Silvestri, Michael  

Dr. Silvestri is a wonderful professor. He is easy to approach and talk to. Believe it or not he made organic chemistry fun for me because he enjoyed it. It is often rare to find a professor with this quality, a love for his subject and his students.

Hey is an ok professor. I learned everything from the book. His lectures were quite boring, and he spends a lot of time with overheads. If you learn good from a book then take him, if not then take someone else!

Don't believe the good reviews! They're from two years ago and don't represent the professor now. Don't get me wrong- Silvestri is a cool guy. He's funny and an overall nice person, but he fails to recognize student difficulty and accommodate it. In lab, if you get your unknowns wrong, it knocks your grade down 10%! The class is a bit crazy too- 3 midterms, 1 final, 1 lab midterm, and 1 lab final. The class was a MW and we had a midterm monday and the lab final wednesday of dead week and then the monday of finals week we had the long ass final. Don't take this class unless you are one of those super-genius kids that just lives for ochem. This might be the hardest class I've ever taken. Be warned.

Silvestri is the man. Even though I struggled with this class (o chem can be a bitch, what can I say), I really enjoyed it. Silvestri is the chillest of the chill, and in lab he's not too overbearing, which makes it fun and not stressful. Sure, his tests could be challenging (the lab exams mainly) and he's a tough grader, but this is college and that should be expected. You've definitely got to put the effort into this class, you're not going to be able to skate by with an A like you may have in gen chem. Silvestri does like to pack things into dead week, so be prepared for that. As for the person's rating below, the 10% drop on a lab report for a wrong unknown is fairly standard. Don't let that scare you away from Silvestri, he's more than willing to help you figure it out, too. But overall, I'd take him as a professor again because I actually enjoyed learning about o chem despite how much I struggled with this class.

Silvestri is one of those professors that seem really nice but has actions that show otherwise. The lecture slides he uses are just pictures and diagrams from the book with barely any information on them, making it hard to go back and review. Pretty much you need to learn most of the material from the book to truly understand what is going on since, he overcomplicates things. He has a ridiculous lab midterm which most people did terribly on, and the sad part is he purposely does this to ruin his students grades. To top it all off he gave the class a pop quiz the Monday before we went for break KNOWING no one was prepared for it and told us it would be okay if we failed because it would give us motivation to study for the midterm (the class average for the quiz I believe was a 6/15). The only thing that he does to help is give you midterms from his previous 216 class to serve as a study aid which is pretty helpful. Other than that this man is truly no help in your learning of organic chemistry. Oh, not too mention he is the most unorganized person ever: The class met on Monday and Wednesday and we had a midterm Monday and a lab final Wednesday, all during Dead Week......and our final was Monday. On top of that he only gave us 2 hours out of the 3 for our final, when there were clearly a significant amount of students taking the exam minutes before he told us our time was up. He's awful and I would advise you to steer away from him.

Dr. Silvestri is one of the kindest human beings that I've ever met. He is so positive and happy, and it's infectious. His obvious love for organic chemistry is inspiring, especially for an aspiring chemist like myself. He grades very fairly, and he doesn't try to trick you with the exams like some professors might. I had him for both lab and lecture, and he's one of the best professors that I've ever had. His calm demeanor in lab is super great, especially since I don't do well with too much pressure from an overbearing lab instructor. I wish he was teaching the whole o chem series, I'd love to take him again.

Lectures can be a bit dry, but Dr. Silvestri is an extremely nice individual who seems to have the student's best interest at heart. I would recommend his class.

Do not believe the good reviews or the > 3 rating on polyratings. Dr. Silvestri is the worst organic chemistry professor in the department. His exams are unnecessarily hard as compared to the other professors and his lab exams are nearly impossible. He has three midterms, three quizzes, and two lab exams in total throughout the quarter. During dead week he has you take one quiz, one midterm, and one lab exam. All during dead week! And a lecture final the week after. He doesn't present the material clearly and you are honestly better off teaching yourself straight from the book. He lectures from powerpoint slides and leaves you more confused after each class. I have had to go to the office hours of other ochem professors for help on material that Silvestri failed to explain clearly. OCHEM STUDENTS OF THE FUTURE: please do yourself a favor and pick any other professor. Don't go through the hell that is Chem 216 with Silvestri.

He is very approachable, with clear communication through email. However, lectures were hard to follow and the "lecture notes" are basically just diagrams of random examples. It was hard to learn the basic concepts simply from looking at a few pictures. He did provide lots of practice problems, but again still hard to work through not knowing the basics. Overall, I did not feel prepared for future ochem classes, as I was forced to study by memorizing what I needed to know for the midterms, rather than learning the concepts and practicing my understanding of them.

Alright, so OCHEM is hard and we all know that but this class was not as bad as I was initially expecting. Silvestri's lectures are not helpful and drag on and on BUT the book and the practice exams that he gives are EXTREMELY helpful. The practice exams are basically the exact same as the real exams just with different compounds and numbers. DO THEM. There are also 3 "pop" quizzes but they are always the day before the test (if you do the recommended homework problems, they aren't that bad). Also, nobody really goes to office hours so if you do, he is extremely helpful because you can ask him questions one on one. I definitely dreaded this class (chemistry is my arch enemy) but really its not that bad! And I do think that if you don't like/aren't good at gen chem, ochem is a lot better/easier.

Silvestri was an excellent organic chemistry teacher. He is a little dry sometimes and his teaching style takes some time to fully understand, but once you get past that he's an excellent teacher. His midterms are very much based off of the example past midterms that he gives you. However, don't just memorize the example midterms, learn the concepts behind each problem and his tests will be easy. If I could, I would take Silvestri again and I would recommend him to anyone looking for an O-chem teacher.

Dr. Silvestri is the BEST professor for organic. He is so easy to approach and will go out of his way to help. He doesn't make you feel dumb like other professors if you missed something "you should have already known". He is a great person and fun to talk to about anything especially non-chemistry. Taking Dr. Silvestri is the best thing you can do.

Dr. Silvestri is a great instuctor and i would reqamend him to any one. He makes all of the O-chem seem so easy. One down fall is that he uses a lot of overheads but these are backed up by lots of explenation. He also adds a litle bit of a personal touch by telling stories about his time thought college. I also like that he gave us his acces to copies of his tests from the previous years so we could see how he has tested before. These helped out a lot.

Silvestri is great. I feel his laid back style helped me calmly learn the information and his tests were exactly what you expected. Not to say they were easy tests....but you DIDN"T walk out of the test asking yourself, "What just happened?" As with all classes, but this one especially, if you start off good early, it'll make the rest of the quarter flow much better. Take him if you can, NO DOUBT about it.

He is a really good teacher. When I studied I got an A on the tests and when I didn't I got a D. Silvestre is a really good teacher he took a subject that was really boring and made it somewhat intersting. I would recomend taking him over Frey, which I heard was really hard.

Dr. Silvestri is a very good ochem professor. He made a really difficult class interesting and his calm attitude towards the subject made organic chemistry much less stressful. The practice exams are very accurate indicators of what his tests are like. He is always available in office hours and very willing to help. Its a hard class that requires a lot of studying but if you take Silvestri chances are you'll end up really liking it.

Dr. Silvestri was really hard to follow in lecture. He was all over the place, and I could never exactly figure out what was going on. THe book we used saved my life because it does a great job explaining what silvestri had a hard time presenting. However, he is great help in office hours so go to them if you take this teacher. He gives 4 tests, drops the lowest one, and his C goes down two 63%. Marlier is way better though, I have him this quarter.

LECTURE: Mike is a very cool, chill, and relaxed individual. His lectures are okay. He just goes over the really confusing stuff and explains the concepts of basic O.Chem. He's really fast and uses blah overheads. However dont think knowing his lectures will help you succeed in here. What I did was just copy every concept he wrote on the board, copy down the names of the figures and tables he displayed on overheads, read every chapter and did every hw problem he assigned in the book. After you do all that, look at the sample exams and know how to do every single problem (NOT MEMORIZE IT, ACTUALLY KNOW IT). Do all these And you're ride with Mike will be sweet!

Silvestri really carea bout his students and wants them to succeed. he is very fair on his tests and is very helpful in office hours. i ould highly recommend him for ochem. this class is very hard, and it is important not to get behind, and he helps you stay with the class and succeed.

I really really really hated this class. I basically got screwed for the entire series because I took Silvestri for 316. He will hand out his past exams but you aren't allowed to ask him questions about it. Someone please explain to me the point of that. There is a TEST every two weeks. His overheads are not helpful at all and I dont feel like he cares about the grades that he gives or whether or not his students understand the material. I hear he is way chill to have for 319 which is a lab and I can see that that is probablly true. Silvestri is obviously a very knowledgable man in Ochem, but I just HATED his teaching style. way too all over the place for me. If you like structure, don't take Silvestri. In my opinion, it is people like this man that make a lot of students unwilling to participate and utilize office hours to their advantage. His superiority complex is unbelievable and he has a way of making you feel retarded when in fact I had a 4.0 before taking this class. This class was damaging to my self esteem and I dont reccommend Silvestri for lecture at all. Maybe for lab.

This class was a repeat for me and I can honestly say Dr. Silvestri made it much easier for me. He is a great teacher if you are willing to learn and pay attention. Do the homework, follow his lectures closely and ask questions! Homework is helpful for understanding but he gives his old tests and your tests will be nearly EXACTLY like it with some things changed-they are the same problems just new atoms!! The first time I took it with Simek he did the same thing-I just didn't get it. This time I paid attention but he was also a great teacher and more than willing to listen. I wish I'd done better but it's the only ochem I need and his teaching style made it easier!! Take if you like STRUCTURE - he is very organized. His lectures are right on, the book just confused me even more.

Dr Silvestri is a good O-chem teacher who knows what he is doing and has been doing it a long time. He knows the material, however he had the annoying habit of briefly mentioning something (and you thought it was unimportant) and having it show up on the test more than once. Words of advice for his tests: STUDY THE OLD ONES!! his test are practically a replication of the old ones so if you can do everything on them, you will be alright. Also he seems to have "hints" about one problem found in another problem of his tests, something I noticed that one hard reaction problem will have similar parts as another problem in the test. You can't bet on it, but if you get really stuck on the test, glance at the rest and you might find it. Finally the 90% of the answers in O-chem come down to either "due to residence structures" or "slightly positive due to oxygen"

First and foremost, if you aren't a chem person who grasps chemistry topics easily...DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. He tries to understand what students are having trouble with, but most of what he talks about is so far above the heads of most of his students, that you will look around and see people staring blankly because nobody understands what is happening. He gives a lot of handouts, but that means that he spends a lot of time talking about stuff on an overhead, and it also gets very confusing. He gives out blank exams and the answers before all the midterms, but he won't discuss them with you if you have questions. At least his tests are predictable because they are pretty much exact replicas of his practice tests, just with different molecules. His lecture is extremely, EXTREMELY hard to follow, he is VERY disorganized. If you feel like you could struggle with this class, take someone else who is more structured!

he expects you to know the material so don't be shy about asking him in office hours or in lecture of what the hell is going on

Dr. Silvestri was great. He has practice exams on his website and is open during office hours. Organic chemistry is a hard subject. Dr. Silvestri starts class with a quick outline of what the lecture is going to be about. He had some overhead transparencies and drew examples on the board. For the most part, he just lectured. Homework is optional but... try to do them anyway? I mostly picked out problems that were similar (even if it barely was) to the exams he had. Work in a group! The exams were 1.5 hours out of the 2 hours we had, so he stopped us early. There are quizzes, but they're like a pre-test. As for lab, he was really helpful. If you're not sure about something, just ask him.

Dead Week: Quiz on Monday, Lab Final on Tuesday, Midterm on Wednesday. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. And the quiz was given after he lectured for an hour and a half, and the lecture material was on the quiz. Besides this, he was a pretty good teacher. He was just horrible in planning to have squeeze so much material into the last lecture day then give a quiz on it.

First of all, let me say that after having Dr. Silvestri for Chem 316, I signed up for his Chem 317 lab the next quarter. Dr. Silvestri is a very kind man who genuinely cares about chemistry and his students. Although his lectures were not my favorite--he used overhead slides a lot and wrote some things on the chalk board--Dr. Silvestri's lab sections are still my favorite labs I have taken at Cal Poly. Since Dr. Silvestri is mostly retired, I don't know how many future classes he will be teaching, but here are some helpful hints: Lecture: Read the chapter beforehand, go to office hours (he is very approachable), and do all of the practice tests (practically identical to the actual tests). I was hanging on to a C by the end of the quarter but Dr. Silvestri worked with me and gave me helpful tips to eventually bring my grade up to a B. Lab: Relax (he is SO CHILL in lab! THE BEST.), keep up your lab book/spectra binder (he does random checks), and ask questions when you are in doubt (again, he is very approachable). If ever you have the opportunity to take Dr. Silvestri, DO IT (especially for lab!)!!

Professor Silvestri is the man. He is a great lecturer, and a positive person to be around. His lab is super easy, and straightforward. His lecture is great, and the mid terms and finals are EXACTLY like the practices he posts. For this reason alone I'd take this class.

Dr. Silvestri is an excelent teacher and human being. He truly cares about the students progress. He is an excellent source to tap for ideas. Dr. Silvestri has been to the mountin and back. His class was a lot of fun, primarily because his approch is refreshing. Can't lose with Silvestri.

Silvestri is a great professor, one of the best that I have ever had. He's a cool layed back kind of a guy. I have taken him for the entire Organic Chem series and I found that he presents the material in a fair manner. His lectures go along with the book, so if you do the assigned problems and look over your notes you should do fine on the tests. He don't put any surprise problems on and is a fair grader. You get the grade that you deserve. (But don't think that he is easy....you have to study and put in a lot of time) I would take him again if I could!!!!!!

Dr. Silvestri is the best teacher! If you don't dig O-chem too well and need extra help, take him! He is super friendly and not just focused on the A students. His calm mannerism is catching. He is super intelligent and clear in his explanations. If I could, I would take all my classes from him. He is fair all the way around... More teachers should take lessons from this man.

Dr. Silvestry is a high quality instructor. His interest in people, and his modesty make him a great person to talk to. Those things makes him a good instructor. If you take a course with him, always make sure to approach him when you're having problems. He grades fairly regardless of your acquaintance with him.

Let me tell you something about Dr. Silvestri; he is the most easy-going, laid-back, chill, person, not just professor, a person will ever have. Obviously this guy is an ex-hippie, and he comes off as just that. I had him for lecture and lab and in both he was freakin great. In lecture he'll often spend the first five or ten minutes just looking around and smiling; checking everyone out and talking of how great everything is going, and thanking everyone for coming to class. But when the chemistry comes around, this guy knows his shit. Every topic presented is done so in the same format, so it's easy to catch onto his style and helpful when studying for his tests, which are so nicely identical to the sample tests that he gives. In lab, which I enjoyed the most, he was way cool. He makes his lab so laid back that it is easy to just work at your own pace and still get eveything you need done. Almost everyone in my class finished all of their lab exercises ahead of schedule, so we all had a couple of lab periods free at the end of the quarter before the lab final. He gives two lab tests, a midterm and a final, and all of the information is straight out of the lab manual; none of that Fessenden BS information. In lab he lovesd to play the music, or for students too at least. Most of the time he will forget, but is totally down with you turning on the radio and blasting the music. We would always turn on the classic and modern rock station...93.3, I think would have the greatest time in lab...he seems to love U2 and Jimmy Hendrix. Anyways, I've totally gone on about this guy for way too long, but he really is awesome. Take him and I'm sure you won't regret it.

Dr. Silvestri is the best chemistry teacher I have ever had! Just like the last person said, he's easy going and layed back. At the very beginning of lecture he opens the floor for questions about ANYTHING. He knows his stuff, and can explain ochem like no other. He has like 5 different ways of explaining every topic, so if you don't get one, you'll get the other. He's very approachable in office hours and will make appoinments when you can't make them. His exams are laid out exactly like the sample exams (just with slight changes to make the questions different), so you'll never be suprised with what comes up. I had him for lec and lab for 316 and lec for 317, and I really wish he was teaching 318 next quarter!!!!!! I thought his exams in lab were challenging, but definately doable. He gets a strong recommendation from me in both lec and lab!

If you have to take 317, take it with Dr. Silvestri. His lectures are very helpful and easy to understand (for O-chem). Use the practice tests for studying...they are almost identical.

For the whole quarter I had a solid C in the class and pulled through at the end to get a B. Dr. Silvestri's practice tests for every midterm and the final helped me the most. The practice tests were accurate but I did not learn much of the material till I studied the practice tests. I would recommend Silvestri but be prepared to learn most of the material on your own. I studied only Ochem for 3 straight whole days for the Chem 317 final and that is what it took to get an A on the final.

This man is a gentle soul.

Silvestri is an amazing guy and teacher. His tests were pretty difficult, but if you study you do pretty well with the curve. He was more than willing to help outside of class which comes in handy. The class was super fun and laid back.