1.9
Quality4.3
Difficulty17%
Would Retake109
Reviews17%
Would Retake
109
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
109 total ratings5
14
4
7
3
7
2
16
1
65
What Students Say
“Hope this is helpful for your decision”
CHEM141 - 2.0 rating“Outside class, you have online assignments”
CHEM202 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
94%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.92 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM142
5.0
(1)CHEM142Q
4.5
(4)CHEM141
3.2
(13)CHEM332
3.0
(1)CHEM150
2.3
(9)Difficulty by Course
CHEM332
5.0
CHEM100Q
5.0
CHEM200
5.0
CHEM204
4.6
CHEM202
4.4
Reviews (108)
Dry, Dry, Dry, and monotone. don't take her class even if you are totally stuck. she is so hard in grading that it is impossible to pass her class.she makes the test so difficult that it seems like you are taking advanced organic chemistry instead. I tried getting help from SI but she even could not figure out the material. Dont mess up your GPA
She's a great teacher, and as long as you pay attention in class and stay awake and TRY to understand, then you will do great.
Her tests are insanely difficult, and her grading is very harsh. Dr. Powell's expectations are through the roof, and unless you are a genius, prepare to spend hours upon hours self-studying for this course. Her teaching is sometimes decent, but in my opinion, she spends too much time on some easy material and not enough time on some hard stuff.
Her tests are kind of difficult and she cannot teach, but it is not impossible to get an A. Just read the book.
Do not ruin your GPA by taking any of her classes. A B- in her class is like an A in the other 142 class. She is the worst teacher that I have ever had, and regret taking her 142Q class. You can study hard and do well on the practice tests (which were actual tests from the year before) and still fail your test because she makes them harder.
If u want to have a sad semester, I recommand u to take her class. If u used to have a interest in Chem and u wish youself to lose this interest in the future, I recommand u to take her class. Or If u really want to work hard and get a grade less than what u expect for, I recommand u to take her class. Hope this is helpful for your decision.
Dr. Powell has high expectations for her General Chemistry classes. With that being said, making an A is definitely possible in her class. Not easy, but it can be done. Requires extra effort, but if you seek her out, she will be glad to help you. Powell can be intimidating but is a solid teacher with a great understanding of general chemistry.
I really like Dr. Powell and all that she's done for the Oxford Chem department. I benefited from the difficulty of her class because it prepared me for Orgo.
Never take a class from her. She's rude, unhelpful, bad at her job, and does not deserve her position at Emory. I am normally a good student that appreciates a difficult class, but, as she frankly said to me at one point, she got a C- in her first Chem class and she intends others to do the same. You've been warned.
not clear. a lot of work. definitely not worthy of a 100 level class. she is a very hard grader and very strict.
Don't stick with your book. You're better off learning the information from somewhere other than your in-class notes and her lecture. Find a tutor or better practice material from the library. She's not going to baby you, so you seriously need to hit the ground running from the get-go. My advice? Don't take this class lightly.
READ THE BOOK, and takes notes from the book. I don't think I would have gotten an A otherwise. I'm no genius, but I was always on top of my work. I don't think her class is as bad as people think or say it is. You just have to be willing to put in the time to do practice problems and read the book. Granted, I do like chemistry a lot.
READ THE BOOK, take notes from the book and in class. Do the homework. Do practice problems in your free time so you're kinda studying for tests little by little each day until its the actual test day. For tests I only had to look over all my notes and my worked-out problems for 1 hour max the night before. And I did get an A. It's possible.
Very good lecturer, but she only goes over the basic concepts. The questions on the test will be much harder. Gives pop quizzes, and has graded homework. Tough grader, don't be careless, you have to stay on top of your stuff. Very hard to get an A, you can't really make any mistakeshave a bad test. Intimidating, but willing to help if you ask.
Dr. Powell is the best professor for Chemistry 142 at Oxford. She definitely improved my critical thinking skills by pushing me to rationalize through experiments. A lot of students don't like her because she's a tough grader, gives pop quizzes, and also gives a lot of reading. Don't be pre-med if you can't handle a little reading and rationalizing
Dr. Powell is NOT difficult compared to the other pre-med professors at Emory, especially for orgo. If you took AP chem, this class will mostly be review. She genuinely cares about her students. She helped me graduate early and helped me get into multiple enrichment programs, and I barely talked to her when I took her classes.
Dr. Powell was by far my favorite professor this semester. She is challenging, but I promise, it is worth it. I learned so much and a feel very prepared for next semester in Chem142.
Very tough, but she teaches material well.
Dr. Powell is, without doubt, the bomb. Her tests are challenging, specific, and crunched for time, and she does have the reputation for being the hardest general chemistry professor. You will, however, not only learn general chemistry but how to think, process, and analyze information critically, which is crucial for organic chemistry.
Her course is very intensive and detailed. You really go in depth with what you are learning. Her tests, however, are fair. She grades fairly, and the content in the test is the content she expects you to know. She also treats the class like a college class: don't expect her to teach you everything you need to know on the tests.
Dr. Powell is not as bad as everyone makes her out to be. She definitely is one of the harder Chem professors, but I learned a lot with her. Her lectures are all power point based and she gives a lot of pop quizzes. It's manageable, but I personally wouldn't take her again. However, several of my friends chose to stick with her.
She is really hard and the last professor to take for chemistry. The way she teaches is to let us read the textbook ourselves and then gives worksheets every class and let us discuss. When asking her question about parts we don't know, the first thing she does is not explaining but asking us if we have discussed. She doesn't really care.
She obviously knows what she is talking about, but Powell struggles to relay the knowledge to her students: she uses the tough love, figure-it-out-yourself, "you should already know this" mentality. Also, the average grade in the class is a C, so take at your own risk.
She is not as bad as everyone makes her out to be. She treats it like a college class and won't teach you everything. She expects you to read everything and discuss so you learn together.
I actually loved having Dr. Powell, and I opted to take her next semester as well. Her grading is very fair, and tests are very manageable if you go over the worksheets. She gets a bad reputation because she can appear scary at times, but everything she does is for your own benefit in learning.
I had her last semester and thought she was mehh, but now I see what everyone is talking about. Take Neuman if you can, or Nkomo. If you care about your GPA I'd recommend looking for someone else...
Her tests are not difficult, but many students fail because her "hands off" teaching style doesn't work for them. Outside class, you have online assignments. In class, she hardly ever lectures. She gives you a worksheet to do with your table, hoping you'll figure it out yourself. Alas, sometimes you can't, and her helpfulness varies.
Not everybody enjoys Dr. Powells method of getting students to learn through self-teaching and critical thinking, but once you get used to the way she runs class, you will learn quite a bit and will be well-prepared for her exams. As long as you work hard and study the worksheets/tests, getting an A is certainly possible in both 150 and 202.
She is well organized and won't give you any surprises on the test. However, make sure you read all the assigned chapters in detail, as she only explains concepts on a surface level during class.
Lectures for a bit at beginning of class, then hands out worksheets for groupwork. If you want lectures to be valuable to learning, you have to read the chapters before class or you'll be pretty much lost. Try to participate as much as possible. Make sure to check Canvas for online homework because she won't always mention it.
Powell left during class for extended periods of time, and during lab she wouldn't even specify what to do or write, which resulted in everyone being confused or basically being punished with a bad grade due to her lack of detail and bad teaching skills in lecture and lab.
Her tests are extremely fair. When studying for the exam, make sure you are comfortable with every objective posted and you'll do great. Go to office hours if you're unsure about a concept and it'll benefit you in the long run.
She lectures for 4 minutes and then hands out a worksheet and leaves the room. Then you struggle for 45 minutes to figure out how to answer the first question, and in the last minute of class she'll briefly write the answer and then erase it while you try to read it and take a picture of it. Then she'll tell you to finish it for homework.
This course is new and not organized very well, with few learning resources. Nonetheless, Dr. Powell gives you everything you need to succeed in her class. Regardless, the class is still pretty difficult, as most of her classes are. She can appear intimidating in class, but believe it or not she's very fair with her grading.
She does not teach. She spends so much time saying that worksheet based learning is way better than lecture-based. She hands you concept heavy worksheets and expects you to do them by yourself with a group. It is unfair. Also, she doesn't explain anything well. You ask her to redo a problem and she will half do it and expects you to understand.
Dr. Powell does not even lecture. She rushes through every powerpoint and introduces organic chemistry like it is something everyone should know. All you do are worksheets in class and the course is not taught the way it should be. I must say it was quite difficult and it made me scared for Organic Chemistry. However, you get to drop a test!
Hate this class for dear life. Literally does not teach and is probably the worst professor at Oxford.
She cannot teach for her life and is very patronizing when you ask her questions. I never got below a B+ in a class before her and she makes me feel horrible about myself. She is an awful grader and do not take her.
In my entire academic career, I've never met a less helpful and more confusing professor. She does not explain any of the concepts, so the class mimics a Hunger Games-style 'every man for himself' as she makes you fight for exam points with absolutely no guidance. The fact that she remains a professor at Emory reflects horribly on the school.
I really should not be paying for an Emory education if my professor is making me learn ORGANIC CHEMISTRY on khan academy. Her worksheets do not reflect tests and she will not answer questions and if anything confuse students more.
She's earning money for us to learn orgo alone.. she expects us to know everything and we are talking to a wall.
Dr. Powell is a pretty good chem professor. She can't help it if the class is hard and condensed to 6 weeks. Students need to be more understanding about that. She provides us with all the material needed to ace this class. Reading the book is a waste of time. She grades exams fairly and everything on exams has been covered in class before. Study!
Weirdest professor ever. Gives you the lecture and the readings, and the worksheets for the class doesn't even match up to most of the content. Ridiculously hard worksheets, and she doesn't even want to explain them. Some of the questions on the exams wasn't even talked about during class, total disaster.
I beg you do not take this class. Please just wait another semester or two to take another professor. She does not teach anything at all. Her lectures give just a broad overview of the material, but her tests are much more difficult. If you ask her a question, she will question why you do not already know it. It is not worth ruining your GPA over!
Worst teacher at Oxford. Stingy about office hours and hates receiving emails (it's an online class...) Ask her a question and you'll be more confused than before. I wish I had just skipped taking 202 this semester than being forced to take it with her. I have never met a teacher who cares less about her students than she does.
Dr. Powell frequently made typos on exams and formula sheets and wrote her exams the night before test day. She was often unable to answer other students' questions and solve her own practice problems. She refused to provide answer sheets for practice tests and sample questions. Her teaching style is to have students work in groups to self-teach.
RUN please listen to me. Dr. Powell is the WORST "professor" I have ever had in my life. She is rude and unable to explain the material, like actually UNABLE. My GPA is ruined and I have to take a prep course to actually learn this for the MCAT. I am shocked that she is even allowed to teach because of how awful she is. You will not do well.
She is AWFUL. Inaccessible in office hours (booked four weeks out) and even when you get a chance to ask her questions, she's condescending and somehow unable to answer them. Our exams are 10x as difficult as the worksheets, she never actually teaches (self-taught in groups), she refused to provide answer sheets for practice tests, just skip & RUN!
Worst professor I have had. She simply does not teach the course and does not know the material for herself. Me and other students have to struggle and learn the material by ourselves through YouTube or other sources. I cannot believe she was hired to teach and I would never recommend her as a professor to anyone.
Powell is here to crush your dreams of being pre-health. She does not care about her students, and she does NOT teach at all. She throws you in a breakout room to teach yourself questions that have nothing to do with the material. Not to mention the class itself is very disorganized because the information doesn't flow together. >:( Don't take her.
PLEASE take a hint. Dont take this professor. Her few good ratings are from ppl who took ap/ib chem in hs or just like studying chem. For most of us, our GPAs tanked after her class. She does not teach and the tests are harder than ALL resources provided. Take literally any other chem prof or do transient study at home. Idk how she's still a prof.
Worst professor ever. Incredibly rude and inconsiderate. Her class is poorly taught due to her poor understanding of chemistry. Shocked that Emory would hire such an incompetent professor.
Dr. Powell should not be a teacher. End of story. She does not teach the correct material and does not seem to care if students are not grasping topics. Tests are so different than lecture material and practice exams so you are expected to just know everything (even if not taught). Terribly unorganized and never answers emails. Worst teacher ever.
Her syllabus is surprisingly organized, but her class lectures could be a bit more organized. I wish she didn't make exams the day of the exam, and that she responded to emails in a timely manner. However, her recorded lectures were fine and the tests were reasonable, albeit a few mistakes that she just gave free points on. Curves tests sometimes.
Dr. Powell does not know the material that she is responsible for teaching. She is literally unable to solve some of her own practice problems. Dr. Powell also discourages you from meeting with her during office hours and actually told our class not to email her. You have been warned.
Terrible Professor that won’t even communicate over email.
Conducted science on her students without our consent. Proved that flipped-classroom is ineffective. Control variable was bad teaching.
Worst teacher ever!!!
So unprofessional, ruin my gpa, worst teacher!!!
Powell is not receptive to students' input regarding her teaching method or honestly lack thereof. She does not provide adequate lectures and when approached for clarifications, she directs students to consult with "dr. google" instead. Additionally, the information on the internet often contradicts the information that she provides on her slides.
Classes are working on worksheets as a group then corrections, worksheet/exam keys are incomplete. Meaningful feedback on exams and other assignments is not given unless you attend sparse office hours. Answers to questions are more confusing than anything else. Simply put, go into the class expecting to teach yourself everything.
Never gave meaningful feedback. Exams were much much harder than her problem sets. They covered materials she didn't even talk about in class. Truly the worst teacher ever
The class is a flipped classroom, which means you have to teach yourself all of the content outside of class. Her tests test your ability to decipher her vague wording and trick questions, not your knowledge. She always blamed us first for poor performance on the tests, and never considered that she might have made a bad test. Avoid her class.
Listen, DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS! You will learn nothing, really nothing, from her because she didn't teach. What's worse was that she gave super hard exams that contained new concepts she didn't even talk about in class. She's going to ruin your gpa even though you tried very hard. Just RUN!
I had powell for dsc not chem. super disorganized and assignments were always unclear. lessons not planned out. wasn't helpful as an advisor. try to avoid
First, chem is hard. I got a B+ in 150 too with another hard professor. Dr Powell though doesn't teach, Her lectures are all old videos from Covid. She is also impossible to reach outside of class. The pace of the class was annoying and she would put things on the test that we didn't know would be on the test. We also learned the first part of 203
Definitely not an easy course; requires a large amount of time dedicated to reading. However, the Canvas is very clearly organized, with an immense amount of resources for each class. She cares for her students and is decently flexible with adjusting office hrs. Slow response to emails; best to ask questions in class or office hrs.
To be completely fair, I don't think Powell is as bad as she seems. She isn't the best lecturer, and she could definitely do better in her ways of teaching, but if you took AP Chem, units 1 & 2 are easier than AP chem. Unit 3 is orgo and was very difficult, but overall Powell's tests aren't that hard and she is a pretty lenient grader.
The pre-lecture videos are her reading off slides without actually explaining anything. In class, she sits at her desk while you work on a problem set until you ask her a question that she will ultimately give the most roundabout non answer to. Tests are harder than class material and you will be learning everything on your own. Avoid her for 204!
Highly recommend if you're a fan of busywork. Grading is based off of her arbitrary work criteria, 60-70% of which is not necessary for the problems.
Genuinely the worst professor at oxf. video lectures consist of her saying "here" without ever explaining what "here" is -- probably bc she also doesn't know what "here" is. genuinly dk how she's employed and i've heard she wants a promotion LMFAO. Ive sent probably about 30 emails over the course of the semester, I think she responded to 1.
This was the WORST class I have EVER taken. Her flipped classroom format does not actually cover the material we have to know for the exams because her materials are very broad and cover material she never asks about. She is awful at answering emails and questions, even in office hours. We even had to make answer keys for some assignments. AVOID!!!
This is the WORST class EVER. Her flipped classroom doesn't teach everything to know for the exams because her materials are very vague and sometimes unrelated to class. She is awful at answering questions and emails. WE sometimes had to make answer keys for assignments. The class is easier than 203 content-wise, but how she teaches makes it harder
OMG where do I start. She is the WORST!!! She is like Dr. Watson but Chemistry Version
Geniunely awful. Her video lectures didn't teach us anything, and neither did her classes. She couldn't answer any of her own worksheet questions. Assigned hundreds of pages of dense reading and random youtube videos without telling us what to focus on.
1. Does not teach. Class is review for her low quality video lectures. 2. Likes to assign aleks modules on stuff she wont teach for another couple of weeks. 3. Overall, makes students very confused and does not care to improve her teaching.
Dr. Powell uses a flipped classroom, which she claims is better for student engagement and overall learning, but her pre-lecture videos are unclear. She doesn't explain/work out most of the examples. She does give us time during class to answer class but her explanations are confusing and don't help. Don't take this class if you respect yourself.
Avoid her at all costs! She does a "flipped classroom", but doesn't explain the concepts effectively at all in the 10 MINUTE long "lecture" videos and gets frustrated when people ask questions. She does not respond to emails at all. The exam questions are fair and very similar to the practice exams, but she gives almost no partial credit on exams.
Dr. Powell must have taken some of these other reviews to heart, as she's improved a lot as a teacher. Very accessible outside of class and the tests aren't too difficult!
class was pretty free. straightforward professor, good lectures, and she's very open for office hours (though I didn't need to attend them). not sure about all the bad reviews, but I'm pretty sure it's cuz she changed up her teaching style and tests. labs are still decently challenging though
I had a few friends that had her before and after comparing lectures and tests I can say she's improved a ton! I was a bit scared taking this professor going in but it was pretty easy. Lectures are very understandable and she's super nice in office hours. I actually tripled up on sciences and this was my easiest by far.
Only take this class if you are gifted at chemistry. When asked questions in class, she will not answer them and instead tell you to find the answer yourself. She takes arbitrary points off on tests and quizzes, and in general does not care about your understanding and learning of the content. Ignore the positive reviews for your own sake.
For the love god take someone else. Flipped classroom and tries to teach gen chem 2 in 15-minute videos and expects student results. Low B test averages for gen chem 2 is not good. Her students tend to struggle in 203. Leaves you with a lower GPA and unprepared for the future chem classes, so it hurts you double the amount of a good lecturer.
Dr. Powell did not lecture once during the year--her "flipped classroom" style instead seems like a cop-out for her putting continued effort into her teaching (she plays lectures recorded four years ago during Covid). Attending class and completing worksheets actively inhibits my comprehension of the subject. Our SI was my professor this semester.
beware. Half the class failed
Does not teach as she expects us to learn on our own
Flipped classroom. Does not give the value from tuition that students pay and does not care to help. Cancels class randomly with sudden warning which is completely unprofessional. She is probably really nice as a person but does not care about improving her teaching even though she has been teaching this class for 5+ years. Wait for someone else.
Not supportive at all. She does not teach on her own but expects students to learn on their own and yet she still grades harshly. If students are struggling to achieve a good grade, she just does not care and refuses to give any help.
Please take someone else if you value yourself.
she does a flip classroom which makes us watch a 10 min outdated video in the beginning of the class and then she expects us to just master the materials right away and work on worksheet problems on our own the entire rest of the class.
She doesn't check her email and be like "yes I just never check/respond to any email and you should know about that"
super easy and chill class and gave us a lot of extra credit, but since everyone rates it 1, I'll do the same.
CRIMINAL VILE LAZY Do not take Powell if you actually want to learn. I think if she googled the definition of a flipped classroom she could improve the class. Don't you love wasting 1:15 on a group worksheet where she doesn't help and explain that it was included in her lecture posted online. She isn't approachable and doesn't care about her job.
Somebody said it's a chill and easy class. OMG if you expect to learn nothing yes it'll be chill
DO NOT TAKE HER
Do not take this course if you can. Dr. Powell is a very irresponsible Professor. She does not teach anything in class, and the class is worksheet-based. I never listen in class and have to self-teach myself everything. There are minimal extra credit opportunities. She is a harsh grader and is extremely picky about grading.
DO NOT TAKE HER, for your own mental health. One of the hardest classes and genuinely the WORST professor I could even fathom. I truly felt like she didn't care or even want us to succeed in her course. Protect your peace.
Objectively, Dr. Powell's exams are not the most difficult. They are easier compared to other CHEM202 professors. The 82 average is because she doesn't teach in an accessible way for first-time learners. Students who rely solely on Dr. Powell will not do well. You have to teach yourself and visit tutors and SIs.
Lecture videos are outdated and disorganized, making them hard to follow. Class time is spent on error-ridden worksheets that students are not adequately prepared for. She avoids questions and may laugh at her own inability to answer them. Homework is assigned on material that hasn't been learned yet. Unclear if she wants her students to succeed.
IDK where to even begin. Classes are online and are very vague explanations of the topics. Whenever a question is asked in class, she laughs, and then says it is a good question (and then never answers it). She also judges student's work and calls them out in front of the class, even though her answer key is wrong, not the students.
worst class of oxford
Worst professor ive had at Ox. She doesn't teach and her video lectures are awful. She can't even answer questions properly in class. She made me lose interest in chemistry.
Horrible course structure for gen chem 2. Spend a lot of time outside of class looking for resources in order to succeed, aka Scharf videos and office hours.
Great person and teacher. Lectures aren't very structured but professor Powell teaches topics through relevancy which allows for great application of course topics to real life topics. She is a wonderful and caring person and great to talk to before class starts.
Tbh not bad for 204. Textbook readings help w/ comprehension but slides are what you need to know. Memorize the slides, refer heavily to old exams, she reuses questions. HATES slackers and whiners. Will give EC if she misgraded you or asked a bad question. Loves ppl who discuss, analyze, and care ab the class. Most people got A- or A. Overhated.
DO NOT TAKE HER DISCOVERY COURSE!!!!! Do not.
She doesn't teach in the lectures. Every lecture, she gets through half the material and the rest is for homework, and the part that is for homework is barely explained. By far the worst professor at Oxford but nobody can do anything about it because she has tenure.
Had her for DSC. Powell is horrible. She never had a straight answer to questions, she AI generated the majority of our course assignments and graded harshly. Horrible teacher and gave so many essays for a freshman level class. She graded our assignments weeks/months after they were submitted with little feedback. Save yourself.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
94%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.92 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM142
5.0
(1)CHEM142Q
4.5
(4)CHEM141
3.2
(13)CHEM332
3.0
(1)CHEM150
2.3
(9)Difficulty by Course
CHEM332
5.0
CHEM100Q
5.0
CHEM200
5.0
CHEM204
4.6
CHEM202
4.4