Not sure how anyone manages to like this man. He's friendly enough but a very bad teacher. Then again, most people who take his class dont have a choice so this is all pointless

This professor does not care about your life. The tests are incredibly unfair and you feel like you wasted all your time studying because though the questions are fair with respect to content, the time constraint makes completion impossible. You have to read the textbook because his lectures are useless.

Caradonna doesn't know how to teach in a large lecture. His feedbacks on the exam are so unclear..... cuz there isn't any...... and most of the time in lecture he rambles on and on about stuff that "we shouldn't worry about the exam". He is a nice teacher with a great attitude and love for chem. He just doesn't know how to teach!

Very knowledgeable guy with helpful office hours (but they were early in the morning before class). Lectures are pretty boring, though. You have a better chance of just spending lecture time reading the textbook and then going to office hours for clarification if needed than to actually attend lectures. Tests were very hard and averaged around 50%.

Lectures aren't mandatory, and they're extremely hard to follow. You have to read the book and do the problems. Make sure you clarify all of your questions during office hours. He's really passionate about and knowledgeable about chemistry, but he's not as good with lecturing.

Caradonna's lectures were the absolute worse. This class made me reconsider my major and even attending BU. His tests were so conceptual I couldn't tell if it was a trick question or not. His office hours are helpful but so early, it isnt even worth it. His handwriting made no sense. Better off reading off the textbook.

He promised me a letter of recommendation for my grad school and he did not deliver, despite constant reminders. Sent him multiple emails regarding the same, as I genuinely needed the letter but he never responded after that one time when he said he'd write me a recommendation. I also reached out to him via phone and no response. Wouldn't recommend

Spends most of the time talking about history or derivatives of equations rather than the content itself. He was consistently behind syllabus schedule, while our discussion quizzes were on schedule, so I basically taught myself everything using the textbook. Makes no difference whether you attend lecture because you have to teach yourself anyways.

Lecture is a huge waste of time as he spends the entire time talking about random irrelevant stuff. Lecture falls behind the labs and exams. For example, an exam is scheduled in 2 days on topics A, B, and C, but the lecture the week before only covers Topic A. Not sure how he manages to say so much yet so little. Alslo, makes exams unpassable

Although Caradonna is a kind and smart guy, he is an awful lecturer. He makes topics WAY more confusing than they have to be. Also, he holds lectures on topics AFTER we already got quizzed on them, which makes no sense. To pass, you have to teach yourself by reading the textbook. His grading scale is unclear, and he finds joy in low exam averages.

This class is incredibly uncoordinated between the different sections; discussion is spent catching up on things not covered in lecture and the lab is often weeks ahead of the lecture material. The discussion problems, quizzes or textbook problems are nowhere near what the exams are like. The lectures are pointless, nothing relevant for the test.

The lectures are so pointless, I went for one month and stopped because I realised you could read the textbook and do practice problems for the discussion section. Nothing prepares you for the tests that Caradonna makes, even what he lectures on doesn't show up on the test. His grading makes no sense and it's difficult to know your grade.

I'm a chemistry major and I've taken 111/112 and 211/212 and enjoyed both, so I'm not just saying this because I'm bad at chemistry or can't handle a reasonable workload. Genuinely Caradonna is the worst professor I have ever had. His lectures are utterly a waste of time. Labs are tedious and not instructive. He is incredibly disorganized. Avoid!

Lecture is a complete waste of time and exams are extremely difficult.

I took CH109 with Caradonna fall 2021. He fell so far behind the syllabus that we never finished the material- most was self taught. He is kind and loves chemistry, but he does not know how to explain concepts in lecture. The textbook + discussion OH are great resources. There is a good curve, so don't stress too much about low exams.

Professor Caradonna has made it clear that he hasn't taught a gen. chem class in over 20 years. His tests are nothing like what he teaches. The class is graded by 4 things. He grades with the phoenix policy which is confusing and leaves you feeling like you're playing a guessing game the whole semester. If you have a choice don't pick him.

Caradonna is very nice but: His lectures are often irrelevant and useless, and his exam questions are extremely different than anything covered in the lecture or the textbook. He tells students the key to success is doing textbook problems, but his exam questions for the most part are nothing like the textbook. Avoid at all costs.

Caradonna is the most ineffective teacher I have ever had to deal with. He explains unnecessary information that you won't be tested on and you don't need/want to know. The textbook problems, which he recommends, are nothing like the tests, which he makes insanely complex and irrelevant. Do anything you can not to take his class.

Caradonna has a lot of grandiose ideas about experimental teaching that are not inherently wrong, but where the class really fails in its implementation. He gives few resources, and tests on holistic and oftentimes theoretical test questions nothing like the textbook. Caradonna is a nice guy, but he makes the class much harder than it needs to be.

lecture is barely ever related to actual fundamentals of the topic that is being discussed, as he very often goes into historical origins or derivations of an equation that are entirely unnecessary. he says to learn from the textbook & the textbook is significantly more helpful than lectures but tests are nothing like either of them.

prof caradonna is an extremely smart chemist, however he should not be teaching any introductory chem course. the lectures were a waste of time because we didnt go over any practice problems similar to the ones on the exam. some of the exam questions were harder than the textbook ones. he often went off topic during lecture too. take ANYONE else!

the worst professor ever. he doesn't teach for the first three weeks of class and makes u regret every deciding to take a chem class

Caradonna is the absolute worst. His lectures do not prepare you at all for the exams. He leaves you completely in the dark about how you are doing in his class and never provides a clear grading scale. Do anything you can to not take a class with him!!

He'll tell you to study by doing practice problems in the textbook, but the problems on the exams are completely different from anything in the textbook. Half of what he says to study isn't even on the exam. Not worth your time!

The lectures are very painful and do not set you up for success. The test questions are extremely difficult and feel as if they are designed for us to fail. I did not learn anything. I spent an abundance of time doing book questions as we were instructed but this did not help me as the questions on the exams were completely different.

Professor Caradonna. Where do I start. Never in my life have I prayed that I got over a 50 on an exam but with him that is a good thing. I think I could recall each page in that textbook if I was asked and the exams were STILL excruciating. Average exam grades were always an F and

He seems like a really nice guy and is extremely knowledgable but this class is quite literally the worst class I have ever taken. The exams are insanely difficult even after studying for weeks on end and doing his study methods I still get awful grades. Class makes me rethink ever being a stem major. Overall awful class, DO NOT TAKE!

Worst class ever, do not bother going to his lectures because he gives history lessons rather than useful material, every other TF was always astonished with how far behind we were being taught as a class, pre-lab is a saving grace, do not bother with the packets, everybody except Caradonna contributed to the learning environment

CH 101 is already one of the hardest classes at BU but Dr. Caradonna single handedly made the experience nearly impossible. He does not provide any useful feedback in office hours. He responded to every concern of mine about the class with "welcome to college". His lectures are often irrelevant or uninformative. TLDR: You are gonna be your own prof

No no no. If I could go back in time, I would not take his class. Exams will leave you in shock. They are nothing like the homework or textbook. He uses the excuse, "you signed up for this" when he makes the exams impossible. No amount of studying will make you feel prepared for this class. Very smart man, too smart to be teaching.

This was Dr. Caradonna's first semester teaching CH131, and it should be his last. He does not curve actually anything for the class even though he tells us he wants to make the class 'easier' because we are engineering students and don't want to be taking the class to begin with. The exams are next to impossible too. Good luck if you ever have him

Run as far away from this sadistic man as possible. This course left me in complete shock and exams were impossible. When I approached him outside of class about my struggles, he told me to "spend less time on other classes" and would explain to me how to study. Professor Caradonna is smart, but he is the worst teacher. I was stuck with him twice.

I read all the chapters before coming to class, and was still lost during lectures. He goes on random tangents that barely correlate to the subject matter. He says he will post things by a certain day (including exam scores) and then posts them days later, if posted at all. Exams are on material not covered. AVOID THIS CLASS!

John Caradonna is extremely confusing. His lectures will put you to sleep, there are very few guidelines for tests other than practice problems from textbook which there are hundreds of. The discussion section of the course is useless as the sheets and practice problems provided do not pertain to the course in any way that is helpful to the test.

This class was worse than CH101. Do not bother with the lectures.

Lectures were not helpful for the test at all. He barely teaches you how to solve problems but instead teaches the history of chem not helpful information needed for the class. For this class, he basically expects you to teach yourself and learn from the textbook.

RUN PLEASE RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN

He is such a bad teacher man

homework and lectures teaching you how to use a screwdriver, and exams let you make a rocket.

He was horrible. He teaches this class off sequence, designs this course himself. His tests are really hard. I did Chemistry in IB and it was a cake walk compared to his class. The questions in the exam are not going to be remotely similar to the textbook. Spare yourself the trauma and trouble and don't take him. His class will def hurt your gpa.

I didn't understand anything. His lectures were boring and very packed with unnecessary or confusing information. I did okay on the tests but that was sheer luck. Good luck!

Never take this professor unless you have to. Gave up on going to lecture during finals because it didn't even help —more history heavy, speeds through all the slides, textbook gave me more support, my prelab professor was even better and broke down the content very easily in an understandable manner. RUN from this course.

If you don't have the option for another prof, definitely take it outside of BU or hold off until your second year. Definitely the worst professor for this course. "Phoenix Policy" is a load of bull. Almost nothing he says will be on exam actually shows up on the exam. Forgets to assign homework he talks about. Definitely a self study course

Would NOT recommend taking this course mainly as your first chem course. The lectures were not based off exam and since they were at 8 am it was difficult to listen and focus on what he was saying. Attendance is based off clicker questions. Average grade on first exam was a 50%. 3 exams rather than 6 exams which other CH101 classes does not have.

Absolutely horrible professor,have to go to lecture (8 am)-learn absolutely nothing from it. Goes on tangents (not relevant for tests)Gives you the breakdown of chapters the test will be on. NOTE TO FUTURE STUDENTS (ALWAYS THE LAST CHAPTER HE FOCUSES ON AND PUTS ON THE TEST)You have to self-study. Makes u purchase achieve-used twice for hw and $80

I rush to catch the B train to attend his class at 8am, and want to run straight in front the B train in frustration. If you want to cry and doubt yourself, go ahead.

I don't even go to this school and word has reached me about how awful this professor is. Having below a 50% midterm average is just insane to me. Soul crushing professor.

if you can run far far away

please dont take his class I crash out every time after his exams and hours and hours into studying nothing works and he just tells me I'm studying the problems wrong. worst professor ever

Caradonna is a nice man, however I do not think that he can teach entry level chem, and he hasn't in like 20 years. I have nightmares about this class, it seriously made me consider dropping out of college and ruined my entire semester.The amount of time you need to put into this class to even pass makes it impossible to literally do anything else

I study so hard for the tests just to do horrible. The exams consist of 5 questions with multiple parts and you're only given 50 minutes to complete it, so you have 10 minutes to do each question. God forbid he gives you time to think or make one mistake. Horrible teacher, don't take the class even if you have to fall behind

Do not take this class!!! This class is 100% self taught, and the textbook problems he suggests using to study for the exams are nothing like the actual exam questions. His lectures are 90% the history of chemistry and not useful at all. Please take this class somewhere else if you actually want to learn properly.

Truly one of the worst classes i think i have ever taken in my entire college career and actually made me consider dropping out or changing my major. He's a nice guy but his exams have NOTHING to do with what he tells you to study and his lectures are almost entirely useless. Be prepared to teach yourself everything and i would recommend a tutor.

He's sweet. But he is one of the worst teachers I've had. He stresses “conceptual” based chemistry, completely fails to explain the concepts without going on a rant about something totally irrelevant. Ignores actual problems or examples just to yap about concepts. Confused me and I took chem before. Him paired with Georgiadis, a match made in hell.

if you want to teach yourself all semester then go ahead and take this class. He gives no assignmenys only exams (3 of them) and then the final. all he talks about in the history of chemistry and fails to teach what he puts on the exams. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU HAVE THIS PROFESSOR PLEASE GUYS IM TRYING TO SAVE YOU!!!!!!!

Caradonna should not be an intro chem professor. He teaches topics as if you are a graduate student. There are not good practice problems to do and he never uploads the homework when he said he will. If you are on off track chemistry as in taking chem 101 during the spring semester DONT DO IT. Just wait or go to another school.

Don't take this class, the average for his tests are like 50. He talked about the history of Chemistry for the first month of the semester and did not test anything on it. Seems like he's teaching but in reality he's just yapping. The prof is nice, he is just not a good teacher.

bad prof. teaching style is terrible. caused sense of imminent doom and despair.

avoid this professor at all costs. smart, but an ineffective teacher; caradonna normally explains the history of chemistry or doesn't explain the concepts at all, at least in lecture each week. in office hours he's more okay, but passes off your concern for not understanding chemistry as something to work on yourself. inflates (lies about) scores

Brace for impact.

he made me sad :(

I withdrew because of him. So sad.

The exams are incredibly difficult for anyone not interested/already well-versed in basic chem. He doesn't really talk about much of what's going to be on the exam in lectures, so be prepared to self-learn through textbook problems.

Get ready for a John Caradonna yappathon. he made most of his lecture about history and history tests are not on the test. Always count on that pheonix policy. Unfortunately this class is unavoidable so please just get it over with.

If you're not religious, find one.

His class is relatively easy, and the tests aren't that hard, but he assigned 60 problems over thanksgiving break right before a midterm. Would not take again even though it was easy.

why is there no 0 rating this guy doesnt even deserve a 1

here's a phone number to call around exam time. you can thank me later. 988.

it's a lot harder if u don't have a solid background in chem.. if ur taking this class just self study or find someone that's good at chem bc going to his lectures r a waste of time discussions can be helpful depending on ur tf i wish i never took this class

If youre looking at these ratings and considering to take this class please dont. Take chem somewhere else and transfer credit. This professor has no connection to his students. The tests are on an entirely different level to the coursework. From a sixty problem assignment you will see nothing familiar on the exam. He will not test what you know.

Um guys its not worth it. Caradonnas lectures are not helpful at all. Whether you go to lecture or not, watch the recorded lectures, read the entire textbook, do practice problems, or all of those you will still fail.

Midterms and final are worth 60% of your grade which is ridiculous, he doesn't teach (teaches chemistry history instead) for the first month, and after that lectures are mostly irrelevant content. Textbook is too difficult for an INTRO chem class, self studying is the only way to pass this. If you're an atheist, you should consider converting.

The textbook is effective for a class that teaches the textbook but this class tests (doesnt teach) much deeper than that.

This man was the worst professor I have had in all of my college career. He doesn't have a clear grading criteria, and will make you thing that you're failing class till the day before grades come out where he will curve your grade without saying that's what he's doing. He never taught me anything useful and his exams are NOTHING like any homework.

don't, just don't

fade every lecture and do practice problems

do not take this class i repeat do not take this class absolutely stupid

Frequently goes on tangents that have zero correlation to the course. Incredibly inconsistent in assignment posting (both classwork and homework) and test questions bear no resemblance to past work. Says to practice with textbook questions, but gives no direction as to what from the textbook is important to practice. Great man, terrible prof.

He hasn't taught any content whatsoever, practice problems are all you can do but the exam won't even look like those. Simply does not teach, assigned 60 questions in a week

I feel more lost than navigating the universe.

this guy is a demon. i've never had a TA so set on crashing out on his own professor. this guy is so vague with his grading, doesn't prepare you for exams, lies about content that'll appear in the exam, and takes a week to respond to emails. just pray, hope you get the median, and try to survive the 12 weeks of doom.

Great professor if you want to be miserable and hate yourself

worst professor of my life. the class wouldnt even be as bad if the professor was better, but because of his super unorganized and terrible teaching style, half the class is failing.

The devil reincarnated.

This class was extremely infuriating. In the later part of the semester, we were given 60 homework questions over the Thanksgiving break, and midterm 3 two weeks after midterm 2. Also, my discussion TA dropped our class, and we weren't informed until I asked the professor personally. Overall, character development class (TRY TO STAY AWAY).

i already hated chemistry coming into bu, and having him as a professor had to be the cherry on top. first day of class, lecture was full. now, you can count all the students in 10 seconds. the 100+ slides he post for every chapter, don't bother reading. midterms were HARD. i spent 7+ hour studying every day just to fail. i'm just hoping for a C-

You'll have better luck predicting the lottery numbers than guessing what questions show up on the exam.

🫩 class of doom and despair

Denial: "I took AP, cant be that hard" Anger: Average of all exams are < 35% Bargaining: Office hours, textbooks, prayers, Chat gpt Depression: ICE tables haunt my dreams. Acceptance: I survived, gained nothing, and lost my innocence. Would I take this class again? No. Do I respect him? Begrudgingly, still No. Am I permanently changed? Absolutely

I would rather be a gladiator in ancient Rome than take this course again.

Pt. 1: I attended 95% of the lectures and couldn't tell you what we did in a single one. Every single lecture was full of useless historical tangents that would take up almost the whole lecture. All he tells you is to prepare for the exams is the textbook questions. Even my TA was distraught by the course's organization.

Pt. 2: Before the midterms, I would do 70% of the textbook questions, and not a single one of the textbook questions could've prepared me for what was on the exam. While preparing for the final, he tells us we can't use our midterms to study because the material won't be the same.

Pt. 3 Homework is so inconsistent. He posted homework for chapters 1-2, then posted nothing until Thanksgiving break, where he assigned 60 questions on three units. I had to teach myself so much of this course, and still only ever scored above average on exams, where the mean was consistently 30%. Overall, the hardest class I've ever taken.

Just pray.

Id rather give 5 star to organic chemistry tutor

For the future ME students, PLEASE TAKE CH 101 instead of CH131 (you can still fulfill credits). doing 1000 probs from textbook doesnt prepare you for the exams. never responds emails. lecture slides consist of words not numbers or diagrams. his blackboard page is SOO disorganized it took me days to get used to it. the avg exam scores are 30~40btw

lectures are a waste of time

Lectures were not beneficial as he talked about the history behind chemistry rather than the actual content Hw does not help Averages were always low in the 40s

Genuinely the worst class I have ever taken. Lectures are a waste of time, he will not teach you anything in lecture nor during office hours, avoid this little man. Do not take the class if you get stuck with him. Syllabus is basically written in Chinese (greek if you actually know Chinese), with no clear description or expectations of us.

Do not take this course if you value your GPA, sleep, sanity, and wellbeing. Exams average between 30%-50% with no curve. Lectures are monotonous where he only drones on about history. He rarely assigns problem sets and expects you to figure everything out on your own. The night before the final he still has not provided the equation sheet.

the night before every exam i couldn't sleep because of how anxious i was. no amount of studying can prepare you for the exams. don't take this class unless you hate yourself; i genuinely wanted to never wake up again

old guy who doesn't teach or provide any resources and magically assumes that the textbook will teach everything then say that certain parts aren't relevant to the course when in reality nothing is relevant for test and bro just spends time in lecture gooning abt the history of chem would rather be alive during the black plague

i remember i got drunk on halloweekend with my buddy and i was limping up and down the streets of boston, and i still somehow managed to explain the photoelectric effect to him better than caradonna could.

He was the reason I cried myself to sleep everyday. I hoped to get hit by the BU bus before every exam just to miss it because we all knew we were doomed regardless. you have to teach yourself everything and I myself learned more from YouTube than his lectures.

Professor Caradonna presents all the chemistry concepts in a way that overcomplicates them as much as possible. He covers topics that never appear on the exam and speaks in a monotonous tone. His lectures were incredibly unhelpful, and he barely assigned any practice questions or exam problems despite his emphasis on completing them.

Before I selected this class, I read RMP and thought to myself "he isn't THAT bad as everyone says...right?" Let's just say, I would go back in time and slap myself. DO NOT TAKE HIM. HE IS ACTUALLY AS BAD AS THEY SAY. Apparently, he is not gonna be teaching Chem 131 next year. Class of 2030, ya'll lucky.

Went to every single lecture, cannot tell you anything I learnt throughout all of them. Be prepared to self study the entirety of the course. The textbook is overly complicated, especially for an entry level chemistry course. Exams are always a shot in the dark, it is impossible to know what will come up on them.

This man is basically Helen Keller. He cannot see that his tests make no sense and all his students are failing. And he cannot hear the cries of students nor can hear himself spewing absolute nonsense that won't help us on the exam.

I'm an atheist and I still prayed to god before every exam in this class.