2.1
Quality2.5
Difficulty63%
Would Retake83
Reviews63%
Would Retake
83
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
83 total ratings5
5
4
9
3
16
2
21
1
32
What Students Say
“Easy A if you are good at memorizing”
CHEM121 - 2.0 rating“I hear he is easier in class bc he gives lots of extra credit, but online he was horrible”
CHEM110 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
73%
Textbook Required
85%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.19 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM103
4.0
(1)CHEM101
3.0
(3)CHEM281
3.0
(3)CHEM102
2.5
(24)CHEM100
2.1
(33)Difficulty by Course
101
5.0
CHEN101
5.0
CHEM103
4.0
CHEM121
3.5
CHEM120
3.0
Reviews (82)
Sometimes helpful, other time confusing.
Easy teacher, just use his practice tests printed off his webpage, and do the homework.
Very Easy if you ignore him in class and just read his printed out internet Practice Tests and Chapter Notes, its all there. He's Indian and very hard to understand in class, however he's a genious when it comes to typing up good notes. Print those notes!
Very confusing and hard to understand but generous with grades if you talk to him at his office. Print the notes and do the homework and try to get all of them right it will help your grade
he will lie to you. he will tell you to come and take a test then not let you take it. He will tell you an answer is right in class and then mark it wrong on the test
No Comments
doesn't speak english, he is confusing and doesn't really know any chem, but if you understand the sample test, your aright, but it isn't always the same as the regular test anymore
Very hard to understand. Don't talk to him outside of class b/c he is very rude.
Man its better you just have somebody sign you in, and go back to your dorm and count sheep. You will not understand that dude. Print out the notes and do the practice tests you will be aight.
Somewhat disorganized, makes many mistakes when doing problems. Average generosity with grades. As others have said, your best bet by far are the practice tests and online notes.
vry good teacher. tests are easy if you study well and practice the online test questions. you are good to make an easy A with good preparation.
only if you have a death wish take his class. The man gets mad if you ask him a question. His answer to a question is you are just suppose to know.
practice tests. do them. know them. earn your A,B,or whatever else by them. don't depend on him for a lot of help really. not very approachable mainly due to communication barrier i think. as i said practice tests are the key to whatever grade you want.
No Comments
very, very, very difficult to understand. speaks very little english. nice guy, just shouldnt be teaching untill he learns to communicate better
Everything is online. Very wise to take sample tests.
he is so sweet and tries to be funny, however, you can't understand him. his test are hard. to sum it up, you have to teach yourself, if you kinda already know chemistry, you will do good, if not. you should not take him. he expects you to already know a lot of stuff.
Can't understand a word he says and he's pointless to try and talk to outside of class. Find someone else (besides Deese) if you can.
don't even attempt to learn from his worthless lectures. he so keeps messing up when doing a problem in class. and you can't understand a word he says. he goes over stuff like it's a review session, and you are supposed to know everything. this is a "learn on your own class". he needs to get fired at a point and time.
Don’t u love it when the dude keeps messing up? I mean how many hilarious classes like this u would take in college? It’s true that u won’t learn anything from his lectures, but everything is online! do owl, practice tests, read his notes and u should be ok. u really have to work hard in this class, and learn stuff on u'r own. remember HS is over.
Even if he isn't very clear, he obviously loves what he teaches, and that's important too.
He sucks!!
Taking a chem major only class is very easy with Upali because he knows you pretty much know your stuff and even thought you cant understand anything he says and he messes up in class all of his notes and power point presentations are on the internet and if you study them you can definately pull an "A" same with his freshman courses
It's fairly easy to come away from his classes with an A. Just look up everything on his website and teach it to yourself. I still wouldn't reccommend taking him unless you have no other choice.
He is OK!
He was a lot of fun. Very funny and interesting. He provided plenty of work to prepare us for the tests.
Sometimes is a bit rude, but this is possibly just a poor understanding of American euphimisms and not actually cruellness.
Easy class, minimal work.
It's very important to keep up with the class through Blackboard.
He has a **** limp, but his teaching is good.
He is very hard to understand but is a very helpful teacher who tries to help you understand chemistry better. He grades really easy and is very lenient on deadlines and tests!!
cannot understand this guy when he talks, and he is completly random in his lectures, but his tests are very easy. If you understood high school chemistry, you just need to show up for test days
You can get an A if you do the work, but your going to have to teach yourself the material. Going to class doesn't help at all.
I think the class was actually pretty easy and Dr. Upali was really helpful when you asked him a question.
He is very hard to understand, but because he knows he's hard to understand he puts notes, powerpoints, and practice tests online. If you do these, his class is a breeze
Good teacher! Helps if you find someone who has already taken his class!!
Very nice guy, always willing to help students. Gives very helpful group activities to better understand material.
Dr. Upali took time for students when they needed him. He sincerely cares about the students and their work.
If you quit complaining and actually listen, he's not that hard to understand.
he knows a lot but cannot communicate it when he teachers. He doesnt speak engish very well and makes a lot of mistakes when writing worksheets and whatnot. Just study his online reviews and notes and you can get an A
If you can avoid him, do it! His accent made him hard to understand, and he did very little to actually help you. I'd have done better teaching myself the info, which is basically what ended up happening. His websites were helpful, but that was about it.
Absolutely horrible!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!
Horrible grammar and English so it is hard to pay attention. Does not really help students. Useless assignments.
His tests were easy, and he gave plenty of grades so it was easy to make an A, even if you miss more than a few. He has a very strong accent, which makes it hard to pay attention. I pretty much used OWL to learn the required material.
He speaks fractured English, has no sense of grammar, this is also evident in his notes and tests. His speech is very difficult to understand, and unhelpful even if you do mange to comprehend some of it. There is a quiz everyday, which is over whatever he can come up with. He always goes over time by at least 5 minutes, once by 20! DON'T TAKE HIM!!
Really easy class...lots of easy grades, but hard to pay attention. He has trouble explaining things because of his difficulties with the English language. If you are looking for an easy A then he is for you but if you are looking to learn...look somewhere else.
He isn't that hard to understand.
Only good thing about him is he has a lot of possible points in the class. So if you manage to do the work, you can get the grade. On the other hand, he is VERY hard to understand so it was hard to pay attention in class and his tests were somewhat hard.
Want an easy A? Take him. Want to learn anything at all? Don't.
Don't take him if you want to learn anything at all.
His class is not that hard. He is aware of the language barrier and while it's not really much of an issue, he tries not to load everyone down with complicated stuff. (Sometimes he will get lost in his own calculations though.) If you do the OWL assignments, you will be more than prepared for the tests.
He's very easy if you already have a background of chem. He's hard to understand, but he makes up for that by posting all of his notes on blackboard. His tests are really easy, and there's always bonus questions on it. There's a quiz every class but if you pay attention you always get an A. Do the OWL and the group activities and you'll get an A.
He doesn't teach at all, but it is very easy to make an A in his classes. Use the tests on BB to find answers to your daily quizzes- I always looked them up on my laptop during the quiz. Study the sample test on BB b/c it is identical to his tests. And be sure to do the OWL. Do those things and you'll make an A in Upali's class. 50 pt. bonus opp.
He makes the class easy by providing all that you will need online. Very mild use of book though since the notes online cover everything. He is sometimes dry in attitude towards students and makes things very difficult when it comes to rescheduling a test. He is hard to understand so read the notes provided. You do have to put some effort for an A.
You won't learn anything from him (Even if you can understand his very thick accent) but his tests are extremely easy. So if you never have to worry about chemistry in the future, go ahead and take him. If you will have more chems do NOT!
Easy class, but didn't learn anything. I made high C after making nothing but D's on the 3 tests and 10% on OWL. The saving grace was the group activities and daily quizzes. thats pretty much a given 300 points. And there is an optional 40 pt. bonus paper that you pretty much get if you turn it in. Sample tests help, I just suck at chemistry.
This is a chemistry class that is based on very abstract ideas, and this man doesn't help make it any better to understand. He's a goodhearted guy, but really has trouble connecting with students in this class. Take if for an easy A if that's all you care about.
This guy is very smart, but his teaching technique BLOWS. He's probably the worst teacher I've had. He knows his Chemistry, but he can't teach. Easy to make a good grade in his class. do OWL and class exercises.
I took this class thinking it would be super easy since 120 was a breeze, but I was completely wrong. The class is really boring and Siriwardane's way of teaching things completely confused me. The tests were really hard, so I went to tutoring twice a week for 2 hours and it helped a little. I would take someone else if you can.
This class is so easy a retarded chimp could get an A. However, Upali's teaching is non-existant. He spends whole class periods just going over homework, and then gives tests. That's it. Seriously. If you actually need to learn Chemistry, do not take this class. Please. Ever.
AWFUL. Doesn't teach at all, confusing course requirements, gets frustrated when questioned about standards, and accused me of "not paying attention" when asked to clarify an assignment requirement. He made sure to tell me his job "...is to teach, not make my life convenient". Duly noted and dropped for being an unprofessional bully.
Took his online chem 120 class. You basically teach yourself. He does not reply to emails. The online OWL assignments are endless and time extremely consuming! One good thing, his practice test is close to real test. Use practice test & test he post with chapter to study with. You wills see some of the same questions on real test.
Okay, you guys. All you really have to do to get a passing grade is show up, complete the practice tests online, and then memorize them. You likely won't learn anything, so good luck if you still try this guy. He's sweet, but not super effective.
Upali does not know what he is doing. He gets practice problems wrong every day and students have to correct him. His PowerPoints are not very helpful. He wastes time during class and talks about random stuff that has nothing to do with our lesson. He also does not answer questions very well. His tests are pretty easy. I got a 97% on my fist test.
TERRIBLE TEACHER!! Don't take him! He gets very defensive when you call him out being wrong but if you do something wrong or say the wrong thing he will jump all over you and make fun of you. And plus you dont learn a single thing in that class so pick a Chemistry teacher that you will learn something.
Nice guy, didn't learn a thing in his class. I had to teach myself everything. But if you do all the homework assignments and all of the quizzes which are super easy then you're good to go. Don't take this guy if you have other options. Seriously.
Dr. Upali is a very sweet man but usually has no idea what he is talking about. You will have group homework that you go over in class everyday and a 5Q quiz with unlimited attempts. Exams come exactly from practice questions, practice tests, and quizzes so I recommend printing everything he posts on moodle. Easy A if you are good at memorizing
I could not understand his accent, and he says stuff backwards.
Awful! I hear he is easier in class bc he gives lots of extra credit, but online he was horrible. He would not respond to emails except to resend the same email that he sent to the entire class that I was questioning him about. Even my advisor and proctor had a hard time contacting him and getting useful info from him. Language barrier!
Half the time he starts talking and confuses everyone in the room, even himself. There's definitely a language barrier there- be ready to explain your question in five different ways before he understands what you're asking. He goes over homework in class, so if you show up and write EVERYTHING down you get a nearly automatic A on the homeworktest
EASY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is good teacher!!
I couldn't understand through his thick accent. I passed with a high A because his practice tests are very much like the actual tests. He ignores certain questions. Take any other chemistry teacher.
Very knowledgable man, but his accent is hard to understand which makes it hard to understand new material. His lectures are not bad, he often throws in a few corny jokes which lightens the mood. The mastering chemistry homework he assigns is not related to his tests in any way, its just a way to earn more points. Finished his class with an A.
He is a good professor. He is Indian but if you listen and adjust to his accent he is easy to understand.
Great Teacher who wants to keep the class involved and participated. Really concerned about how we learn and gain knowledge in class and out of class work. Good for Research i guess.
He wont answer questions. Dont go to his room thinking you will get help. He was very rude in and outside of class. Expects you to just know and understand the concepts. He works problems wrong in class. Hard to understand yet loves to mumble to make it harder for you to understand. I recommend sitting up front and finding a tutor. Thats what I did
Dr. Upali is a very nice man who is very knowledgeable in what he's talking about. He works through the HW in class and posts practice tests that are exactly like the real ones. Although you don't really need the book, I'd suggest getting it & reading it before class so you can know what he's talking about because he is kinda hard to understand.
Any questions you ask will lead into a loophole of mumbles. He often talks in circles. The good thing is that most of your work is online. He puts up sample tests and you can take the quizzes as many times as you'd like. If you're good at teaching yourself, take this class. If you need a teacher to explain it to you, don't choose him.
He is a good professor, he gives plenty of bonus! I would say take him. He is not bad at all!
Took CHEM120 100% online, super easy. Homework, quizzes, & assignments for each chapter are based off of highest grade, so you have multiple attended. The Conenct HW & LearnSmart is a pain though. Test questions are exact questions from reviews/homework. Would recommend if needed an easy science class.
I took this course totally online- and it killed me! Totally had to teach myself how to complete all of the homework, tests, quizzes, and other assignments. If you do well with no guidance from a professor, this is the class for you.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
73%
Textbook Required
85%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.19 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM103
4.0
(1)CHEM101
3.0
(3)CHEM281
3.0
(3)CHEM102
2.5
(24)CHEM100
2.1
(33)Difficulty by Course
101
5.0
CHEN101
5.0
CHEM103
4.0
CHEM121
3.5
CHEM120
3.0