Dr. Michael gave hard exams, but was extremely helpful and clear in his explanations. He was the first UW science teacher that gave me the feeling that lecture offered something the book did not, and showing up was worthwhile. Ochem is hard for some, but he breaks things down very nicely, and I reccomend the hell out of him.

a pretty good organic chem prof. he had a good sense of humor and was obviously very intelligent but that wasn't enough to keep me from skipping his lectre.

He was a great o.chem prof. His class was actually quite interesting, and he was very helpful.

Wonderful Chemistry professor. My best Chemistry grade ever! I actually did not fall asleep in class. Very clear lectures. Professor was eager to help students.

awesome chem prof. you have to take him.

Best professor hands down. He's super smart, clear, friendly and extremely helpful. Definitely take a class from him if you have the chance.

Best chem professor I've had so far. He keeps things simple and clear. Lectures were engaging. Tests were straightforward and fair. Highly recommended you take him!

Awesome ochem teacher. He knows the material well. I feel like I am always ready to learn in his class. His test is decently hard (more like tricky) but it is manageable. The only thing bad about him is that he sets the curve kind of low in comparison to other chem profs. But otherwise, awesome prof to have.

He was a pretty good teacher. His tests were fair. I recommend him.

No Comments

interesting lectures. i would recommend making your own rxn table. Definitely memorize the diff rxn, crucial for the exams. exams are fair, can get a bit tricky. if u memorize the rxn, do all his old exams, and attend lecture, u will do fine.

You won't sleep in lectures! Lecture notes are very clear and his tests are fair as long as you do the previous exams. The highest grade i got in a chem class.

Very clear and straightforward kind of guy. If you put in the work and look at his old exams, you'll do just fine. Make sure you have a solid understanding of the reactions and make sure you're there for every lecture.

Forrest Michael is by far one of the best professors I've ever had. He's crystal clear in his explanations, and is always willing to help anyone who doesn't understand the material. He's a very approachable prof, and I highly recommend him. He's kind of a genius too :)

forrest is awesome. if you're going to take 237 with anyone, take it with him. he's funny, provides excellent explanations, and his tests are fair.

I love this man, he's a really good and funny teacher. His tests were hard, but very fair. Take him if you can!

Amazing professor! Taught me more about chemistry in one quarter than all of my previous classes combined! Tests are definately really hard, but absolutly fair. One of the best professors at UW for sure!

Amazing lecturer. Keeps the interest and engagement high during lectures. Tests are hard but fair, like others have said. If you have the opportunity, take this guy.

Excellent professor. Very glad I learned fundamentals of chemistry with him. Gave very fair tests. Very handsome professor too! If you do all the problems in the book and start early doing the practice midterms, and attend his office hours, you will do well in the class :)

Best professor I've had at UW. Lectures are awesome, tests are fair. He's super good looking too. I would definitely take organic chemistry every quarter for the rest of undergrad if he was the professor.

I love Professor Michael!!

Great professor. His lectures are very interesting and fun to listen to. I'm so glad to have learned intro Organic Chemistry from him.

Gorgeous professor. Intelligent, handsome, what more could you want? He made ochem very interesting for me.

His smile makes my heart melt.

He was great at communicating. He knew how to talk to those that aren't chem majors and knew how to break down the concepts clearly. He also uses a lot of questions from his past exams/quizzes, so be sure to review those as well. Never a dull day in his class, and he always knew how to put a smile on your face. Good looks was icing on the cake ;)

Amazing man. He is really nice and very helpful. He is such a smart person and teaches chemistry in the way that he learned it, so he gives you a lot of super useful shortcuts. Definitely read the text and use the lectures as a supplement & you'll be good. He sweats a lot though which can be distracting, but he is hot pepper worthy, trust me. ;)

Super good professor. What he doesn't talk about in lecture won't be on exams. Disorganized, does not reply to emails or bother to reach out to students unless confronted in face. But none the less, BEST chem237 prof. you can possibly have in this series.

Excellent professor. I learned A LOT in this class. And he is a Greek God come down on earth...utter, pure hotness.

Wonderful professor! Exams are challenging and shouldn't be underestimated. Do as many practice exams and problems as possible but also actually just learn the material and not memorize it. Lectures are super helpful if you come to learn and not memorize. Strongly recommend this professor!

Professor Michael is an excellent professor. He writes as he speaks to the class so the pace is manageable. He is very engaging and really nice if you ask him questions. Do his practice exams and go to the Ochem study center for extra help. His exams are straight forward and clear! Best Ochem professor I've had so far!

Interesting material made better by engaging lectures and great class structure. Weekly quizzes keep you on top of your game, while his teaching style is both interactive (student participation and resulting critical thinking leads to understanding) and crystal-clear. Encourages questions, which is great!

I personally enjoy Michael's teaching style and explanation, but his exams are ridiculous. I don't recommend him for those who don't like taking tests. He's not very specific with his expectation of what students should know. I'm sure lots of people hate him, but I enjoy his class and think he's a great professor.

His lectures were super interesting, but you could easily skip them if you read the book. At first weekly quizzes were difficult but after a while you get a hang of what he would/wouldn't cover. If you enjoy chemistry you'll appreciate his interest/passion in lectures. Definitely a class that challenges you to truly understand the material.

Professor Michael is an amazing professor. Literally everyone I asked who said they didn't like him gave vague reasons when in reality they don't like him because they aren't doing well in the class. He's the best lecturer I've ever had and gives a ton of examples during lecture, which is great. Tests are hard but its fair (its ochem). Take him!

He's definitely the best lecturer I've had so far at UW. There's a bit of a learning curve as to what he focuses on/how to study for quizzes/tests. As a chem major, I thought he was really great but I could see how people wouldn't like him if chem wasn't their focus. That being said I did receive the lowest grade out of the whole sequence here so.

Homework & quizzes count as make-up points for lowest test score. Lectures can be hard to follow, he teaches by contradictions which can confuse you if you haven't read before class. Tests are hard, but are very close to the test from the year before which he posts as a practice exam. You'll do more reading and practice than ever before.

You're going to get out whatever you put in for this course. His exams are pretty difficult but he offers a chance to make up points by homework and quizzes. He also doesn't penalize incorrect answers for Sapling, which is really helpful when learning the material. The more questions asked during lecture, the more he clarifies things. I liked him!

Professor Michael has a knack for exposing the tricks and hiccups that come with the material taught in Orgo. All of his examples do an amazing job of clarifying exactly what elements he wants you to take away from them. Do yourself a favor and read the chapters before lecture, otherwise you'll get lost and blame the professor for not doing his job

Sometimes one of the exam questions will not be covered in the lecture, which makes it hard for us to know what will be covered in the exam. Otherwise, work hard on the book questions and his practice exams and you will be guaranteed a good grade.

Forrest was a fantastic professor. I was really a fan of his lecture style, and the way in which he presented the material. He is really intelligent, and teaches ochem in a way that focuses on reasoning rather than memorization. He always brought up relavent chemistry news, which was refreshing for a prof to do. His exams are hard, but so is ochem

such an inspirational model.

Michael is my favorite professor of the OCHEM series. He made his OCHEM lectures fun and interesting by making students more involved. He gives out example problems during class that clarify what we're suppose to understand for exams.

He is very good at explaining chemical mechanisms and complicated ochem topics. He makes you read the book and sometimes it is a little unclear what is going to be on the test, but tests are reasonable (for an ochem class at uw). He takes his time on each topic and focuses on what you will be tested on. Good professor for a really hard class.

I liked Forrest. A lot of work, but he makes you think critically about what you are doing and why, (and why you're college ;) ). Sit in the front row, read the book beforehand, do the sapling homework before you go to lecture. The more you teach yourself the more you'll be able to participate in class and ask/answer intelligent questions.

He expects you to read a lot. Weekly quiz and homework are not mandatory but recommended. Not the most organized professor and often things are going to be done last minute, but he is very knowledgeable. Anyone can survive him as long as they read the textbook and go to lectures. Luckily textbook is full of mechanisms so its not a lot of texts

Forrest Micheal is probably one of the smartest professors I've run across so far at UW. This makes him an incredibly skilled lecturer, but it also makes it hard to keep up in lectures. A downside to the class if the quizzes are comprehension based, which often meant having quizzes immediately after lecture. Go to office hours for clarification!

Dr. Michael's lecture style is not the same as most other professors, it's based a lot on whole class discussion, which prevents lectures from being dry and painful. Even though the grade book is almost entirely exams, he does allow you to drop one. Overall I highly recommend taking his class it's the best class I've taken at UW so far.

Honestly a really good professor. A lot of people complained about how hard his exams were but I believe the people that didnt do well didnt put in the extra work that is needed to do well!! I watched YouTube videos on all the concepts covered and got an A.

He's primarily an honors teacher and it shows. He might be a great honors ochem professor, but he's too difficult for regular ochem. Long and difficult exams (even by ochem standards) + oddly helpful but hard to calculate grading scheme stressful class.

I took forrest for advanced synthetic ochem and felt that i learned a lot. Forrest is a GENUIS. He lectured literally OFF THE TOP OF HIS HEAD on a blank piece of paper all quarter, and didnt miss a beat. The class was very relaxed (only 2 papers and a final exam) and he made us feel that we were there to actually LEARN, not for a grade.

He teaches a tough class and can't cover everything in lectures, so reading the textbook is necessary. His lectures are really helpful though and the class is well organized.

Professor Michael gets a bad wrap because CHEM 237 is naturally a difficult class. Although his tests are difficult, the practice tests he provides are 70-80% similar to the actual exam. Attending his lectures is a must if you want to do well in his class. As long as you go to lecture, reading the textbook isn't necessary. Class is hard but doable.

I really would do a 3.75 if I could. First off, if you like structure Forrest does not. We read chapters and didn't need all the content, wasted a lot of time. With that being said, lectures give you what you need, he's passionate, and practices are very similar to exams. You do need to learn on your own, difficult but doable surprisingly lmao.

This class was the first in person class I took at UW and it was probably the best possible intro. The class moved super fast and the content was crazy, but it was entirely fair. Furthermore, the homework and weekly quizzes are "optional" in that you can use the points from those to sub out a midterm or part of the final. Loved the class in person

The class itself is very difficult LOTS of material to learn. A lot of times I had to use outside recourses to help me. The professor grades fairly and his lectures are fast paced. The homework and weekly quizzes are technically optional, in a way that you can use the points from those to sub out a midterm or part of the final.

Organic chemistry is a hard class, but his lectures are always really helpful and interesting. Definitely a lot of studying needed for this class but he releases practice exams before each exam that are similar to the test. Class is graded only by tests, you have the opportunity to replace your worst test score with hw/quiz grades which is nice.

Prof Michael is really good, Chem 237 is difficult by default but if you study his practice exams are very similar to the tests so if you study that you should be fine. He likes to ask trick questions in class which is nice because then the test doesn't have something new and tricky because he's already showed it to you.

He does a good job of explaining important ochem concepts, and his grading system is very generous. While sometimes he does go a bit off topic during lecture, for the most part they are definitely worth your time and very helpful, and he only tests on things he explicitly covers in class.

Professor Michael is a tough teacher, but he gives you everything you need to succeed. His practice exams are very helpful in studying for the tests, and all of the quizzes and homework are reasonable. The grading is a little weird, but really helps if you do all the assignments. Overall a he does a good job preparing you for the rest of the series

Prof. Michael tended to go over material very fast. Reading the textbook and watching supplemental videos made things a lot easier. His course requires a lot of studying and outside work. However, he had a great system in place where homework and quiz scores can be used to replace a test, or part of the final. I enjoyed the class!

Loved this guy's teaching. Its clear he loves being asked questions in class, as long as they are thoughtful, and encourages discussion and debate. Very funny but also down to earth professor. One of my favorite classes so far.

Great teacher who is definitely passionate about the subject. Extremely exam heavy but can replace an exam grade if you do most of the homework, quizzes, and other assignments. Quizzes were optional to attend, but they only can help your grade so it is recommended. Lectures are recorded, so attendance is not mandatory and is not graded.

Forrest is super charismatic and also breaks up the long 2hr lectures with chemistry fun facts that apply to everyday life like why chocolate is poisonous to dogs! In addition to this, he is extremely patient with students and has plenty of office hours. Cannot recommend enough for 237.

Forrest is a very engaging lecturer, and he has an entertaining sense of humor. He's also pretty accessible and regularly answers questions on Ed. I do have some issues with his class. He expects you to do most of your learning from the textbook: you're tested on things he doesn't teach in class. His exams are also difficult and have curveballs.

Beware that you need to read the textbook and come with a decent understanding of the weeks concepts before going to class or lecture will be useless. If you are prepared, lectures are very helpful and teach you how to apply the material from the textbook. Prof is obviously smart, but his class is not for everyone.

Professor Michael is engaging and passionate. Though exams are challenging, the flexible grading system and available resources like Unstuck study make the class manageable. Definitely take this course if you're interested in chemistry!

Dr. Michael is a very knowledgeable man; almost too knowledgeable due to the fact he has been studying organic chemistry for over 20 years. While 237 is hard, he does not make it more difficult than it needs to be and is very good at teaching us how to study ochem which is the most valuable part of the series anyways.

Forrest is unquestionably just the best and I learned so much about the nuances and intricacies of what was taught in sophomore organic chemistry ;) . Now I get the primal urge to tear any molecular structure I see apart retrosynthetically and piece them back together again. Life is so much more fun thanks to this wonderful class.

Dr. Michael is an excellent professor who is very passionate about what he does! You can tell he really cares about his students succeeding in this class. Orgo is incredibly challenging, but he made it so much easier to understand. His class is very textbook-heavy, but you'll be okay if you keep up with the reading.

Best chem prof at UW. Very smart and gets his point across effectively. His tests look very similar to the practice exams, and he gives you ample time to do homework and readings before class. Very fair exams, he only tests you on what was covered in class. Fun, informative brain breaks in the middle of lecture, and he obviously likes his job.