2.5
Quality4.1
Difficulty29%
Would Retake88
Reviews29%
Would Retake
88
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
13
4
13
3
15
2
15
1
32
What Students Say
“Hardest class ever taken”
CHEM135 - 1.0 rating“I can not even begin to express how bad of a teacher she is”
CHEM135 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
83%
Textbook Required
19%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.98 avg changeRatings by Course
ORGANIC
5.0
(1)ORGANICCHEM
5.0
(1)OCHEM2
5.0
(1)CHEM131B
4.5
(2)ORGO1
4.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
ORGOII
5.0
ORGO132
5.0
CHEM131
4.7
CHEM135
4.5
CHEM132A
4.4
Reviews (88)
shes clear about what u need to learn. tests arent hard if u study. go to lectures, read the text and ull do just fine. but make sure to study...shes not going to give u an A unless u deserve it
The worst professor I have ever had. Going to lecture was useless because she could not teach at all. Her tests are impossible and she does not curve. If you could take ANY other professor you should!!!!
She's so hard to understand and boring. She talks to the board, and is not very helpful. I had to teach myself everything from the book. Her tests are pretty easy though. Definitely take Finzel instead.
No Comments
best chemistry teacher i ever had! organic chem sucks no matter what, but she made it as good as it could be. very clear, very helpful- she got me through the class!
Dr. Wachter is very nice and she has a golden heart. She is always available during her office hours and she is a big help. I recomend her to everybody, but you should work hard.
Amazing person and professor-caring, fair, good presenter, helpful, understanding, and has a great sense of humor. Must do the text reading and come to class, it really does help. Highly recommended.
very approachable and helpful...take this professor for the lab part of organic...sweet lady with a heart of gold..grades very fair!!
TAKE HER IF YOU CAN!!! very approachable during office hours for extra help. but dont think orgo is made easy just becuase you have watcher...youll have to work hard for your grade.
Best chem teacher I've ever had. Super clear, super helpful, makes a horrible subject something you can pass and maybe be even a bit interested in. Anyone who tries to criticize her class just didn't do any work, and we all know chem is hard. Whenever anyone asked for help, Dr. W was there with a smile. She is phenomenal, and deserves the best.
So is a decent teacher who is willing to work with students individually. Her lectures are so boring that if you are not a morning person, do not take her class because you will fall asleep!
Great professor! I had her for both semesters of Organic... I thought it was easier than Inorganic because its only reactions. Learn the mechanisms, dont memorize! Her slides were useful & you must study for tests although they arent too bad. Replaces lowest grade with your highest quiz grades which is great. Highly recommend to take for Organic!
She is the best thing that has happened to chemistry. I was so scared for organic chemistry, but she made the subject matter easy t understand and helped me with everythign. STudy the material and pay attention in class and ask questions and you will be fine
I disagree w/ all the positive comments and am kind of surprised by them. She is not a good explainer, and doesn't break concepts down well. Her style of teaching is straight from slides. Her class is not much better than just studying on your own with your textbook. Take someone else if you're not a natural at chem.
Just a horrible Professor! She is unclear, does not explain the slides and rushes the class. The tests are inconsistent with the material presented in class!
this class is horrible unless you really have a passion for chemistry or are willing to sit with your textbook every night and ignore the rest of your classes. that being said, Wachter is extremely nice, intelligent and her tests are pretty fair- the course just gets so difficult towards the end that its hard to motivate yourself to study.
Dr. Wachter is a nice person. That's about it. She is extremely disorganized and jumps around from slide to slide and is horrible at explaining things. Her office hours do not help much, and her recitations vary greatly from her exams. I would avoid.
She is really nice and is helpful during office hours, but this class is just so difficult. The material is complicated and unless your a natural at chem or you study hours a day its hard not to struggle. In her defense though she will try to help you out and has a fair grading policy (i.e. replacing lowest test score with highest quiz scores)
Extremely disorganized professor, cannot clearly convey the material assigned to teach. Jumps from slide to slide, does not teach other than reading off powerpoint slides. Avoid at all costs.
Dr Wachter is a great proffessor. So kind and really willing to help! The class is hard, obviously, its organic chemistry but the teacher always has office hours and her presentation is very clear. Also, tests were not that bad.
I know that Orgo is hard, but this class was made even more difficult by the professor.The topics were covered too quickly.
All around awful. Not only is she unhelpful and unclear, but she laughs at her students when they don't understand things. She's cocky and just does not understand that organic chemistry is a difficult class for most people.
Difficult tests and quizzes, and pretty boring lectures. But very helpful during office hours. Is somewhat disorganized and can be hassled because she often has a mob of students around her, but if you can get a few minutes with her she will answer your questions. Grades are earned, not "given."
Extremely hard class so dont expect the best. I though Prof. Wachter was great. Class is not as boring as everyone is saying. If you find it boring, you arent paying attention, and the class goes so fast that if you arent paying attention, you are screwed. SO PAY ATTENTION. Review everything everyday and dont fall behind. I really enjoyed her class
Dr. Wachter is a good teacher. She is very helpful if you go to her office hours or talk to her. The subject isn't easy and she is honest about that. Usually her classes are 2-3 hours, so make sure to pay attention.
Shes nice, she goes through the lab before it starts all you have to do is keep a clean organized notebook and take down what she writes and you get full points for the notebook. the end of lab discussion some were hard some were easy but if you put everything she asks for in you should be fine. i got a A-.
I often skipped lecture and every time I went to lecture, I fell asleep for most of the lecture and didn't learn anything. So I taught myself the material by reading the textbook and ended up with an A-. A bit more effort and wakefulness and I'm sure I would have gotten an A.
Dr. Wachter is the biggest baller in this school. She taught us how to synthesize meth-yl, and she is probably the funniest teacher of all time. Seriously, you don't expect jokes in orgo, but Big Mama Wackter is always making us laugh. Did you know that the difference between methamphetamine and amphetamine is one methyl group!?!?!?!? That's crazy!
She always leaves lab when you are doing an experiment & we have to go fetching for her. She can be funny but don't take her unless you have her for lecture, she hates Finzel students.
Eh nothing really good to say she's average not that great of a professor. Take Finzel !!!!
Nice woman. Terribly hard class. You will be teaching yourself. She gives optional quizzes. If four of them add up to a score higher than your lowest exam it will replace that score but the quizzes are harder than actual test. Lecture is very slow and hard to pay attention to.
This is a very tough course and it doesn't help that beating the curve in this class is very dependent upon whether or not you know upperclassmen and can get old exams. The exam questions between semesters are almost identical. Students who knew upperclassmen will screw up the curve while the rest who study traditionally will suffer. Take Finzel
Organic chemistry is a difficult course - her lectures are long and filled with material. The worksheets are helpful only if you know the answer is correct, but she doesn't go over them as a class. She is accessible outside of class - in her office and via email. Repetition is important to do well. Not impossible to succeed in this class-good luck!
had her for orgo. obv the class is hard. she makes it harder. she is a terrible terrible terrible teacher. we had a guest lecturer come in and it really showed me how bad she is. I didnt learn one thing from her, but her tests are easier. if you are comparing her to finzel, then the tests are easier. but it is hard because she never never teaches
Wachter is actually a very fair professor! She is always willing to help and provides extra credit question(s) on exams. If you are looking to just get orgo over with, take her instead of finzel. ORGO ITSELF IS VERY CHALLENGING so the professor can't be blamed for someone failing.
She's not the best at explaining things in class. If you go to her office hours though, she's nice and she'll explain everything to you. Orgo is a hard class but her tests are easier than finzel's. The problem with that is, her students are a little less prepared for the standardized final. Make sure you buy the ACS book to study for the final.
She curves the grades!! Make sure you write all of her notes down specifically. Group work heavy and the answers are never posted so you have to make time to check it with her. That is literally the key of getting a decent grade in the class. Go over the classwork, quizzes, and tests with her! Other sources will not help you pass the class.
Professor Wachter doesn't do too much to alleviate the hardships of this class, so you are basically on your own. Lectures have essentially no structure, so you have to rely heavily on the book if you want to understand anything. However she is very fair and doesn't throw any curveballs on exams. In class work and practice exams are very helpful
Wachter is pretty okay for lab. She grades fairly. She explains everything before lab so you're not lost while performing experiments. There are written reports for each lab performed and then a practical and quiz at the end of the semester. You have to work hard for that A! I would recommend taking her for lab. She curves heavily!
you are basically on your own. She divides the students into multiple groups and let us discuss ClG Assignments, which was stupid and inefficient. You can't learn anything from this course except to make some friends with your group members......
HORRID, SHE PUTS NO EFFORT INTO HER STUDENTS. GIVES THE WRONG ANSWER KEYS. POORLY STRUCTURED, BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD NO NO NO NO
She is not a good professor at all, doesn't care even care about her students, NO lectures. YOU TEACH everything to yourself. First there is Pre-lecture homework 120 slides sometimes, then in class doing practice problems (CLGS), and then after class you also have online SmartWork assignments
RUN!!!!!!!! She put a lot of pressure on her students and made me cry a lot. Org chemistry is really hard and complicated, but she let us learn everything by ourselves. She didn't even give answer keys of practice exam......... Ruined my gpa
SHE IS LITERALLY THE WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE ENCOUNTERED!!! I am taking ORGO with her and Dr. Bindra and they put us in breakout rooms and NEVER come into them. They grade totally unfair their "partial credit" is a scam. Everyone is struggling and they blame it on us. They do not lecture they are unkind. I hate them both. RUN!!! She is a 0!!!
DO NOT TAKE HER !!!!! If you don't have prior knowledge of organic chemistry do not take her class. She does NOT teach at all, all we do during the lectures is CLG homework and that's it. Organic chemistry is already hard but when you have to teach yourself it's even harder. Don't mess up your GPA taking her, DO NOT TAKE HER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She doesn't even believe that her students can do well in her class. Never teach. Don't waste your 5600 tuition on a class that you can not learn anything from it.
Organic Chemistry is a tough subject alone but this class makes it worse. The pre-recorded lectures have no structure, the class group work assignments are not effective, and nothing is ever clear. Basically, you have to teach yourself the material and learn everything on your own. Not a good professor and doesn't care about her students.
Hardest class ever taken. Not because of material, but because we teach ourselves absolutely everything. We are expected to watch countless hours of prerecorded lectures from last year before class. All class sessions consis of spending 2 hours on practice problems which are only sometimes checked over. We even learn brand new units day before exam
Worst online class. Learn absolutely nothing in class. Robbery of our tuition. Must learn absolutely everything on your own time. There is also an exam every other week so we often are supposed to learn a brand new unit the literal day before the exam. Provides 0 feedback and instruction. Tests include material that was not similar to class work.
I left this review after talking to upperclassmen who took orgo with other professors and advised me to complain to the department. I cannot be more honest when I say you will learn absolutely nothing in class. I don't understand how they charge 4500 dollars for a class where I learn everything from YouTube and khan academy. Test every other week.
I can not even begin to express how bad of a teacher she is. She expects us to teach ourselves hours worth of lectures before classes and completely understand the material before class. Her actual class time consists of being put in breakout rooms to go over CLGs which we never get proper feedback. In the 2 hrs she joins in once or twice for 2min
I just dont understand why she cant help us or give us the tools to succeed in this course. I cant emphasize how hard Ive tried to do well. I knew going into organic chemistry it would be hard but she expects the same out of us as she did as her in person students with no exceptions. Im sure when she was an undergrad she didnt go through this
If you have to take Wachter online, just be prepared to do work for this class during your free time. We had to learn the material on our own & was expected to do class work on the material the next day. We had exams every other week & each exam consisted of 3 chapters. She doesnt give good explanations when you ask her for help so go to tutoring.
Wachter for lab was a mess. Her pre-lab videos were the absolute worse because there was no way to understand the lab from them. Other classes would complain when given her lecture even though I had it every week. Unclear about grading just takes of random points. Write a report after every lab pretty easy but lose points for nothing.
Worst teacher Ive ever had so far. She speaks to us as if we have a PhD in Organic Chemistry and acts as if we should already know the information. Also very disrespectful and rarely responses to emails. Tests every other week as well. Do not take her if you want to have the worst time of your life. You literally HAVE TO teach yourself....
She is really nice and care about her students. But tough grader, you have to work really hard to earn A.
Her lectures are so boring, I tried to pay attention but just couldn't. Most of your grade is based off of the exams, so if you do bad on 2 you're pretty much screwed. Her answers to questions aren't very helpful. She tries, but its just not good.
While I didn't like her as a lecture prof, I didn't mind her as a lab prof. She graded fairly on the reports, and was super nice during the weekly one-on-one meetings. I didn't like the format of the class, however, working with a group each week on the lab. I found it hard to work with the others, and getting everyone to participate.
You literally have to teach yourself and she speaks to you as if you already have a Ph.D. in Organic Chem. If you don't want Orgo to absolutely tank your gpa do not take her
Attention. Be careful what other classes you're taking in addition to this one. Read ch. 1-5 bfr you start the class. That is exam 1. It's all applications, visualization, not much memorization. Rules are only thing needed to be memorized aside also from NMR and those type of things ltr in the semester. 18 chapters. Study! read ahead of time.
The exams are similar to CLG & practice test questions, so definitely know how to do those. Also, look over the slides before lecture to understand the material. Go to office hours or watch YouTube videos if you need extra help!
Nanette Wachter is a professor that does not care about her students at all. She purposefully sets up her syllabus to encourage dropping her class so she gains profit from repeat students. Almost everyone that has taken this class has repeated it at one point. You need to dedicate full time to this class and her teaching style is very difficult.
Orgo is a hard class here since hofstra crams 2 parts into one semester. Dr. Wachter speeds through lectures so watch online lectures before class. Tests every 2 weeks but Wachter prepares you for exams, her practice ones are very similar to the real ones. You might think you're smart but plan on hours of studying out of class.
There is always at least one open assignment to do concurrent with lectures and studying. So deviate 4 hours or so every day to preparing for her class. Reads off the slides, provides no useful feedback to questions either in the class or during her office hour. Be prepared to teach yourself and learn from YouTube
Have to do hours of work outside of class to be prepared for the next day. She reads off the slides and explains NOTHING. Absolutely not worth taking her. Just assigns group work during class hours and expects us to learn all the material on our own. Tanked my GPA. Just avoid taking orgo at Hof altogether. Its 2 semesters crammed in one.
This class is VERY DIFFICULT since its an accelerated course. There are tests every 2-3 weeks. You needa put a LOT of time into this class. Dr. Wachter isn't a bad professor. Yes sometimes she goes very fast, but she holds a lot of office hours and even has zoom review sessions. She is willing to always help but you need to put in a lot of effort.
Watch VT lectures for the upcoming week over the weekend. Do the chapter's Smartwork assignment before you do the CLG in class. Exams very similar to CLGs and practice exams. Write out every reaction with its name as you learn it. Lots of helpful material available on YouTube/online. Fall behind at any point and will be tough to catch back up.
No matter how much studying you do, her tests are 10times harder than the practice ones.She just reads off of powerpoints and does not care if the class is struggling.Class test averages never went over a C+(low 60s). You NEED to spend hours every day relearning outside of class. Outside resources like youtube were more helpful than her lectures.
Often reads directly off the PowerPoint when in lectures. To be successful, your best bet would be to review the material and the VT lectures before class so that you have a good understanding of the material prior to the lecture. Exams are incredibly difficult, much more so than CLGs and practice exams
Absolutely does not care about class performance or her students. Zooms right through slides whilst barely explaining anything. Wouldn't care to give us the Voicethreads of the chapters we were doing. To top it off she can be really rude to students and gets annoyed when asked questions. Just all around a TERRIBLE professor.
Dr. wachter can be intimidating but in office hours she is very nice and helpful. The class is very fast paced and you need to put in hours of work everyday to do well. Wachter does want you to succeed and do well in her class, but you also need to work for it as well. I'm glad I took her.
Be ready to teach yourself everything, because she reads off slides and speeds. She doesn't care that so many people failed her tests. Tests were very hard, practice exams were easier. Not helpful. Gives homework that you need to read the book to understand. If you don't spend hours studying you most likely will not do good. Avoid her if possible.
she's probably one of the better teachers who teach orgo, while it is hard and a lot of work- it isn't impossible to do good. you have to study a few days ahead before an exam but she drops your lowest exam and has office hours. i recommend going to tutoring bc they'll help you a lot. do the practice test and the clgs multiple times to prepare
I dedicated my entire life to this class. There is no point showing up to class because you are just going to have to teach yourself everything. Tests are a much harder version of the practice exams and she did not prepare us for the ACS whatsoever. If you are taking this class all I can say is good luck.
This is the most difficult class I have ever taken, but it is not impossible to succeed. Attend all lectures, do the readings beforehand and review the lecture after class, and do lots of practice problems, and you should do well on the exams. Take advantage of tutoring and her office hours for extra help.
This class is definitely difficult, but Wachter does break down the material. Definitely attend all the lectures and CLGs and do lots of practice. The practice tests are usually similar in format to the real exams. The textbook will save you so make sure you pre-read to help during lecture.
She is happy if 1 person got in the 90s, even though the class average was a 59. Learned from youtube vids. You have to spend any free time studying or preparing for class to get an above-average grade. Blew through all the material and still gave us tests even though it was clear we did not understand anything. DEF TAKE ANOTHER PROF IF POSSIBLE
I understand orgo is a hard class but I have NEVER had a prof try to make it harder on students. Physics and calc were more bearable than her. She was super rude and didn't try to help students who were doing poorly, she only told them to immediately drop the class. She also spoke about students' grades/performance with other students and profs.
Just avoid at all cost
She really wants her students to do well in her class. Orgo is hard and requires lots of work, but she is accessible outside class in order to help her students. She has quizzes which should help improve your grade and she drops the lowest test. Homework and clgs are also included in the grading.
Great professor. Not sure why she has any negative reviews. She provides so many resources to access outside of class and gives good answers to questions. I was told she was discriminatory against colored students but I do not see this at all. In lectures she helps everyone equally, in office hours she helps brown students as much as white ones.
She knows what her stuff but she reads off the slides. Its so difficult to learn from her bc she isnt approachable or engaging. That being said she does provide lots of practice (with no answers of course). I emailed asking how to prepare for the final bc reviewing previous work didnt help and she said just review previous work and ill be ok :(
Exams are very similar to CLGs not impossible to do oK in her class. Very nice and accessible outside class. always ready to help. Sweet old lady, but a shame she does not know how to teach
dr wachter is a nice lady, but she cannot teach. Her tests are hard too and mostly multiple choice which make it hard because the written out parts, like other profs have, give a chance to get multiple points in partial credit. She did come in clutch w the ACS exam at the end rather than just being graded on a final that she made. she a G for that
the worst professor ive ever had. you ask her a question and she makes it more confusing. she is too smart to be teaching she expects you to know everything. its horrible DO NOT TAKE HER or you will be teaching yourself organic chemistry. I cry everyday I have her.
Pretty standard as far as orgo professors go. Exams are about average difficulty for orgo (which is to say, quite hard) but have a pretty steep curve (which is also standard for orgo). Homework is online and graded on completion, and she seems pretty open for meeting outside of class.Not the most entertaining lectures but you'll live, I promise
Dr Wachter is an extremely intelligent woman but i do not like her teaching style. I was failing halfway through the semester and instead of offering me any guidance she just told me to withdraw from the course. Thankfully i didn't. Homework is good because if you finish 85% or more you automatically get a 100 on it.
I liked Wachter for lab. She's very accessible and wants to help everyone understand the techniques. She also grades the lab reports very leniently. Organic Chemistry lab seems very daunting but i honestly had a lot of fun in her class!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
83%
Textbook Required
19%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.98 avg changeRatings by Course
ORGANIC
5.0
(1)ORGANICCHEM
5.0
(1)OCHEM2
5.0
(1)CHEM131B
4.5
(2)ORGO1
4.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
ORGOII
5.0
ORGO132
5.0
CHEM131
4.7
CHEM135
4.5
CHEM132A
4.4