2.4
Quality4.0
Difficulty50%
Would Retake84
Reviews50%
Would Retake
84
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
84 total ratings5
10
4
14
3
17
2
15
1
28
What Students Say
“If you have to take O CHEM avoid him at all costs”
CHEM270 - 1.0 rating“Ball is extremely knowledgable in his field but completely lacks the ability to teach at a level below his understanding”
CHEM270 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
33%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.03 avg changeRatings by Course
373870
5.0
(1)CHEM400
5.0
(1)170
4.0
(1)370
4.0
(1)CHEM
4.0
(3)Difficulty by Course
2
5.0
CHEM037
5.0
CHEM38112
5.0
CHEMISTRY
5.0
CHEM373870
4.7
Reviews (83)
nice guy, tough teacher
No Comments
He has some very high expectations, and his tests are very hard. It is college after all.
Easy to pass but hard to get a good grade
Excellent instructor. High expectations, but when you leave his class you'll leave prepared. A true university professor, not a JC-teacher in disguise.
Boring and hard.
What a jerk...avoid if at all possible!
college chemistry is supposed to be hard. you will have to earn your grade, but it feels good to earn it
Hard, too much complex material packed into too short a time frame. Great person, difficult course for even the best student to PASS.
Very hard to follow, doesn't categorize the material for easy understanding like other professors do
Fantastic person. Not very good teacher. He's all over the place in lectures, leaving out pertinent info. Wasn't looking for an easy prof, but was looking for prof that was understandable. When questions were asked, explanation just confused us more.
The worst teacher I have had in the sciences, unable to explain anything. Arrogant toward the students and arbitrary in grading.
He doesn't hate you. He treats everyone that way.
He makes students feel unimportant and stupid. Office hours are spent belittling students for questions about clarification of material. Expect to work very hard!!! Do not expect much help from him. Awful teacher!!
Jeez, this is a university. These students are freaking whiners! Try attending class and opening the book. Ooooh, here's a good one, study -- use your fellow students as resources, don't expect to be spoon fed. This prof is tough but good. Boo hoo...
if you already have a handle on chem, then this prof isnt bad, but if you have trouble at all, dont take this class. he teaches to the chem majors, and talks over your head if you're not. very knowledgeable, but has trouble getting information across.
Will challenge you, keep up with homework, very helpfull
I understood chem before I took his class. He does not tell you WHAT or HOW to apply concepts, he shows you example after example. Very unhelpful, and a terrible teacher. Do not take him. Tests are okay, but you don't have enough time to finish any of them. Avoid if possible.
this class is useless. not only will he unteach you what you thought you already knew, but he will indroduce concepts that i think he just made up. Tests are overly long but they are graded with partial credit in mind. No collected HW, 50% in this class is passing...that exemplifies his teaching.
get ready to smooch if you want a good grade. plays favorites and doesn't seem interesting in helping people learn.
He does not care about students. He is here for money and research opportunities. I would suggest taking his wife at Chico High instead. She is an amazing teacher. He sucks.
Not a great teacher, kind of a jerk if you ask a question he doesnt think is good. also a jerk if you ask him to change the way he does anything that might make him a better teacher. hard tests very long
O.K., but tests need to not have an average around 50%.
I know this is college, but he teaches at PHD level, so you need to shuptup. Worst teacher in my career, TAKE ANOTHER TEACHER if you are not strong in Chem, he sucks major
this guy blows.
For general chem practice tests are very similar to actual tests so that makes it easy. Organic Chem is tougher so the similarity doesn't help with the tests. Ball is an Organic Chemist so he expects a lot from his students. Should do well if you have a solid chemistry background. Ask questions.
his test are the pretty damn hard,he wanders around the whole discussion, and dont think the class will be easy if you get a good score on the first test you have to work for it.
he sucks don't take him.
if you want to do well in this class, I suggest you read every chapter before coming to lecture or else you'll be so lost.
in class you won't know anything about what he is saying and you'll feel completely lost, especially without doing the HW. but if you study a little for his tests and are a super genius you should do okay. Even though you feel lost in class later you'll find out that you do know a great deal
I thought that he was a good teacher. The notes that I took in class were worthless to me because he was all over the place, but going to lecture and absorbing what he was saying helped. I would take him again for o-chem in a heartbeat!
Chemistry is a hard subject no matter what, but he taught the material in class and was especially helpful if you went into office hours
No Comments
Longest/hardest tests in the shortest amount of time. Seems practically impossible.
ball gets a bad rap. i enjoyed his class. some days i left teh class completely lost but after reviewing the book it all made sense. fair grader. i did ok on teh tests and pulled an A on the final and he gave me an A in the class
im a chem major who has ball for 3 semesters straigt goin on 4. So i thought id tell you how it is.This is how i got through with a B/B+. Read the chapter and do the questions. You have to learn it or you wont pass ball. lecture are pointless. Go to exam reviews he tells you whats on the exam. Lab grade is a huge factor.office hours for help.
He is hard, but I think its the subject, not him. He will go over it with you if you need help, and he is very organized and will lay out the formulas for you. If you actually go to class you will learn it.
gets confused in class sometimes. teaches the simplest stuff but tests on lots of things he didn't cover...luckily not very tough tho'. read the book & youll do fine
Dr. Ball is pedagogically inept--avoid taking this course from him if at all possible. The man couldn't explain or calculate his way out of a paper bag. Take 112 with a professor that you will understand and learn from.
Chem 112 is a difficult course,however if you study, read, do homework, go to class, and review sessions (in other words work hard) you will get a good grade. He is helpful and fair. The tests are long but he does give test review questions that are very helpful. Dr. Ball is very willing to help and his door is usually open.
Tough class for me, but if you go and actually put some effort into it you'll pass.
OChem is about as difficult as it gets. Don't blame Dr. Ball. Blame the system for making Bio majors take such rediculously unnecessary courses.
out of touch with students and the concept of actually teaching them something useful. seems to just try and "fill up" class time. do yourself a favor and take it from one of the younger professors
No Comments
totally worthless
if someone told me that eveytime i steped into his classroom i would hate my life, i wouldnt have taken his class. not helpfull, his tests cover things never mentioned in lecture or the book, he may know chemistry but doesnt know how to teach.
what a joke. avoid like the plague if you want to actually learn something. gets confused in class and lectures seem to go off-topic alot.
beware, you'll have trouble staying awake in class
absolutely horrible. The worst teacher I have ever had in 4 years of college. I tutor chemistry students but his lectures confused me to no end. I managed to get a B+ once I stopped attending his lectures.
Impressively bad! He lacks all the qualities of a good teacher, but I highly doubt he even knows or cares. He should never have gone into teaching.
He's a **** and has an awful disposition & personality, but if you can get passed all of that then I guess you can muttle your way through his classes. Does not tolerate questions and looks at you like you are the most stupid person who ever lived if you attempt to ask him a question (regardless of the validity of the question).
****.
Terrible teacher.
Not helpful at all.
Dr. Ball is not a bad professor. The subject is just extremely difficult. It takes more than just attending lectures to get a good grade.
Not helpful. Makes you feel stupid for asking any questions and has a cynical disposition.
Take someone else for chemistry if at all possible...
terrible teacher, completely usesless, can't teach to save his life, aviod if possible
Ball is a great teacher. He is always available to help you and has lots of office hours. He even uses his own time to hold study sessions at night before the test. I would recommend reading the book prior to his lecture to help you understand better because the class is very challenging.
this dude sucks...avoid if you want to learn anything interesting...at all
This dude is horrible. You can't understand a word from what he says. Exams are very long and hard. Look for any other instructor.
I didn't find his class any harder than the other chem classes, but he loses the thread of lecture sometimes which can make class not very helpful. Focus on your text and you'll be alright.
I had him 25 yrs ago. The concepts he taught me are part of my core. A good guy.
He will want you to succeed and will do everything he can to help you do so. This doesn't mean he will like you.
It doesn't matter if he likes you, it only matters that he is a terrible professor!
Extremely helpful teacher. Visit his office even during non office hours, he is always there to help. Must spend a lot of time studying to do well in this class.
this guy is the absolute worst
I've had Ball for 3 semesters now and I enjoy his classes. His teaching style is very clear to me, his test are long and hard but he curves your final grade, he is very willing to help his students,and he holds study sessions the night before exams. If you attend lecture and read the texts, you'll do well!
he plays favorites with students in his grading, which is probably why some students like him and others think he's terrible. if you take him, you better hope you are one of his special "buddies"
This is a tough class, no doubt, but he is there to help. Definitely go to office hours for some one on one time. There is a lot of information to learn and just not quite enough class time, so you need to study and utilize office hours to do well. He sneaks in fun facts and little jokes here and there. Expresses a love for chemistry. Love teachers who show passion for their subject.
Dr Ball is awesome!
Awesome chemistry professor. Transferred schools and had to retake some of the same chem concepts. Only did well because of how great Ball taught me previously. Best professor I've had so far.
Dr. Ball is the kind of instructor that makes a challenging subject as difficult as possible. His exams are very hard. If you need to take him, I suggest that you do many practice problems.....practice with a clock, too, as his exams are very long and you never feel like you have enough time.
Very knowledgeable but has a hard time communicating knowledge to students. Overall nice guy, a little sarcastic, but friendly. Just don't ask stupid questions, you will get a stupid answer. And intelligent questions get complex way over your head answers. So its kind of an interesting dynamic. Grading is easy compared to others profs!
Terrible teacher. He may be very knowledgable about the subject, but he does not know how to teach. If you have to take O CHEM avoid him at all costs!
Very clear professor, basically gives you all of the answers that you could ever need on his tests. If you show up to class and know what you're doing you will be fine, super ezpz.
Dr. Ball is very difficult but knows the subject matter. Go to his office hours!
The most arrogant teacher I have ever had. It was obvious he enjoyed our misery. And, that is no hyperbole. He stands in front of the board so you can't see what he writes and then erases the material before you have a chance to write it down.
Ball is extremely knowledgable in his field but completely lacks the ability to teach at a level below his understanding. He skips out on so many important concepts that could be so easily stated and instead gives complex examples. He is very unapproachable and will treat you like you're an idiot for any questions asked in class or office hours.
Dr. Ball is a very good instructor, but with such a difficult topic he could put more effort into helping students understand the material. Chem majors will likely have an easier time. I struggled a lot and did not pass the class (partly my fault tbh though). For non-chem majors I would recommend a different teacher if you can manage it.
I really enjoyed taking Dr. Ball's class, he is very knowledgeable and I think that is where most of the people who take his class get left behind. He is going to talk to you like a chemist he is going to teach you to think like a chemist. I am not a Chem major, but enjoyed watching him teach and enjoyed being taught by him.
He is a good professor! He is very knowledgable, and very willing to help his students unlike other professors. He provides study guides, old exams to practice, study hw problems, and he holds study sessions the night before exams. Go to his office hours with specific questions or topics you are struggling, and he breaks it down for you.
No topic list, and you're expected to be able to recall all the obscure examples he shows in class. All the points are on tests that nearly everyone does extremely poorly on, then he says that he adjusts grades at the end based on if he could tell you tried. Completely unfair and outdated system to base a person's grade on.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
33%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.03 avg changeRatings by Course
373870
5.0
(1)CHEM400
5.0
(1)170
4.0
(1)370
4.0
(1)CHEM
4.0
(3)Difficulty by Course
2
5.0
CHEM037
5.0
CHEM38112
5.0
CHEMISTRY
5.0
CHEM373870
4.7