complete jerk... very smart too smart. Thinks he is a god and ALWAYS is late

he sucks!!! if you like having a good GPA, avoid his class like the plague!!! he sucks, i can't say it enough. he's very egocentric, teaches like we're prefessors, lectures for like an hour, always late, can't write legibly. FOR THE LOVE OF PETE- DON'T TA

Horribly frustrating professor...midterm and final are ridiculous. Lab reports take hours to do and you never know what he wants. He looks at you like your stupid when you don't understand what he's talking about, which is 99% of the time.

Doesn't care about any of his students, and probably is the worst teacher I have ever had, and that is counting high school. I just took his final, and it is impossible. Avoid this guy...I will probably have to retake the class.

Worst teacher I've had at JMU. DO NOT TAKE HIM UNLESS YOU WANT TO SERIOUSLY LOWER YOUR GPA. He does not care about students and will fail everyone w/o a second thought and he can because he has tenure.

thought was nice guy until first lab day, DO NOT TAKE, SWITCH LAB. I revieved the only A on lab report and got D+ in class! and i had no clue what was different about the A paper and the D papers

This is by far the worst excuse for a professor I have ever had. This class is impossible to pass. Your life will be consumed by lab reports and no matter how long or hard you work on them you will not recieve a good grade.

Absolute worst teacher I have EVER had. He does not care about his students and he can't explain anything. He thinks he is mr all mighty and that we are stupid. Grades very very unfairly, tests are impossible. He seriously should not be teaching at all

Get out of this class. He can't teach, he spends most of the time lecturing on stuff you won't understand. Then spends the rest of the lab time grading papers and doesnt answer questions. Awful class. Horrible grading, have to spend HOURS on lab reports.

This guy is terrible. You spend hours on your lab reports just to get a C. His midterm and final are impossible. He shows up late and lectures about random stuff and you end up having to stay late.This guy is a miserable teacherand wouldnt reccomend him

BIGGEST JERK EVER!!! I can not even begin to explain how crappy this teacher was. If I had to have him again for a class, I'd switch majors...seriously!

Not only is he a complete jerk, he is extremely arrogant and an impossible grader. He clearly does not like students and if you ask him a question, the only clear point he will get across to you is that you are stupid. Don't take any of his classes!!!

worst teacher at jmu, he provided a semester of hell. even if you do all the work, good luck passing.

he is the worst teacher of all time!! avoid him.

He was my worst teacher of my entire career at JMU! What a nightmare. Be ready to work hard.

AWFUL PROFESSOR! please avoid him at all costs! He's always late to class, never explains anything. He grades the labs from the previous week in class, and grades unfairly. Prepare to write A LOT for your lab report. The midterm and final are IMPOSSIBLE no matter how much you study. Good luck!

I sat in on his lab and was horrified at his behavior. He came to class 45 minutes late. He was rude to the students and gave a pointless lecture which the students had to include in their lab reports (about 10 pages each report!!!). He also does not help during the lab, just grades papers.

Horrible professor. You will spend a TON of time doing work for this 1 credit class. It's ridiculous! Be prepared to have know idea what your doing. DON'T TAKE!

Horrible professor. Showed up 45 minutes late to every lab. Had a useless lecture when he did finally get there and was no help during the labs because he was busy grading. You have to write a book to get anything above a C on a lab report regardless of how well you know the material. DO NOT TAKE!!

Terrible teacher!! He was always late for class. And when he got there you write an hours worth of notes that rarely EVER help you. He never helped us understand the labs...he just expected us to do them. And his tests were impossible..never, never, never take him!!!!

It's possible to get an A, but it has absolutely nothing to do with how good you are at chemistry, only your writing skills. Just a hint for passing the final-he uses the same questions as are on the midterm, so ask him to go over it. Check his mistakes on grading too...he tends to do that a lot.

I thought he was horrible. We never got out of class on time, he was absolutely rude and was never around for help when you needed it. He put up way to many notes for one person to copy in the amount of time he gave to copy them. I wouldnt recommend him to any one.

I'm a senior and out of 4 years of going to JMU, never have I felt such an obligation to write on this website. Basically, he is the worst professor I've EVER had. The rest of the comments could not be more accurate. This guy is not worth a penny of your tuition.

This professor didn't give the students a chance to evaluate him at the end of the semester (as is standard JMU procedure) and it's no secret why. Several of us were so angry about this that we wrote letters directly to the Chemistry Department head. This guy has no place among the typically excellent faculty at JMU!

sometimes you cant trust these comments because some students dont major in science and have a harder time. but everyone on here is on point. im smart and i love chemistry but if u dont drop this class then you should kill yourself... now.

This man is a bitter and pathetic excuse for a human being. Shows up late for class every time, a rediculous amount of notes, impossible tests, doesn't know how to use a computer so you can't contact him at all. This man is a dark stain on the usually sterling reputation of JMU professors. All of the comments here are dead on! Avoid him!

This man has no idea what he is talking about and grades extremely hard. His tests are impossible and he rambles on about nonsense for hours. Stay away!

the hardest teach i've ever had. at mid term most professors has exams with 10-15 problems....he had 35 questions, on the FIRST PAGE. grades SO hard, offers you no help. its horrible!! do NOT take his class!!!

This man belongs on a football field...not in a chemistry lab classroom. Not only does he have NO idea what he is talking about, he does not have the SLIGHTEST capability to teach a lick of chemistry to anyone else. If you get him, do not even bother going the first day GET OUT AND RUN!!!

Terrible. Just Terrible.

I've had a few bad teachers in the past, but nothing compares to the hell you will go through in this lab. He is just a bitter man. I'd spend endless hours on lab reports and he'd grade it in 3 minutes always with a "D" or "C." You'll take notes for a good hour before even starting the lab. Don't put yourself through this.

If you value your sanity, do not, I repeat do not take him. His tests are next to impossible to pass, and he is a very unfair grader, plays favorites, and has no clue what he's talking about half of the time. Everything that is here is true. I repeat do not take!

I absolutely dislike this man. Why is he still a JMU prof.? He is rude to students, unhelpful, biased against both males and females (for diff. reasons), and makes the female students uncomfortable. I do not like to bash teachers, but I would hate for anyone to get into his class and be treated like I was.

This guy will be the hardest teacher for the following reasons; 1)Reads his notes faster than you can write off the projector, 2)Forgets necessary info. for labs writeups and exams, ALL THE TIME! 3)Jokes about giving F's 4)Gives more d's and f's than any grade 5)Has no standard for grading 6)Can only be reached once a week out of class 7)He's****!

wow, i shouldve listened to ratemyprofessor.com but he was the only open lab class. i went to two labs and just stopped going. re-taking it over the sumer with dr adkins, my favorite chem lab professor here at jmu

This guy is notorious around JMU for being the WORST chem lab teacher...and for good reason. Make sure you get the notes word for word and COPY them into you lab, and you should do alright... he doesn't really tell you what he grades on. Tough grader. Usually late and makes you copy 8 pages or so of messy hand written notes...lab runs late a lot.

Lab reports are based on your writing skills and whether or not you put everything in his lecture in your report. The midterm he messes up grading, so check your answers, cause many of them appear verbatim on the final. He sucks, but I got an A, and you can too.

This man was the worst teacher/professor i have ever had, kingergarten all the way up to now (just finishing my junior year). Before this class i had never thought a teacher could make or break a class. Some of the posts say to kill yourself instead of taking this lab... if you dont before, this lab will make you want to kill yourself.

Avoid like you would the plague. Unfair, unclear, unbelievable bad teacher.

He only teaches Mondays and Wednesdays, because he is a part time teacher. The chem department wont let you pick your teachers, so boo on them for hiring him, but I hope this helps with avoiding him!

A warning/advice for you poor souls who have to take him. He says he hates JMU, calls my class stupid, expects us to write and listen to two different topics and record them both verbatum at the same time.Bring a tape recorder.He's the worst prof. I thought "I'll suck it up, there is no way he's as bad as they say"-He is. Expect the worst.....

Horrible. No easier way to say it except, RUN!

awful. worst professor i've ever had. seriously AVOID HIM.

This is the worst teacher i ever had, and im positive i will never have a worse teacher. You have to write down every word of his completely useless notes, and write down a 5 page lab report, and he plays favorites so if you dont get on his good side he will give you a c- or fail you. Plus his midterm and final are hard as hell, NEVER TAKE HIM!!!!!

horrible. words cannot describe.

The worst decision of my life was not listening to my friend who told me not to take his class. He is in his own world when it comes to chemistry. He loves the stuff that has nothing to do with what we need to know. If you take his class, make sure you know what bucky balls are, cause he loves the balls... I wanted to climb in the hood and die.

Everything unrelated, unreasonably difficult, wastes our time and grades as if we were all grad students in Chemistry. Like everyone else says - avoid at all costs.

i had this man for chem lab two semesters ago, and i still wake up and think what i ever did to deserve it.

i agree with everyone as well. terrible terrible teacher, and grades as if we're grad students. i mean come on, its GEN CHEM! i managed to pull a C, don't know how though.

Mr., not Dr., Gray makes his expectations clear; but he proceeds to grade Against those expectations. The only realistic thing to expect is to get a better grade if you act like a ditzy girl, drop things all the time, and use the words he has on his checklist in your papers.

apparently you don't need any degree to teach in the chemistry department.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.

Worst professor I have ever had. If you like to constantly be degraded, and if you likie to spend 8 hours of work for a D- grade back then take this class. All the graded lab reports are filled with NO!! VERY POOR! and POOR! Also expect lots of question marks everywhere. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Another semester of college is a better option.

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE! A group of students actually went to the department head about him. Randomly grades papers. One report I did the whole thing wrong and got an A. Another missed one little thing got a C. Crazy! Oh and make sure you have the right data even if that's not what you get. You have to lie to get a better grade. HORRIBLE!

THE worst professor I've ever had thus far.He believes students nowadays don't deserve to get into college, he's unhelpful, and likes to hear himself talk. On lab reports, he would take off 20+ points, yet the report would only have a couple red marks on it. COPY HIS NOTES VERBATIM for lab reports. That's the only way to pass the class. AVOID!

Awful teacher. Can not teach to save his life, or yours. I loved the lecture, however when I had Gray in lab I wanted to die. He fails everyone, and I spent the entire week of Spring break working on a lab report which I then failed. ALWAYS at least 15 minutes late for class if not more. Never thought I would write on here, but he was so bad.

He is absolutely awful! He grades hard, teaches horribly and is just VERY mean. Doesn't help you in lab when you have a question, just makes you feel stupid all the time. During office hours, he is SO unhelpful and mean. Avoid him at all cost! Only advice I have is write verbatim what he says in lecture in your discussion for the lab reports.

Not good and very unclear. I dont mind a hard professor but he i wacky in terms of grading. I dont know why i get what i get i mean i got A in chem 131 lab and lecture, going to get a A in chem 132 lecture and will be lucky to get a C in his class

One time I asked him to help me with an equation and looked me dead in the eye and said "I don't get why you need help with that." Needless to say, he didn't help me.

Incredibly hard to understand and speaks at a breakneck pace. Uses a horrible projector instead of powerpoint. Will be a bit helpful if you go to him outside of class, but it's very difficult to find a time to meet him as he only works very part time for the university. Dropped the class and repeating with another professor, and WAY happier.

DO NOT TAKE! If I have learned anything at this school, its that he is by far the worst professor someone could ever have. He is rude, and if you ask him questions he is not helpful at all and looks for every reason to fail you. His lectures are the most ridiculous things with a mix of hand cramps and trying to figure out what his shorthand

Honestly worst professor I've ever had. Do not take if you want to pass. I went to office hours every week and still couldn't get a passing grade. This class is impossible I'm not sure how this man is even allowed to teach.

Hands down the worst teacher I've had in my entire life. Lectures are very fast paced. You need to make sure you copy down everything on the board plus the things he is saying simultaneously. When you go to him to try to understand why points were missed on something he makes you feel dumb. Directions were often unclear.

terrible communicator insults students and those who drop his class 1/2 of my class dropped because of him and his reputation says they are "stupid" says jmu has dumb students terrible teacher stay away

AWFUL PROFESSOR!!!!! This is a one credit lab but I spent more time on it than all of my other classes combined. He expects a 20 page lab report ever week along with a tedious lab entry. He lectures for 2+ hours every class where you take about 15 pages of extremely confusing notes then go into lab not knowing what to do. DO NOT TAKE!!!

The worst prof I have ever come across. Being a 1credit lab, this prof treats it as a 4credit thesis class. The material can be learned thru mch shorter lectures & thru othr means of depicting the info rather than usin transparencies tht are written like books. Having to write 10-15 pg lab reports almost every wk just created a miserable sem. avoid

Mr. Gray was by far the vaguest, most unhelpful teacher I've ever had at JMU. He's office hours are a joke; he won't answer straight yes or no questions, he grades papers while you're talking to him, and he denies things that he's told you later in class. Please do yourself a favor and enroll in a different lab section.

Stay away and I mean it... There is no clear grading material. you could do the same lab report as your partner and get a totally different grade. He is NOT helpful. STAY AWAY, RUN AWAY.

The worst professor I've ever had. Missed a class during my semester, emailed us 2 hours after it was supposed to start with a HW assignment based off the lecture he never gave. Gives no grading criteria, is unhelpful and won't explain why your paper got the grade it did. Avoid at all costs.

He has unrealistic expectations and he talks for the first 2 hours of lab so you run over lab time every lab. He also is very strict with lab reports, be prepared to spend HOURS on lab reports.

Gray expects way too much out of students for a 1 credit class. be prepared to write 15 page lab reports every week. Grading is extremely hard but if he knows you put in the work he will like you! Concepts are hard to understand and he goes very quickly. Go to office hours and designate a lot of time to reports. Basically a struggle to the end!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! He spends the first 2 hours of the lab giving history lectures that have nothing to do with the lab. The midterm and final was super hard. Lab report due every week, if you follow the guidelines you can at most get a B. Tough grader and doesn't give any feedback. Hardest lab ever.

He is literally the worst professor I've encountered here at JMU. You spend 20+ hrs on one report and he'll still fail you without even reading a page of your work. Very unfair, inconsistent, and extremely grumpy. You will probably cry at least once in lab. His ultimate goal is to get as many students to withdrawal/fail as possible. DO NOT TAKE!

If you can enroll in another lab course, DO IT. If you can't here's what to do 1) Know you're entering a lab with an extremely hard professor 2) put on your charm and go to his office hours FROM LAB 1. 3) Copy word for word his notes and include every single word in your lab reports. 4) memorize every single thing from every lab to pass MT & final.

If you take good ole Jim Gray as a professor you will learn that water is not polar. There are just so many things he will correct you on! Sike! This man incompetent! I would rather take my chances in shark infested waters before attending another class with this guy. Get ready to buy a life vest because you will too.