3.2
Quality3.2
Difficulty59%
Would Retake98
Reviews59%
Would Retake
98
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
98 total ratings5
29
4
18
3
19
2
16
1
16
What Students Say
“Class was extremely fair”
CHEM2443 - 5.0 rating“A professor that actually WANTS you to succeed”
CHEM2443 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
30%
Textbook Required
33%
Grade Predictor
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Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
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ORGO244
5.0
(1)24432444
4.0
(1)CHEM243
4.0
(2)CHEM2444
4.0
(13)2443
3.8
(6)Difficulty by Course
ORGO2443
5.0
CHEM2243
4.3
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4.0
2243
3.5
2443
3.5
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not good
notes not the best, but gives good material to study from and a's in the class are very possible
He admitted and then made orgo lab easy. the labs were hard b/c my TA was a **** with his grading, but the quizzes and tests were straight forward
He is not the easiest teacher but gives you a lot of chances to redeem yourself. I messed up on all 3 quizzes with a average of 59. The remaining four exams had a higher average however in the 85. He curves so you end with a superb grade by the end. Have to be in the class to take notes, no online stuff. Very helpful as well. READ THE BOOK.
amazing professor!! helps you so much whenever you need it, i've never had a professor so available to students and so helpful. however, if you never put the time in to get your questions answered you won't do so great. also is very helpful in scaling your final grades, will always give you the best option
He is good teacher, just make sure you sit upfront to pay attention and do the homework problems, because some maybe on your test.
Did all notes on an overhead projector, which made it easy to follow during class but also means that class is mandatory since nothing is posted online. Read the book and do all the practice problems he assigns and you'll be golden
One of the best teachers I have had in my entire life. He is really helpful if you just make the time to go and see him. He made organic chemistry really easy.
Amazing Teacher. Made Orgo so easy. Gave practice quizzes/tests before each quiz and test. Questions were almost directly from practices. Drops the lowest test grade! TAKE WITH HIM.
He is very nice although for some reason the mini-exams (quizzes) are MUCH harder than the actual exams. You have to study just as much for a mini-exam as for an actual exam.
He's a very nice guy and he makes himself available to the students. If you want to get an A, then you should spend time to learn on your own with the text book. He just teaches briefly on each topic.
AMAZING. Sit close bc he uses overhead projector. He teaches really clearly and goes slow so you can understand, repeats hard topics, extremely friendly during office hours. Gives out practice quizzes and tests which really really help for the real thing. If you turn down his class you are turning down an A in Orgo! TAKE HIS CLASS!
Great! So fair and helpful...the science department at uconn needs more professors like him.
Hardest class I had
He is the nicest professor with plently of extra credit opportunities. If you learn the reaction it is impossible to not get an A
Not as easy as some people claim but still one of the better orgo professors. Everybody either gets A's or F's on the exams, almost nobody gets mediocre grades like B's/C's. In the end if you study a lot you can get a B no problem (on his grading scale a 75 is a B-).
Awesome professor and person. Would definitely recommend taking him and he makes learning orgo interesting. Just work hard and you should do fine.
He is one of the WORST professors I've ever had. After the fourth exam, he literally yelled in my face about how I did not understand the material, when I clearly understood it. Overall he does not know how to talk to people and drones on in class without explaining anything in depth. Definitely not worth it.
The best science teacher I've had at uconn by far. Always willing to help, really nice guy. Mini exams are harder than real exams so study for those. Have to put in effort to read textbook and do the problems he assigns. Tests are very fair and youll see a lot of homework problems on there. VERY GOOD TEACHER.
Listen. ORGO is very hard, you know that. But Basu is hands down the best orgo teacher next to Howell for orgo 1. There are no surprises on his tests. Just read the chapter and do every problem he assigns and then review the notes from lecture and you will do fine. Honestly. And he is VERY VERY helpful during office hours.
I had him for both classes. Orgo 1 was MUCH better than orgo 2. His lectures are taken right from the textbook, so I don't even know why I even show up. It's a doable course, but he makes mistakes all the time and sometimes his explanations in office hours are terrible.
I understand that any Orgo class is tough. Well, from my experience with Basu, he was NOT helpful. I got discouraged after seeing him in office hours. He has no interest or concerns for his students. He will YELL at you when you go see him for partial points on your exam. I learned EVERYTHING FROM KHAN Academy on YOUTUBE!! (for orgo 1 as well).
Basu is not the best at explaining things, but he is nice when you go to talk to him (although not super helpful). His lectures come mostly straight from the book and he reuses textbook problems on his exams so do the practice problems he gives out and take your own notes from the book. Overall, not the worst professor and his class is manageable.
Dr. Basu will not try to screw you on the exams. Organic is hard. Study and you will learn.
The class is hard itself. There is a lot of material to learn in a short time. DO NOT procrastinate and do not wait until the day before the exam to study. If you do all the book problems and you actually understand them you will get an A on every single test. There is a test that is made so you can drop your lowest test grade.
He mostly lectures out of the book and doesn't have many multiple choice questions of exams but the mini ones are all multiple choice. DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS he uses a lot of them on tests!!!! Doesn't post anything online lectures or grades but hands back the tests very quickly. He gives partial credit so at least write something down.
ORGO IS DO-ABLE. Just read the chapter inside out. Do ALL the problems from the book. Lecture is not mandatory if you can learn on your own. He usually won't curve the final grade, but 85 is an A-. 90 is an A. You can get an A if you really do Orgo every single night. DO NOT CRAM.
Lecture isn't the most helpful but his tests are very fair. He pulls many questions from the book and if you take the time to do the recommended problems and go through the chapter you will do fine. If you don't study in advance you will not do well.
Dr. Basu does not lecture well, he does not explain conceptually what happens but instead talks at you for 50 minutes. He gave an exam on 7 chapters of orgo to our class.
Basu is absolutely better than Sotzing but not the best one on campus. Average orgo professor... he gets the job done. 4 EXAMS, 1 Final, 1 "aux exam', and 3 "mini-exams" (if that sounds like a lot it's because it is). Be prepared to be studying orgo almost every week. Scales. Drops lowest exam.
I had Orgo 1 with Wikholm and got an A by far. I was forced to take another professor because Wikholm wasn't teaching 2444 in the spring. Taking Basu was a terrible decision. Drones on during lecture while you hastily try to write everything rather than learning anything. I can't begin to understand why Basu has such positive ratings. Do NOT take.
Basu is a great guy. Yes it is true that he pretty much rehashes from the book during lecture but that is pretty standard among chem professors. Exams can be tough, the first 2 were easy, the last 2 were impossible (average in the 50s), the final was fair. He scales alot (85 is an A-), will drop lowest exam(s). Con: getting tested almost every week
If you want to get a good grade in orgo, Basu is your man. However, if you want to truly understand orgo (for MCAT or GRE, etc) you should take it with someone else or take the initiative to learn everything by yourself. Self teach and get assessed weekly, so basically you just have to keep up. Orgo is definitely not as bad as its reputation.
Basu is great: he teaches in the same order as the book, making it very easy to go back and read about a certain concept you might not have understood in lecture. He also goes over the homework problems in class, which is extremely helpful in preparing for exams. He's also a reasonable grader as long as you do well on a couple of the exams.
Base makes no sense during lecture, he jumps around and never explains himself. Read the book yourself and do the practice exams and you should be OK. Orgo is naturally difficult, but Basu doesn't make it clear on what you're even learning.
Lectures are meaningless if you do not read chapters ahead of time. Tests and miniexams almost every week, but miniexams really hinted on what to know for his tests. Test 1/2 are easy, 3/4 are difficult. Curves and is a generous grader. Orgo is really hard, but actually study alot and you will be fine.
The practice exams he gives are very similar to the exams. the final exam was literally all four exams copy and pasted. Just read and take notes for each chapter ahead of lecture and do the problems from the back of the book and should be an easy b+
Wasn't a bad class. Would recommend to read ahead so when it comes to lecture you have a sense of what he's talking about. Gives miniexams a week before exams so it's a good indicator of how well you're going to do. Final was cumulative but it was all of the previous miniexams/exams. Do a lot of practice problems and you'll do fine.
Class was extremely fair. Practice exams are super helpful. Must use textbook though because lectures are not that clear.
Lectures weren't easy to follow, has a thick accent and draws out his lecture notes on a projector , many times his handwriting was hard to read. You'll have to rely on the book a lot. Quizzes and exams almost every week but on the plus side he sends out practice versions that are pretty similar.
A professor that actually WANTS you to succeed. You still have to pull your own weight of course but he gives lots of practice quiz's and exams to help you get the best grade possible. He's also very helpful in office hours and does a good job of explaining difficult concepts.
Awful professor, doesn't care about his students actually learning and is not approachable whatsoever. I went to one office hour with a question and he asked why I did not go see a TA at supplemental instruction?? Read the book and do all the problems, go to SI since theres no discussion that's how I passed. Do the HW's too they're all on chugStudy
He's okay, very hard class if u read the book you will be good.
Basu doesn't wear a microphone so make sure you sit in the front of class. Attendance is not mandatory but there is a pop quiz once a week and the notes are what prepares you for them. Labs are a lot of work and really annoying. 75% of your grade consists of purity/yield of product and lab reports. So, don't stress too much about exams and quizzes.
Don't bother going to him for help studying for the midterm or finals, just do his practice exams and read the textbook THOROUGHLY. Try hard in lab and be thorough in your write-ups because that is most of your grade. and DO NOT skip lecture because there are quizzes basically every week. 90 and above is an A
Idk. I've also taken him for 2444 and his style of teaching is OK. He's much better than, say, Sotzing. But, he still makes his exams relatively difficult and doesn't set clear goals throughout the semester on what is important. Lucky for you, if you're taking orgo lab, this class was an easy A. If you're taking 2444, I'm sorry (based on content).
Super nice guy, but not the best at setting goals for class and explaining things. I basically taught this entire class to myself through the textbook, as lecture was a brief overview of the chapter and not in depth. Know the concepts but MASTER the problems. SO important. Very nice and answered all my questions. Sweet guy and cares about students.
Took him for Orgo 1. Students raised their hands in lecture to ask questions and were ignored. Is constantly saying he made the mini exams and exams too easy yet averages were bad. Doesn't seem to care about the students doing well. Also writes everything and goes ridiculously fast. Lots of reviewing the book on your own if you want to pass
Basu is a great choice for orgo. You really have to read the chapter before to understand lecture. Exams are SUPER similar to the practice exams, so really understand how to do the practice exam. Grading is straightforward and fair. He is a nice guy and willing to adequately answer questions.
If you are taking orgo 1, he's the best professor to take. The exams include partial credit, which a lot of other professors don't give & he has a decent portion of your grade going towards homework. Any orgo class is hard & you will definitely have to read the book and work, but his practice exams are so good & he's fair. 10/10 recommend
Good luck studying for quizes. You will spend hours reviewing every last detail of the experiment and will be tested on something totally random. If you can avoid it, do not take this class with Dr. Basu and find a professor who cares about his students.
Loved his teaching, gives practice quizes/exams before every real assessment. They are pretty similar. Very accessible for questions, before every exam he'll have a mini review session in place of class at the chem building. Honestly, its Orgo, you get what you put out of it but he tries his best to help and grades incredibly fast
He doesn't explain things well at all and messes up often during lecture. He replaces your lowest test grade with your second lowest, drops a quiz, and curves by half a letter grade, but the final sank me. If he's your only option, good luck.
I still don't know how I got the grade I did. Quizzes were a mess; you would spend all night studying a mechanism and then he'd tell you about an exception to the rule AFTER he returned the quizzes. Best advice is to do the Sapling (free points) and do the problems at the end of the chapter. Orgo is hard but there's a nice curve at the end.
I can understand what this man is saying. He has an accent and goes fast so I can't even focus during lectures. I have had professors with accents before and eventually, I could understand them, but we are like 2 months in and I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HIM! I do all my learning/studying through the textbook, SI sessions, and TA office hours.
DO NOT TAKE ORGANIC CHEM WITH HIM IF YOU HAVE THE OPTION. He is horrible at communicating with his students. Quizzes and exams were complete disasters. Have fun being your own professor, you basically have to teach yourself the material. Highly recommend doing all the homework he assigns though because a lot of the homework questions are on exams.
IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE ORGANIC CHEM DO IT WITH A DIFFERENT PROFESSOR!!! He doesn't know what he's talking about. Coming to lectures is useless and he corrects the textbook. It's a textbook for a reason, it's right. He pulls the questions for the quizzes and exams out of nowhere and doesn't give partial credit even if you got 3/4 of the question right.
TAKE ORGO 1 WITH BASU! Do not listen to anyone on here - SERIOUSLY. He pulls his quiz questions from the homework. The homework is literally a free 100 for a test grade. The class is CURVED, and he gives extra credit opportunities. He wants you to do well. ORGO is just one of those classes you have to be able to self teach, so it isn't Basu's fault
TAKE ORGO 1 WITH BASU! Much better than all the other professors. You will do the best in his class. Homework is for completion, lowest quiz is dropped, and there are 3-4 extra credit opportunities (not on the exam, i did have 5 points of extra credit on one test tho). TAKE BASU!!! He gives u packets other professors dont.
Great professor. Must self teach but the exams are fair and he wants you to do well. Do not slack. Other profs r harder and dont give a curve, Basu does. Youre more likely to get an A in this class than w/ Beshir or Tran. Trust me, you want to take Basu.
Orgo is hard... this class was hard. Not enough examples of problems were given. Often told us that things were "self explanatory" or "easy" and could not answer questions when they were asked in class. Prof tried to show models in class but it was not worth it as they could not be seen. Retaking again at a community college. good luck
Well professor Basu actually sucked. The class was difficult and his lectures did NOT help at all. If you want to pass this class you better read the book. Also do the homework and get 100s if you want to help your grade. He is also very bad at communicating. In conclusion I would rather get hit by a bus than take his class again.
Professor Basu was one of the worst professors Ive had. Doesnt explain anything in his recorded lectures. More than half of the synchronous he cancels before the semester even starts. I managed to pull off a B+ only because of his curved grading scale, reading the textbook on Tophat, and the tutor we had was AMAZING. She knew more than Basu!
His exams are so similar to practice exams. Hes not the best lecturer but the curve is insane and theres so much extra credit. Orgo is hard but there are so many resources you can use outside of class to learn the material. He is not to blame if you just dont wanna learn the material - and hes much more lenient than other profs. TAKE BASU!
If you don't take Orgo 1 with Basu, you're missing out. Very sweet professor, tons of extra credit. Tests are derived straight from homework and practice quizzes. He wants you to get an A. I know people who failed the class and still managed to pull a B+. Not the best at explaining, but that is practically every prof. Self-teaching is a must.
Terrible professor who doesn't know how to teach. Not sure what the hiring process is for professors at UConn, apparently they only like to hire the professors that don't teach and expect us to self study the entire material.
Worst professor I have ever had. Avoid him at all costs. Gives pop-quizzes that aren't easy. You have to teach yourself for lab because he gives 0 guidance. Changes everything he says and made the final cumulative when it wasn't supposed to be. He sucks and doesn't care about his students. If it wasn't for my TA I surely would have failed.. awful..
The course itself was well organized, but the grading criteria was very unclear. TAs would take off points for the quizzes and labs and not explain why. He gave weekly quizzes that were manageable and the questions came directly from his PowerPoints. He gave you everything you needed to be successful. I really only attended lecture for the quizzes.
Basu does not know how to explain anything in this class. Everything is basically self-taught and your only hope is binge watching YouTube vids/chads prep. The exams are fair and orgo is not a hard subject, but his lack of teaching makes this a hard subject. Overall, your only hope is to make smart friends and watch chad on YouTube.
Basu gets a lot of hate and I really don't get it. He tries very hard to teach a tough subject and is very lenient. He gives practice quizzes and exams before each assessment and posts a pdf answer key as well as a full video explanation. He can be a bit confusing, but I thought he was a great prof. Take orgo with him.
DO PRACTICE EXAMS (he'll pull questions for actual tests). Grades HW for completion and gives lots of extra credit. Not the best lecturer, but as long as you do practice problems and study you'll pass. Honestly, he is one of the most understanding profs I've had (willing to move exam dates, post explanation videos). IMO, the best prof for orgo 1.
Lecture style takes a bit to get used to, but explainations are clear and he's happy to answer questions and work with you outside class if you're failing/don't understand material. Offers a lot of office hours and practice homework as well. Going to classs is the most important thing, he explains things well and you can ask questions
go for another chem 2443. his teaching style is not the best really..
Not going to lie, this class was much harder than I thought it would be. He does not curve the final even though everyone bombed it and does not give extra credit. His exams are extremely hard, and I wish I had taken the class with another professor. Please do not slack off in this class. It will come to bite you :(
Orgo is going to be difficult and learning outside of class is MANDATORY for any upper level class. You can't expect to go to lectures, not do anything else and do well on the exams. He is a fair professor-- he gives you the lecture, he teaches, you do the hw and exams. A lot of quiz and exam questions based on achieve hw too. I liked him a lot.
First, you cannot understand what he is saying. Second, his ppt slides is all for the class and it does not really help you with the quizzes and exams I studied by myself. Being serious
Basu is understanding about grading and if you have to miss lab for a good reason. My biggest problem is that not enough information is given to the TAs so we are always confused about lab procedures. The grade is based on quizzes, midterm and final, and lab reports.
Go to lecture, there are weekly quizzes! Basu communicates well about quiz dates though. Quizzes are primarily based off of his slides, occasionally there will be a difficult question on an adjacent topic. Grade is 60% lab/lab material though so lower quiz/exam grades won't tank your grade. Grading scheme has an A- starting at 87% which is nice.
This class is definitely TOUGH! I was not doing well which led me to fail the first two exams. I finally decided to get myself together and make an office hour. He completely shut me down and looked at me like I was the dumbest person ever. He kept saying I should've dropped the class and implying I was not smart.That should sum up how he is
It is impossible to get an A for this course. Practice exams are useless and the exams are not aligned with the lectures that he provides. Avoid him at all cost.
Basu clearly cared about their students. They explained things clearly and slowly. The class itself that is rough. Up to two lab reports every week and up to two quizzes (lab reports need to be handwritten, including the pre-lab and discussion). Experiments were fun but so much work for 3 credits. Lab reports were graded based on yield.
Absolute worst professor I've ever had. He CANNOT teach and expects you to be born with organic chemistry knowledge. Office hours were hilariously bad and useless. The only way I got away was that he offered 10 bonus points for each exam and a 5% curve, but even that isn't enough to save you from doing bad.
He's a good lecturer when he wants to be (if asked a question he'll explain well). Lectures based on textbook, but go because sometimes funny. When reviewing a practice exam, he said he realized it was "a little hard". 10 extra credit on exams just for showing up to office hours. HW is free. Practice mirrors exams. We love Dr. Ashis Basu the GOAT.
He sucks at lecturing and teaching, but here's the thing.. the way he structures the class makes it extremely easy to get an A. 10% midterm, 10% final, some quizzes, and the rest is your performance in the lab. He just stands and reads paragraphs off the slides, but his quiz questions are pulled straight from slides. Lab TA's are hit or miss tho.
Great teacher and obviously cares about the students. 10 points extra credit just for showing up to office hours weekly, and homework was only once a week and pretty easy with unlimited attempts. TAKE BASU
He's really nice but he expects you to study and keep up with material which is doable since you get TA help. He also gives a lot of extra credit. Just do your studying and your homework and be proactive and you'll do fine. If you don't wanna put in the work don't be annoying. He also gives practice exams that are literally your exam.
Basu is amazing. This class is the most fair chemistry class I've taken at uconn. If you go to every lecture and lab period and put in a little study time outside of class you will do great.
I could go on about how much I enjoyed orgo with basu but to sum it up-- 10 extra credit points on exams for SI once a week. practice quizzes&exams reflect the real ones. Lectures are fast but you can watch back the recordings at any time. take orgo with basu! the mf goat.
By far the best grader for orgo with 10 extra points on each exams including the final and practices are very similar to the actual quiz or exam. Lectures are really fast as he expects you to read the chapter before he "teaches" it where he just reads off the slides. Nice guy, definitely recommend!
Compared to orgo lecture, the lab is chill. There is a 1 hour lecture (with a quiz) before each lab. Lab is 2x per week for 3 hours which is annoying, but there aren't any lab practicals and the lab reports are handwritten and short. There is a midterm and a final in lecture, but each are only 20% of your grade. Go to lab and you should get an A
Achieve hw due kinda weekly. 4 quizzes, 3 exams. Gives practice quizzes/exams for all. If you go to the TA sessions, you get 10 extra points on each exam + final. Quizzes are MC, exams are open-ended, but partial credit. Drops the lowest quiz! If you ask to go to his office he usually explains things better there.
Basu gives 10 extra credit points on each exam if you go to the review sessions every week for an hour which really helps boost your grade. He speeds through lectures and almost always let us out early but his tests/quizzes were fair and he was always responsive to emails and setting up times to meet outside of class.
Lab was very easy and did not take much time every week. If you are good at Org Chem you can follow along super easy he just reads of slides. Quizzes are straight from the slides. Midterm and Exam are actually quite difficult. I did not study and really did not pay attention in class so that's why I got B+. If you study you can end with an A.
orgo lab with him is a joke, just do the lab reports and you're fine. Quizzes and exams are usually just recycled questions from the powerpoints, although there may be a few random questions thrown in
Rip Ashis Basu.
Rest in peace king
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
30%
Textbook Required
33%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.67 avg changeRatings by Course
ORGO244
5.0
(1)24432444
4.0
(1)CHEM243
4.0
(2)CHEM2444
4.0
(13)2443
3.8
(6)Difficulty by Course
ORGO2443
5.0
CHEM2243
4.3
CHEM2241
4.0
2243
3.5
2443
3.5