Cons: One of the worst teachers I've had. He did nothing but solve math problems in class, teaching nothing about the actual science of chemistry. He made fun of students who asked questions. He routinely made mistakes in his problems. He made it very clear from day 1 he wanted people to drop out and that he had no interest in teaching the class. Overall anyone who might have a desire to get into chemistry going into this class would quickly lose that interest with this class.

Pros: you may learn to laugh

Cons: subjected to constant "projection" onto students, by this guy, his own problems and particular idea of the world. I'm not going to tell those, you will just have to take the class, but he isn't too difficult.

There is nothing he will love more than for everyone who may be thinking of taking this class to read the negative reviews! That is how some professors get a great reputation for being such a successful professor! Let me tell you... he knows he is doing it! Don't believe any bullshit from this guy. Best of luck to you!

His lectures are super boring. He spends most of the time talking about the hazards of the experiment and telling you concentrated sulfuric acid is dangerous. Duh. His quiz and test are ridiculous. The questions are about little nitpicky things about the procedures of the experiments, not about the chemistry behind the reactions. Doesn't return emails.

Pros: You'll get really good at basic chemistry from doing the massive amounts of homework every week that turns into just 10 points in the end of the semester so that you will get an A when you retake it with someone who isn't a douchebag and actually enjoys life, people, teaching and chemistry.

Cons: Having to listen to some guy be an arsehole and wonder why you don't understand how to do his math problems that he refuses to teach you while he makes fun of you for being an idiot.

He is the worst teacher I have ever had. I learned nothing. He told us that he was not here to teach us, but to facilitate us, but good luck asking him a question and not getting made fun of for not knowing everything about chemisty when you're taking an intro level class. I read the chapters and did all the homework and bought books outside of the regular text to supplement it and studied every day and never missed class and learned nothing. The old exams and homework and what we do in class is not what is on the test. He purposely tries to trick students into getting answers wrong instead of helping us learn basic chemistry building blocks. On top of it all, he is just a huge douche to everyone. I feel sorry for him. Do not take this class. I cannot stress this enough. I don't ever rate professors, but this guy is beyond ridiculous. If everyone stops taking his class maybe he will finally get fired.

Pros: easy target to make fun of

Cons: douche bag

Silverman is a douche and will take every opportunity to make you feel stupid. Just rise above it and put him in his place!

Lewis Silverman isn't the best teacher ever. I've had some bad chemistry experiences and his class I loathe. He's not a good teacher at all.

Cons: Rude

Doesn't care about learning

Cons: He has a god complex.

Pros: His material is very informative and helpful, but his teaching style is terrible. He doesn't differentiate between what we need to know and what we don't. In Chemistry knowing how to do problems and understand why you are doing what you are doing, and what to learn is paramount. For my teacher, he has terrible writing and moves too fast through his lecture, (based off the notes), to clarify what his writing says. That wouldn't be too big of a deal for the students up front if he spoke slowly, but he speaks and moves through notes at double the appropriate pace to actually learn the material well. This leaves those in the back half of the auditorium, those with subpar hearing, and those with slow writing methods or brains (i.e.. ADHD & Bipolar people) and those with poor scribble deciphering skills out of luck. About 4/5 of the 500 student class leaves by the end of the semester and this starts very early on in the course. I will actually have to retake this course next semester because it's so poorly taught, that I won't be able to get an A no matter what amount of effort I put forth. I even have a tutor, (and have gone to review sessions with a Chemistry TA), that has taken multiple Chemistry courses, and some of the stuff we work on baffles him. He says that what I work on is too hard for the class that I'm taking. I don't mind the hardness of the course at all. What I have a problem with is the lack of clarity and the lack of empathy for the students taking the course. For a sample chapter he may have a problem set of 40 problems, a chapter problems page with 50-100 problems from the book and their answers in addition to a packet of problems for the chapter not derived from the book constituting another 50-100 problems to do and multiple past exams that have 20-25 questions each. I realize that no one is expected to do all of this, the problem is that the problems are there like we are supposed to do them. There is also no differentiation between more helpful and less helpful practice problems to prioritize our practice or studying. If 100 problems can prepare us for the 20-25 question test, then why do we have as many as 300-400 problems, that take a lot of time even if you do understand them, if all we need is a fraction of that number. If 100 problems can't prepare us for a 20-25 question test, then either the test or problems should be rethought and I think that that should happen in this case as well. I think that that's Silverman's military training coming through, that if 200 problems is good, 400 problems is better. The harder the better in other words. I actually talked with the professor personally and his words to me, paraphrasing here of course, followed like this "The semesters when you have chemistry you should have your nose buried in a chemistry book most of your free time." For an introductory class just covering the basics of a field, this is unacceptable.

Cons: The professor comes from a military background and so he is quite strict and tough on everyone. Supposedly he gets nicer in more advanced courses, which makes me feel even worse about being in his class because then you know he can change. I have had to print off literally 200+ pages for the first four chapters before I realized that some of it was totally unnecessary, but he still had it on our schedule to download and print.

Grading Scale for Fall 2011 is as follows: Best three out of four exams, 50 mins each, 100 points for each exam with multiple choice and/or word problems depending on exam. 6 Quizzes, 10 points each. 5 Homework Assignments (Blackboard) Basically problems sets due a month or so out. Sometimes they overlap and so you have to be an excellent scheduler and time manager to avoid late night disasters with the problem sets. One Final Exam, 140 points. 550 points total.



The below sites will help you in the class and are my favorites.



I received no compensation of any kind for sharing these websites with you.



Sites everyone should know about!



http://www.freedomainradio.com

http://www.psychohistory.com

http://www.calnewport.com/blog

http://www.khanacademy.org

http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/

www.ted.com/talks

Pros: There are no pros for Professor Silverman.

Cons: I have quite a few complains about this particular professor. First and foremost, one of my friends transferred in from Chem 1320 at the beginning of the semester (Spring Semester 2012). He transferred in a week before the Add/Drop deadline. At this point, we had already had 2 blackboard quizzes, as well as a homework assignment. The test was that Thursday after the Add/Drop deadline had passed, and my friend went in to talk to him to get help and hopefully get the quizzes unlocked. Professor Silverman told my friend that it should have been impossible to add his class (even though the deadline to add/drop had not come yet) and that he wouldn't reopen the homework/quizzes just for my friend. He said that my friend was being stupid, and call him a "punk-ass" as well as disrespectful. He told my friend "good luck" on the first test, and that he expected him to fail the test. The next experience I had with him was when two of my friends tried to withdraw from the class. The withdrawal date was the Monday after Spring Break. They withdrew from the class during Spring Break, both of them withdrew with C-'s, so they expected a W to appear on their transcript. It's better to be safe than sorry, so they went in to go speak with him during his office hours. He yelled at them about withdrawing from the course. He told them that it was irresponsible and that he expected they continue attending all his lectures and exams. Finally, my experience with him was also horrible. The Monday of finals week, my grandfather passed away. I left town after my final on Monday to go be with my family. The only other final I had during this week was Professor Silverman's. He gave the option to use that we could not take the final, and receive the grade we had right now in the class. This meant that the final would not be added on to the total points, so the point total would only be 410 instead of 550. I didn't need to take the final to get my desired grade, so I had decided to skip it even before finals week. The only stipulation to the final was that we show up, and fill out a scantron and turn it in if we intended to skip. With my grandpa's passing, and his service/funeral being scheduled during my Chem final, I thought that it would be alright if I just e-mailed/called Professor Silverman to tell him about the situation and instead of coming in just skip the final completely. After I e-mailed him the situation, he told me to come to his office the next day. I had already left to be with my family, and I e-mailed him and told him that. He ignored this e-mail. I e-mailed him again asking if there was time to come in the day after our final (the Friday of finals week) or if I could call and discuss things with him. He told me to call him the next day. I did so, and the entire purpose of the phone call was for him to yell and chastise me. He told me that it was irresponsible to "just jump in a car and leave" and that I should have come seen him before he left. He told me I was being unfair to my classmates and that I needed to come see him next time I was in Columbia. Needless to say, this kind of behavior is not professional, nor should it be acceptable as a professor.

Horribly rude, and insensitive. Doesn't care about student learning in the slightest. Makes his class intentionally hard, and tries to lock you into the class after you're already failing to ensure that you get a failing grade.

Pros: Class is easy because TA's grade the labs.

Cons: Silverman is an idiot and his lectures are awful. Don't go to him for help because he'll just try and make you look stupid and not answer any questions you have. Also, his tests pick out little things in labs that aren't necessarily relevant.

Terrible professor. He was incredibly rude and pushy. If someone asked a question in class, he would literally get mad at them and make them feel stupid in front of hundreds of other students. If you have to take this class, don't expect a nice professor from this guy.

The guy is an absolutely terribly teacher and will not help you in hardly any ways.

Pros: tegrity classes

Cons: confusing material that is not related to test.

would not recommend.