Russak, Justin  

Russak was extremely unhelpful in class, and would give you a standoff-ish tone every time you tried to go up to ask him a question. Don\'t bother trying to ask questions about anything not directly in the curriculum, because he will basically tell you that you\'re just a stupid engineer and that it doesn\'t matter to you. The TAs are useless. I don\'t think I have ever been in a class where stupidity ruled so strongly. The TAs would always take off a half point for stupid things on your lab just so they would not have to give a 100%. After saying all that, Russak\'s tests were at an adequate level (except for the final which was just a blood bath). The tests are tough but he adjusts the grades at the end of the quarter.

Justin is a nice guy. His teaching style is not too fast, but can be difficult to follow if you are not already comfortable with some organic chemistry terms. My advice is to schedule office hours with him or the TA if you are unsure of anything taught in the class because he gives weekly quizzes on the concepts-- usually four or less questions, but no homework is assigned for you to practice. Certain lab assignments can help with content on quizzes, but not all of them. The first midterm comes quickly, but is fairly simple. There were a number of labs that were worked on in class near the end of the quarter which helped most of our grades rise before the semi-challenging common final. After the final, we were given grace through a curve. I could have done much better in the class had I actually gone to office hours for clarification on some lab assignments and, of course, had I studied for each quiz. He understands that many people need the class as a support course, and I believe he is willing to help if you want/seek help.

Very poor at presenting material and question answering sucks. He misses class constantly as he must commute up to Cal Poly from SB HOWEVER... He has some of the most hilarious stories you will ever hear and, if you understand the material, he will show a lot more interest in you. If you must take him, become very good friends with the lab assistant and utilize their office hours as much as possible!

Russak really deserves better recognition than he gets. He's not a phenomenal professor, but he teaches fairly well and he's a pretty chill guy. I saw some comments about him making people feel stupid, but I've never seen or felt that in class. He always answers questions as well as he can. He certainly deserves higher ratings. Again, he's not the best prof out there, but he's a hell of a lot better than most of the chem professors.

He is an okay Professor; definitely knows his chemistry and is pretty good at teaching it. Not the most approachable guy, if he doesn't like you he can be kind of a dick but the class is definitely doable.

Justin is a really cool person. His young and funny but he's not the best teacher. His lectures are so vague and hard to follow. This course is really hard but having Justin didn't help at all. Most kids in the class were getting D's on all the tests and quizzes and nobody went to office hours because he's kind of an intimidating teacher. He's a cool guy but I'd advise against taking him.

Russak came in last minute to teach this course, however I do not believe that's an excuse for his poor teaching. He was extremely unapproachable with questions. After asking several during class and him making me feel stupid, or him asking me if I had read the textbook and not helping me, I felt it necessary to go to a different professor's office hours to get help. As the quarter progressed, he seemed to get a little better. I've come to view him now as a nice and funny guy, but still think he is a bad teacher. Perhaps he just needs more time to figure out how to teach this course, but unfortunately, my classmates and I had to suffer. There is certainly an issue when the class average on a midterm is a 64%. Being 1 of probably two other third years in this class, I have experience taking many classes before this one here at Cal Poly, and this was by far the most frustrating class I've ever taken. The material is HARD, and it's so much harder with a bad professor. I took chemistry and AP chemistry in high school and loved it, but it's a whole new ball game in Chem 127! There are weekly quizzes, several labs, 2 midterms, and a final that make up your grade. There is homework problems assigned but they are not turned in. The quizzes are always tricky, and unfortunately 25% of your grade, so you have to really stay on top of those. Labs take up the most time and are only worth 10%. Because everyone does so bad, he has to curve the class at the end. Stay away from Russak if possible.

Justin is a very cool chem teacher. he may make you seem like you are stupid sometimes but he's just really smart and wants you to figure things out for yourself. he's extremely fair on his tests and curves and there is no surprise material on his exams so just do the practice problems and listen to him in class and go to office hours so that he knows you are trying and it really helps

Justin is a super nice guy, but a very terrible teacher. His quizzes are extremely difficult and usually are made to trick you. His midterms are both very hard as well. My class average was a 52, so passing the class wasn't difficult with the curve. If you want a teacher that can actually present material effectively I would recommend NOT taking him.

Just don't do it, he's smart himself but a terrible professor

Dr. Russak is a smart guy, but a horrible professor. He is sarcastic, rude, and frankly doesn't know how to teach. He would not explain the labs at all, would expect you to know everything, and then give you a sassy tone when you ask him for help. Honestly the WORST professor I have ever had at Cal Poly and I really reccommend that you stay away from this class if you can.

Justin knows everything about chemistry, but sucks at teaching it. He is intimidating and extremely rude when you ask a question. He will basically call you stupid without actually saying you're stupid. One of my good friends went into his office hours and was asking for help and he said instead of the 35-45 hours recommended studying time she should study 65-75 hours a week, then laughed. He also asked me if I "seriously didn't know something" when I asked him a question, discouraging me to ever ask him for help again. All of his quizzes are very short so if you get one question wrong you're screwed. I failed both of his midterms, along with most of the class, even after the curve. I got a C on the final only because it was the department final and not written by him. Don't take this class if you can avoid it.

If you can avoiding taking Russak DO IT. He is an awful teacher. He doesn't teach you the material and his lectures are awful. Our first midterm average was in the 40%s and he blamed it on the class not studying. He is absolutely awful do not take him.

Justin...Honestly a pretty chill guy. He is kinda funny, somewhat reasonable, and pretty smart. HOWEVER. He is an awful professor. I don't think he understands that he barely taught my 128 class anything. I went to class everyday. Listened to his very monotone voice speak about VERY little info that really didn't help in the class at all. I learned everything on my own and from going to other professors office hours. He would lecture for MAX 45 minutes (and by lecture, I mean reading off slides and making absolutely no sense). He would often try to be funny but would end up talking about cocaine or his "32 timed distilled alcohol". The class itself was a joke. The labs weren't explained at all, and virtually no one in the class knew what to do. On the last lab I pretty much turned in nothing because we learned KINETICS (which is a big part of the class and a big part of the final) in one damn day. He really expects you to know everything before, and his tests are really unfair. We had like 4 quizzes on ICE Tables, and really did't have good quality tests. The second midterm had an average of 62...explains a lot about his teaching. The final was really unfair. HE told us before that it was easy, but NO ONE THOUGHT IT WAS. My whole group thought it was insane, as he tested us on stuff HE NEVER MENTIONED. As you can tell, I don't recommend taking him. PLEASE don't. Save yourself. Also, people say he looks like a chipmunk, but i don't see it

Chem 128 is a hard class. Even harder when the professor isn't the best. Dr. Russak was an intimidating guy in the fact that he wasn't approachable and kinda talked down to everyone. I was scared to ask questions. His lecture was pointless, and his labs weren't very well explained. Not a bad guy, just didn't seem very enthusiastic about the class. His examinations were very hard and his final was treacherous...If you want an easy B take another teacher, because his class is challenging, and has to curve the class at the end because so many people are doing poorly.

Justin is a really cool guy, but he hasn't quite got the whole teaching thing down. If you take his class expect to spend a lot of time figuring everything out on your own. He gives you pretty vague lecture notes with a lot of random bit of information, and you'll definitely need to put in a lot of time in the books and watching other lectures online to figure everything out. The labs take a lot of time--don't ask Justin for help, he really isn't going to help you. I am lucky to have gotten a B, and its safe to say I won't take Justin again, regardless of how cool he is.

Justin's class is fairly easy as long as you pay attention in lecture. His test and quizzes are all information from powerpoint slides which he puts up on polylearn, so you honestly don't have to bother yourself with the suggested homework problems. He does come off as a bit of a smart ass towards some people,but it tends to be towards all the students who asked questions about information already presented during lecture. He also curves heavily and I mean heavily! There should be no reason for you to fail this class. Lab is basically a breeze so it should boost your grade in the class.

His poly rating does not reflect the class. First of all, this is chemistry. If you do not put the time in, you are not going to get an easy A. Although Justin rarely ever had office hours, he always clarified concepts over email and even text messages. I personally went to two other chemistry 128 professors for help just because I studied at baker and it was just convenient. I never felt rushed for quizzes and sometimes during his lectures he would say what might be expected on the weekly quiz. His class is long but usually always let us go early. My biggest advice is to sit in the front! He is soft spoken and I had to move after the first day because I could not hear him. His midterms weren't that bad, he gives midterm reviews and curves based on how people did. They are short tests, mostly multiple choice and mostly based on his lectures and lab questions. He's not that bad guys!

Justin is pretty funny and fairly good at explaining topics. The first midterm was super easy (thermodynamics) but everyone was pretty surprised by the second midterm, which averaged somewhere in the 50s. He doesn’t give ANY supplemental material other than his lecture slides so I recommend reading the textbook and doing a few problems on your own. There was always a quiz each week when we had class so make sure you spend at least an hour studying both concepts/definitions and doing problems for it. If you struggle with chemistry I highly recommend taking a workshop or study session with this class and studying with others outside of it. He does not curve any tests or quizzes but generously curves the class at the end. That said, do not fail any exams!

I definitely recommend taking Professor Russak. He is an interesting teacher and very clear about the material he presents. He is pretty chill too, we got out of class early almost everyday. There are three exams. Let's you replace your lowest test grade with your points from participation, and we convinced him to have the third exam be take home. This is my fifth chemistry course at Cal Poly, and I think he is definitely one of the best chemistry teachers.

Russak is VERY knowledgeable about ochem, and I thought he was overall a great teacher. A lot of people didn't like him because they didn't think he was professional, but I really liked him for the most part. My only problem with him was that sometimes instead of answering students' questions, he acted like we should already know the answer. But he was very good at explaining concept in the first place, so that wasn't too big of a deal for me. Also, he didn't do a very good job of telling us what was going to be on the final...He gave us a study guide, but then we didn't even need to know a lot of hard concepts on it for the final. But overall, he was a nice, smart teacher who was good at explaining things and was also pretty funny. He kept me awake for a 7-9 am class, so I think that says something about him! And I actually ended up liking ochem, despite hating general chem!