2.4
Quality3.7
Difficulty26%
Would Retake122
Reviews26%
Would Retake
122
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
11
4
25
3
19
2
33
1
34
What Students Say
“If you're off to a bad start, she is not there to help you”
CHM116 - 2.0 rating“Not a very helpful teacher at all”
116 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
84%
Textbook Required
43%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.80 avg changeRatings by Course
CHM109
5.0
(2)102
4.0
(1)CHM109LAB
3.5
(4)CHMLAB
3.0
(3)CHM115
3.0
(5)Difficulty by Course
CHM103
5.0
CHM02
5.0
116
4.3
CHEM102
4.2
CHM221
4.2
Reviews (122)
eeh... ok. Not bad Not good, sort of a tough grader.
inconsistant grader. seems stressed out at times. she is my lab prof.
She's kind of cute in a nerdy way. Grades strangely. Not the worst, by far.
Best CHM lab teacher I've had. Willing to help and grades fairly.
Decent lab instructor. grades pretty fair. ask questions, she will help.
grades fairly, willing to help, easy course
Horrible Prof. She throws numbers on the board while teaching equations. Does not explain anything. DON'T TAKE HER
She is one of the worst professors I have ever had. She gives terrible lecture notes and her tests are impossible. She wastes a lot of class time mumbling and telling us complicated equations that we don't even need to know. I would switch professors.
Bad Professor, GET OUT!
basically, reads the book to you. doesnt teach at all. doesnt explain anything.
Uses overhead, nothing else. Too many giant equations that she doesn't explain, but it works out because you don't need to know them anyway. Assumes you know everything already.
Oh man!! I like chemistry but I hated this class!She is the worst professor i have ever had. She makes no sense and just writes equations like crazy, pulling numbers out of nowhere!! I learned everything from the book, GET OUT!!!
No Comments
Not the best professor, not the worst either. Don't waste money on the book. Lectures aren't too bad--ask questions for clarification. Tests are the worst part. Attend lectures, do the work, your grade will reflect what you put in!!
She assumes we know everything already and just cruises through. We have a quiz pretty much every other day, and gets very stressful. She doesnt take time for us to comprehend it. She moves too fast for me.
Uses the overhead all the time. Don't buy the book. Lectures the whole time. Don't miss class either. You'll get an A if you just show up, take notes, and study them.
She is horrible. Way to hard and goes over new material before a quiz. this woman should not teach. dont buy the book. I really dislike her
She does not let up and goes over new material for the tests on the same day that she gives them. Her class was very aggravating.
I thought it was an easy class. She gives group work almost everyday which is part of your grade and if you get enought, it's extra credit for the end of the year. Don't buy the book, she teaches out of it.
Don't buy the book. Show up to class everyday because she give assigmnments which eventually can add up to extra credit. All tests and quizzes are from lecture and worksheets. If you too Chem is HS and did well then, you'll do fine in this class.
The quizzes can be rough--she goes over new material before you take your exam which is distracting. She lectures CONSTANTLY and can be boring. Attend class to get the extra credit. Attend class and study, you'll get an A.
Spoon feeds her notes, they are very helpful. Exams can be rough, and article projects may be unecissary, but overall is a solid professor. Shes got some looks to her too.
this prof sucked. she bored us the whole time. very opinionated. constantly used the overhead. dont buy the book. article projects are pure evil and sent from satan. i did not like this prof
The worst professor I have ever had a grand valley. Very unhelpful and when asked questions said "we are falling behind the other class you will have to ask me later." Very stuck in her ways and doesnt present material other than in overhead fo
She's a horrible prof! She's a very critical grader, but not consitent with all the students. If you make mistake, you lose a lot of points. Spends all class at the overhead, and because she's always running behind, she unwilling to help or explain.
She lectures the entire hour!!! More writing in this chem class than my writing 305 class!! She is extremely boring and teaches right out of the book. Save your money, never read a page and did fine.
She is not a good prof at all. She stands at the front of the room and TALKS... the other day we had a quiz, and someone asked a question. She answered the first part of the question, and then "becaues of time" wouldn't answer the second part. Good prof? I think not.
Horrible Professor. Makes an easy class unnecessarily hard. Very tough grader. 12 questions on a quiz and 1 wrong equals 16/20. Not willing to explain herself. Lots of off topic writing assignments.
Lots of unnecessary work. Article projects take forever and are graded really hard. Tests and quizzes are difficult & class is BORING!
Simply the most ridiculous and pointless class ever. The exams and quizzes really aren't that difficult its jus stupid, it's an enviromental class not a chemistry class!
worste prof ever! I hated this class, she's a really hard grader you get one little thing wrong and you get the whole problem wrong. The class was boring and she made what should have been an easy class really hard!
Ok, first of all, I have her for lab and she isn't bad at all. Everyone who thinks she is hard needs to go take a BIO 120 lab, then you will understand how picky a prof can be. Second of all, she is kinf of hot ;)
This teacher is fair. Not too bad but not one of my favorites at all. All of the work you have to do is pointless, so don't take this class.
yea all she does it lecture but she is kinda HOT. so its ok.
She is a pretty good lab professor. She explains everything well and helps out when needed. She seems very detached and stand offish with her students. Over all, she is alright. Lab was easy.
She had exact directions, so it wasn't hard as long as you payed attention in lecture. She's nice and helped you if you needed it.
She is horrid! should have been easy class... she's not intelligent... I could have just read the book and got an A... my dog could teach the class better! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
For the class to not even be an "Intro" course, it was taught like intermediate CHM. The work load is quite large and unnecessary for the curriculum. Lots of math and conversions. The tests and quizzes are difficult and the term-papers are plentiful. I recommend choosing a different professor if one wishes to succeed. No doubt, one of the worst.
She is one of the hardest graders. Any error will cost you 2 or 3 point...and im talking mini error.
I actually learned alot from this class, and I didn't think she was that bad at all. I guess there is always homework and projects to do, but they aren't ridiculously hard or anything. The homework prepares you well for the quizzes and the exams. I was intimidated to take her class by the ratings posted, but if you pay attention you'll be fine.
This class was such a dissapoinment.There was a lot of homework, and they were fairly long assignements. The work isn't that hard except the way she grades. She takes off points for the smallest things, which in the end add up. Her lectures were extremely boring, I could have taught the class better, and she's strict on attendance. Terrible prof!
Prof. Ryan teaches only chem lab, no lectures. She is a very harsh grader. Expect to see frequent "double jeopardy" point deductions for minor mistakes. She does a good job of explaining the lab at the beginning of each session, and is quite helpful during the lab if there are any questions about procedure. Very friendly.
this class statrted off a bit tough only because i skipped a couple of classes. but if one were to attend all the classes, its one of those hard to fail courses.
yuck. sheila is not the friendliest of people in the world. the quiz before lab is a really easy 5 points, watch out for the nitpickiest grader EVER. you'll prob. feel dumb after asking any questions, which she answers quite fast. good luck with this awful class.
Really helpful, it may seem like she is scoffing at your questions but its just the way her personality comes across. Not really a nit-picky grader, just deductions for fair things.
Absolutely horrible teacher. Taught this class WAY beyond the 100-level. My entire group had prior chem education, and most of us barely passed the class. I never saw ANYONE get an A+ on anything, no matter how much work was done. She's also very politically motivated and spends half the semester ranting about environmentalism instead of teaching.
If you can, avoid this professor. The difficulty of this class is way above what an 100-level class should be. She is not personable at all and acts like you are dumb if you ask her a question. Seriously, don't take her if you can help it.
Horrible prof. Very partisan when talking about political issues such as cap and trade. Extremely picky grader. Exam questions are very ambiguous. Takes days to respond to emails. Answers all questions in a very condescending way. There is a word limit so i cant say everything that there is to say. Beware.
Doesn't want to teach anything. She just comes to class and stands there. When you ask her a question she acts like you're inconveniencing her.There were things we didn't talk about in lecture that we had to do in lab and she wouldn't help us figure out what we were supposed to do. If you want to learn get somebody else. Horrible body language.
I had Prof Ryan for 115 & 116 lab... she intimidated me at first, but I ended up loving it. Her explanations are crystal-clear & she is happy to answer questions for people who come prepared. Pre-lab quizzes are easy, but watch your sig figs & units on those & on lab reports. Not super-friendly, but definitely a great teacher who I'd recommend.
I would not recommend taking her class! It was extremely hard for a 100 class. She grades really hard, if you get one thing wrong she takes off so many points. Her exams and quizzes are very hard and difficult to understand. Her lectures are very boring. she isn't approachable and says essentially too much. overall DO NOT take her!
DON'T TAKE HER! She doesn't really teach, makes do group work almost all classes and doesn't go over it. I had an A in the class until about half way through when the entire class didn't understand what she was teaching us... she wouldn't explain for us.
This class was fairly easy if you've taken a chemistry class before, if not, this class will be difficult for you. She is a pretty bad prof and really doesn't care about teaching. Not helpful at all and when you ask her a question, it always seems like it's a hassle to her. She has her good moments though, but they don't happen very often..
This teacher was not helpful AT ALL! She obviously didn't care about her students and was unhelpful when she taught. This was an "easy" class but she spoke to us as if we were all majoring in physics or something. She didn't explain things well and didn't offer to help, instead saying it was our own fault. I recommend NOT taking this class!
She is too knowledgable in her field to be teaching 100 level courses. Either way, she was very clear, and an excellent teacher. It's a boring subject, but it was very easy. The POGILs made me want to shoot myself in the face, and it's the only reason why I wouldn't recommend the class. But she herself is excellent.
She is a nice person, but she doesn't teach. Everything is done in group work and you have to teach yourself. It really makes things difficult if you don't know what you are doing in the first place.
Very smart, but doesn't teach too much. Almost all work is done online and in groups during class. Some lecture but not a lot. Showing up to class and participating with your group will guarantee you a good grade if you study for quizzes and exams as well.
I did not enjoy this class at all. Most of the time we did group oriented inquiry activities called pogils and I felt like she did little teaching. If I could go back, I would not have taken this class.
She was helpful and patient as a lab instructor.
The worst instructor I have had in all my years of school. It's as though she is a robot with chemistry files downloaded into her brain. She does not know how to teach but is knowledgeable. I would not recommend her.
Not a very helpful teacher at all. She did know how to teach chem but explaining it to everyone in class is something she lacked. Made you do the web assign homework first then taught you in class. she was two weeks behind in lecture. You basically teach yourself or learn from the people in the chem center. Would not recommend her to anyone.
Not helpful, does not know how to control the classroom and yells at the class. Speeds through lectures and material and does not explain well.
I love Chemistry, but she makes it unnecessarily hard and confusing. For first timers, she assumes you are well informed about the topics at hand. You have homework before class, so you have to teach yourself. If you're off to a bad start, she is not there to help you. I also found her lectures and HW don't sufficiently prepare you for hard tests.
Lots of webassign which you have to do before lecture. If you actually read through and try to understand it, you'll be okay. In lecture she just clarifies the webassign so it's basically like doing it two times. Her tests are too long for a 50 minute period but the final wasn't too bad.
Prof. Ryan seems a bit standoffish when you ask a question at first, sometimes I think she just doesn't understand what you are asking, but overall if you break the ice and plunge on she will try to help you answer your question and work with you.
Utterly useless. She needs to be teaching at the local junior high, not at a university. One of the 2 worst professors I've ever had.
DO NOT take her! Horrible professor, she is not very good at explaining material in a way that is easily understood and her tests are way too much for a 50 minute period.
For a student that had no problems with CHM 115, this class was a shock. I had to teach myself completely with Webassigns that she borrowed from another professor. (80 of them to be exact). Tests were tough and there was no curve. I received my first grade below an A- ever, besides the one B I got in high school. Go to class if stuck with her.
For CHM 115 being easy, CHM 116 came as a shock with this professor. The material would have been easier to comprehend with a teacher, who actually taught them. Most of material was self taught over web assign. During the course of this class, we had homework every night on web assign.
Everything is really straight forward in this class. It is very time consuming with web assign homework almost every day, but they prepare you for the lectures. Attendance is definitely mandatory. I would take this class again.
If you're good at math, you'll do excellent. The material is also very similar to 115/116 just in greater detail. She always waits to give quizzes until the last 5 minutes of class (when you really need about 15 minues). She also does not tell you the time during exams (even when you cant see the clock) so it is very easy to run out of time!
She was a fine teacher, she was very organized. What I did NOT like was her homework policy. She had the homework over a given lesson due the morning of class (aka night before). It led to much frustration and even more confusing because we had not learned it yet. It was very stressful especially because she was not available for questions.
She has web lessons due every day before class which make it helpful to understand but can be challenging at points. She is a good teacher for lecture but not very helpful one -on-one. Study guides do not help for the tests at all which are very difficult.
This class has proven that even the smartest of A, B students will fail horribly. Her delivery of her lecture is robotic and refuses to help students in a timely matter because of, "trust issues" (her words actually) I will probably have to do this class again because she is a mediocre teacher who is not helpful and assigns asinine hw assignments.
Do not take a class with her. She doesnt teach. I am teaching myself the class. I am an Honors student who works diligently and normally receives very high grades, and I can barely manage a C on her exams which are much too long for a 50 min lecture. Also, we have 80+ hw assignments all due before the material is covered in lecture.
This class demands a lot of outside work with the webassign and studying material which isn't the easiest to grasp initially. Her lectures are alright if you have somehow managed to have a decent grasp on the webassign from the night before, I did not like how she didn't go over webassign in class at all. had her for lab too, tough class overall
Very robotic in her lectures. Asinine homework assignments that are all due before she goes over the material. Much of the reading was confusing and did not do a very good job explaining the context. She posts study guides but won't help on exams. Avoid this professor at all costs.
Professor Ryan is one of the best professors I have ever had. She is very clear in her lectures, and the homework ties in perfectly with class discussion. Do your homework and this class will go smoothly. Ask questions if you don't understand because she will make sure you don't get lost. I wish I could take her again. Awesome prof!
She doesn't teach anything on the homework assignments until many days after they are due, the reading in the book doesn't really help. If you take her then you should expect to teach yourself, and be prepared to do the five (usually) length assignments that are due a day at 1:30pm. Avoid her at all costs.
She is AWFUL! Do not and I mean DO NOT take this professor. She gives you so much homework each week and doesn't make sense, and then doesn't go over any of it until days after its due. She literally eyes you like a hawk if you don't understand something and makes you feel dumb about it if you don't get it. She never gives you enough time for tests
Worst professor ever. She rushes through all lectures and does not teach how to do problems. Expects students to understand and does not answer questions. Extremely rude when asked questions after class or in class. Extremely rude go students in class who are confused. Gives homework before she has even lectured on the topic.
Professor Ryan is by far the worst professor Ive ever had. We currently have done 52 homework assignments (which have anywhere from 10-20 answers for each). The homework is ridiculous, and dont expect to know any of it because she teaches the material like a week after. Literally save your sanity and your GPA and do not take her. Awful.
She doesnt care whether you pass or fail and is unwilling to work with her students.
A ton of homework you must do before it's even covered in lecture. The professor is condescending and even rude at times. The exams are quite difficult and some people will run out of time because they are too long for the class period. If you are stuck with her get a tutor and form a study group, it will be more helpful than this professor.
People who don't like Professor Ryan either don't go to class or don't care at all about the class. She's very clear about all of the coursework and what you're expected to know. Her lectures are really good as long as you pay attention and do the handouts in class. The work is explained twice, once in the homework and then once in class.
Not a very strict grader, easy to get a good grade if you show up and do your work. She is very hesitant to answer questions and most of the time I spent teaching myself the material. All around, she was a good professor, I would recommend her.
I got As on the first two exams by showing up to class, doing the homework, and redoing the homework for practice before the exam. However, when you get to acid and base chemistry, as she put it, the wheels fall off the bus. I dont think shes a bad professor I just think the content is hard. No matter who you take this class with, it sucks.
WORST lab professor I've ever had. Most of my lab professors are willing to work with you and help you get the grade you want, all while actually caring about you and your academic success. Prof Ryan is a psycho when it comes to grading, i think she sits at home and laughs at how many points she's taking off the lab. she wont answer questions eithe
She is nice, and tries to help. Analytical Chem will always be hard though. She goes pretty fast through lecture and doesn't really give time for us to ask questions except for office hours
Absolutely terrible. I never rate professors, but holy cow. Do NOT take.
When you go to ask her a question whether it is in/outside of class she responds in a very mean tone and acts like she doesnt care. If it's a serious question she will either say, "You should already know this" or "Refer back to the reading". It would be much more helpful if she would take the time to help us.
lectures are very helpful and make a lot of sense, but what makes no sense is the due date of the online homework being before we actually have the lecture on that topic. i've struggled with simple concepts because the online reading is extremely unhelpful and i have no class notes to go off of. i didn't take an online course for a reason, Sheila.
I have never had a worse chemistry prof in my life. The assignments (73 so far) are due before the lecture is given. I am paying to teach myself all of the content. Sheila is condescending and rude laughs when students answer questions incorrectly & shamed the entire class for an exam avg. If 70 students fail, can you really blame the students?
This prof definitely gives off the vibe that she does NOT care about whether or not her students are successful in their education. He ignores questions and is short with the students whose questions she does answer. And, she assigns online readings before we learn the material in class. If I wanted to take an online class, I would have.
She is very smart and a very good teacher. Gives LOTS of homework, but it does help you learn. She is vey cold and will sometimes laugh at you when you get a question wrong, but overall a very good professor.
Not a good professor at all. Condescending, rude, and basically laughs at you for getting stuff wrong. News flash, how are we to learn if we can't ask you questions without you getting annoyed?
Explains super fast but then will elaborate when you ask questions. Grades easy on all labs.
wow, not a good professor at all. Rude and basically laughs at students for getting stuff wrong. You know we are trying to learn right? thats why we ask questions. If you laugh, why would you ever except us to talk to you?
She's very rude and seems to not give a crap about her students. For lecture she hates to be interrupted, I wouldn't dare to raise my hand while shes talking. Very homework heavy, you teach yourself everything for the day of class through webassign assignments that are due every day you have class. AVOID AT ALL COSTS FOR LECTURE.
Professor Ryan is ultimately the worst. She is rude, disrespectful and not caring about her students. She's fine outside of lecture, but during lecture she's not the best. She assigns entirely too many web assigns (79 to be exact). She makes fun of students for not knowing the answer to questions. I personally would not recommend Professor Ryan.
Oh where do I even start with this lady.... I can't tell you how much I despise this woman, she is the absolute worst. I have never met a more cold hearted rude person in my life. She doesn't give a single care in the world whether or not you are learning. You will need about 6 hours a week to do her homework and she will laugh at you in class, lol
Be ready to teach yourself the material everyday w webassigns due before lecture. She expects you to understand the content by doing 1 webassign before lecture. She hates explaining things again to students. She has laughed at students. Everybody hated her tbh. I'd sue for emotional stress. If you want a decent grade in chem, avoid her at all costs
Shes so rude first day of class already scolded a student in front of everyone because she didnt understand something. Expects you to just get something without us having any prior knowledge on it. Dont take her
Her lectures were very good in my opinion. I did not do well but I definitely could have studied harder. She I took her winter2021 and her transition to online was very good, recorded lectures and homework due like usual. The only thing I didnt like about her was that she was very judgemental and I didnt feel like I could go to her for questions.
She is a decent lab professor, she always made sure to explain things before the lab started. However, there was no communication between her and the students via email. During lab she could often be found talking to other professors instead of paying attention to what was happening in the classroom.
Her labs were great. She gives extensions all the time if you aren't able to submit your lab the day of. She also didn't spend a bunch of time talking before the lab which gave us more time to get work done. Good choice for first-time lab students.
Prof Ryan can be seen in lab socializing with other professors rather than answering students' questions. You ask her a question and she will point out 3 other things in your lab that she says are wrong and then won't even answer your original question. Super unhelpful, bad grader, overall not a good lab prof.
Inconvenient and various due dates: Things due at noon, 1PM, 10PM and spread across almost every day of the week. EXTREMELY unaccommodating: had COVID, told me to make it work. forgot to make an assignment available until a night before due and didn't extend deadline. Dont ask questions. she will berate you. Fast-paced/crams material. hard exams
I had her for CHM 116 lab. She laughs at you when you don't understand something. I've had to debate her for points back on multiple labs. She also struggles with letting any student get a 100% on the lab. If you've done all the work deserving of a 100. She will find something or make something up to take away one point.
Prof. Ryan can come off passive, but she gives extensions if you don't finish the lab in section and jokes around with you if you're on task. She's generally nice and answers any questions. I will say, she's a VERY meticulous grader - little details matter. If you come prepared & pay attention when she explains things, you'll get an A.
DO NOT TAKE.
Don't take her, she will mark you down in any way possible even if you get all the correct answers. She is unhelpful and unwilling to make compromises for points back.
She has a more dry sense of humor but is kind, she's not one of those people who blinds you with kindness though. The only assignments given include a pre-lab and then the actual lab report which is due right after lab. She explains the lab and basically leaves you to work on your own (you are allowed to work and talk with your tablemates).
She is a mid teacher. Nothing bad, nothing good. She will help you if you ask and explains things pretty good for a lab. She does take meaningless points off for things that shouldn't really matter though. She kinda just leaves you to do your work yourself with your partners and keeps to herself. I'd say she's a good teacher for lab.
She honestly just didn't have a clue what was going on and the online website used for course work she wouldn't even know why it was marking us wrong and would not help the students out. As well as she was a very harsh grader and with the online website issues she didn't bump any grades if she couldn't even figure it out.
Prof. Ryan is very kind and caring, and she takes lab safety seriously, and lab grading criteria even more seriously (this is not necessarily bad). She emphasizes sig figs heavily, but even if you don't pay too close attention to the prelabs, she explains the whole lab at the beginning, and will always answer a question by making you think.
Professor Ryan can be hit-or-miss. She has a dry sense of humor and doesn't hold your hand, but can be unhelpful at times. Unstuck study was a lifesaver for lab prep.
She is a good lab professor. She doesn't make you feel stupid for asking questions. I genuinely think she is not that hard of a grader and in terms of lab professors she was pretty good.
She's nice most of the time, but a lot of the time she can get a bit snippy. Sometimes she seems annoyed when you ask a question and will even give a bit of attitude. She grades kinda tough and will mark you down if photos aren't cropped perfect. She's nice overall, just a bit attitude-y sometimes as well.
Prof Ryan sets clear instructions/expectations at the beginning of class which was really nice, but she can be very snappy and make you feel stupid for asking questions. If I don't feel comfortable asking questions, I won't ask, and therefore won't learn, which is the whole point of a lab. I found her grading was also a bit harsh.
She makes you feel dumb for asking questions. Rude and snarky. Stay away if you want to have a good time in lab
Not a fan at all of flipped classrooms and this is exactly what it was. Video lectures were boring and hard to pay attention to. There was many things due all throughout the week including the 4 hour lab. She's pretty picky on everything so be prepared.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
84%
Textbook Required
43%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.80 avg changeRatings by Course
CHM109
5.0
(2)102
4.0
(1)CHM109LAB
3.5
(4)CHMLAB
3.0
(3)CHM115
3.0
(5)Difficulty by Course
CHM103
5.0
CHM02
5.0
116
4.3
CHEM102
4.2
CHM221
4.2