Sweeder is the shit. he is the best professor hands down. at first he can be intimidating because he is so inteligent but he is very approachable. im not four pointing the class and it is not easy. it takes a lot of work, but sweeder is very fair and helpful through out the course. he does teach chem so lecture can get boring but he does a very good job of making it interactive and understands that it can be tedious so he does his best to break up the monotony. during class he makes jokes, and just has a fun time. plus he sporadically swears when hes writing which is hilarious. sweeder is a supernerd badass and i would highly recommend switching into his class because not only will you get more out of it than if you had another professor, you'll also have a good time.

Pros: Eh

Cons: None

This guy is kinda biased and have favoritism. He thinks he is bright and intelligent and loves to look down on students. He likes to fuck students over on the exam. He puts useless crap. One perfect example is that we learned about limiting reagent. He ends up putting some stupid airbag problem with molecules and the whole class was completely lost and stumble. Also, on his exam, he likes to give you extra information that is so useless. For example, one of the problems had molecular weights for each atom, but you did not EVEN need to use any of these information on the exam. Clearly, this guy wants to FAIL you. I suggest taking it with Cass and surely, you are not gonna learn a damn thing in that class. Also, he likes to put random molecules on the exam and you have no idea how to read it. You were completely lost as duck.

sweeder downright sucks. i got A's in chem in high school and now i'm like just passing and i study like every freaking minute of every freaking day. i dont think sweeder can teach stuff very well at all, i think la duca is much better, and i had to start attending laduca's lectures on top of sweeder's just to figure out what the hell sweeder was talking about. his exams suck BIG TIME and he WILL put stuff you only went over for like 1 day on the exam, and he WILL put stuff from the chem lab on there too, so watch out. the only good thing about him is that he's doing some study about how kids learn chemistry, so he's really interested about your opinions regarding the class or exams/tests, etc. but other than that, he stinks.

Sweeder is a great professor. He thoroughly explains all the material in his lectures and he writes some of the fairest exams I've ever seen. Don't think that lecture notes alone will make you successful though. Be sure to actually read the book and do as many practice problems as you can. He posts old exams online, which are almost exactly the same as the real thing, so there is no excuse not to succeed. He's extremely helpful during office hours, so don't be afraid to go. I highly recommend him as a professor if you really want to understand chemistry.

Sweeder is awesome! He has a pretty good sense of humor and tries to make class interesting. I do agree that the material is not the easiest thing and he may not do a perfect job teaching it, yet I still believe he teaches it really well. If you care about succeeding, he is willing to help. I had him for two semesters (LB 171 and LB 172), and he really tried to get to know his students. He holds review sessions before an exam, which can be really helpful. Yes, his exams can be challenging, but hey, its chemistry, what do you expect? If you keep up with the class, they shouldn't be too big of a problem.



I will always remember when I asked him to make an exploding water bottle in lab with liquid nitrogen. He told me "go ahead, just don't be stupid about it and throw it in the garbage can or something". The expression on everyone's faces when the garbage can exploded was priceless.



I am not sure if he is going to do it in the future, but he taught his second semester class a little differently than first semester. He got away from learning the material the standard lecture-type way and we used modules instead. I recommend the class if he does it that way (or the other way too!). I learned a lot of things, such has how to think like a scientist and make professional-looking posters, that I would not have learned in the regular chemistry.



All in all, Dr. Sweeder is AWESOME!

Sweeder is a good Prof. On the one hand he is new and flexible so if you have a problem with how he's teaching he will change for you. And he is a really nice guy in class and during office hours (he even gives his AIM). The problem is that he's new so it should be expected that he won't be the greatest of all Profs. What he has told me is that his exams are geared towards getting kids out of the high school mentality and into the real world mentality of applying what you know. His exams are difficult, even for a kid who got a 3 on the AP like myself. He does like to have fun in class, like today we got to play with liquid nitrogen in lecture. Most of the students who say he sux expected to get a lecture and then spit the lecture back out for the test, well tough shit, thats not how college exams go. And when he saw a large number of kids do poorly on the exam he gave us an oppotrunity to raise our grade by 1-2 letter grades (depending on what grade you had) so even though the exam was tough you eventually get the grade you deserve. If you have a choice between him and Laducca choose laducca though FOR RIGHT NOW, but i feel in a few years once sweeder gets his shit strait he will be a really quality prof. I would say if you took AP Chem dont be afraid of him at all and even if you didnt you should give him a chance before you switch out.

I had Dr. Sweeder for LBS 171, 171L, 172, and 172L. I'll admit at the beginning it was very hard to get into, but his teaching style makes it easy to stay awake in class. He's very into what he teaches and makes lecture funny sometimes. Labs are a pain, but at least you're learning something! University chem is a joke, if you want to be helped in the long run, the LBS labs are verrrrry good. I don't know ANYONE who has gotten below a 3.5 in lab, I doubt anyone has failed it. It's near impossible to fail since the bulk of the points are just coming and participating. The quizzes aren't hard if you just read the labs, and most of the LA's will help you out with reviews as long as the class listens.



The tests throughout the semester are pretty easy, but his finals are very hard. There will be things on the final that he maybe mentioned once, and it pretty much sucks. LaDuca's tests are supposedly much more straightforward, but Sweeder offers review sessions the he himself does which is very nice. Go and take notes, and pay close attention in class! The use of CPS helps a lot, those questions are a lot like test questions.

The reason that Sweeder only gets a 2.5 for 171L is because I didn't think that the labs were very well organized, or the LAs were very helpful. Both my LAs and a lot of the other LAs provided misinformation on a regular basis and didn't know where anything was or whether certain equipment even existed. Plus, the quizzes were nitpicky and Sweeder NEVER came to lab though Davis did and was quite helpful. I'm not going to rate Davis as a lab professor, though, because I'm pretty sure Sweeder probably wrote all the labs and I know he sent out all the e-mails, and, therefore did all the behind the scenes work. Plus, I'd like to keep Davis' current rating out of respect for all those that have suffered through her abominable lectures. If it's not necessary investigate taking the university lab.

Sweeder is not a bad prof...a few more years experience teaching will probably make him a better prof. Lecture is not too bad (considering it is chemistry) and he covers material pretty well-if a bit fast. Exams are devilish at times and he can be very nitpicky about things. The work load is (usually) a problem set per week from the book, between 10 and 15 problems sometimes more and a quiz in recitation each week. Exams are about a month apart (or so). My suggestions: if you are in LBS and plan to go to med school/vet school-take this class. Read the book, show your work (Sweeder gives partial credit on exams for that, and LAs usually give partial credit for showing work on quizzes), and just spend time on the materail and you should do okay.

I sorta dont know if sweeder got better since first semester with him in 171. He probably attempted 5 demos this semester in 172 and 0 of them worked. However, he got a lot better at answering questions in reviews. I think La Duca wrote most of the exams (they doubled up so they swapped profing every other chapter) so i dont know if he really improved their but i think i got the hint he used to write terribly hard questions because i heard Sweeder kicked off a question on the final the La Duca wrote. And if you dont know how to study for chemistry 172 get out of briggs.

Sweeder cares a lot about his students and being a good teacher, but he definately hasn't figured out how to be one yet. YOu can tell he is new, even tho he teaches with enthusiasm so lectures aren't boring, he is confusing and not good at explaining things in general. Plus, you could go into an exam knowing everything and it doesn't matter cuz he will test you on random in-dept things that he briefly mentioned once. And he includes lab concepts and examples in his exams. I would not recommend him until he has some experience under his belt. He has potential tho!

Great prof! Seriously, you can 4.0 the class, but it won't be easy. I 4.0ed 171 with sweeder and loved him so much that I went back to him for 172. But I had to work my ass off, do the problem sets, study for the quizzes (but don't study too hard), do the practice exams, go to class, do the CPS questions and GO TO OFFICE HOURS!! He's great in office hours, he really wants you to understand. But beware!! There is always one question on his exam that'll kick your ass if you didn't study. Great guy, really funny.

Dr. Sweeder was a great teacher!! I had a very frustrating time in the class because it was just a challenging class in general, but I am glad I took it with Sweeder. He actually WANTS you to learn and understand the material. He works very hard to make sure as many people understand that actually want to learn. He makes it very clear that you can always ask him about anything. He responds promptly to emails too. He even makes chemistry interesting and thats definitely a feat if you ask me. Great teacher!!

He was a good teacher. I understood pretty well what he was trying to explain but if not I would approach him during office hours he would take as long as needed to make sure I or anyone else understood the material. He honestly cares that his students pass and is willing to admit when he makes a mistake on an exam. Good teacher and I would def recommended him even though he is a little weird sometimes. The CPS questions help understand the whatever he is teaching and the demos make lecture interesting.

Pros: Good Teacher

Very Smart

Cons: Intimidating

A very good chemistry teacher who is good at what he does. His exams are difficult as he seems to apply the odd situations of chemistry to each question and students are left confused. While a 4.0 is not impossible it is certainly difficult but even with Cs on your exams there will be enough points in homework to get a solid 3.0 in the class. If you have Sweeder I recommend you get to know him, though he is intimidating he is overall a really nice guy.

Pros: Teaches really well

Cares about students

Gets to know students

Grades very fairly

Doesn't give homework other than mastering chemistry

Has a ton of office hours

Cons: Hard exams

Exams are hard, but he does this on purpose so that you only have to average an 85% on the exams to get a 4.0 in the class and like a 50% to get a 2.0

Will always help you

Has tons of office hours, always wants to help you learn and understand and never does it in a way that makes you feel bad about understanding.

Dr. Sweeder is awesome! He makes a lot of funny jokes in class and explains things very well. He also held a review session before every exam. The class was hard, but I worked my butt off and got a 4.0, so its all good. I learned a lot from his class and enjoyed the way he presented the material, but if you are looking for an easy 4.0 you are screwed. You are screwed anyway though because Hiranaka does not know what she is doing and Laduca is just as hard as sweeder.

He does a good job feeding you the material but his exams are a bit out there. If you look at the exams from the year before you should be okay.



If you ever need help go ask him in his office directly. He likes to get to know you and it will help you in the long run.



If the choice comes down to Sweeder or LaDuca it comes down to preference whether you want to see a model of an exam (Sweeder) or just hear this is what I will be doing for the exam (LaDuca)

I had sweeder for 171, 171L, 172, and 172L.

I am giving him a 2.5 because thats what I got. He is difficult to follow along with, as it doesnt seem to matter if you understand the concepts, but rather how much information he can throw at you in 50 minutes. Exams were very difficult, he harps on tiny itty bitty things that hardly matter in the big picture, and boom, you've failed. This looked really nice along side a bunch of 4.0s on my grade report.

Perhaps a little to eager to blow things up, and a little unorthodox on his exam writing.... But still overall a good guy. He knew the material, even if he wasn't the best at explaining the concept behind it and he used loads of demos, hydrogen balloons being his fav. He was very approachable and made a point ot socializing with his students. Not to mention this guy was funny, anyone who would refer to an atom as a whore, you have to give credit to.