Reviews of professor Dan Zaleski

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
It's sad because you can tell he is a genius and cares about students so much but doesn't know how to express it. I did really poorly in CHEM101 even though I went to OH constantly and studied every day of the week. I have never tried so hard in a class for such little reward. You will not pass unless you took AP Chem and go to OH.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Zaleski truly cares about his students and the material he teaches. In fact, he spent an extra hour proctoring me when I was unable to make the first hour of the final exam. Most of his poor reviews were from his first semester of teaching, but he has drastically improved since then. However, he does still move through powerpoints very quickly.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
He is smart to a fault; he doesn't know how to explain basic chem 101 concepts well at all and is patronizing when it comes to questions. The HW is ridiculously hard but if you go to his office hours he will basically do it for you. Tests are also pretty impossible, especially because he's so bad at teaching. Weird/nice dude but Im so glad its over

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
lectures aren't really indicative of what is on test. I think that he is so smart that teaching a basic level chem class is difficult for him. Definitely a genius but can't break things down a basic level, just skips to the hard stuff and assumes you understand everything else. Quizzes are worth a lot and only have 5 multiple choice questions

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Zaleski is not an engaging man. He also has trouble explaining information when students don't understand it the way he taught it, leading to kids getting poor grades and not knowing why. He moves faster than it is possible to learn.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Worst professor I've ever had. Makes horribly complicated and word-heavy powerpoints and then reads straight off of them. Could never ask questions b/c I never knew what to ask. Assignments are horrible. He once gave a prob. set that required programming knowledge (NOT a prereq) and when I asked for help he did it for me w/o explaining anything.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Dr. Z is very nice and accessible, but the homework assignments and tests are far beyond the level of difficulty that a chem 101 course should be. That being said, the class is curved nicely, but still requires a lot of effort and many hours spent in his office.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Zaleski's first semester teaching was definitely hard, but I stuck with him through his second semester and he got SO MUCH BETTER. He listened to students' feedback and we now use the textbook, have easy quizzes to help prepare, and the exams are all multiple choice. He is much more reasonable than last semester, and he's still super accessible