You're all wrong! This professor gives out great lectures and his tests are easy. Highly recommended preofessor!

ok...all of the above is mostly untrue, people who took chem 2A in HS don't know how to study in college, they think it is easy. Read the book before lecture and then actually GO to lecture, it seems like a breeze to me. "Work problems!" - McCurdy

He is a really challenging teacher. He's brilliant, you can tell that, but he likes to overcomplicate things in his lectures, and he just scribbles on the blackboard and its easy to get lost. He was one of the hardest chem2a teachers, and there was barely a curve. He's hard, you better like chem

He now uses the overhead as opposed to the blackboard and is clear when describing problems and concepts covered on the exam. He also makes class at least semi-fun, and he uses a microphone...Very easy to understand!!

i find his class to be very fair, goes over concepts very well, but its up to the students to work out text book problems to fully grasp the concepts.

Ok, I really don't understand why everyone dislikes this prof. He is interested in the subject and presents it as such. The midterms were increadably easy, take him if you can.

I thought this teacher was a bad lecturer.he strayed off topic alot and was difficult ot follow, but his tests were very easy. his final was extremely like his practice final and very helpful

Before taking this class, everyone warned me that he was a horrible professor. However, I didn't think he was that bad. He tried to be funny in class, and he did make simple mistakes. Overall, I thought he was a good teacher. Although he says the only way you can do well in class is if you do homework and read the book, it's not true.

he was awesome!!!!!

Clear lectures, but tends to go far too deep into the subject for the class (actually spent two lectures mathematically deriving the equations for the shapes of the different orbitals). Clearly very smart and knowledgable in chemistry, but makes the class more complicated than necessary.

A very insightful man, lectures were straightforward, definitely knows what hes talking about. helpful in office hours, and shared some very important pieces of knowledge with me.

I enjoyed his class a lot. Sometimes he goes a little fast in his lectures, but he's clearly a brilliant man. He really got me interested in chem, something i didn't think was possible.

Very smart professor. In order to understand him, one must be strong in chem background however. Otherwise, he's willing to help anyone just go talk to him!

McCurdy is a very knowledgeable guy. His class is not easy, but it is definitely a good base of preparation for further classes. He lectures rather rapidly at times, but if you do your reading and such, you'll be fine. I would look forward to having him as a professor again.

He is a good professor, go to lectures.

Not bad of a lecturer. read the section he's going to be lecturing on before the lecture, helps lots.

very knowledgable. talks too fast, doesn't give enough time to copy down lecture notes. lecture can be very confusing without strong chemistry background. tests are very fair. if you do the homework and the practice exams, you should be fine.

The good pasts it that he speaks english, is intelegent, anddoesnt rely on the book. The Bad is that he says 10 to 15% of the class get an A and its a demanding class and he doesnt allow you to know the curve or what is needed for an A. Also he can talk fast.

Easiest 2a. Really good lectures if you just listen and if you read before hand.

This was a very tough class. The lectures came fast and hard, and if you didn't read the text before hand, they went well over your head. The midterm and finals were predictable if you did all the readings and the questions assigned. Professor McCurdy can go off on tangents at times, but these are only tested on in a simple fashion.

To pass: 1--read/skim the material before LEC__2--take the practice exams__3--attend LEC__4--take notes__5--study before an exam____Note: speaks rather fast, so bring a voice recorder of some sort. Sometimes forgets to put previous slide on 2nd projector. When that happens, just shout out--he'll put it up. I failed b/c I had overloaded on classes.

i got an 92% and that was an A+ i thought i would get just an A. test are prety easy. the final was much easier out all the other midterms.

The class was ok, great speaker, but lectures were a bit fastpaced and tests were eh, so and so. As long as you do the practice problems and read, you should be fine.

dont mess up on the tests and you'll do fine. i failed the first midterm, aced the second, and got a b on the final and still got a c in the class. decent class though

A good professor. Class is a bit hard, but if you study the book, you'll do fine. He keeps you entertained with jokes.

His lectures are fast paced, but he keeps it interesting and is always glad to help outside of class. Great guy and probably the best professor I have had at Davis.

This man really knows his stuff. His lectures are very spontaneous however, and he likes derivations of equations a lot. For 3/4ths of the quarter we were doing quantum chem. His area of expertise is in high energy particle physics, so he's more of a physical chemist. Overall though he's a good teacher. Really made me enjoy highly technical stuff

It's always going to be hard to understand concepts of Q.M. so don't blame the professor too much if you don't understand his lecture. Professor McCurdy is a brilliant man, and he really, really wants you to do well in his class. Make sure you go to his and TA's OH asking Qs. Do all the HW and practice exams. his exams are easy. study your notes&hw

One of the best professors I've taken so far, lectures make as much sense as quantum mechanics can make. His exams aren't that hard, study off hw/lecture notes. Extremely knowledgeable.

Professor McCurdy is one of the best professors I have had at ucd. He is always so enthusiastic about QM that it gets contagious. The tests are fair, the homeworks are difficult and time consuming. Get a group of people to do homework together.

top tier lecturer, akin to professor harris (phy) in terms of clarity and quality. genuine interest in his students, the material, etc

I got to know the guy and he's pretty nice, but this was one rollercoaster of a chem class. Overall he explains things continuously, rather than step by step so its easy to get confused. Heck even the TA's didn't understand what he was saying half the time. But if you read the book and go annoy him with tons of tedious questions, you'll be fine.

Although some students thought Professor McCurdy was difficult, I think if you had a good background in chemistry (i.e., AP Chem or another course), then the course was easier than most. He curves to the CHE 2A level, so everyone's grades get bumped up a lot. My advice to fellow students is to talk to him in office hours and attend every lecture.

Really enjoyed the class. McCurdy emphasized the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and despite the challenging weekly homework, he provided a great amount of material to do well on the midterms.

Sure his lectures, problem sets, and final are hard, but he has an OUTSTANDING curve, it's much better than the curve in Che 2, Phy 9, and most engineering classes. And he's a great experience. Not a great lecturer, but a great experience. You would be a fool not to take this man's QM class.

Before every lecture he sends out a few practice problems, where to find information in the textbook and videos that go into detail about what he will teach in the next lecture. Reading the textbook before each lecture helps a lot because it goes into more detail about what he's saying. Do all the extra work and you'll be fine in this class.

This class is very enjoyable if you attend lectures and read the text book. He is a chemical physicist so he confuses a lot more on math/physics than other professors, but if you like math chances are youll really like him. Very smart man

Really enjoyed his lectures because he went in depth on the physics part; it would definitely be challenging for people who haven't taken AP Chem because it was a review but if you did well in AP, this class shouldnt be too difficult. I can tell that he's deeply passionate about the subject. As long as you read the textbook, you should be fine.

Very intelligent professor, you can tell he is extremely passionate in his work and what he does and that was very inspiring. That being said, he's not the best lecturer. While he's extremely knowledgable, the way he presents the information is quite hard to grasp if you don't have a strong chem background and foundation.

tbh I think it was his first time teaching che2a and he isn't a bad lecturer, but it can be hard to follow at times especially for someone who didn't take ap chem in high school. he follows the same grade rubric as the other professors, its just his way of teaching that distinguishes him. Just buy Enderle's reader and watch his youtube videos.

This was my first class at UC Davis, and Professor McCurdy really helped make the transition easier. Funny and engaging professor, assigns a reasonable amount of homework, and helps make things stick well. Lectures are fast-paced, so make sure you review your notes and understand them. Tests are extremely fair and easy compared to other professors.

McCurdy is honestly a really nice guy. He knows his stuff but I think hes too advanced to teach genchem. His lectures are hard to follow, but go to his office hours, do the homework and go to his review sessions, and you will do just fine. His curves suck. The class is easy. Do the work and youll be fine. may be hard if you have no chem background

Everything was on Zoom and was recorded. He does lectures by writing directly on powerpoint slides. The lectures can be confusing, but the slides are really useful. The OWLv2 homework and Enderle's practice exams/readers are great resources. Reading the textbook isn't really necessary. Also, he frequently collaborated with Enderle during lectures.

Great professor. The workload is pretty minimal. McCurdy is a great lecturer and is very knowledgeable. Although lectures are vague at times, he posts extra videos to dig deeper which helped. If I was ever confused on anything, office hours helped. Do the practice tests and attend the review sessions for exams.

Prof McCurdy is pretty good overall at explaining all the different concepts but often goes over way too many extra things that you really don't need to know, so it gets confusing at times what you're supposed to know and what you really don't. He's definitely suited for upper division courses, but for beginners definitely attend office hours.

Professor McCurdy does a great job of getting students interested in chemistry. He genuinely wants students to learn and is willing to help during class and office hours. My only issue with CHE 004A was that the material was quite difficult considering that the class is meant for freshmen. Get ready for quantum mechanics!

The hardest part is its front-heavy nature, as most struggled in the first month, but once that clicks, the rest of the class makes sense. McCurdy generally does a very good job, but occasionally gets bogged down in details. The biggest piece of advice is to do textbook problems, as they often appear on tests, almost directly from the book.

Its normal to be confused for the first few weeks, office hours and problem sets help a lot, if you stick with the class youll probably do fine

The lectures are fast paced and can be confusing but if you attend the office hours and learn the concepts from the homework you'll do great. There's a steep learning curve in the beginning of the class but after the first few weeks the course content begins to make more sense. Overall a great professor and course if you're interested in chemistry.

Prof McCurdy deserves a better grading. He is super passionate about what he is teaching and offers office hours and review sessions before exams. Lectures might be heavy at the beginning but you will get used to it. The concept of quantum itself takes a long time to understand, and that's okay. Exams are not hard, just go to his OHs.

Most passionate professor I've had. Coming into my first quarter at Davis and taking a fast paced class, I didn't think I was ready. However, by attending his office hours without the time constraints of lectures, the difficult quantum concepts started to click. The class was challenging, but developed a great foundation for what I'm learn now.

The majority of the content is focused on theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. I took this back in the fall, weight of the course is 30% final, 15% each midterm (there are two), 25% labs, 10% HW, 5% attendance (from discussion). Class is curved, but I was at 88 which became an A, so I'm not sure how good it was. This class WILL push you

The professor is very passionate and kind. The homework takes a long time to do if you have absolutely no idea what you're doing. The midterms and final are not as intimidating as you might think. As long as you do the homework and practice then you should be fine. Office hours help a lot. It might seem hard at first but it'll get easier.

Dr McCurdy was a great professor. The first few weeks were very hard with the concepts of quantum mechanics and it doesn't make much sense until it just clicks, but then the rest of the class gets easier. The weekly homework sets were challenging, but the tests were fair and easier than the problem sets. Overall a challenging but rewarding class.

Professor McCurdy was a fantastic professor who gave passionate lectures and really cared about our success. He was clear about class expectations and grading criteria, and he always held review sessions before exams to help us out. I couldn't have asked for a better intro Chem class.

The lecture is super hard, same as the weekly homework. The weekly lab report is killing, group work but each of us should have our own report. I had thousands of words for each one in order to get an A. But the labs are interesting. The midterms and finals are much easier, and the grade will be okey if you work really hard.

Professor McCurdy is a very nice person. He would like to answer students' questions at any time. Moreover, because the first several weeks of this course are tough, before the first midterm, he gave an outline. It is really helpful. Besides, it takes me a lot of effort to complete the lab in this class because of the difficulty.

Dr. McCurdy is genuinely the best instructor I've had. The class is hard (it mirrors most of CHE 110A), but it's manageable if you are interested in the subject. Lectures are really good, and you can tell he's really passionate about what he does. If you have any questions after class, he will stay up to 30/40 minutes after class to answer them.

Amazing, really stirred my interest in chem. Make sure you know everything on the practice exams. Concepts are only hard till midterm1, understand those well and the second half will be a breeze. Go to OHs EVERY week, saves you a lot of the time spent staring at the hw. He's more than willing to help, take advantage of that and its a fairly easy A.

He's funny and nice. Since this class is harder than CHE2A he lowered the cut off by a lot which I appreciate. But unless you are a quantum mechanics lover, I don't recommend taking CHE 4A. His homework is usually hard but tests are doable. Don't spend much time of schrodinger eq. cuz he wouldn't make you solve that on a test. Go to his office hrs.

Labs and homework are difficult and take forever, but he goes over answers in office hours. The tests aren't too bad. There isn't any extra credit, but he gives a pretty generous curve. McCurdy really cares about students and is a great professor overall, but unless you really care about chemistry, this class is unnecessarily difficult.

The first part of the class is pretty tough, but then it get easier. Problem sets can be difficult, but the tests are straightforward. He gives great lectures and is passionate about the subject matter. Makes many efforts to help students succeed - notably, small-group office hours going over problems and other interesting topics was very valuable.

Grateful to have taken his class. The lectures were most often very difficult to follow & understand, however the TAs help a lot with confusion. Midterms & final were easier than homework (his HW problem sets were quite difficult). Makes a great effort to be available to students outside class (about 3-4 hours of office hours each week).

Professor McCurdy is an excellent teacher that cares very deeply for his students. The class is very difficult and the starting few weeks of class are even more difficult, but read ahead on the textbook, take good notes, and go to his and his TA's office hours. Make sure to do all the practice problems and you will do great.

CHE 04A is a challenging class, but McCurdy makes it amazing. He's a great lecturer who loves what he does and really cares about students. Homework is often ridiculously hard, but it's never busy work, and the tests are almost always easier. His office hours really help with understanding homework and concepts, and I recommend going every time.

The content of this class is super confusing and difficult, however if you study and make the effort to understand the content, it shouldn't be too hard. The prof is really hard to follow as he uses a lot of really high level physics, but he is always willing to stop and answer questions. But, in order to succees you need to use outside resources.

A lot of accessible resources outside of the class. Go to any office hour. Understand the homework and sample tests and you'll be fine. Nice curve.

McCurdy is great. Lectures are unnecessary. Memorize all the HW questions and practice test questions (even the old ones) and you will do super good. They are VERY hard though, and you should go to OH (Ta's, peer mentors, and McCurdy's) and ask for the answers. He curves ~84 to an A so this isn't even necessary, but guarantees you an A+ pretty much

Really great professor. There is definitely a learning curve at the beginning, but once the material clicks, it is very rewarding! Take advantage of both his and the TA office hours. Our TA was really good at answering questions/helping with HW. Also brush up on some basic calculus before the class as you will use some on HW starting week 3 or 4.

Challenging class, but Professor McCurdy is excellent. Attend lectures, do practice problems, and utilize office hours - it's a lot of work, but rewarding. unstuck ai was a game-changer for exam prep.

McCurdy is my goat. The lectures, while dense, are very informative and his enthusiasm and passion for the subject are obvious every lecture. His office hours are equally fantastic. There is not too much homework, but it will be the most difficult part of the course so commit your time to understanding it. In comparison, the tests are soooooo easy.

Love him! Don't let the ratings fool you, most of the low ratings are from when he taught online during the pandemic, but in person he's really good.

Realistically best professor most students will ever get. Passionate, cares about student success, interesting lectures, connects material to other topics, works to improve on confusing topics in lecture after feedback in office hours. CHE4A as a class may be hard for some as any STEM class may be. Weekly problem sets are a big help for learning.

Professor McCurdy is a great professor to have for your first uni STEM course. He's very approachable, holds helpful (for the most part) office hours twice a week, and you can tell he's passionate about his work in teaching and research. Put in the effort to do the homework, and you will do fine on tests, which are graded very fairly.

McCurdy is a great professor who teaches a rigorous course. Office hours are very helpful (get there early). If you email questions he will respond at almost any time of day. Go to office hours, read the textbook, go to lecture, use the practice exams and textbook practice problems but most important: stay on top of the problem sets.

Top TA is Dylan Folkner.

Best professor I've had. Material is tough but McCurdy is very smart and teaches it well. Make sure to understand the homework and do the practice exams and you'll be fine. Don't sleep on the lab reports

Dr. McCurdy is very smart and knowledgeable which may make the class more difficult to understand, but I highly recommend him regardless. Even though some portions of the lectures are not applicable to the exams (Schrodinger), it is very interesting to listen to how his brain processes things. Exams are way easier than the homework as well.

Great professor, you can tell he puts in effort and is extremely knowledgeable. The material covered in this class is quite difficult so be prepared to go to office hours and put in the work. Curve is extremely generous and I honestly learned so much in this class.

Prof. McCurdy is a very knowledgable, engaging lecturer who really challenges students to think about quantum mechanics and chemistry. He holds very accessible office hours and stays after class to talk to people. Be warned that 4A is a hard class though, especially if you, like many in the class, are a noobie freshman in fall quarter.

I cannot glaze McCurdy enough. He is so intelligent, and will go above and beyond as a professor. Something that I took almost for granted in first quarter. Yes the content is difficult, but the tests are much easier than you would think. I would take his upper-div quantum course outside of my major requirements just to hear him lecture again.

Good lecturer, content is difficult but tests are easy since they were basically the exact same as the practice exams.

CHE 4A is a very hard class, especially as an introductory chemistry intended for freshmen (it has a lot of upper-level concepts) but McCurdy is a great professor that understands the challenge and cares a lot about his students. The problem sets and lab reports are very difficult and time-consuming, but the tests are fair if you've done the work.

This class is not equivalent to AP Chem; be prepared also to learn some physics. Professor McCurdy is a really nice person who genuinely cares about his students. Go to the professor's and your TA's office hours; they WILL help you