1.7
Quality4.2
Difficulty3%
Would Retake125
Reviews3%
Would Retake
125
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
6
4
5
3
15
2
30
1
69
What Students Say
“He is the MOST amazing professor I have ever met and people really need to know how great this man is”
CHE375 - 5.0 rating“He's a great guy, but not so great of a professor”
CHE132 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
68%
Textbook Required
82%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.12 avg changeRatings by Course
CHECHE
4.0
(1)CHE375
3.5
(10)CHE378
3.5
(2)CHE357
3.0
(1)CHE133
2.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
131
5.0
ASDDASD1
5.0
CHE133
5.0
CHM131
5.0
CHEM132
5.0
Reviews (125)
a very nice guy..........but the accent....horrible...more like he mumbles....i used to sit in the front and still couldn't hear him.
He seems like a nice guy, but he is not a very good teacher. He seems to explain things as he understands them, which is difficult for many students like myself to understand. Plus, his accent does not help things.
HE SUCKS. HE CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH. DON'T EVEN GO TO HIS LECTURES BECAUSE HE DOES NOT CARE.
he a horrible professor, i have no idea what he's trying to say and he makes me very sleepy in class. and when it comes to the CAPA, none of his lectures helped
This professor was utterly useless in Che 131! Unfortunately this course is split into three sections taught by three different chemistry professors however Professor Mayr's section were the lessons of the poorest quality.
He can't teach at all. He never tried to even figure out the CPS remote machine. When he didn't figure it out, he's like, "I can't be bothered". Some students near the front were talking and he said, "You're lucky I don't know which one of you were talking or else, I'll go down there and squeeze you". Not only is that spookie it's disturbing. Blah
he doesnt know what he's talking about himself. he mummbles too much and waists time pointing out people. he needs an hour to make a point and loses the class
HORRIBLE!!!
AHHHH! he is the worst chem professor i have ever had. his notes are all straight from the textbook, he just reads every single line on the notes without explanation at all. it is very hard to focus in his lecture, and it is just a waste of time.
one of the worst and boring chem professors in the world!!!
OMG IS SO ****** BORING CANT TEACH FOR LIFE do not take this class if he is teaching
He has a very thick accent that is difficult to understand. He has a very hard time keeping the attention of the class although he really, really tries. He is extremely helpful to anyone who attends his office hours and genuinely wants you to understand the material, unlike Wolfskill. I would say he is the second best out of the three.
Thick thick accent, usually just reads off his notes he made which aren't helpful at all, expects us to know and understand everything he just read a minute ago, and he's probably the reason why 90++% of the class bombed the third exam.
While I do believe he is the worst professor out of the three, he isn't impossible to learn from. He does have a thick accent and isn't very good at explaining things, but if you pay attention, you should get a basic understanding of the material. He's also a very nice guy and is much more helpful in his office hours.
1 word ... this guy is a horrible
He needs to be fired
You might as well have ozzy ozbourne up there at the podeum. it is impossible to understand a word he says. AND he thinks he is so funny and clever but hes not. AWFUL. it is amazing i passed that class.
He is the worst teacher i have ever had...and hes a jerk...if u get a class with him GOOD LUCK!!! CUZ ur gonna need it!!!!!!
He's definately the worse chem teacher at Stony Brook University. His teaching is horrible. For example, he would mention something very briefly that he stresses on his exams. If you have him for chem, good luck to you.
What is presented in class isn't always relevent to the material on the syllabus. The slides aren't clear and rather than give a lecture, he reads directly from the slides.
This teacher sucks. Try not to take his class. All he does is reads off his slides which are poorly crammed in with not even the necessary informations to pass the tests. The tests are relatively hard as nothing is taught in class!!!
He's soo boring. It's really hard to pay attention in class. His midterms are so hard. He really isn't a good teacher.
Very difficult to understand, does not make the subject easy and overall should not be teaching that class.
boring, annoying, and hard. his exams are way to hard and have grammer/english/spelling error in them. worst accent you won't understand him unless you can speak his langauge german. I did way better with simmerlings went from a D to an A (midterm grades) and did way better in chem 132 an entire higher grade.. avoid him especiall yif you are a fres
Terrible instructor, petty, aloof, uncaring.
Horrible teacher. Midterms are impossible.
Idk how this guy still holds a job here at stony brook, or anywhere but there is no way he should be teaching in general. This guy may know chem, but has no clue how to teach it to his students. Spends more time trying to look up stupid videos with no link to the class at all and calling out people for talking in a class of 500!! than teaching.
His exams are somewhat easy with a couple of [extremely] tricky questions. But those tricky questions shouldn't prevent you from obtaining a high score --because there are only a few of them out of 26 questions. He also gives out a bonus question in every test. A bit of a warning though-- i think he is from Germany and he speaks like the Terminator
His only problem is that his accent makes him hard to understand sometimes. He's also not that helpful during office hours. But other than that, he's a good prof. who knows about chemistry. Read the book, do HW, print out lecture notes before coming to lecture, and you'll get an A. Midterm exams are a little tricky, but there's a bonus question.
He is such a nice person. But, he is not that good at teaching because he just reads off the slide and doesn't answer to questions well. His tests are somewhat difficult. But there is a bonus question and if you watch the video during the lectures, you will know the answer.
The only thing bothered me was his German accent. But his tests were really easy so I'm happy. If you are looking to get a A in this course, take it with Mayr.
I learned more chemistry from hom more than anybody. he taught us the foundations of chemistry, which I still use. He was a great professor.
He obviously knows his stuff or he would not be a professor but his notes are relatively useless for studying for his exams. Expect to read the textbook and get help before the second exam especially if you're struggling or it can possibly destroy your grade. By getting help, I mean go to the learning center.
Awful professor, uncaring and aloof. His tests are very tricky and careful reading of the textbook is required. Put this together with his horrid german accent and you're completely screwed. There should be subtitles on his slides.
Not the greatest chemistry teacher. The course subject is obviously hard itself no matter who teaches it, but his accent, accompanied by his attempts to try and motivate students with video clips of olympic sport performances by Nastia Liukin, are weird and not really motivational to begin with ahaha
The course is designed to be a weed-out class so it is really hard to begin with, and Mayr only makes it harder. His annoying accent and his habit of showing videos of animals and gymnasts didnt help for his IMPOSSIBLE exams..and i feel like taking AP chem b4 this class will help u cuz u have 2 kno beyond wat is taught; but studying notes helps
Boring, second test is really hard, first is easy, lectures consist of him reading his slides for 55 minutes
i enjoyed going to his class. very interesting and helpful lecture notes. he is a very smart chemist.
He's a very smart man. Just can't teach that well. He knows his stuff and tries very hard to explain it to the best of his ability but his accent and pace tends to make the material harder to understand. If you can keep up and comprehend his accent, then take him.
I loved professor Mayr not because he was a great teacher but because of his very random sense of humor. Every so often he'd show a clip of planet earth or the olympics and his accent along with how not relevent the videos were to the class was hilarious. This class is EXTREMLY difficult put in time outside of class if he isn't helpful!
If you are having trouble sleeping,you should go to his class..it will put you RIGHT to sleep. very very boring. what i would suggest is print a copy of the slides from blackboard and follow along with them in class. sit in the front of the class,cuz if you are in the back, you'll be bored and fall behind. read textbook immediately when assigned.
this guy is garbadge. his test was impossible. it was very different from what he teaches. i wish i can drop his class, but its too late
I dont believe that this guy has a passion for chemistry. His exam was out of line nd involved material that we didnt even cover and should have been addressed at a later time in the course, but failed to put the most important thing on the exam 1 which was moles/mass. I don't know how they still let him teach b/c he teaches as if he doesn't care.
This guy was not a good professor to begin with but at the very least tolerable up until the first exam. His first exam was terribly UNFAIR and both the lecture + homework were completely inadequate in terms of preparation. He is dispassionate, monotone, difficult to understand and worst of all, explains concepts poorly. To sum it up: he's a JOKE.
I took this class last year and it was one of my favorite class. His notes are very helpful for the exams because they contain the most important ideas from the textbook. The book goes into more details with background information. But the test is mostly on his notes. Also, don't just memorize. You need to understand them in order to pass the test.
The lectures are hard to understand, especially when he starts mumbling. His lecture notes are the key to the exams. His videos show up on the exam too, so make a note. To pass the exams, you have to know the lecture notes INSIDE OUT!, read the textbook for clarification of the lecture notes. Have to work hard though!
Even if you get past his accent, you still won't be able to understand what is going on. His powerpoints suck and a lot of his test questions are made for chemists, not students. He is funny, though, especially when he disses people talking in class.
his accent makes it SO difficult to understand anything. he's kind of rude, and he doesn't care if his students understand the material. i highly recommend NOT taking his class.
His accent is incredibly thick but even if you get past that, his slides are not useful. He also simply reads off of the slides so you might as well not bother, he doesn't do much to deviate. Only interesting parts are when he goes and embarrasses the loud people. His tests are unpredictable too, if you miss one small area of the text you're done.
He is a terrible teacher. His exams are not fair; most of his questions and answers are ambiguous. His lectures are boring and i don't think he cares about the students or even chemistry.
One of the worst Prof ive ever had. You cant understand ANYTHING he says, have to do the dumb quizzes for every lecture. Have to 2 midterms while hes teaching and should do the hw but i didnt b/c my TA never checkd so i never did them. All the books are def mand buys
I'm and chem. major and I love chemistry but this man made everything IMPOSSIBLE. You can't understand him and his midterms might as well be written in Arabic. You'll most likely have to have him as a teacher so, enjoy!
i absolutely hated the guy. i fail to understand y he's a professor. he should give in a resignation letter and not shatter ppl's pre-med dreams
He is not very interested whether you understand or not, and yet he expects you to understand everything. You better be willing to do a lot of work on your own for it is the only way to do well in this class, let alone pass. He does however crack a few jokes and show random video clips that tickled my fancy.
Let me give you a piece of advice: avoid chemistry at Stony Brook completely. Ask anyone and all you will hear is horror stories. That being said, Mayr may be very knowledgeable in his field, however he has no business teaching. He is clueless to the abilities and/or needs of his students. Avg grade in the class- 52. Something is wrong with that.
All of these comments are extremely accurate.
He's a very knowledgeable professor. He is also very difficult. He whooped my ass hard the first midterm, not as bad the second midterm. Thankfully Simmerling came in for the third midterm. I aced the final ( which had Mayr and Simmerling's questions) by learning the material inside-out. You must live, breath, eat chemistry for Mayr, lol, good luck
He's not that bad as advertised, it was my freshmen yr so I didn't study as well as I should so I did mediocre (B's). He asks some random questions, you have to really put some effort to get an A, but I'm sure its possible. His lectures are more useful for tests then Simmerling which I value personally.
German accent, hard to understand. Easy material if your a science person.
Not only does he not teach that well. He also puts random questions on the exam. His exams are confusing. He's a nice person, yes, but he just cannot teach! You basically have to teach yourself!
He needs a teaching training.
He is not terrible but he needs to learn new teaching ways. His exams are difficult and the text book is terrible. His homeworks are really easy but he does no sort of review for his exams.
This man has no business teaching. WHile he may be accomplished in his field, he is incompetent when it comes to teaching and evaluating his students. His exams are erratic, enigmatic, and riddling which not only cover material that HAS NOT BEEN COVERED YET but focus more on outwitting you than properly evaluating you. Also you cant understand him
Class average was a 52 on the first exam. Where I come from that indicates that there is something wrong, and with the highest grade in the class being a 82, 3 zeros, and the average student getting half the questions wrong, that points to the "teacher". Put this guy back in a lab where he can actually do some good, he obviously failed at teaching.
Just please do yourself a favor, and don't take this class even if your life depended on it. I'm telling you.
I think he is posting these extremely high ratings for himself. They are obviously unnatural.
I definitely agree with the comment below; he is posting those 5 5 5 ratings himself cause they are way off. Completely incomprehensible at explaining even the most basic of concepts and rude (told a kid to shut up during the day of the final and many other incidents). Refuses to answer ANY questions during exams. This man should not be teaching.
He's a very sweet professor and his accent isn't horrible like everyone says.....they're just trying to find things to complain about. All chemistry classes are tough. You can't expect to get an A without making an effort.
Yeah, his English is fine and not a problem at all. It's his teaching skill.
All the problems are caused by this gentleman's way of teaching...
he is not helpful at all... avoid him unless you have to take this class... be ready to study everything by yourself...
He is monotonous and has put me to sleep multiple times. His accent isn't too bad but I can't tell if he's better/worse than Hanson. Read the book if you hope to get at least a B+. The course is challenging and the exams are mostly concept based. I attend class only for clicker questions, which do not count too much towards the final grade.
Disaster. Avoid if you can. If you can't, you're going to be teaching yourself everything.
He may be the worst teacher of any kind I have ever had. Also, the things he told us to study for did not appear on the test whereas the things he told us NOT to study for did appear on the test. He believes a 48% median on the test is undeserving of a curve. The fact he is a professor at this school is an absolute disgrace.
Mayr is absolutely abysmal at teaching. There's no choice in teacher for this class, so you will just have to bear through it. You will learn everything from the book or from doing homework if you want to do well. However, if you do know the material, his exams actually aren't as tricky as Hanson's.
He has a very accent and speaks so deep that you't understand a word he says. And his questions are really tough.
Mayr is literally the worst professor I have ever had. His lectures are useless and the test questions are worded poorly and do not resemble the material presented in the course.
Horrible.....that's the only way to describe him. Almost impossible to do well in his class.
His accent is ok but he MUMBLES so basically you can't hear a word he's saying. Read his powerpoint slides.
Imagine paying 10k+ per semester to self study rather than learn in class. I have the 8am class. Not only he mumbles and is boring, he turns off most of the lights in the lecture hall. It's too early for this...
Haha "Good Quality." I appreciate your humour good sir.
Don't bother going to class, he spends more time going umm then teaching
Mayr is terrible. He's impossible to understand, his lectures are incomprehensible, his topics are tricky but he doesn't even teach them. He ends up mumbling to himself half the time. He's by far the worst professor I've ever had. Avoid him if you can, if you can't then rely on the text primarily.
Terrible, terrible professor. I thought BIO203 was an easier class than this man's lectures. Extremely unclear about what is to be on the exam/course content. It's all self-study from when he starts teaching. Terrible. Shame on this chemistry dept.
Dr. Mayr's probably one of the most incredible professors I have ever had at Stony Brook. To be honest, I was afraid at first because I had him briefly during general chemistry freshman year and I knew the material he taught was a bit tough. However, inorganic taught by this man really reminded me why i love chemistry. Inspirational, lovely man
It's such a shame that many find Prof. Mayr unhelpful. He is the MOST amazing professor I have ever met and people really need to know how great this man is. I also had taken general chemistry with Mayr years ago and had a wrong idea of him. I simply think he is not a fan of big lecture halls. But I promise he is a teacher who inspires you.
I had Mayr for inorganic chemistry 1. He wants everyone to do well in his class and gives opportunity to do extra credit. As long as you show up for class and take notes you can do well in the class. His tests are based off his review sheet and past homeoworks. Yes, his grading is a bit obscure but there is a good curve to the class to make it up.
The material is pretty easy but he looks for really specific things in your answers in the exams. So make sure you go to class and take notes of what he says. I also recommend going to his office and talk to him to make sure you understand everything. He is in his office for most of the time.
Mayr is a funny guy when he wants to be. He senses when the class gets bored and puts on slideshows of his trips and cool things he found online. I enjoyed this course so much. Pay close attention to what he says in lecture and write it all down. Memorize his lecture slides for exams and go to office hours to ace your h.w. There are no echoes.
He's a great guy, but not so great of a professor. His lectures are hard to understand, he stutters a lot, and really disorganized. But he definitely knows his stuff and he's a great guy overall. If you can avoid him, do. If you have time to go to his office hours, you'll succeed.
This professor isn't very good at teaching the material. If the majority of the class is struggling with clicker questions then it clearly shows the professor is inefficient at teaching the material. The reviews he posts for the practice tests are useless and don't help when trying to prepare for the exam. Lectures are boring and pointless.
Professor Mayr is one of the worst professors I've had. He makes the class extremely difficult to understand due to the lack of explanations, and inability to comprehend him. All studying must be done on your own, and when it comes to the test you must obtain all the material on your own. His reviews are horrible, and he flies through the lectures.
Mayr does not do a well job at coherently explaining the material. He goes through each slide too fast, not giving students adequate time to copy down notes. Also, you are going to need to sit at the very front of the lecture in order to hear him; he has a monotonous and quite voice - which puts me to sleep. He does not elaborate enough.
Most people just do homework in his lectures because he's pretty bad at explaining concepts, the clicker questions, uses extremely wordy slides, and speaks with an accent you need to get used too. Show up for clicker questions and do some homework or reading yourself in class if you can focus enough. You'll get much more out of your time with that
Hes a nice guy & very intelligent, but he lacks teaching skills. No matter what you do, you will struggle. His test are completely different from what he teaches. If you can avoid him, do it. Your sanity is at stake with him.
He is horrible at explaining topics and answering questions about them. His lectures are very boring, but you should go to them because there are clicker questions. Try to do the ALEKS assignments because they are extremely helpful. The exams are challenging, and they don't correspond to the lectures. The textbook assignments are easy points.
I feel so bad bc Mayr is a genuinely smart, funny & nice guy. But he's a HORRIBLE professor. Horrible. Heavy assignments (get ready for ALEKs). In lectures he mumble at the screen the whole time. Lecture slides aren't easy to understand. But attendance is mandatory bc of clicker questions. Tests dont reflect lectures. Avoid if possible.
Great guy, but a terrible professor. He doesnt know how to teach. He makes several mistakes throughout the class, and confuses himself, there by confusing the students. His powerpoints are useless to review, they are incredibly confusing. Everyone does aleks in class. And googles the answers to the clicker questions
Avoid at all costs if you can!!! The class averages for every exam were between 50-60 and he considers that to be a good thing!!!!
The worst. Please avoid this guy he does not care about the students he's old and you can tell that teaching is not what he cares about. Brushes over all hard topics and just assumes that we all understand because HE thinks they are easy. All test averages were between 50-60, 70s if we were lucky. His teaching made me forget prior chem knowledge
I wouldn't take his class again.. he seems like a sweet man but his accent made it really difficult to understand what he was saying- on top of the fact that he didn't explain things well. The test averages every midterm was like 60% and the department should do something bc that obviously means the professor isn't doing enough
Dr. Mayr is a genuinely nice man, but an absolutely terrible professor. He does not know how to explain anything. Office hours are useless He confused himself during lectures, therefore confusing us. His accent is not as terrible as people make it seem but this man cannot teach. You have to teach yourself everything. Beware
Professor Mayr is very nice one on one but he's a terrible teacher. He speaks very low, has an accent that's difficult to understand and doesn't take his time to explain concepts thoroughly. Overall he's very knowledgable about chemistry but doesn't know how to teach. If you can, I suggest you avoid this professor at all costs!
I never had him for gen chem, but I did have him for inorganic, and he is one of the most caring professors I know. I don't think he is a terrible professor at all, he just has a different style where he wants you to take more initiative to learn, which I like. Also, he is honestly one of the easiest professors to build an excellent rapport with!
He needs to retire. He's very nice but he's an awful professor. I hate his teaching so much.
He will make learning basic chemistry way harder than it needs to be. He sits there and lectures away, doesn't teach anything relevant to the test, forcing you to learn nearly everything on your own. Terrible professor DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS ! I think the other reviews speak for themselves it's not just me saying this. He will destroy your GPA!
Professor Mayr is kind, accessible, but isn't given enough time to teach 1400 students and he has a lot of work to cover... he flies by the work, but he's very knowledgable and a lot of people failed because they couldn't comprehend his teaching which was fast paced but clear. he should show substeps and practice problems more interactively
The worst professor!! I had to take a math placement and choose random answers because I didn't think it was important, but it is important. Do good on the math placement because you will get into che 131 which is the same as 129 but with better professors. He is terrible and does not explain anything. He didn't get a 0 because he is a nice person.
This professor was absolutely horrible. He got frustrated when we didn't understand concepts and never went into detail about said concepts. He quite literally told us to drop out if we wanted to get a good GPA. I should've dropped it when I had the chance. Now my GPA is ruined.
Nice guy but the worst professor ever.
He flips through the slides faster than the speed of light and does not completely make sense. He repeats the same thing on the slides like 3 times before he says something by new
Worst professor ever. Hardly can understand what he is saying, just keeps blabbing about random topics, not even the UGTA's and GTA's can keep up or understand what he is talking about. Plus, averages for this class range below 50%. Do not take this class unless you want your GPA to drop.
He is very hard to understand. If you get put in his lecture try to get out of it as soon as possible. If you can't, go to other lectures. Trying to learn from his lectures is pointless.
He's a super nice guy but he is super confusing when it comes to the way he teaches. It's super hard to focus in his class as he doesn't really engage his students much. He continuously goes on and on about topics without worrying about whether the students understand the topic or not.
This class single handedly made me hate chemistry. He's a great guy don't get me wrong but he mumbles on and on about God knows what. Learning from him is as well as trying to talk to a brick wall. You need to study outside on your own and even then I still was stuck on everything. I understood nothing but somehow I got a B-I'll take it either way
bro legit makes mistakes when professing and expects you to correct him. He reads off the slides and nothing he says makes sense, or aids in learning. He also is not a clear talker and i cannot understand half the things he says. Moves very fast and i am always behind no matter how much catch up i do. He does not explain anything, do not take.
To succeed in this class, the Pearson textbook should be your bestfriend. Learn from it, do chapter outlines and practice, practice, and practice. The practice exams are good and so are the lecture questions, so study those before exams. TA's are excellent if u need help as well. Its not impossible to succeed, but you will have to do ur work
probably the worst professor i ever had. he reads his slide, goes to next one, reads it, then goes to next one. does not explain anything. it's insane. he also mumbles a ton, already hard to understand with the german accent. the only reason i did well in this class is because i would skip his lectures and watch the other prof.'s lectures.
The material he covering is easy, but I just don't understand how can he make a topic so confusing. If you are a student with strong background and willing to read some of textbook then great, otherwise, good luck on the material. He seems assume everything he say should be strightforward, but some of ideas are not, and he is bad on explaining.
I'm sure that the professor is a nice man but I hate him. He has a thick German accent that's a bit hard to understand. He stutters and mumbles. It's very easy to fall asleep in his lectures and they're just generally unintelligible. If you have little to no prior understanding of chemistry, you're going to need to build that yourself.
I would say that taking this course single handedly made me su*cidal. NEVER AGAIN! I've never experienced this much stress as a freshman. You will have to teach yourself everything. Andreas Mayr is a nice human being, however as a professor- he needs to rethink his job. The whole semester I could not understand what was going on.
Lectures could have been a lot more clear and organized. If I had to give an guess I'd say 99.98% of the time I would learn the material outside of the lectures. Sure the homework and assignments helped, but it would be nice if I could learn the stuff from the professor himself. Tests are fair in my opinion for the most part.
While Professor Mayr is a kind person, his teaching style makes this class a real challenge. Relying heavily on the textbook and struggling with clear explanations, it's a struggle to keep up. However, using Unstuck ai and practice questions helped me survive. With dedication, a B- is achievable.
I would avoid if you can. I struggled terribly even with extra paid resources. I highly recommended chemistry with miss K on YouTube it's literally the same lecture, I really wish I found her in the beginning because that would've saved me. All the back bending work I had to put just to barely miss getting a C by a very tiny margin really stings.
Coming from a student who took chemistry twice in high school, this class was unnecessarily difficult. Personally, I do not benefit from lecture-style learning, and had trouble comprehending the material. It is difficult to comprehend Professor Mayr due to his heavy accent and he often doesn't provide full explanation to problems.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
68%
Textbook Required
82%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.12 avg changeRatings by Course
CHECHE
4.0
(1)CHE375
3.5
(10)CHE378
3.5
(2)CHE357
3.0
(1)CHE133
2.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
131
5.0
ASDDASD1
5.0
CHE133
5.0
CHM131
5.0
CHEM132
5.0