Not the best professor but he definitely he is fair. If you put in the work, memorize what you need to know, and go to the SI sessions, you should be fine. If you have a problem with your grade, then talk to him and I'm sure he will find a way to help your grade. He definitely cares for his students and is a great guy.

Look, overall I actually enjoyed the class. Obviously ergo lives up to its painstaking name as being one of the hardest courses available in college, but after all, it is a weed out class. Prof Skouta is a very chill guy and he's very fair and always willing to help and take feedback from his class. I would definitely take him again for orgo 2.

Honestly a great professor. Some people seem not to like him on this website but the people I've talked to in class all seem to like him and I like him as well. You can tell he cares about all the students in the class and always does his best to benefit his students. A lot of important matters he usually allows the class to vote on.

Great professor, Orgo 1 is hard itself. If you truly study and not mess around you should be fine. DO all the homework and first two exams are kind of easy and third exam ok. Make sure to study because you don't you won't pass. I have learned a lot from Professor Skouta and would definitely take him again. Very smart person and very caring.

Professor Skouta is great and really wants to help you- he was Always available after class, or during his office hours. He does additional review sessions and really makes sure we get the test material. . If you put in the work to succeed in this class you will do great, Professor Skouta is great. I wish he taught orgo 2, Id take it!

Professor Skouta invests in our success by making himself available to go over whatever we are struggling to master. Responding to feedback, he tailors his approach to meet the needs of the class. His enthusiasm for course material makes material accessible and interesting and his chapter summaries and study strategies are effective.

Professor Skouta is a very caring professor. He wants everyone to succeed and tried his very best to make sure that everyone understands the material. If you don't understand something he is always available after class and during his office hours, which I both highly recommend. Pay attention in class and do the Owls and you should be fine.

Professor Skouta is a very good professor. As long as you pay attention in lectures, do the owls and pay attention in the practice exam , you will do well. His practice exams are similar to his exams. He is very approachable and funny!

One of the few professor who genuinely cares and takes time to address students needs. Very intelligent and doesnt try to trick people or challenge an already challenging subject. Always has a sense of humor that is relaxing when youre stressed in the middle of the semester. Another thing is that he doesnt micromanage which I appreciate

Great professor, would recommend. Orgo is Hard so you still have to work hard to succeed in this class. Learned so much this semester thanks to skouta. Very caring professor. Would definitely take him again. Remember Orgo is hard and if you wanna take skouta, you need to be working hard if u want to succeed.

Very helpful and caring. I enjoyed his class and thought the grading criteria were pretty fair. Does not cause a fuss about disability services accommodations like other professors.

great guy and professor. Orgo is tough and people complain but study hard and you will be fine.

Skouta is the best when it comes to listening to students problems and finding solutions with them. Show him that you care for the class a little bit and he will give MANY opportunities to pass the class.

Clear and smart professor. He gives out "cheat sheets" of the basic concepts in class which help a lot..

Prof Skouta communicates clearly with students and gives helpful feedback. Orgo is hard and he has a way of explaining it nicely.

I would have NOT passed organic chemistry if it weren't for this professor's grit in helping students achieve. I appreciate professors who are actually want to see you do well.

Gives good feedback and explains the material clearly.

Professor Skouta is very open to student suggestions and he explains material clearly. His lectures are very engaging and his clicker questions help students make mistakes ahead of time so they do not come as a surprise on the exam. He is very responsive in email, and he genuinely makes orgo fun :)

He is very nice and cares about his students. Orgo, in general, is a hard topic to learn and he is willing to go in-depth on topics during lectures. He is approachable, he doesn't veer from topics or over complicate them as some professors do. Gave out extra credit for the last 2 exams. Willing to work with you if you just communicate with him.

Skouta is amazing. He's such a nice guy, great sense of humor, and actually made orgo easy... his PRACTICE EXAMS were key! Offered extra credit at the end of the semester, exams were not bad at all. Not much homework & all is very doable. 10/10 recommend him, would def take a class with him again, I wish he taught orgo 2!!

He's an awesome professor and really cares about his students. Pay close attention to his OWLS and you will get all As. Participation in class is mandatory but it helps during exam times.

Prof Skouta is the most caring and understanding professor I have ever had. He wants all of his students to succeed. Organic chemistry is hard, but he is really good at explaining stuff. He understands that remote learning is tough and tries to give you every opportunity to do well.

Professor Skouta is one of the most caring professors you will find at UMass Amherst, he is extremely personable and cares about his student. He has been super generous with the amount of extra credit he has given us during this semester. Sometimes he explains things in a confusing way and I mainly got my grade from attending every SI session.

Hes probably the best professor Ive taken so far. I had him during the pandemic and he understood how hard it is for us to focus during tough times. Allowed us to meditate and gave extra credit (: his practice exams are exactly like the actual exam. So if you understand that then youre fine

prof skouta definitely cares about his students and was always willing to take time to slow down to answer questions or go over concepts again. he gives a ton of extra credit which was very useful. some of his lectures were unclear and owl homework was tricky some weeks. it was useful tho that he reuses a few exam questions from his practice exams.

Sweet guy. Although the content is difficult, he slows it down to make sure everyone understands. Encourages questions and will not continue lecturing until all are answered. Gives lots of extra credit. He is easy to meet with outside of class and genuinely wants to help. But review sessions are held w/ the TA, so if you get a bad one... good luck

This class was very nice compared to other stem classes I've been in. Skouta is very kind and willing to really go over material and do practice problems in lecture until there's a general understanding. There is work but not to an insane degree. He's also very approachable and you can genuinely tell he wants his students to do well.

He really tries his best to make us laugh during lecture. he has us take deep breathes before every class too which is nice. hes also inspirational and truly wants us to succeed. the class is hard in general and the homeoworks can be a bit much too but go to SI and youll be good. He also gives us practice exams before each exams which are very nice

Absolute unit of a guy, general gigachad, and just a great professor who cares about students' learning. He tries to make us laugh which is epic and he makes sure we all understand before moving on. Extra credit is also given which is DOPE (iClickers dropped and OWL dropped). Rooting for Morocco for this World Cup, let's go Ousud Al-atlas!!!!!

Skouta is a really great professor. Sometimes he can get carried away from the class material, but it is always done in a way to make the students laugh and relax. Exams are very fair and not meant to trick you. Somehow, someway I got a B and only passed one exam -- you'll be fine.

Skouta's exams were directly like practice questions + exams which made them doable and predictable. We had a generous amount of hw assignments but he dropped iClickers and Owls at the end of the semester. He was also generally really nice and approachable. Definitely recommend if you're scared of taking orgo, he makes it a lot easier.

Professor Skouta is an extremely engaging professor, and has a very fun class atmosphere. However, his lectures are somewhat disorganized, it's difficult to learn the material through them (I relied entirely on khan academy etc) and he went much faster than the other sections. I think another prof would be better to learn material from.

Skouta was absolutely amazing. His lectures are easy to understand and the way he explains concepts thoroughly. He is caring and I find him absolutely hilarious. You can tell he wants you to do well in his class. As long as you do the owls and practice the concepts in class, you will do great. Loved him!! Sad he doesn't teach 262:///. 100/10

This dude FLIES through material. But, he's pretty funny and can be entertaining. He puts out practice exams, lots of OWL hw, and 5 quizzes. He drops 5 absences. Some exams questions dont match up with the hw and practice which can get kinda confusing. But if you stay on top of everything you should be fine.

skouta is the absolute goat. his lectures heavily involve class participation, which sometimes results in taking a while to reach the point. but he rlly cares for his students! he covers topics fairly fast, which i liked as well. we were consistently 2 chapters ahead of the other professor's class. its never boring w/ skouta. super nice guy.

Really fun and nice guy. He goes fast but there is a lot of information to cover in this class. You need to buy OwlV2 to do homework in this class but the homework questions are exactly like exam questions. He is very approachable and really wants to have a connection with the students and help them with any questions they have.

Great class would highly recommend

Bro is the goat, hw are so much harder but exams are light, he is very funny and nice and cares a lot about his student

Rachid is a very down to earth professor who tries to make orgo fun and interesting, often making jokes during lectures. the owl homework is way harder than the exams but definitely manageable. great professor to take orgo with!!! there are also 5 quizzes throughout the semester on owl(each quiz is 5 questions each) and these r also manageable.

He's a great professor and I always got a lot out of his lectures. TRY ON THE QUIZS, theyre 10% of your grade and very easy to just brush over and not do well. Also take advantage of his extra credit options

Prof Skouta is a fun guy who cares about his students success. Class is OWL heavy as are most all orgo classes and concepts are difficult, however exams aren't the worst. I highly recommend him for 261. Made a very hard class enjoyable and set his students up for success.

Skouta is an amazing and funny professor. He teaches the content very quickly, so going to lectures and taking good notes is very important. Everything is a cakewalk until the last few lessons with reaction mechanisms. However, he gives a very generous curve at the end. Overall, he is a superb professor.

He was great! Very clear with what to expect on the test. OWLv2 for homework was moreso busy work than learning... but the lectures were so helpful! He did his best to help everyone! Always went over each multiple choice option too help people who didn't understand it. He improved with the whole "rushing chapters after Thanksgiving break thing".

He has been one of the better chemistry professors I've had here at UMass. His pace seemed fine to me and tests were mostly similar to practice exams. Gave around 10% extra credit to the overall final grade, which was amazing. Nice guy and good professor.

He's a nice professor and genuinely tries his best to explain the material. He moved through Chapter 11 pretty quickly tho, like we only spent about two classes on it and for me that was one of the toughest topics. The practice problems were helpful, and the exams are very similar to the practice exams. Overall, he's an okay professor.

Honestly a great professor; engaging and funny. Actually aims to help students (practice exams similar to the actual, a whole lecture just for practice and review). Lectures are easy to follow and very clear if you pay attention. He gave us lots of extra credit. Homework's a lot, but helpful. Ch.11 was rushed, but other than that, great guy

He was awesome! I did rely on the textbook to support myself in areas where his lectures were weak. All practice exams were similar to respective exams. Final was similar to past exams including practice exam for the last chapters that weren't included in Exam 3. He does his best to help and explain things more throughly, just ask!

Professor. Skouta was very helpful in answering any questions you had. He is also very engaging so in lecture you learn a lot.

261 has a lot of material and Professor taught us well. His class is very interactive and fun environment which helps you understand the material better.

Awesome professor. Makes class interactive and teaches basic ideas in class, and goes in-depth in the homework. The homework is hard and takes 6+ hours at times, and sometimes unrelated to any material for exams, but it helps you learn material thoroughly. Exams like practice exams, and many ways to boost grade.

Professor Skouta is engaging and really wants to see you succeed. However, the lectures were often rushed through and it didn't help that the Hws were incredibly difficult and often different material than covered. Exams are difficult but similar to practice exams. Gave lots of EC. SI sessions weren't that helpful. Be prepared to study

I really enjoyed being in Dr. Skouta's Chem 261 class. He made the subject a lot less daunting than it is made out to be and kept us entertained during class so we stayed engaged.

Organic chemistry is hard but Professor gives out a lot of extra credit which helps your grade and he also is a great professor and is very active with his lectures.

Was nervous to take his class because of low ratings, but did not have a single issue. Great lecturer, and I wish I could take him again but my schedule won't allow it. Overall average for everyone in the class was over a 92. Coming from someone who did bad in gen chem, you really have to try to do poorly in this class.

Dr. Skouta provided substantial support throughout the semester. Whether it be for exams, homework, or lectures, Dr. Skouta was accommodating towards the needs of his students and ensured that each class consisted of both learning and enjoyment. He had various opportunities for extra credit and I will definitely be taking him again for 262!!

I was intimidated by chem at first, but from day one, professor Skouta made the class fun, engaging, meaningful, and intentional. Since I get easily distracted or would come to lecture on 5hours of sleep, EVERY CLASS he made sure to refocus us on our goals and was continuously encouraging us in creative ways. That meant a lot to me +xtra credit :)

Prof. Skouta was very enthusiastic! Lectures were long but he still made sure to make sure of all the time very well to cover material for exams. Make sure to make use of all the different extra credit opportunities he offers.

Professor was very helpful in clarifying any questions you had and he also gave out a lot of extra credit which helped my grade.