Richard Saykally
- School: University of California Berkeley
- Location: Berkeley, CA
- Department: Chemistry
- 4.0Overall Quality
- 3.9Helpfulness
- 4.1Clarity
- 3.0Easiness
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CHEM4A
Explosions are fun but you have to read the book if you wish to do well. Lectures are interesting but are not always relevant to what is going to be on the exam.
chem1B
Saykally's an enthusiastic professor who made class really interesting, not to mention his explosive demos at every lecture. His midterms were tough and he was a harsh grader, but good professor
CHEM1B
Saykally is a pretty fun guy. Loads of demos, but a pretty harsh grader. Didn't learn much in this class.
Chem1A
Competent, interesting, and had a good sense of humor. However, he placed too much of an emphasis on blowing things up which was interesting but not helpful. He was also too heavy on example problems, and did not discuss concepts enough. But ok overall. 7/10
Chem1B
Wonderful teacher. Lectures are interesting because he keeps the class involved and blows stuff up a lot. Easy to predict what will be on tests. Easier class than expected.
Chem4A
His lectures cover only the bare basics of what you really need to know, but he's more helpful in office hours. Also, explosions are lovely.
CHEM4A
I failed this class, but I still liked it. This professor is a great person, and his lectures are clear, but he has a tendency to like to blow things up. Literally. He's great fun though, so you'll definitely be on your toes in his class.
Chem4A
I thought everybody was joking when they said he blows something up everyday but he quite literally does blow something up every day. Lecture is like a show for him and they're always entertaining and informative. He even plays music, pokes fun at other profs and is just generally awesome. I would recommend him to anyone; take one of his classes!
CHEM4A
Best professor for fall 07 4A. Engaging lectures with good presentation, at least one demo per class on average, manageable workload and a positive attitude. He has a lot of personality (although at times it can get a little irritating) and makes extra sure we get the core concepts.
Chem4a
The best teacher out of three for the Fall 07 semester of Chem 4A. He knew his stuff, explained everything clearly, and made the class fun and engaging. I actually looked forward to going to this class everyday. Oh, and he likes to do fun demos.
Chem1B
Good, interesting lecturer. Included lots of information about modern scientific applications. He also blew things up a lot. First 3 mid-terms weren't hard and followed his practice tests closely. However, his final was very difficult. Tip: facts in lecture that don't seem important (e.g. the entire C-N-O cycle, energy use statistics) will show up!
chem1b
Grades very fairly, midterms are easy, final is hard. Interesting lectures, likes to blow stuff up
Chem1B
Fun guy, fun class. Saykally gives interesting lectures and tries to incorporate recent advances in chemistry into the course material. As lower division science courses go, this one isn't too hard. Tests are usually fair.
CHEM1B
Weird class. He tried to get us interested in studying crystals by saying that they would improve our sex life. The material is very simple, but he likes to add random tangents. Textbook is awful! Office hours are useless because he just talks about his kids. Overall, he is a really good guy, though.
Chem1a
He's got a sense of humor, does great demos, and obviously enjoys teaching. He made me want to come to learn and come to lectures. Tests and assignments are about average difficulty. Overall, he's best professor I've had so far at Berkeley.
CHEM1A
He probably ranks as my second favorite professor at Berkeley (#1 is Alex Filippenko). He's a fun guy and always has cool demos. He also explains things well and writes everything out on the board. However, I found that towards the end of the class (quantam mechanics), his lectures became obtuse, so I watched Kubinec's lectures instead.
Chem1A
Great professor, very fun and entertaining. Demos are exciting and fun to watch. Occasionally mentions terms that are unrelated to lecture and unexplained. Exams are easy, final was extremely easy. Overall a good experience, try to get him for 1A!
Chem 1A
he was such a fun professor-- loved his demos, one of those professors who makes you realize it's not really about the grades, but really about learning the material
Chem 1A
nice guy, entertaining. lectures were very interesting and engaging. tests are somewhat difficult (second midterm especially). just make sure to understand how to do everything in the homework and you'll do fine. it's also helpful to go to the SLC and office hours.
Chem 1A
Saykally is awesome! His lectures were helpful and explained things in a different way then the text. The tests were based off the lecture, but reading was also helpful. His tests were not very difficult, especially if you have a strong background in chemistry.
Chem 1A
very good professor. his explanations made sense and he had cool demos too! exams are hard and really tests knowledge of chem concepts.
Chem IA
Saykally is an amusing lecturer, but lectures usually consisted of too many demos. The tests covered different material from the lectures so a lot of individual work and reading was required for the class. He's a good prof however & cares about his students and he likes to write on the blackboard.
Chem 1A
Although the class is extremely difficult, Saykally made up for it. Lecture was always very entertaining, and he really cares about each student.
chem 1a
very good teacher and very clear...only bad thing was that he had to go on like a 3 wk lecture tour during classes
Chem1A
Saykally is more personal than Kubinec. Avail for office hours, very nice, and really cares, he really does. tests are all the same for chem 1a, they are hard, this class is hard, arguably the most difficult class at cal, arguably the most difficult chemistry class in the USA. consider that, it is a very tough class. Saykally is great.
Chem 1A
Good professor to start but then he went on a month long vacation right before a midterm. After that I just went to Kubinec's lecture til the end of the semester. Take Kubinec if you can, but Saykally's all right, too.
Chem 1A
this guy is the best professor in the worldd!! such a funny guy and gives fair tests. great teacher!
Chem 1A
Saykally is a really good professor. He's funny and likes to put music on. Great demonstrations, unfortunately some got banned by the dean. The class is requires you to study and know the material. Exams are moderately hard. He is a good choice for a professor.
Chem 1A
Chem 1A is a hard course, but Saykally is a great prof. He is fun, funny, interesting, and does great demonstrations (ie singing, blowing things up with regularity) which all serve to make the class period fly by. The tests, though, are HARD, as is the work load, and lab can be extremely boring. But Saykally is awesome! Such a cute older man!
Chem 1A
Funny guy with good demonstrations. His examples are helpful for the homework and stuff so use that to your advantage.
Chem 1A
An entertaining professor who keeps the attention of the class while demonstrating some important concepts. Excellent overall. To get a good grade, just do your work--the reason people have trouble is because they slack off in the transition to college.
Chem 1A
Really fun class! Saykally explains fundamentals well and does a lot of example problems that are indicative of what will be on the midterms. Great personality, exciting explosions, applies chemistry to the real world, makes for an enjoyable class.
chem 1a
he tries very hard to make his lectures interesting with demonstrations and obnoxiously bad clothes. as for the content itself, most of the material you have to learn on your own and the lecture is basically ancillary material because he only goes over the basics in class.
Chem 1 A
A few people might benefit from Saykally's lectures but mostly you have to learn everything from the labs and the textbook anyway; it wasn't long before half our class stopped coming.
Chemistry
1a
Really cool guy, easy to listen to but to many examples and not enough teaching of concepts.
Chem 1A
unhelpful and hard exams not straightforward or from the book. Spends more time on trips and appearing at elementary schools than taking time to care about his students. Also, looks too much like Hugh Heffner.
Chem 4b
He was a really good teacher... i enjoyed his lectures and he explained things well. you have to read and make sure you kno the key ideas of each chapter. keep up with the reading and hw and you'll be fine. oh yea and he has really cool demo's...just be
Chemistry
1B
Always managed to be out of town prior to exams, thus avoiding office hours (at least back in Sp. '96). Assigned the same research paper topic to 200+ students, creating a shortfall of sources. Good move.
Chem 1A/B
Awesome prof. Lectures are intense/interesting experiences - he ties real world into chem. Even w/ class size 1k+ he's totally approachable in office hours. He took entire class out to lunch in grps of 25+ to get to know us!!!
Chem 4B
AWESOME-ness. His love and enthusiasm for teaching is apparent and almost contagious. I truly enjoyed attending his lectures. (The many demos didn't hurt either!)
chem 4B
He is interesting and entertaining. He also goes a little crazy with the demos and usually has an explosive substance ready for the class to enjoy.
chem 4b
saykally rocks! loves exploding things almost as much as you enjoy watching things explode. between the explosions, the brightly colored hawiian shirts, and the animated teaching style, saykally's class is definitely entertaning.tests are on the hard side but he makes the material fun.
Chem 4B
Very animated professor, fun to watch in lecture. His abundance of personality and charm make morning lectures remarkably easy to sit through, even exciting. APPROACHABLE; makes it a point to learn students' names that attend his office hours. Really cares about his students. Challenging tests.
chem 4b
He makes really hard tests and you have to go to lecture. He doesn't always test you on the book. He likes very theatrical, i'm not quite sure about his teaching abilities. He likes to throw out a lot of stuff at once; it doesn't mean he'll explain it all.
chem 4b
wears hawaian shirts every day. Good lecturer. Really bad test maker. Explosions. Bad, hard tests...
Chem4B
wow..difficult exams...make sure you READ THE BOOK... cool lectures though, lots of explosions
Chem 4b
This guy is awesome, best teacher i've encountered at Berkeley. Has awesome demos (blows stuff up a MINIMUM of one time per lecture) and explains the actual material fairly well also.
Chem 1B
Fun lectures. Exams are reasonable, but study notes well. Go to office hours and you may get some good tips on what to study for exams.
chem 1a
really cool prof, i enjoyed the teaching style...tests were pretty challenging though
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