CHEM1061
2.2
(30)CHEM2081
1.6
(19)Difficulty by Course
CHEM2081
4.8
CHEM2302
4.5
CHEM2301
4.2
CHEM1061
3.9
CHEM1062
3.3
Reviews (99)
Alexei is so underrated!! Such an amazing professor that takes his time organizing class material and is always prepared to answer student's questions. He keeps an eye out for comments in the chatbox (in zoom) and emails so he is fast to respond. Highly recommend doing the end of chapter problems and making sure you understand the material! :)
Novikov wasn't that bad of a professor, but his exams were kind of hard and high stakes, but there are 7 exams so even if you do bad on one you should be fine. It's just a tough class and if you aren't too great at chemistry you should probably take someone else. Averages in the class are around a C- for each exam
Prof. Novikov is not good at distanced teaching. His lectures were just him reading off a word doc and did not help my comprehension at all. He is good about being accessible, answering questions, and going through practice problems with you. But this class is hard. I barely passed.
Organic chem is a hard class in general but his class was way too hard. He does not know how to teach online at all. The only reason why I passed his class was watching youtube videos. Had 7 exams and final. Final was the worst, only had questions that we never had on any previous exams. Not worth it, take someone else.
Worst class ever. Exams were hard and final sucked. The average for every exam was around 60%. Even though there was a curve that an A was at 85, I'm pretty sure most people ended with a B- or lower (70-60%). Take this class at another college if possible.
Dr. Novikov is a great professor that cares about his students. He was very flexible and open in online instruction and his lectures were very informative and clear. He is great at explaining concepts that are considerably complicated in a simplified manner.
The rest of these reviews complain about his lectures not being sufficient enough so you have to go to outside resources for help. Thats just what to expect for this class because of the difficulty of the material, not because of the professor. Overall, he is a good professor and is very helpful if you have questions!
Had to drop chem 2302 to take next semester with a different professor. only grades come from exams which seem to be nothing like the lectures and from a couple low point quizzes. I even tried switching professors this semester but he is the only one for O chem 2, now my next semester is soo many credits ugh
I personally thought Dr. Novikov was a good professor, however, OCHEM is generally hard anyway so that's why a lot of people say he's bad. He is super on top of emails and gets back to you right away if you have any questions outside of class. He was always really helpful to me, but get ready to study your reactions! No painno gain or whatever...
Dr. Novikov is nice and knowledgeable, but he is a horrible teacher for people whom chemistry does not naturally click for. Although its expected to have to use resources outside of class with this hard of a course, Novikov's lectures were almost useless for me to learn the material. Also, almost all of your grade comes from 4 very hard exams.
Novikov doesn't teach this class well. Spent the whole semester thinking I was stupid for not understanding the material. I met with a tutor a week before the final and finally started to understand. Novikov's teaching style is not effective. He's unorganized, confusing, and fails to explain important details necessary for knowing the concepts.
For me, this class was the hardest class I've taken in my undergrad. But thats because Ochem is very difficult as is. That being said, Alexei does not make it easier. He's very hard to follow in lecture...u have to be a pro at the content before lecture to solidify it. He was useless imo, had to learn it on my own. also practice the reactions ALOT.
Alexei is a great professor! Gets hung up on certain things sometimes but often does a great job. Lectures are fast but not unfollowable, you need to pay attention! A lot of the (stupid) people writing reviews for Professor Novikov expect to be spoonfed an A in OChem 2. If you want to do well in this class, you need to put in the time and practice!
Novikov was a good professor, but the class is definitely challenging. There was no homework, which means that your grade is almost entirely based on tests so studying is a must. While I dont think Novikovs notes were organized in the best way, he did provide summaries of each chapter that were helpful!
Alexei is nice but doesn't know how to teach this class. He didn't give us the materials necessary to succeed in this class. His lectures were messy and confusing. His material was unorganized and made it more difficult to understand the already complex topics of the class. Tests were hard and he didn't seem to care that we'd avg 40% every time.
I lasted one lecture in his class and switched out because I knew I could not be successful. His lecture consists of him reading off of a PDF of the chapter summary. When lecturing he jumps between topic-to-topic and page to page in his PDF without reason, making it hard to follow. When he did examples, he wrote the process but did not explain why.
Novikov is a good professor, not much more. Lectures cover material well, but are not very engaging. He's quite nice if you have any questions.
His lectures are difficult to understand. It seems like he enjoys the content and understands what he is doing, but he isn't able to teach well at all.
For how fast paced and difficult this class was he did not help whatsoever. There were a lot of beneficial resources and practice problems provided but I learned more from tutors/TAs than him. Avoid him at all costs, he brushed over topics so fast and barely explained what was going on.
I have never failed a class and always get A's and B's but I am on the verge of failing this class. He's very kind but doesn't teach well. He writes the answer but doesn't explain how he got there. He teaches in a way that its confusing. He provides a lot of useful resources tho. Your grade is solely on 6 quizzes, 3 exams, and 200pt final.
Dr. Novikov is an extremely nice guy. He is incredibly accessible outside of class and is very open to answering questions. He is very knowledgeable about chemistry and it is obvious he is passionate, but it is difficult to understand his lectures. Course is doable, but he unfortunately does make it harder. CHEM 2302 is already difficult.
Alexei is a hidden gem in the UMN chemistry department. He gives so many resources to study from (chapter summaries, recordings and notes, mini-videos on certain reactions, tons of practice problems). Furthermore, his material incredibly on the nose because what is present in the practice problems and practice exams WILL be on the exams. 10/10!
He is really nice outside of class. Like he is really good about answering questions in emails and in office hours, so if you want to do better in class communicate with him there. It was a really hard class for me because I took ochem 1 two semesters ago, but if you keep up with lectures and practice problems you should get by.
My only complaint was that homework was not a part of the grade and a curve was not discussed so you basically had no idea what your grade was until the end of the course. Dr. Novikov was very knowledgeable about the course material and also made a ton of study resources available before exams. He was also accessible outside of class and very nice.
CHEM 2302 is always a tough course. Novikov is hard to understand and writes his notes basically unlegible. He is very kind and answers questions in a pretty timely manner. He uses a lot of different resources to help you learn. I think he is a good prof compared to others. You will not know what grade you have until its submitted on myu though.
Tests were easy as long as you study. The class had a curve making it easier to get a good grade. Don't ONLY study from his notes. FIRST, look at the topics and watch YouTube videos from the Organic Chemistry Tutor. His notes are confusing, they are bullet pointed and pictures are everywhere. OChem is a hard class, expect to study outside of class
Organic chemistry is a difficult subject, but Dr. Novikov gives you every possible chance to succeed. He posts practice problems for every chapter and practice exams that match up with the content on the test. There are also help sessions every week and before each exam. However, I feel his lectures could be better, he flies through the material.
Orgo is unavoidably difficult and honestly I feel so lucky to have had Dr. Novikov as a professor. Lectures went FAST, but he offers so many resources to be successful in this course. Work all the practice problems and practice exams that he posts. He's approachable, kind, and accessible. He's a great prof for folks like me who struggle with chem.
Had zoom option and recorded all his lectures, gave you practice exams pretty similar to the exams itself and are only a few questions and was overall such a sweet man so I'd definitely recommend him if I had to take O chem again!
Novikov was genuinely super attentive to his students and cared about their feedback in the class. He was always easy to approach and understood that his students have a life and that things come up. 10/10 overall. While he could of explained a bit more in class, the supplemental videos and textbook cleared it all up.
I had to withdraw from this course last minute because I was not going to pass with the required C-. The problem mainly lies in the chem department and not Novikov, but the lectures are pointless you will do all the learning on your own time and not in lecture (likely why only 50% of the class shows up). Novikov is nice though and wants to help!
It was the course itself that was difficult but out of all the professors available Novikov was the best. He took questions and he was always very friendly. I would recommend him for 1061.
Novikov is a very kind and a good professor. The problem lies in the structure of the class. It is difficult to learn as the class is mostly taught online, and the lectures are used for assignments. The lectures are basically pointless as the assignments are often not even reviewed in class. Novikov's office hours are very helpful though.
Hasn't even been a week in his class and already withdrawing. His lectures are bullet points from the review of the chapter from the textbook. Never had a class set up like this. There is no structure, he writes all over and it is not legible. Flies through material, and does not help prepare you for homework or exams. Seems very nice.
The lecture/ALEKS homework material varies so much sometimes from the exams that it makes it extremely difficult to study. Novikov is a good professor though.
It is actually crazy how one can speak for 55 minutes a day, 3 times a week, and somehow say nothing at all. The tests aren't too unreasonable. His lectures/notetaking are actually so bad, I had to learn organic chemistry by myself. He is a nice guy, and might not answer your email with a slur, but there is not much else to him. Don't take him.
Novikov seems like a good person however just with the nature of OCHEM he isn't great at teaching it. His lectures consist of reading bullet points off of a Google doc, you'd be better off watching youtube videos. However, he gives tons of resources like many many practice problems and records his lectures.
Was literally fighting for my life every day I took this class. Dr. Novikov himself is a nice guy but the class format and his teaching methods are horrible. If you already struggle with chemistry do NOT take with him.
Genuinely awful. I feel as though he is so unaware of how lost the class actually is during lecture. Don't think I have ever seen him look up from his iPad once during lecture, no one asks questions because we are too lost to even do so. His lectures are entirely bullet points from the chapter review, it baffles me how he thinks that is teaching.
I don't even know what to say about Alexei. He seem so nice, genuinely. But, that does not make him a good orgo teacher. The class is hard as is, and he makes it almost more confusing. It is like his lectures do not go anywhere, it is him talking in circles to try and make you more confused. Tests are very similar to the practice exams.
I wish I was kidding when I said Alexei was genuinely the worst professor I have ever had. He was not mean or rude, quite the opposite. But his lectures are genuinely impossible to follow. He reads off bullet points and has no lecture slides. His handwriting is not legible, it is chicken scratch. I have no other words to say. Just teach yourself.
It's like the Earth is here and Alexei is so far from it. So smart but so clueless at the same time. All I can say is these reviews are not lying, it's pretty bad. Go to OLS, Chem Connections, the tutor room, and FIND GOOD YOUTUBERS. You will have to teach yourself, just accept it. Put in the work and you will be ok, but don't expect much from him.
This class is super difficult but it truly feels like Dr. Novikov wants you to do well. His problem solving sessions in class are incredibly helpful, and practice problems and exams are extremely similar to the actual exams. He moves through material quickly, but that's to the fault of the department and not his.
The only benefit to the class was that you have a lot of resources at your disposal and the practice questions and exams he gives are helpful, but my god is he just a terrible lecturer. Extremely hard to follow and doesn't explain concepts well at all. I would do the notes before the lecture and leave lecture more confused than before.
Worst professor I've had at the U so far, but that says nothing about him personally. He is clearly a very nice guy but such a bad lecturer. His handwriting is illegible at times, his drawings are hard to follow. Lose focus for a second and you might as well leave the class for the day. Only benefit is he posts lectures/review vids/practice exams.
Overall this class was difficult in general but I don't think he made it any easier. Lectures did not give good info that was on the tests. No practice questions/reviews which made it difficult. His course is basically an online course and tests are all online. All tests were 15 questions so it was hard to get a good grade.
Dr. Novikov isn't good at giving lectures in class and his handwriting is bad, but if you look at his prerecorded lecture videos, they make more sense. He gives tons of helpful practices and exams are formatted exactly like the practice exams so as long as you do the practice you should be good. Overall he is a caring and nice professor.
Lectures move fast but are great for review, so I recommend always reading beforehand. Handwriting is often messy so make sure you pay attention or you won't understand what's going on with all the arrows and circles. He provides plenty of materials to help with reviewing. The homework and exams are straightforward.
Novikov is a great person..However, the class is taught terribly :I You are basically teaching yourself everything. Even if you go to lecture it doesn't make much of a difference. Do all the ALEKS and homework is my advice. Every point matters, do NOT be the person who "forgets," it WILL hurt you. The exams seem easy but are quite difficult.
Alexei is a good professor that provides you with all the resources you need to succeed. As long as you go to class, and spend time working on practice problems, exams, and actually pay attention to the material you will do fine in the class. I only did bad on the first two exams because I didn't know how to study properly.
Professor Novikov teaches the material by reading off the notes and the most helpful lectures are problem solving days. He provides a handful of resources and study material to be successful in this class which makes up for his ok teaching. Also, his tests are fair game as long as you dedicate a good amount of time to studying.
Simply put, Novikov is not a good professor. He is hard to follow in lecture, and his form of "teaching" is scribbling all over pdfs and expecting students to follow. Everything I learned for this class was on my own or with outside help. I have heard Novikov's tests are easier than other professors, but that doesn't matter when he doesn't teach.
A good guy and super willing to help through office hours/emails. I would always send this guy an email the night before the exam with questions and he would always respond quickly. He can be really confusing and his format of teaching is so bad. I don't think he even covers every topic for the exam but his practice exams are similar to the test.
If you miss homework/quizzes, no make-ups or partial credit allowed. I honestly learned more from using this site called **CHEMMUNITY** I highly recommend it especially if you're a visiual learner and need things simplified. Lectures are posted with dates and you can join via zoom and provides resources.I found his lectures difficult to understand.
This class is so hard to understand, and it was structured very poorly. You had to watch all the lectures at home and do the homework in lectures. He also has a very think accents that is hard to understand.
He wasn't mean, but the chem program at the UMN for undergrad is just kind of a mess. He's hard to understand the university course he's given to work with is really shitty. It's entirely based on Aleks and they don't make it obvious whats going to be on the quiz, making it feel not easy to prepare for.
There's so much homework that every lesson is repeated 4 times in various forms. I started submitting the in class assignments ahead of time so I didn't have to go. Tests are really hard to study for, the final was so bad that the highest score out of the 350 person class was 13.9/15 and the average was a D. But that's just chem at this school.
Its not too hard to get an almost 100% in the Aktiv homeworks, Lecture Videos, Canvas Homeworks, and Worksheets but gawd damn the mastery checkpoints actually screwed me over 😭 I would study all night going through all the things on the study guide, old assignments and homeworks we had done but that just wasn't enough ig. Also I hate proctorio !!
Took 16 days to respond to my email about catching up after multiple attempts of reaching out.
This was the first year Dr. Perkins didn't teach 2081, I so wish we had her & not Novikov. The pacing was terrible, and he gave us nothing. Lots of people skipped lecture and just self-studied the textbook. I did well in the prior courses (A-) but his lack of support was discouraging. He solved problems so unclearly and just read off the slides. :(
Not the best lecturer but not the worst either when compared to other ochem profs. My worry was we were graded almost solely through five exams and an additional final w/o any being dropped. Even though it was a small class, it wasn't the most supportive environment, could have been a lot worse tho. It was his first time teaching this class, idk.
Novikov wasn't a bad prof! He tried his best! I didn't enjoy just the sheer amount of work there was for this class. It was over 10 assignments a week with no chances for makeups or extra credit. The tests were worded in ways that never made sense, and were worth way more than the typical assignments. If you aren't a good test taker, beware!
Many video lectures every few days that have bad formats. Once the question on the video pops up it blocks your answer choices and the question and you're unable to get out of it. Lots and lots of work. It's a full time job workload for an entry level 3 credit chemistry class. Not to mention trick questions on material not even covered before.
Horrible. Can't understand anything with his accent, 0 preparation for the mastery checkpoints once every two weeks which are graded like an exam. Also states that homework is graded based off turning it in but randomly checks your work and gives it a 0 if there's something he doesn't like. Would recommend to completely avoid him at all.
Currently taking. The lectures can sometimes feel disorganized, but a lot of the criticism about his accent is rude; he is understandable. While his teaching style isn't my favorite, he is respectful, caring, and understanding with students who put in effort & ask questions directly. The material is easier to understand when you get help from him.
lectures are 75 min of him pointing up at the big board (u never know where he is pointing) and listening to him talk. There's a few demos here and there. He's also understanding if u have a good reason to ask for an extension on an assignment.
I couldn't even tell what he was doing up on that board most of the time. The mastery checkpoints are extremely difficult as well as the final. TA's were highly unhelpful saying they don't know the answer themselves. Chem lab was completely different and irrelevant compared to the lecture. I used to love chemistry and this guy made me HATE IT!!!
I feel like the problems in this class are from how it is structured and not as much about professor Novikov. Tests are extremely difficult compared to the assignments. There are upwards of 20 assignments a week. Lecture is completely pointless. Lab is not at all related to the lecture. This class is an absolute mess.
The course feels poorly designed for student success. The professor seems unaware or uninterested in test outcomes. Tests are 50% of the grade, but some average around 50% with no curve or acknowledgment. Lectures feel useless, homework rarely aligns with tests, and there are no real study guides, just learning targets, making it hard to prepare.
Horrible managed course: incredible disconnect between lectures, homework, labs, and tests. Professor does nothing to promote student success and seems unaware or uncaring of how the tests go. Maybe half the tests have actual study guides, but the test material can be random. A lot of unnecessary work without real learning.
This guys oblivious to kids averaging a D-F on the mastery checkpoint. It's so crazy how messy a class is. Lectures aren't useful, labs aren't aligned with class, mastery checkpoints have close to zero relation to the study guide. It's all a gamble. "Oh, I hope what I studied is on the mastery checkpoint," and then it's something random. Like bruh.
I'm pretty sure the bad ratings are from students who didn't look very hard for information on the canvas page or didn't pay attention. This guy is a perfectly fine lecturer, and while he can ramble a bit sometimes, he is willing to answer questions and is very friendly. Sure the tests aren't easy, but you'll be fine if you use the study guides.
Please take the review under mine with a grain of salt. They say "the bad ratings are from students who didn't look very hard for information on the canvas page or didn't pay attention", completely ignoring the fact that no matter how far down you scroll, it is negative reviews. Please don't try to make others' struggles seem like nothing.
He does not explain mathmatical topics at all and sort of just talks with no continuity.
Genuinely not a good professor. Hes really hard on grading. Incredible amounts of homework sometimes at really strange due date times. It makes the class really hard.
Not a good lecturer, lectures do not make sense and are not engaging. Grading system is not great, 50% of your grade is test based, other half is homework and in class worksheets. You have to teach yourself all of the content and lectures aren't worth going to. Would not recommend this professor at all.
I gotta say this guy is the definition of alright. He seems like a perfectly fine person but his class just is not it. The tests are atrocious and nothing like the study guide but there is enough homework to get your through. It's is very nice to know I don't have to go to this class though. All lectures are online
Goes over everything you need to know for the exam in class.
A lot of people are really mean about this professor. The class was a bit hard for me, and sometimes I didn't fully get the way he explained things. (However, I think he explains things better 1 on 1 with you.) He was always kind and patient. I don't get why people say otherwise, but the tests are like the study guides.
Their was nothing particularly spectacular about him, but I thought that he was definitely solid. I find it a little ironic that people rate him so low, yet the majority of my class never showed up. The class is meant to be problem solving based, so people that never showed up missed out on the value Dr. Novikov could provide as a professor.
I found his teaching style to be unclear, but part of that is just the way gen chem is structured at the U. Difficult tests, which I found hard to prepare for, topics are introduced in videos you watch before class, and lecture time is devoted to homework. If you go to class and make use of office hours, it's not horrible, but still challenging.
I did not go to lectures and studied with textbooks. TAs were amazing with understanding class concepts. The few times I went to lecture his teaching made things more complicated that it was. Sometimes difficult to understand.
He is amazing!!!! 10/10 recommend I don't usually like chemistry but he made it so much fun and so interesting. Yay!
Midterms are 100 points each (5 exams), final exam is 150 points, homework is 100 points, and the semester-long project is 50 points. If you don't do well on the exams, you're screwed. The averages have been tanking about 10% each exam since the beginning of the semester. A lot of us are just hoping for a 60% (C-) so that we can pass.
Makes sense during lecture for a while, then completely loses us leaving many students completely lost. Attendance isn't mandatory as there is a Zoom link + he uploads past lectures. Honestly better off just reading textbook + doing practice problems. Planning to retake in the spring. Only professor teaching CHEM2081 as of now.
No. just, NO. Novikov is an absolutely abysmal professor and you have to teach yourself everything. It's like having a traffic cone as a professor. The exams are weighted EIGHTY percent, making it terribly difficult to excel. This department doesn't care about the students and makes classes that are intrinsically designed for us not to pass them.
Exams every 2 weeks and you have to be there. No matter what the excuse is, he will not allow you to be gone for an exam. Someone in my family passed away and he said I had to be there and then he asked for proof of their funeral service. Lectures are fast and hard to follow. Provides no extra credit and overall class average is very low.
No shade to Novikov, but this class is a disgrace. 100 pt exams every 2-3 weeks, 20 questions going over 3-4 chapters. Absolutely no extra credit and very unlikely to receive a curve, even when exam averages are in the 60s. Homework will be a breeze, and the exam will be completely different. Your grade depends almost entirely on exams.
Part 1: Lectures start okay, then spiral into utter chaos. You end up teaching yourself everything while TAs become superheroes. His explanations somehow make the simplest concepts incomprehensible. Attendance is optional, but surviving his mental gymnastics is mandatory. Bring snacks and sanity.
Part 2: Exams crush 80% of your grade—five midterms and a 150-point final. No makeups, no mercy, averages drop 10% each time. Homework is candy, exams are guillotines, and the semester-long project barely matters. CHEM2081 is soul-crushing torture disguised as chemistry. Retirement can't come soon enough.
Part 3: By the time you finish CHEM2081, you'll have questioned every life choice that led you here. Every lecture feels like a survival challenge, every exam a cruel joke, and caffeine only delays the inevitable collapse. Thank you for taking the time to read this and best of luck to those willing to take on this course (luck will be needed).
Exams way harder than the content given in class made it impossible to do well
Be prepared to teach yourself all of the material. Exam averages are some of the lowest I've ever seen in a class, with 80% of your grade dependent on 5 midterms and a final. No extra credit, a project that doesn't boost grades at all, and only a slight curve compared to 1082. If you're considering choosing the life sciences chem track, don't.
This class is a humiliation ritual. Exams make up over 80% of the grade, with midterms every 2-3 weeks worth 100 points each. Homework and practice problems seem easy enough, but then the exam looks like hieroglyphics. Get ready to ditch the useless lectures and self-teach everything. Honestly a disgrace to the chemistry department.
Alexei Novikov is the worst professor at the U bar none. He is incapable of teaching students or communicating expectations. The exams go into way more depth than is covered in class, to the point that they seem like they're from an entirely different class. It's like he teaches basic addition in lecture, then the exam is on multivariable calculus
This class has surely crushed the dreams of many pre-meds. Harshly difficult with 5 exams + a final and no drop tests like the other O chem. Novikov's lectures are not "useless" like many say, I found them quite helpful. People love to hate on Novikov, but at the end of the day he did listen to student feedback and give us an extra curve.
Professor Novikov's lectures often never aligned with the tests or quizzes that were presented in the course, and a lot of online lectures that were not his own and again, did not even align with the content presented in exams.
The course itself is very difficult being extremely test heavy and Dr. Novikov gives very difficult exams but I found his lectures to be helpful. You have to do A LOT of outside work but if you read the textbook and put in consistent work the class is doable. There is also often a nice curve.
Yeah so this guy clearly knows what he is talking about, but I feel he lacks the ability to teach it. I am not upset per say for getting a C+, but just rather annoyed. I did take 18 credits, but I am just annoyed that attending lectures 3 days a week was a waste of time. Literally you are better off learning from the book. He is funny though.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
12%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.87 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM2302
2.7
(17)CHEM1062
2.5
(4)CHEM2301
2.4
(29)CHEM1061
2.2
(30)CHEM2081
1.6
(19)Difficulty by Course
CHEM2081
4.8
CHEM2302
4.5
CHEM2301
4.2
CHEM1061
3.9
CHEM1062
3.3