2.5
Quality4.2
Difficulty30%
Would Retake121
Reviews30%
Would Retake
121
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
18
4
11
3
24
2
38
1
30
What Students Say
“Worst teacher I have ever taken”
CHEM1A - 1.0 rating“Exams were difficult; most of the class failed them”
CHEM1B - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
64%
Textbook Required
60%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.45 avg changeRatings by Course
5213CHEM1A
5.0
(1)CHEM1A1B
4.3
(3)CHEM51
4.0
(1)Chem3B
3.5
(2)CHEM1
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
42
5.0
BCHEM
5.0
CHEM5
5.0
CHEM005
5.0
CHEM7748
5.0
Reviews (121)
He's new, so i was worried, but i think he's great. Coming from penn state, he has an awesome background! He appeals to all the intelligences! Does a lot of expirements and his slides are always so pretty!
HERES the real deal Hesnew.semester fall 05', Hes got a thick cuban accent,he teachs straight out the $200book,the homework and quizes are online, and the problems are a b*tch, they dont matchup 100% wit the problems in class,and theres a lot of homework.Yet the homework online is not counted towards yer grade.Test r hard so far.helpful@officehours
Orlando is awsome. He is extreamly approachable and helpful, especially with additional problems to help you along. He's got a great sense of humour and uses experiments as examples in lecture very well. He also makes an effort to meet with students outside of class and office hours. EXCELLENT PROFESSOR. I give him an A+!
fun teacher. ppl always laugh in his class. he shows cool demonstrations in front of you not like other chem instructors. if you don't read the book every week...you WILL struggle!!! everything he teaches in class is all right out of the book. dont slack off, do your hw even tho it doesn't count. he really makes chemistry fun.
Heres the deal. This teacher basically made me want to change my major out of science all together. I was a straight A student till I got to his class. He was great in the beginning of the semester, but I think he's just worn out. His accent is terrible he gives quizzes online, homework online, and NO REVIEW WHATSOEVER. He thinks its cheating!!!
UGH. I'm a physics major, so I'm not unused to hard classes. But if you combine Raola's accent, the online homework, no review, online quizzes, poor explainations, and students are bound to struggle. We had 3 chances to submit homework problems and if we didn't get it right, we weren't told the answer, so we NEVER LEARNED FROM OUR MISTAKES. grr
he's not really hard but difficult to get an A. probably 2 ppl got an A from studying A LOT! u HAVE TO study to pass the class w/a C. he doesn't really have patience so beware! his final was...let's leave it to that. i think everyone had a difficult time. but i heard he's easier than other teachers. he doesn't curve at all. chem 1b w/him again ugh!
I had a horrible time, I studied hard & the tests were still almost unbearable. He is very unwilling to give students an opportunity to make up for a poor test score even though it has a heavy impact on the grade. I got an A in the lab part, but the insane tests brought me to a C. I am discouraged & wish I had a different teacher. Stay away!!
His class was a challenge. Midterms are a huge part of your grade, so dont take them lightly. He isnt one of those teachers who will spoon feed you an A, but if you're having problems, he will spend as much time with you as you need to master the subject. Office hours really help. Great guy, excellent Teacher, easy to talk to. You just have to TRY.
I think like all classes in this genre people who don't like the teacher are ones who don't do well. He was a great teacher and the first i ever retained info from. It takes studying and work like any class of stature. His accent takes some getting used to..but he's a great teacher and will help you for hours. I'm going to miss him when i graduate!
he never given a chance to you to make up your midterms even though you had an unavoidable reason. i got a F because of it
what happened? chem 1a was not difficult and i learned A LOT but this semester in chem 1b...almost everyone failed the first midterm. his gradings are tougher and the lectures are getting more confusing. webassign sucks! i don't know if i'll be able to finish this course. i think a lot of ppl are going to drop.
Mr. Raola is a very hard working teacher, and a great person. He is willing to give you lots of his time if you are willing to work hard, so don't expect a break is you want to slack off. Great sense of humor and personality in general. Pleasure to have him int he chemistry department!
Raola is a really good teacher. He is patient and very helpful during his office hours. Almost every single lecture he brought some kind of demonstration we could watch to emphasize whatever we were studying at the time. He always gives ample time for questions and is willing to go over something until everyone gets it.
Most confusing teacher ever! The Test questions had nothing to do with the homework and the problems worked on in class. The labs were disorganized. I learned a lot, but it wasn't in class, it was in the tutorial center from the tutors.
i disagree with the person below. i thought he was a good teacher. he really wants everyone to pass the class...at least those who deserves to. his exam questions were not difficult if you read thru the chapters. ppl wouldve done better if they actually read the book...it is chemistry! not supposed to be easy. great class. lots of fun memories
he is a really nice guy, and he tries to communicate chemistry, but his thich accent and knowelege on the subjest makes it hard for him to break things down for the normal people that dont just get chemistry. He isnt that hard, and if you are good at chemistry, you should be fine, but if just isnt your thing, i would try to take a different teacher
He is very knowledgable in his subject but may have trouble communicating this knowledge to others. Students who like to focus on the lab components of the course or who are very in-touch with their learning styles will find more reward in attending his classes.
He is a nice teacher, but his accent makes him hard to understand at times. He also has a hard time explaining things. The labs are confusing, unorganized, and always long. Unless you are really good at Chemistry to begin with, I would not recommend him.
He's the best teacher I've ever had in J.C. As long as you work hard, you can get a good grade. Lots of homework to do, but that really help you to be prepared for the test.
His labs are horribly disorganized. He also can be very, very insulting to some students he dislikes, and often puts students down for asking questions. The homework is what teaches me the material, not him. He's okay at lecturing, but he can be a jerk and his labs...ugh! Keep in mind, I got a good grade AND I'm good at chem! Not recommended at all
Obscene amount of work. Labs every week with OWL assignments piled - literally PILED on top. Hard to understand in class, he confuses himself which confuses me even more. Tutoring and the book is all you can rely on. I'd never recommend him.
Everyday I go to this class there is something new to complain about. Soemtimees students will ask him questions during the lecture and he says he doesn't have time to answer. He insults students if they ask a question he doesnt approve of. He doesnt write his own lectures so their contents are a surprise to him. If you can, dont take him.
Raola is an absolutely fantastic teacher. By far one of my absolute favorites at SRJC. A lot of people complain about his accent as an excuse for not doing well. This is untrue, you are able to easily understand everything he says. And if you can't he'll repeat it until you do. Excellent teacher always willing to help. Awesome, entertaining labs.
Raola's accent is really easy to understand and he is helpful when you don't understand things, but ... the amount of HW was almost as ridiculous as the fact that he didn't even teach about half of it. the labs were really long and the what he wanted on the write-ups was a little unclear. the tests, however, super easy if you go to lectures
Very nice guy. tests are easy, lots of homework. I didn't have him for lab, just lectures, but i got a lot out of it and recommend him for best chance at passing a chem class.
I've taken Raola for chem 1A, 1B, and 5. He's a really nice guy, but his chem 5 class is really tough. You basically have 2 labs per week and that can keep you so busy you can't read the text. He does want you to learn, but sometimes when you ask questions his responses make you feel dumb because he thinks you should have gotten it the first time.
Failed chem 1a when taked w/ Hino(horrible teacher) but got a lot out of ever class 1a & 1b w/ Raola. He is very intellegent, and passionate about his subject. He does lots of cool demos, personally his tests are extremely hard, but there are many points in the class that make up for it. I would highly recommend for 1a 1b.
The WORST "teacher" I've ever had. I had Raola for the 1st half of a 6-week Quan. Analysis class at Santa Rosa JC. He doesn't explain the lab prior, huddles in his office during the lab and only cares about the final answer--not how you got there. He made one girl cry and when asked for help replied "That's what grading is for." Avoid at all costs.
The WORST "teacher" I've ever had. I had Raola for the 1st half of a 6-week Quan. Analysis lab at Santa Rosa JC. He doesn't explain the lab prior, huddles in his office during the lab and only cares about the final answer--not how you got there. He made one girl cry and when asked for help replied "That's what grading is for." Avoid at all costs.
He has got to be one of the worst teachers to teach at SRJC! He is useless in lab, if you have a question in lab/lec he only replied as, "I have no time, we went over it in class." He seems very high on himself and makes you feel dumb. A true jerk.
Horrible teacher. He is the rudest teacher I have ever had. When asked a question he acts like you are stupid for not knowing the answer. His accent can sometimes be very hard to understand and he might be a good teacher for somebody who understands chemistry extremely well, but for anybody else he doesn't really communicate the material very well.
Professor Raola is the worst teacher i have ever encountered. As previously said he is absolutely no help in the labs, all he does is sit in his office and grade papers. And the lectures taught me nothing. At the end of the semester i felt like i was leaving the class with the same knowledge of chem that i started with.
Raola was helpful during his office hours, but not as much during labs. Labs were poorly written. I spent about 12-15 hours a week on lab related work, which left me very little time to study for the midterms. Lectures were not very enlightening, because he mostly lectured straight from the book. IMO Raola was nice, but I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND!
The online homework system is not entirely functional (very buggy) and he doesn't teach how to do the midterm and lab report math problems in his lectures, and doesn't give study guides. He's approachable and nice though (at least to me), and even though everyone does quite terrible in his difficult class, at the very end he ups everyone's grade.
I agree with what has been said previously, Horrible teacher, hard to understand, not helpful (if you ask a question you should already know the answer), VERY VERY HARD midterms, This class was incredibly stressful & requires MANY hours to complete just ONE lab report. I'm a straight A student & I just barely passed the semester & didn't gain much
I had chem 1A and 1B with this guy. He has a thick accent, and an ego as thick as molasses. He is a nice guy sometimes, but makes fun of his students all the time especially if another taught you another way to hold a pipet. His midterms are terrible .
Raola is the worst teacher I have ever had. You can't understand his russian dialect, the online homework is a NIGHTMARE, he doesn't cover what he tests you on, he can't explain the labs because he hasn't read them yet...seriously, he turns you away if you have questions and he is down right rude!!!
While he's difficult to understand, and is very unclear about the material you will be tested on, and doesn't always cover that material in class, that isn't the worst part. The worst part is that he'll tell one student and expect everyone to know what he told them. This means you'll use the wrong procedure or be confused during lab often.
Henious teacher. Worst teacher in the universe is not bad enough to describe his teaching. Bad bad bad bad teacher. Incompetent, atrocious, inadequate, substandard, unacceptable, unsatisfactory teacher.Read some of the other reviews to get a taste of how bad he is. It's not the course itself, ask an older student who had chem before without him.>:(
To begin, consider that an average starting class size is around 25 for this course. When I finished, 9 people passed. I'm sure your saying, WTF? We all did, especially when the highest grade on any exam was a 74. Maybe its because he buys his exams online instead of taking the time to write his own. His cuban machismo is off the chart. AVIOD!!
I would not recommend any take his class. He is a nice guy and can have a little bit of a sense of humor, but he has a extremely thick accent and you can not understand anything he says. Everything is straight from the book and he expects you to know how to do things that you don't know how to do.
Hes a nice teacher very humoristic, but he doesnt know how to explain the material very well. I would understand better by reading the book than listening to his lectures. If you can please DONT! Take this class wirth him!! Avoid him.
a lot of people dropped from the class because they thought he was too hard. I don't think he is as bad as most people say he is. The 3 midterms are straightforward and fair. The final was MC but relatively hard. Online homework is horrible. Lab reports are tedious. online prelabs are unexplained. Lecture/test = 3 easiness. lab/homework = 1.5
One of the worst teacher at the JC. If you can easily understand the text, that you will be okay, otherwise drop before too late, like 90% of students. Horrible teaching. Horrible online hw. Tough test. Long labs. Will make you feel dumb when ask questions! be warn!!
Worst. Professor. Ever. I have no idea why the JC keeps him, my class went from 60 students to 25...and only half of them went on to 4B. Apparently he means well, but I never noticed.
By far the worst teacher ever at the j.c. I pretty much had to teach myself the material we covered in class. Every other person taking the class with me shared my anger twords the teacher. He laughs at students questions and he will not help you. When you ask him a question he acts like you are stupid. I enjoy chem and was dissapointed. Don't take
Take this class for learning a more broad spectrum of chemistry, not because it's going to be easy. Ask questions. Be sure to have a background of atleast high school chemistry that you got an "A" in, and have taken a FDNT class. 3 areas of chem covered; general chem, organic chem, and biochem. Highly reccomended.
Dr. Raola is a good teacher, but chem 60 is a very hard class it can be related to sprinting a marathon.read the book do the homework and GO TO CLASS. He gets a hard rap because he does not give out a study guide or talk about his tests but hello he is testing you. He does not grade on a curve because he wants to know what YOU have learned.
chem 4b was significantly easier than 4a. This is because the workload(labs) are far shorter and easier (just excel spread sheets). the tests were similar to 4a = fairly straightforward and from webassign homework.
Very disappointed. In the lectures, he doesn't even cover material that needs to be known for the labs/ quizzes/ HW. All Quizzes/ HW done online and graded by a computer. Seems like he doesn't want to put in the time to grade or assign work. When taking this class, you basically need to teach yourself everything on your own.
funny guy. worst teacher i have had at the jc. doesnt cover anything in enough detail to help on tests, and laughs at students questions. basically have to teach yourself out of the textbook
Really smart teacher. He's actually so smart he can't relate to the students and he goes over subjects like they're reviews even when they're introduced. His average test scores run about 60%. Take Fassler if you have any interest in passing/learning
By far the worst teacher at SRJC he expects you to know everything in the book but covers very little of it in class. You do not need to show up to lectures you do not learn anything anyway. Your better off to stay home and read the textbook.
Raola is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. I spent no less than 28 hours a week outside of class. Lab reports are quite detailed and thorough. 2 labs a week =2 prelabs & 2 lab reports are due EACH WEEK. He expects a lot, probably too much. This being said, Raola is a good teacher. He does want you to succeed, it's just really hard. Not for the faint of heart.
Raola is a very difficult teacher. If you don't have a natural affinity to chemistry or something you will have to work hard to prepare for exams, which he never grades on curve regardless if most the class got D's and F's. He expects a great deal from his students, so I stuck it out and learned a lot.
horrible teacher. usually the ratings/comments on here can be objective, but everyone on here is spot on. he does not explain things thoroughly and zips though slides, even if you have questions. his exams are EXTREMELY hard and good 80% of it is all calculations. will test you on 6 chapters, won't even hint of whats on it. majority of class failed
You can tell teacher loves chemistry and wants students to succeed. However, if you don't have a strong understanding of chemistry already, you will be SOOO lost in his class. Lectures are interesting, but won't help with exams. Online homework is most helpful. If you have to take him, my advice is get a tutor and study online HW.
The worst teacher I've ever dealt with in my college career. His grading is inconsistent and unfair. He makes you feel like and idiot for asking him a question. How can you succeed in a hard class if you can't even feel comfortable asking a question?
This is a horrible teacher. Avoid taking him. He is an unfair grader and makes class much harder than it has to be. Very nit picky grading and does not help you out if you have questions. Treats students like they are inferior.
People just don't like Raola because they can't understand his accent. He IS a fair grader and it is possible to get an A. He just doesn't like to talk about whats on the test. But assigns online homework that if you study before the test you will do fine. He IS NOT as bad as they say he is. He only test you on what he lectures on.
It is sadly true that Raola is your worst possible choice for chemistry instructor. He has plenty of knowledge and interest, but falls short with his inability to conduct a class on a basic level that goes beyond a simple explanation of his graduate background; it is more often a problem a logistics. On the bright side, he's a very friendly guy.
Pleased with the results from Mr. Raola's class. He expects a lot from his students, but the reward is well worth it.Definitely possible to get an A. Tests are very fair, Ive seen people get 100%!. available for help utilize office hours.Stay on top of homework, it will definitely help on the test. Do the homework to prepare for a good test grade
Raola is probably one of the worst Chemistry teachers you could ask for. As a lecture instructor you can hardly understand what he is saying and what does get through ends up being a bunch of nonsense after he explains it to you in the most abstract way possible. Lecture isn't much better. Not a lot of help when you need him in or out of class.
Pros:1.friendly 2.knowledgable 3.requires lab safty.Cons: 1.doesn't give instructions in lab except equipment use 2.doesn't cover topics thouroughly, then expects you to know everything he does 3.doesn't give clear homework instructions 4.difficult accent 5.unnecessary busy work 6.doesn't answer questions clearly. 7.disorganized online homework.
Worst chemistry teacher you could have. You pretty much have to teach yourself the material. Lectures are terrible and he does not give much instruction in lab. The class is extremely hard and I would suggest finding another teacher.
I find it difficult to write anything negative about Raola because he is such a nice and funny person! But his knowledge for chemistry is so beyond basic that he can't dumb down lectures for basic intro chemistry. He assumes that you understand what he is speaking about, but he will go over things with you individually in his office hours.
Labs are the most time consuming. I once left one extra demical on lab report and received a 20% deduction. FOLLOW LAB MANUAL DIRECTIONS EXACTLY (when writing your lab report). He's hard, unclear, gives no study guides, and yet I still did fine (most people did). He's not a disaster, just demanding.
Interesting lectures, but book and homework more helpful for exams. Assignment instructions often confusing. Demanding class, do NOT fall behind on work.
hard to understand. avoid him at all costs
Not clear about tests, no study guide. Doesn't like to answer questions. Acts like you should know information he is presenting for the first time.
I took him for chem 42. I dropped after the second exam because I fail both the first and second. I expected a fair class not an easy one but this teacher is very unclear. He shows material that most students have never seen and he expects you to know it. chem 42 is an intro to chem 1a and 1b but he treats it like if it were those classes.
He's a startlingly concise lecturer. If you're not paying attention, you'll miss a whole section at a time - his lectures don't sound like fact loaded spiels, he's just talking. So pay close attention. Also, you need to read and do the homework.
very quick going over topics and dosen't even know the answer to practice question in class
His lectures are not very clear & he tends to rush through the slides. If you are a visual learner, I would not suggest him because most of the time he just talks to the class. He is good one on one, but during class he doesn't always give detailed answers to questions. However, he is upbeat & you can tell he is passionate about chemistry.
The book is a must for this class. He's a fair grader. He just doesn't teach well in my opinion.
Loved the class! Raola has a wonderful personality, he's super funny and I looked forward to every lecture. Yes he zooms through slides but most slides are straight out of the book anyway. He does lots of examples and demos during lecture so don't miss class! Tests are hard so study the book and do all the work. He's helpful during office hour.
He doesn't teach. Lectures are unnecessary so to even have a chance on the test, you need to thoroughly read the book, which is a horrible book that doesn't explain a lot of things.
Sadly Mr. Raola lectures about one small topic for the whole 80 minutes, leaving the class to learn the material from the book. In short, he is not a teacher. He is also condescending when you ask him questions. He gives NO direction on Labs, everyone has to GUESS what he wants. I'm amazed he even has a 2.4 on here. Avoid at all costs.
Honestly, Raola was great professor who's passion for chemistry is very evident. A lot of the students here do not understand the point of a lecture, and think everything that can be learned about general chemistry should be from a lecture. Assigned reading is very important, as well as doing the assigned problems. Tests are similar to homework.
Very passionate professor. Thick accent, VERY hard to follow during lectures. Very unorganized, his lectures are all over the place and does poor job explaining concepts. Utilize office hours, ask questions. Tests are actually fair, homework is helpful. This is a demanding class (much harder than 1A), I'd recommend you take it with someone else.
Lectures taught very little, more just rambling to eat up lecture time. Exams all had typos, poorly worded questions, and were unrelated to lectures- mostly because he hardly covers anything in lecture. Exams were difficult; most of the class failed them. You will leave the class having learned little and with a grade below your ability level.
Worst teacher I have ever taken. Raola doesn't teach, and gives almost no direction in labs. His tests don't match the kind of questions that are in the book and he gives out no study guide. Doesn't care about his students and you won't learn anything from his class. His class is chemistry suicide. Avoid at all cost!!
He's a lovely guy to talk to but between stolen quiz problems that are copied wrong and a very meh attitude, Raola is best avoided. His lectures aren't bad, but convention tends to become the main topic. They're boring and will not help you ultimately. He lies often about the material on tests and doesn't develop good problem-solving strategies.
Difficult to understand because of his accent. Has an odd sense of humor but is for the most part funny. Regardless, his teaching style is insufficient to teach the depth of material that Chemistry 1A entails. I ended up dropping to avoid getting a D, and re-took with Prof. Robert next semester and managed an A with the same effort put in.
I read the reviews on this teacher before taking the class and ignored them... BIG MISTAKE. Please do yourself a favor and do not take this class. He treats the class as though you should be an advance Chem student, he creates his our test that do not have anything to do with what you studied or the homework. Not worth the stress.
Raola will NOT verbally tell/remind you what to do, what the homework is, what will be on the test, etc. You have to WORK for your grade. READ the assigned chapter BEFORE lecture, go home and work on the online homework, study and repeat. You must read and attend lectures/labs! He is more than willing to help. Do not be intimidated.
absolutely terrible. never have I witnessed a professor that is absolutely unqualified to teach. Don't get me wrong, he may know his chemistry very well; however, he cannot teach for the life of him. Independent learners would somewhat benefit from his class. If you take him, you're better off letting the book teach you more than him.
Raola is difficult to understand at times, due to his accent, he speeds through the lectures and talks down to students when they ask reasonable questions. The majority of the class failed most or all of the four tests and a great many dropped before the semester was through. This is a teach yourself kind of class.
If you like Chemistry and you want to learn, Dr. Raola is the best. That simple, no excuses!
He's loud and very direct almost to the point of coming off as aggressive but not actually. Comes off as condescending, but just has high expectations. Lectures are fast paced, reading the chapter prior to class is mandatory. Homework is long, and necessary for any chance at test. Really do your part, and if your independent, you'll be okay.
Orlando is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. However, his teaching "style" is not good for most people - you will need to teach yourself. If you do all the online homework, you should be able to pass with the grade you want. Lectures are worth going to, but don't expect to learn what you need to know for his tests from the lectures.
Great class! Dr. Raola is organized, experienced, and passionate about teaching. Do your homework. Use textbook to practice. When he says you need to memorize something, do what it takes to memorize it. Visit Dr. Raola during his office hours if you have questions. You get what you put into Chemistry. Study and you'll be fine.
Like what other students say, do your homework.
Just no. Run run far away from him and his class. He is a grumpy teacher who doesnt even explain things in a clear way and is scary when asks you if you got it.
O is the best. He is a funny guy and his classes are fun to go to. The exams are pretty easy and all I did to study for them was do the homework.
Professor O truly cares about how well students understand the material and are doing in his class. The class was extremely fast paced and I frequently went to office hours to clear up anything that I was confused about during lecture. His exams were straightforward and required a lot of math skills. Loved this class.
Chem 1A with Dr. Raola was difficult. Despite this, I loved the class. I loved his lecturing style and they always kept me engaged with what was happening in class. The tests were very hard and he was a tough grader though. They required a lot of studying and practice problems.
Mr. Raola was a good chem teacher. He clearly knew the material that he was teaching us inside and out. His lectures were very fast paced and we covered a lot of ground in class. The tests were very math heavy and were not that bad. Labs were fun and the lab reports were easy enough. The lab period was three hours, but we were always out early
You are only graded by a few things. He gives his students a quiz before each lab to test your knowledge. Most students fail these quizzes. He provides a 30 minute lecture video which does not aid you in any sort of way. You have to teach yourself how to solve the equations that will be on the quiz. He only gives you four days tops to preps.
You will need to participate in class and he doesn't give a lot of wiggle room on assignments. Not much feedback was given. Grades were not posted until the last 2 weeks of the semester, although grades could be retrieved during office hours.
Professor Raola is a brilliant man. With that said, most brilliant professors make poor teachers of undergrad material, and he is no exception. It is difficult to ascertain what will be on the tests, a single mistake can mess up 5 or more problems on the midterm, and his accent is difficult to understand.
In the lectures, Dr. Raola didn't always explain things in a way I could understand. He's clearly very intelligent but maybe has a hard time stooping down to the understanding level of people who aren't chemistry whizzes. I really struggled in this class.
Great guy, like him personally. To succeed you'll need to: -talk to him often and early. -make your own study guides, he doesn't provide them. -source hours of lecture on the material if you don't do book learning well. -get help, tutoring services,online materials,khan etc. -schedule everything; his assignments are few and spotty, teach yourself.
Good guy, not the best teacher. This class is far more confusing than it should be. The material from the textbook frequently doesn't line up with what's being taught in class, no study guides are given, and he "doesn't like to talk about what's going to be on tests." You have to spend a ton of time teaching yourself the material outside of class.
Professor Raola has a good personality but, he does not provide study guides for the tests which are the largest portions of your grade. He does not go over what will be on the tests and will directly decline questions about them. He also does not submit grades to the online portal/grade book so you must calculate your overall grade on your own.
Stressful just because of the ambiguity in assignments. There was a lot times when I felt unassured that I understood the lab. This isn't helped by the fact that Raola is not very approachable. I asked for guidance on a prelab once; he restated what I told him I already knew and then basically said to reread the procedure.
Professor Raola is a nice guy, but the amount of work you have to do to get an A in this 3 unit class is insane. It is possible, but honestly not worth it. No study guides are given and he flat out denies questions regarding the midterms like its supposed to be a surprise. In short, the class is more difficult than needed, just find another prof...
He has a funny personality and is a great person but I do not recommend him as a professor. He is not approachable for questions at all. His labs are not easily explained and most people constantly have no idea what to do when it comes to lab reports. He is a difficult grader with little feedback given but you can tell he really tries to teach.
He was only my lab professor but all those issues were enough for me. Very nice and funny, but won't respond to emails, you have to force him into answering questions, labs are confusing and not well explained, and grades harshly with little feedback. You can tell he knows what he's talking about, but explains things as if you should already know
I genuinely feel sympathy for the guy because he is a very smart man, but comes off very rude. Felt like I was being made fun of when I asked questions. Good luck getting an email back. Lab write-ups are tough and extremely time consuming. Very much a tough love prof. One zero grade brings you down a lot. The class bonded over the struggle lol.
Only had him for lab. Everyone in the lab class was miserable and we all felt like we never knew what to do. The only good thing about this class is you are literally forced to learn through having to teach yourself all the material. Prelabs are rough, and asking questions about it, you're met with "it's in the lab manual". It almost never was.
Depressing lectures. Depressing labs.
The pre-labs didn't usually set us up for success and many labs it didn't seem like anyone had a clear grasp on what to do. It didn't seem like he considered that a lot of us are fresh from online lab classes and have no idea what we are doing. I found myself guessing on the labs I turned in, on content and format.
Chem 3B is tough, get ready for lots of math that he barley shows how to do. He does demos on new topics which can be helpful. He explains the tougher labs and will sometimes join in doing the lab himself. The online homework is overwhelming, some are 50+ problems. Lab reports are intensive and done on excel. Spent lots of time at tutorial center.
Tough professor, but engaging labs force you to learn. Prelabs can be tricky, but using Unstuck AI alongside the textbook helped me stay on top of things. Quizzes are brutal, but the in-class help made up for it. Overall, a challenging yet rewarding class.
He knows what he's talking about and it shows, but for an intro class with no previous chemistry experience, this class was INTENSE. He bullies you for asking questions, and is a harsh grader on lab reports and tests, he rarely provides study guide for midterms unless asked, and even with the study guide, a lot of material is missing. READ AHEAD.
Keep record of all your grades, forget about getting response to an email, feedback over graded work... Simply go to class, read your books, go to the tutoring center and do your own research and you will be good.
Dr. Raola can be intimidating and sometimes unclear with expectations, which can be frustrating. Lab report grading is tough, and he's not very responsive to emails. His lectures are dense, but he adds humor to lighten things up. This class is challenging and not for the faint of heart.
I really liked Dr. Raola. He is a very knowledgeable professor. He is great at explaining the chemistry, however, he isn't the best at helping with the math. As such, some people found the class challenging. He is also a harsh grader on lab reports. However, I did really enjoy the class.
He does not offer a lot of help and kind of expects you to know things. Midterms were extremely hard to study for because he would not explain at all what was on them, you basically just had to study everything. He is a good guy who definitely knows what he is talking about, but I would find another professor for quality of life.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
64%
Textbook Required
60%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
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Declining
-0.45 avg changeRatings by Course
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5.0
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4.3
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3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
42
5.0
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