3.3
Quality2.6
Difficulty53%
Would Retake92
Reviews53%
Would Retake
92
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
29
4
18
3
13
2
16
1
16
What Students Say
“Her accent is not that bad, people just haven't interacted with enough people with different backgrounds imo”
CHEMISTRY100 - 4.0 rating“Very knowledgeable and great experience”
CHEM200L - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
28%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.62 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM200D
5.0
(1)CHEM200L
4.9
(12)CHEMISTRY100
3.0
(79)Difficulty by Course
CHEMISTRY100
2.8
CHEM200L
1.8
CHEM200D
1.0
Reviews (92)
Cant understand strong accent
Prof. Nayak is a kind lady, but her lectures are very hard to understand and obtain due to her heavy indian accent. She is helpful if you approach her with questions, but thats often difficult to do with so many students in a lecture room at once.
Hard to understand
Very hard to understand and moves too fast.
This class was overall a MESS. The lectures aren't helpful at all since you can't understand her. None of the material taught in the lectures reflected what was on the tests. The OWL online assignments are unnecessarily time consuming but use those to help with tests. Grade consists of 4 tests, a final, lab work, in class participation and OWL.
Class was extremely boring to the point that my roommate literally went one time. We just do homework and my grade is fine ish rn
Dr. Nayak is very nice, but her lectures aren't helpful. You do aktiv chemistry for class participation but it is easy to do remotely. I skip lectures a lot and just take notes on the powerpoint and it works well for me. The way i learn is through the OWL assignments. If you dont procrastinate them it is very manageable. Test are all online.
Dr Nayak seems like a nice person but her accent makes it very difficult to understand what shes teaching as well as her fast pace. I haven't gone to any lectures after the first few since they seem pointless but you will basically only learn through labs and OWL assignments
do not take this class. it is confusing and the lectures are pointless.
Very hard to understand in lecture and assigns way too much homework. Hard to find time to study between all the classes and the unnecessary amount of homework.
So far the best I have had at school.
Super chill TA, wants all of us to pass, follow her rubric and you're good. Does have a heavy accent, sometimes hard to hear instructions lol, so make sure to read lab notebook procedures and her PPT thoroughly ahead of time.
Chemistry is not my best subject, but the professor worked with me during after hours. She would provide reminders, and made sure the material was understood.
Her class is hard and takes a lot of work, and she is always available to help with difficult materials. She is always available during her office hours and very punctual to class, she never missed a single lecture in whole semester. She is so nice and so helpful but the OWL problems are really tough.
Prof Nayak seems like a really genuinely sweet person, but her lectures are not of much help. She just reads the slides and she goes so fast that it is hard to keep up. The class is not difficult, the lectures are not essential to learning and if you have a decent understanding of chemistry and put in effort with the OWLs and labs you will be fine.
Secretly a blessing in disguise. Has a heavy accent, but you don't really need to go to lecture. All you have to do is: 1) Login to the Aktiv Chemistry at the end of the class period | 2) Get 50% of the questions correct on the Aktiv Chemistry, then boom. That is all of your participation grade. Get to skip discussion, which is required from others
Honestly she was really good. I really liked how we had the lectures online and we did Aktiv activities during the class. I am not gonna lie her tests are very hard. Very responsive to the emails and during office hours. Little bit heavy accent though.
Profesor Nayak seems like a very caring person, but overall her lectures are not helpful as they do not go over material presented in exams. Her accent is also very thick. Attendance is not mandatory. As for the exams they are pretty difficult, but going to office hours helped me. I think she is one of the better professors for Chem 100.
Cannot understand anything she is saying. The only word I have understood all semester is "molecule". Do not take this class, you will regret it.
Dr. Nayak was very nice and caring towards all her students. She does have an accent but I still learned the material from rereading the slides. Overall, Chem100 should be easy if you took chemistry in high school. Don't let her accent trip you because the tests were pretty easy if u understood the material. Good luck soldier, you got this!
Lectures were boring and did not aid in the understanding of homework.
Professor Nayak might be a good teacher if you could understand her and I just stopped attending lectures (which she posts anyways). You'll end up relying on the labs & excessive online OWL assignments to actually learn. Quite a few assignments get dropped, but overall the work is not worth the hassle for a 100 level class.
Honestly, her lectures are hard to understand in person. However, it was recorded and posted. It is a lot easier to watch the recordings and learn at your own paveThis made it a lot easier to keep up. Review lecture notes, do OWL's, and AKTIV's. It was a decent amount of work, but nothing compared to the work load of Chem 200.
She was my CHEM200 lab TA and extremely lucky if you have her! Easily explains lab and helps us with experiments. She was very willing to help with the understandings of the labs.
Talked way too fast and has a strong accent. Read straight off the slides. Assigns way too much unnecessary homework and doesn't even bother teaching us about it in lectures. Exams are super hard. Would not take this class again.
Dr. Nayak is a really good professor and lets you know about all the resources you have outside of class. I struggled a bit mostly on the last 2 tests, but if you keep up with the class (i didn't) you should do well. she has a zoom option too which was super helpful.
Professor Nayak is definitely passionate about chemistry and his job. Chem 100 is just a hard course in general, but Dr. Nayak is a decent professor in my opinion.
Prof. Nayak is definitely the best Chem-100 professor. I have once problem with my exam 1 and she personally contacted the coordinator and make it corrected. Her EXAM Review class before each exam which is super helpful during exam. Trying to teach the concept in very easy way .Very polite and heavy accent though.
Her accent is not that bad, people just haven't interacted with enough people with different backgrounds imo. You are bound to work with people who have accents in your future, learn to live with it. Prof. Nayak is very sweet and knowledgeable. Take notes on the textbook before lecture, study using OWL, do the work, get the A.
Dr. Nayak was my chem 200 lab TA, and she was super sweet and nice in lab. Her accent is tough to understand at first, but after you get used to it, it is fine.
aaaauuuuuuuuugggghhhhhhh
literally useless for everything
She is a very kind teacher. Very structural and lecture slides are very helpful. Compared to other professors for Chem 100, she is very easy to understand. Would take again but maybe not at 8am!
Dr. Nayak prerecorded all of her lectures so you are able to watch them on your own time. In class, you work on practice problems and she goes through lecture slides. Chemistry in general is very difficult which is why this class was not easy. Best teacher at SDSU that teaches chemistry. Very nice and always available for students.
Literally amazing. Her lab lectures are perfect. She knows what she is saying. She really cares about her students and always willing to help. LOVE HER. For grading follow the rubrics and you are good to go.
She has a strong accent!!! You can understand her a good bit if you really focus on her words, but if you already struggle in chem, it does not make learning easier. With that said, she's still a dedicated and kind teacher who really does care about her job and students. She simplifies the assignments and exams so we aren't too confused.
Not a fun time
Prof. Nayak is very helpful its is just a difficult subject and a big lecture with almost 500 students in the class but what I believe is that she is just trying keep track of all the students. Very easy to approach her during class and outside the class. She wants you to succeed! Lots of tests, but if you do the homework you'll be set.
I didn't go to lectures because they're recorded and the slides are posted. Slides are extremely helpful, she has great slides compared to other lecturers. Exams are easy if you do hw and practice quizzes. Homework was due once a week, usually 20-30 questions with 9 tries for each. Overall a super easy class, especially if you've taken chem before.
Very knowledgeable and great experience
Dr. Nayak is the best prof. I have ever meet. Very talented it feels like she is a best chemist. Always explains the difficult concept in easy way. Chemistry is tough but prof. made it easy. Always show patient with the students.
She was very nice but sometimes her accent was a little hard to understand. She did, however, make the tests much easier than the homework.
Chem 100 can be challenging regardless, but I thought this professor was great and really wanted to make sure students had a good understanding of the material. From what I have heard about other chem 100 professors, this one is definetly the best!!
This class is pretty easy if u just do the homeworks. She records her lectures of her basically just reading off the slides so you do not really need to go. Her accent isn't that bad, you get used to it pretty quickly.
Loved taking chem with her! Overall, the class was easy but you have to put the work in. Her tests are based on her learning outcomes in the class, so make sure to focus studying those mostly the exam review slides. Practice the OWL exam review before exam, it will help a a lot during in-person exam. Over all best experience ever.
She really cares about students excellent understanding chemistry and helps whenever you ask questions. I would take her again, she is so nice!
I really enjoyed having Dr. Nayak as my chem100 instructor. She was super caring and she always answered every question. She was super understanding, always made class super enjoyable. Would recommend you have her as a instructor.
Prof. Nayak is definitely the best Chem-100 professor among other prof taking the same classes this semester as I heard about them from other groups. The class isn't easy, but if you take the time into learning the material and take advantage of Nayak's office hours, then you will pass.
She is so sweet, loving and caring, we all love her. She makes concepts much easier to understand and is very clear when she teaches. Her slides are well organized and other professor group students are also using her slides. She always keeps her students best interests in mind, and always makes a comfortable pleasant learning environment.
She is adding some extra credit at the end of the semester to help the student in learning as well as improving their grades. Extremely kind and answers any questions students have about any problems. I recommend 100% recommend her!
Very nice and understanding, hard to follow initially, but if you attend office hours and reach out, you will pass
Prof. Sasmita cares a lot about her students and is always accessible through office hours. Awesome professor!
Prof. Nayak is amazing. She knows best how to help each student, especially if you ask for help. I believe she never says NO to any student for help. Take the advantage of extra office hours before exam. The exam review slides are awesome. You will find more than 90% of questions from the slides if you follow carefully. I would recommend her.
My opinion of Sasmita improved steadily over the course of the semester. Good lecturer--funny and charismatic--but her explanations left a little to be desired.She's not horrible at all. He may not explain some concepts super clearly but do OWL and you'll be fine.
Average lecturer, attendance isn't mandatory, do homework before due, do all extra credit.
Professor Nayak clearly knows chemistry well, but she isn't awesome at explaining it. Her slides were repetitive and full of text and she would go on tangents about stuff not on the slides, and because of her thick accent it made her lectures challenging to follow. I did most of my learning through other sources. DO THE EXTRA CREDIT.
I don't go to her class as she upload her class video in canvas. Do OWL take lab follow her lecture you will be good.
Attendance isn't mandatory and you will probably do most of your learning through OWLs and the lab. Class offers lots of extra credit so do it. Tests are pretty straightforward and multiple choice so it's easier. Imo her accent is kinda hard to understand sometimes plus the class time of 8am did not help. Overall, it's an easily passable class.
Honestly chemistry is not my favorite subject but her lab class help me lot in understanding the chemistry.
IMO she is the best lab instructor, you will be lucky one if you will get her lab session. Follow the rubrics and you are good to go.
You get used to her accent the more you attend lectures, so please do not worry about that!! She explains new concepts thoroughly and elaborates to flesh out the concept. She also gives the slides for the upcoming lecture ahead of time. Most of the learning comes from OWL homeworks!
This professor is pretty average in all areas such as lecture, homework, feedback, and teaching style. She does have a thick accent, but that isn't a problem. She gives good and kind feedback. OWL homework is due every Sunday and there is extra credit opportunities. Take notes. Do the practice problems. Use SI tutoring. I recommend this professor.
Overall average class, lots of hw, on exams you need to explain why you got that answer on a separate Google doc. Not sure if there's a better chem class but it was okay
Dr. Nayak is very knowledgable about Chemistry and a good professor for an introductory class. Her accent is pretty thick and can make it hard to understand. As long as you do all of the OWL homeworks, extra credit and attend lab this class is super easy.
I recently completed this 8-week course with Dr. Sasmita. She's great at simplifying complex information as well as an amazing professor overall. The lectures covered a lot of material (1 chapter per day), and the online exams and homework on OWL were manageable. I highly recommend this professor as a summer course if you can commit to the work.
Dr Nayak was a good professor!You are graded on accuracy on participation using TopHat. Go to office hours. This class is general chemistry. She was a great chemistry professor.
This class isn't too bad if you study and put in the work. This professor's lectures aren't very helpful and she isn't easy to understand due to her accent, but everything she goes over is on the test, so there isn't any surprises. Use SI tutoring for sure.
Just made things more difficult than they needed to be.
Most unorganized class I've had.
Chem100 is a difficult course, but Dr. Nayak is always willing to answer questions during and after class. I actually like that this professor included lots of example questions in her lectures, but she is a super fast talker.The only people who do well in this class are the people who already have a solid knowledge of chemistry.
She's very nice can be helpful, her office hours always get canceled same with SI. Yes she says SI is important but with how often it gets canceled and some schedules it's hard to attend. Her accent is very heavy and she does not speak loud. It's really hard to understand her which makes the class hard.
Easy class if you keep up with the weekly work, but don't bother attending lecture. She makes concepts so much harder than they have to be and I have no idea what she is saying 90% of the time. I went through an entire lecture thinking she was saying "temperature" when she was supposedly saying "molecular."
Hardest teacher to understand in the world, and no late work is allowed. DONT TAKE HER CLASS!!!
Accent is very heavy and hard to understand.
Don't take the 8 am you will hate your life. She was nice, but she has a very thick accent that is really difficult to understand at first. Her lectures don't really help so a lot of people end up not showing up. Be prepared to spend a lot of time teaching yourself the concepts because I hardly retained any information from her lectures.
DONT TAKE!!! The lectures are useless, and she makes everything more confusing than it has to be. No late work is accepted; I had an A then absolutely flunked a test because I had zero idea what was going on because her lecture is all over the place. I highly recommend just teaching yourself everything this could've been an online class tbh.
The content of this course was very easy to understand as long as you went to the lectures and actually payed attention. She has a thick accent so she can be hard to understand and she really only reads off slides, but the content is not very hard overall.
not great at teaching. the course is easy so i guess it doesnt rlly matter but it was basically self taught. thankfully ive taken a majority of the content already but good luck if youve never taken chem. she overcomplicates pretty simple things. her handwriting is poor. but shes a nice person i guess.
Overall she was a good teacher for chem100. I only had the choice between her and Prof. Love, I went to a few of Love's lectures and i preferred his class. she teaches the content well but she is not very good at speaking english so she is very hard to understand which in a hard class like this can make the class 10x harder. take LOVE
Dr. Nayak does have a thick accent, I will not cover that up, but she is a good teacher and does care for the better of the students. The professor is super knowledgeable and a genuinely kind person. Definitely recommend!
She seems really sweet but she is hard to understand, her lectures are really hard to understand. She will answer any questions you have and is really open to teaching but the class itself is difficult. She is consistently helpful with exam review sessions and provides clear guidance to assist students.
Be prepared to teach yourself the content, she overcomplicates a lot of the concepts and the lectures are difficult to understand. The workload isn't bad: 3 exams, a final, and weekly homework. I attended maybe half of the lectures and managed an A easily studying on my own. Don't take the 8am though
i hated this class, its a pre req for me but i know a lot of students had to take it as a GE. basically taught myself the entire class. i showed up for almost every lecture (maybe missed 3 overall). her accent is impossible to understand and makes learning this content impossible. class averages for the tests were 60% which is insane. good luck
Professor explains material clearly and makes difficult concepts easy to understand. Her exams are tough, but the class average is still good compared to other professors. She's always available during office hours and is a very sweet, helpful, and supportive instructor. Highly recommend!
Chemistry was tough, but she clearly cared about the subject, and her class was always engaging and helpful.Some people complained about her thick accent, but this is a university—you should expect and get used to different accents.
Professor Nayak is very sweet but her class is very difficult with her accent. You can tell she definitely cares about the class and does her best to explain many concepts, but then she goes off on a tangent and says that this or that doesn't matter on the actual test. Be prepared to teach yourself in this class and especially go to the SI lessons.
Dr. Nayak wastes a lot of time in lectures. The class is also very lab heavy. Assigned textbook readings are unrelated. She is a nice person, and the class was very easy, but showing up to every lecture was sometimes frustrating.
Professor Nayak has a noticeable accent, but she communicates clearly and is deeply passionate about chemistry. She is consistently available outside of class and always willing to help students succeed. She truly cares about her students' understanding and progress.
her lectures aren't that helpful cause of her accent but if you look at them the night before and teach yourself you should be fine
She has a very noticeable accent and you basically have to teach all the material yourself. If you go to class and learn the material, you're good. She's a nice lady and is passionate about chemistry, but it was just very hard to concentrate in the class.
I will say she's definitely knowledged in what she teaches but her harsh accent is something you can't get past. The study guides are good. Do the aktiv/exam reviews. If you can afford to wait a little longer and don't need chem100 for a prereq the next semester, just take it at a CC in the summer. If you can't ig just settle for Dr. Nayak.
Highly recommend taking her class. Try to have her as your lab TA as well, she goes over her lectures and you can get extra help. HER TEST QUESTIONS COME STRAIGHT FROM EITHER SLIDES, TOPHAT OR AKTIV HW! Yes her accent is hard to understand, so you will need to teach yourself a few concepts. But it's Chem 100 so the concepts aren't very challenging.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
28%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.62 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM200D
5.0
(1)CHEM200L
4.9
(12)CHEMISTRY100
3.0
(79)Difficulty by Course
CHEMISTRY100
2.8
CHEM200L
1.8
CHEM200D
1.0