3.3
Quality3.4
Difficulty61%
Would Retake88
Reviews61%
Would Retake
88
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
32
4
19
3
4
2
12
1
21
What Students Say
“She doesn't teach in order and is very scattered”
CHEM228 - 1.0 rating“I took Watanabe because her reviews were great, her class was anything but amazing”
CHEM228 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
89%
Textbook Required
17%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.36 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM228
3.5
(67)OCHEM228
2.7
(21)Difficulty by Course
OCHEM228
3.5
CHEM228
3.3
Reviews (88)
The class is tough but she understands, she gives great curves and her homework is basically just to up your grade. Do the homework and study, if you try, you'll do well.
Watanabe is awesome. Her lectures are very interesting and she is very passionate. Her notes are pretty straight forward and are just like her exams. As long as you show up, participate, and do the homework, it free points to help grade. She taks attendance. And just practice her notes and you should do very well.
Dr. Watanabe understands that OChem is hard and does a lot to help students through it. There are review sessions on most non lecture days, the homework is graded for completion, the exams were fair and included extra credit problems & the grades are curved. She is articulate and easy to understand. Her class also prepares you for MCATDAT and BICH
Dr. Watanabe was a great professor. Almost every kid came to class, because her tests come from her lectures, not the book.
Watanabe is amazing!!! She totally understands that organic chemistry is not everyone's thing and is always helping and motivating you the whole semester. She assigns homework that is a completion grade, which really helps out your overall grade. She also takes points for attendance. She does weekend reviews herself to help you out. TAKE HER
Watanabe is horrible. She doesn't teach in order and is very scattered. She does not provide practical examples during lecture to what she will ask on the test. Saturday Review sessions almost every weekend are very necessary to pass. Also, very unhelpful, gives answers like "figure it out youself, it will be on the exam". DO NOT TAKE HER.
Watanabe is horrible. She doesn't teach in order and is very scattered. She does not provide practical examples during lecture to what she will ask on the test. Saturday Review sessions almost every weekend are very necessary to pass. Also, very unhelpful, gives answers like "figure it out youself, it will be on the exam". Curves significantly.
Watanabe wasnt the worst OChem prof, but she definitely wasnt the best. Her lectures were scattered and didnt go in depth at all. Her examples were always confusing. The worst part was she refused to answer questions when someone asked she would basically say "figure it out yourself". She did have huge curves on exams that saved me from failing
In my opinion it isn't worth taking a prof merely because she curves a ton. I didn't learn much and lectures were awful. I consistently was making 60-70 range which were all B's with the curve. I understand that 228 is harder but coming from 227 with a 97+ average to watanabe was awful. take another prof if possible, but she isn't the worst option.
This class was honestly one of the hardest classes I have ever taken. I expected the content to be difficult, but the grading was unclear and Dr. Watanabe did not answer questions well. She curves a lot, but I learned very little from the class. She is not the worst O Chem 2 prof, but if you can I would highly recommend taking someone else.
I took Watanabe because her reviews were great, her class was anything but amazing. Yes Ochem 2 is hard, but she made it unnecessarily difficult by not answering questions, grading unfairly (saying people didn't use the correct "key word" would result in the question being totally wrong), and her lectures being unorganized. Would NOT recommend!
Dr. Watanabe is a really fair professor. Although OChem 2 is difficult, I feel she provided us with a lot of biologically relevant examples, helpful for those taking biochem in the future. She also hosts additional Saturday "help" sessions. These sessions are almost essential. She walks you through practice problems for exams that mirror tests well
Nice, fun prof. She writes lecture notes on the board. No course pack. MECHANISM HEAVY TESTS. Test averages are low. Curve is great. She loves biology and biochem. If you take her, you best understand those mechanisms. I'd recommend tbh. Tests wont be high, but your overall will be. And if you study, you should learn the stuff.
I truly liked her for my ochem two class. I'm glad that I took her. What she expected was clear and she didn't teach from the book which I truly appreciated. Everything she went over was fair game and explained well. I would take her again, simply because she is so clear.
Dr. Watanabe was a very good professor that I would recommend to anyone. Her tests are very difficult and challenging. She makes you understand the material and relate it to biological systems which prepares you for Biochemistry. Her homework and review sessions she holds every weekend are very helpful. Study a little everyday and you will do well.
Dr. Watanabe is very unhelpful, she is hard to reach outside of class and if questions are asked during class she is very poor at answering them. She claims she doesn't teach from the book, but then will test over material that was only in the book and not covered in class. Yes she curves, but she is so hard to work with it is not worth it!!
She said the first day of class that she uses old exam questions&review questions on exams so I attended all her reviews& not one of those questions on the exams. She says she doesn't teach from the book but will have questions from the book. She emphasizes certain rxns don't occur whatsoever but puts those reactions on exams. please don't take her
She's a fine teacher. Expect to self-teach yourself more in her class. Most of her test material comes from the review sessions and what she writes on the chalkboard or powerpoint. Her tests aren't actually completely hard, but I came from a harder professor from chem 227 so I didn't feel like I learned as much this semester.
Very dull and seemingly unmotivated. In most of my classes, I am pretty indifferent on the teacher I have as long as they are somewhat fair. However such advanced topics require someone more capable, frankly. She's consistently unprepared for lectures so if you end up w her, Khan Academy is your best bet.
shes very knowledgeable and has amazing curves. she cares for her students and is night and day compared to my last prof. dont listen to neg reviews, she is awesome
She is NOT friendly. So i do not recommend trying to discuss anything with her because she will look at you like you are stupid. She has a good curve and grade distribution. She gives problem sessions on the weekends which are helpful. Overall, i do not recommend her.
Taking this class online, the lectures were very straightforward. Test questions came from her problem session and the book and we got 24 hrs to complete tests which was extremely helpful, but I assume thats not the usual procedure. The one time I ever emailed her to ask a question she was rude to me, but the class was fine overall
She is not a good professor at all. Very clearly only cares about research. She knows her stuff, yes, however is apathetic and uncaring during office hours. She is often condescending when asked questions. Also takes an extremely absurd amount of time to get things graded. Our final has been finished for a week and we don't have our Exam 3 grades.
For Ochem, she had very easy tests. The book and tutoring honestly helped more than her lectures did. Her biggest flaw is that she is not helpful in the slightest. The three times I contacted her outside of class or office hours she was very short and snappy. I also had a death in the family during the semester and she was not understanding at all.
She is a really good professor for OCHEM. I would highly suggest taking her to anyone who wants a fair prof. She really knows her stuff, and prepped me for BICH which in my opinion is much harder than OCHEM. She tests over lecture material and a lot of mechanisms in the textbook.
Dr.Watanabe's class is heavier on biochemistry than other ochem profs. She doesn't really teach and often times will read the slides or only say a few words while writing down the mechanisms. However, she gives a lot of partial credit, curves, and low grade cut offs. So while you may not learn a ton, it's not hard to pass her class.
Not a good professor. You know she's mostly there for her research. She barely speaks or fully explains anything but expects you to know all of it. She also comes off pretty rude. She does curve a lot which is good but its only because the high majority of the class would fail if she didn't. If you need to learn for mcat or dat dont take
Professor watanabe was really a great professor. Very knowledgeable. Her Sunday reviews are very helpful because she'll use old exam questions that are quite similar to the actual exam. Homework was pass fail and if you tried to do it and show work you would get full credit.
Professor Watanabe is fair when it comes to grading. Go to class and do the homework and try you should get a B. Grades are low on exams but she curves so don't worry. If you try to pay attention to lectures and attend every test review you'll get an A. Her grader is a legend and will save your grade. I got a low low B in OCHEM I for reference.
She has a different interpretation of ochem compared to other professors, and her exams are very mechanism heavy, which tends to trip most students up. Once you figure out how to deal with her unique style of questions, you should be fine and the class becomes very easy. However, this also makes her class incredibly useless for MCAT or DAT prep.
Dr. Watanabe helped me a lot in understanding Organic Chemistry. She rushes through processes a lot, but as long as you study her notes and the logic behind reactions, you'll be fine. prepares you a lot for the MCAT and definitely lightens the load a lot of this class. Couldn't recommend a better professor here to take.
I would say she is a great prof for ochem, curves are insane (10-15pts) and also has homework/attendance to help boost your grade. Don't miss class she doesn't upload all her notes. With that, I feel she is great at teaching mechanisms and functional groups. I don't think she did the best job at teaching NMR, IR, and mass spectra.
Take her if you can if your goal is a high grade. Her tests are very similar to her weekend study sessions. A lot of extra credit on exams. She has a good curve, you can get a B with minimal effort. An A is very achievable with decent effort. She does not try to trick you, her tests were pretty fair in my opinion.
As a chemical engineering student, I felt that her class was able to teach me what I needed to know to pass the class. Her exams are harder than the average OCHEM professor, as she does ask more applied questions. She is definitely preparing students who want to go into Biochem or take the MCAT.
Nice professor, but blunt so she can come off as rude. Tests are EXACTLY like her problem session reviews, so test are pretty easy. Homework is completion, attendance mandatory. Extra credit on every exam. Exam grades are low but massive curves (for exam 1, A= 77%+). Biochem focus so helpful for pre-med. Easiest orgo prof you can get.
She holds review sessions that have questions that are very similar to the ones on the tests. Additionally, all of the tests have bonus questions and the curve for the tests is usually really good. She puts an emphasis on biochemistry in her class, so her class is helpful if you have to take that class.
Dr.Watanabe's lecture style is pretty hands off. She cares a LOT about her research and the mechanisms behind reactions. Understanding how reactions work will be the most important part of this class. Always focus on what she explains about her research and ALWAYS go to her Sunday review sessions they are critical for the exam.
Attendance is mandatory and can be made up by volunteering to answer problems. Attend her lectures and her problem sessions; exams r almost exactly like problem sessions. Her voice is monotone so it can be hard to stay awake but lectures are good for homework and exams. She drops the lowest exam grade at the end of the year and curves a lot too.
While not the greatest professor, Watanabe makes it very easy to do well in her course. As long as you attend the lectures, go to the Sunday review sessions, and study you should do very well. She heavily curves each exam and drops the lowest of the 3 exams you take. Her lectures are very dry, however, overall she's the best option for Ochem 2.
Do not be fooled she "curves," but it does not actually impact your grade. She just uploaded a grade to Howdy and did not tell us what we got on the final or what our grades were with the curve. There is no solid proof that you have the grade with the curve beside her word of mouth in class. She gave grade cutoffs, and it seems she did not use them
She is very hard to get in touch with, if you do get in touch she is not very kind. She did not use the curve she said she would after each exam. She used a completely different one after finals. She did not even upload the final exam grade to canvas so to see your final grade you had to look at howdy.
Prof Watanabe's lectures were really boring, but I would def recommend taking her. Grades are only hw (completion) and 3 exams (lowest one dropped) and the final. Going to her Sunday review sessions (on campus at 4pm, rip) were essential towards doing well on exams (mechanism-heavy). Memorize review sesh problems! She curves exams really well.
Lectures were boring. Sweet professor, and hosted review sessions outside of class, but tended to only verbally explain things, so it was difficult to understand. Focus on review session questions for exams rather than all of the HW questions. Attendance was important, and no notes or review session answers were posted. Curved A LOT.
She curve a lot at the end. She barely teaches, it's mostly self studying and go to SI for extra help and actual explanation. The lecture is very boring, and the review session is somewhat helpful but it's just students going up the board to solve it and her checking the answers, barely any teaching involved.
Her lectures are very boring. She assigns homework from the textbook and takes attendance. She curves alot, but only because the grades are so poor. Her Sunday reviews are the most helpful for exams. She is kind of blunt. I'd recommend her for those who are in it for the grade. I did not recieve my final exam score. I had to check my transcript.
The key to passing her class is understanding the lectures and her sunday review sessions. If you do both you'll get an A. Her lectures can get boring but if you try understand the mechanisms then the test wont be hard. Homework is not that hard and does not really correlate with the exams IMO.
The class itself is tough, so make sure to spend enough time studying. Her exams are similar to her practice sessions, so go to those. She includes practice examples in her lecture and gives opportunities to come to the board and participate in class, so make sure to take advantage of those. Overall, she is a great prof and gives tools for success.
Didn't really learn too much in this class. Exams were curved pretty heavily. There was a lot of focus on reaction schemes. She had Sunday Sessions which were very helpful in preparing for the exam since the exam had similar types of questions. As a professor she was very monotone and didn't really seem interested in teaching the material.
I had Dr. Watanabe for CHEM 228, and overall she was a great professor! The class material itself is difficult, but Dr. Watanabe does a really good job at breaking things down during lectures. She is also often available to answer any questions, and holds weekly review sessions which are really helpful for exams!
Watanabe is rude, boring, and shows no interest in teaching. All she cares about is working out and Hawaii and she makes that clear in almost every lecture. OChem is a tough course but her lecture/teaching method worsens it. The SI sessions were the only thing I understood and I still failed the exams. I don't recommend taking her class.
She isn't interested in teaching but makes up with heavy curves on exams. Homeworks don't help with exams, but the Sunday review sessions will. Homework is based on completion which helps final grade and she drops your lowest test grade. Takes attendance by iclicker and answering her questions will make up an absence. Take her for good grade.
This class is hard but Dr. Watanabe makes it managable. Go to sunday review sessions! Exams arent hard if you do. She drops your lowest exam & her cuttoffs for a B have never been above a 65. Do the homework (she takes exam questions from them) and participate in class to get EC. You dont have to spend 70 hours studying & she doesn't have an accent
Memorization. Extra credit, partial credit and lower grade cutoffs on exams (A = 80), and HW for completion. Exams are a COPY of her practice exams and answers are covered during reviews sessions. Attend those and practice exams REPEATEDLY. You'll get an A. She doesn't approve requests (without cause) because of how lenient her class is.
Personally loved this professor! Engaging lectures and lots of extra credit! Attend class and do the homework for free points. Exams are very similar to her Sunday exam reviews and the questions are pretty fair.
Professor Watanabe was fairly good at explaining harder topics, however, her lectures can be hard to follow. She provides lots of extra credit and exam prep to ensure you can increase your average.
Organic chemistry is supposed to be hard, but she makes it much harder, her lectures were hard to follow and didn't explain anything. You got information to memorize, but no interest in actually teaching the material. She offers extra credit and curving to make up for her poor teaching. And if you can't attend PS on Sundays you are completely lost.
Dr. Watanabe was an excellent prof. She seemed genuinely interested in the success of her students. Attend her lectures they were full of excellent information. She did a good job of explaining why the mechanisms worked rather than simply encouraging us to blindly memorize information. Her Sunday practice sessions were very useful for the tests.
Professor Watanabe is extremely knowledgeable in what she teaches & beyond, clearly breaking down all topics. Very helpful for pre-med, especially if biochem is something you'll need to take or learn in the future. She curves the exams pretty heavily and the class is curved on top of that - you will be able to learn and succeed in her class.
Honestly, This class was very easy, make sure you attend class and her Sunday lectures and you will be okay. If you want an A you will of course have to memorize a lot of reactions but they are very repetitive so its easy to catch on to the pattern of reactions. Also she loves enzymes and biological systems so don't ignore those!
Her lectures are mind numbingly boring. She just opens OneNote and draws reactions. She hardly talks or explains what she's “teaching” us. I have left class wondering what Im supposed to have learned. Her “notes” (drawings) are hard to follow and she doesn't post them, don't fall behind. Tests are especially hard. She does NOT care ab teaching. 0/5
Inefficient, lazy, unapproachable, and SO boring. All she does is write on one note with hardly any commentary. Her handwriting is bad, she moves quick, and barely explains anything. She just goes “this is that” “this does that” “these react and make this”. Barely any explanation of the “how”/“why”, only the “what”. Exams are hard. Don't take.
Chem was my favorite subject. In ochem 1, I got a 94 and the grade cutoff for an A was an 84 or 86. This semester, I have no idea what's going on and I can't even tell you what we're supposed to be learning for exam 2. She has taken my favorite subject (and one my major is based on) and made me hate it. Her lectures will frustrate you to no end.
Dr. Watanabe is kind, welcoming, and an excellent professor. Her class is well structured and connects organic chemistry to biology, preparing students for biochemistry. Exams are fair, and practice/homework ensure success. She encourages questions, helps you solve problems, and builds confidence. Attend lectures for study tips and exam insights!
I absolutely loved this class! Dr. Watanabe provides problem sets with past exam questions, which give you a clear idea of what to expect. The exams also have extra credit questions that are very fair. As long as you complete the homework, work through the recommended textbook problems, and complete the problem sets, you can definitely earn an A!
Watanabe is unprofessional, lazy, and careless towards us students. She lectures way too quickly, avoids answering questions using snarky remarks, and only has online office hours. When I tried to ask her a question in class, she berated me publicly and told me to "look at the notes." She is unhelpful, rude, and only cares about the gym and Hawaii.
i think this class is for ppl who are good at studying by themselves/had a hard ochem prof for ochem1. i had collins and this class has been so far a breeze. she gives extra credit, she hints whats on the exam, her review sessions are identical to the exam, and she drops the lowest exam grade. i also love that shes participation friendly.
She is a bad teacher. Full stop. She offers E.C. and reviews on wknds, which carry your grade as they're similar to exam questions + she curves hard. Hw touches on topics she never mentioned. She lectures like she's reading a list of products and the required reactants, which she then draws in silence. You can get an A, but don't expect to learn.
Look at which reviews are getting thumbs up and which aren't, they will show you her class is like. She has 0 interest in actually teaching. After the first few lectures w slides, everything is hand drawn and nothing is explained. I'm mad my tuition is going to such a poor education experience. I don't understand how ANYONE can rate her above a 2.
Lectures are pretty useless and are her just mostly blabbering about something unrelated. At the beginning of the semester we were provided with an actual downloadable lecture, but in the second half it was just constantly writing down reactions and mechanisms while she explained nothing. Look at her averages on Annex, do not take for your GPA.
A really boring lecturer who doesn't seem like she's interested in what she's teaching. Makes random jokes/tangents. Condescending towards some ppl who asked questions during/after class. Highest cutoff for an A is an 85 avg, so doable to do well. Def go to Sunday reviews as those help prep you for the exams. Gives a lot of extra credit on exams
She tells a lot of useless stories in class but otherwise its not that bad. She gives such an aggressive curve, but is unclear on how much so its hard to tell where you stand. Her tests are not too bad. honestly just study the review sessions and biochemical mechanisms. she takes iclicker attendance.
Terrible professor. Doesn't teach—just draws mechanisms with zero explanation. Lectures were useless. She's condescending, detached, and totally unresponsive outside class. No practice exams, no learning objectives, no support. Felt like we had to teach ourselves everything. Awful experience, DO NOT TAKE HER IF YOU NEED A SOLID FOUNDATION IN OCHEM!
Dr. Watanabe has one of the clearest and most straightforward teaching styles. Ochem is hard, so don't expect a good grade without effort—but if you try, you'll be fine. She holds Sunday reviews, encourages participation, and gives extra credit, Aktiv, and textbook questions—all meant to help you succeed. Take her for Ochem II and thank me later.
I LOVED Dr. Watanabe! Her lectures were simple, she encouraged participation, she gave us textbook practice problems, and she had test practice sessions on Sunday afternoons. she gave us all the tools we needed to succeed, all you have to do is use them. Heavy curves on tests and the class. You should get a B if you participate, or an A if you try.
Dr. Watanabe's class is incredibly straightforward, although she does go fast. You'll have to try but if you make a reasonable effort you'll be fine. She has Sunday review sessions, EC, and several other tools to help us study for the exam (textbook, HW). She encourages participation - whether you get it right or wrong. All tests have heavy curves.
This has been one of my favorite classes at A&M! She challenges us not only to learn the material, but to apply it in biological examples. Her class is great for biochem/pre-med people, and if you put in effort, you will do well. The best advice I can give you is to participate in the lecture! It allows you to learn and get help if needed.
Final grades are curved heavily and she gives extra credit. She holds 2 review sessions for each test which are worth attending. 3/4's of test questions are from lecture notes, the review sessions, or the optional problems. Lectures can drag on but they have all the information you need. She also drops the lowest test. Getting an A is very possible
Dr Watanabe is a great prof. Ochem is a hard class, so if you don't study or go to lecture, you will likely struggle. Watanabe is clear with her expectations and prepares her students for biochem. She also gives out ~40 points of EC. Go to the Sunday reviews, they are very similar to the exam!!
You can tell Watanabe cares bc class was fun with random dances, music, &star war jokes! Most students end with a B/A bc she is very clear on exams, gives extra credit, review sessions, and grade is not entirely based on exams! If you are going onto biochemistry, this is a great class for you. ***She loves the biological rxns, study them!
Dr. Watanabe is by far one of the best ochem professors out there. She genuinely cares about her students and encourages them to learn. She is funny and super easy to talk to. Her grading style allows for students to recover from poor scores or raise their grade. TAKE HER!! (problem sessions are amazing)
She is one of the best ochem professors you could get. She doesn't just stand at the front of the classroom and lecture at you, she makes the content engaging. She is very personable and interesting, and tries to relate to her students. There are 3 exams and the final, and she drops the lowest of the 3 exam grades. Highly recommend!
Dr. Watanabe sucked. Her lectures were unclear and long/boring. She made the effort to try to get people involved but she was terrible at explaining written notes. She did give loads of extra credit but her exams had some questions that were so difficult. Majority of her averages were 60s-70s so she curved her A's on exams to 69.5 and above.
I'm genuinely blown away by how many positive reviews Watanabe has. It's strange how similarly they're all written too. My final grade was a 76, and that was curved to an A. That alone should tell you what to expect. If you want to know what you're getting into, read the non-copy/pasted reviews or the ones with more thumbs up than down.
OChem isn't an easy subject, but if you put in the work you can do well. Lecture coverage can be heavy but she does try to connect with students. Her outside problem sessions give you a good feel for the exams. Her exams are challenging but she also gives extra credit. Not sure about the haters.
Dr. Watanabe is truly one of the best professors I've had. She takes a subject that is known for being difficult and makes it clear, organized, and even enjoyable. If you're taking OChem , I can't recommend Dr. Watanabe enough. She's dedicated, knowledgeable, and truly cares about her students' learning. One of my favorite professors at TAMU.
She's super nice and chill but lectures are just writing reactions with no explanation. i never felt like i learned anything from lecture. she doesn't involve the class to make sure we understand lectures. doesn't post notes or record lectures. curves heavily. you can get an A but you will be teaching yourself everything, don't rely on lectures.
She was one of my favorite professors. My friends say she's hard and boring, but if you try, it's not bad. You will need to put in the effort with any professor teaching OChem 2. Out of all the professors, she's definitely in the top 2, if not 3, I would say. She tries to make it fun with her silly Star Wars and niche references.
OChem is not an easy subject but she honestly made it a bit better to handle. EC opportunities and she curves generously. Tries to make class fun and enjoyable and you can tell she loves what she does. If you do the work then you'll pass.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
89%
Textbook Required
17%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.36 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM228
3.5
(67)OCHEM228
2.7
(21)Difficulty by Course
OCHEM228
3.5
CHEM228
3.3