Reviews of professor Jonathan Barnes

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Orgo is very difficult by default, but Professor Barnes does everything he can to help his students. Despite the large class size, he truly wants to get to know his students and ensure they succeed. Extremely accessible in office hours and over email - definitely take advantage of these resources! Great lecturer as well :)

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Barnes is a very good professor. His class is difficult as orgo requires you to invest a lot of time to really learn the material. That being said, he is very accessible. Go to his office hours to get help or any clarifications on materials in class. He also tries to be as fair as possible with his grading. You will learn a lot and enjoy.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
CHEM 261 was definitely one of the harder classes I have taken at WashU. Professor Barnes did much to assuage my fears; he is a very nice guy with an interesting sense of humor.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Barnes is fine, but I am disappointed by the course structure. It took me back to rote memorization, which I cannot stand. I truly wanted to know the why's of molecular structures and reactivity. Perhaps more discussion time built into class would have helped, instead of flying through PPTs. Overall, the course was not bad, just not good.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Barnes is fine, but the course was not structured well. It would be good to have PLTL and help sessions to work on problems in groups. TA office hours were ok, but nobody went. I tried the other section, and that was same. It didnt help that Barnes missed quite a few lectures.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Covers a lot of material and is also super caffeinated. Office hours are incredibly helpful and prepare you well for the exam. Difficult class but fair grading and partial credit.