Van Draanen, Nanine  

This was Dr. Van Draanen's first time at teaching general chemistry, but she seemed as if she was surprised at our "dumbness", perhaps because she is used to teaching higher level classes. She laughed at students' questions in class, and it was very hard to understand her answers to questions. Several homework problems that she assigned us she could not do without using the solutions manual. Homework problems appear on the test, which is good because if i did the homework over and over, i would usually do okay on the test, but a lot of the time i just memorized the problem instead of actually understanding the concept. In her lecture, she repeats almost verbatim what is in the text, so several students were unmotivated to go to lecture and instead just read the book. She spends class time talking about things that have no relation to chemistry, for example one day during a discussion about quantum mechanics, she went on for about 10 minutes on how "quantum" was an excellent scrabble word. Most students in my class have attempted to take someone else for chem 128, the next course in the series.

Dr. Van Draanen seemed like she really liked O Chem...too bad this was general chemistry and she had NO clue how to teach it so she pretty much just outlined the assigned chapter (I could have done this myself). She had to completely regive an entire test because we all did so poorly on it and I guess she felt guilty about it. If you can teach yourself and actually will teach yourself and don't mind dealing with a cooky teacher go ahead and take Van Draanen...otherwise find someone who will teach you.

VanDrannen is a fun, exciting chem teacher. It takes a lot to get excited about chem at 8am, but she made an honest attempt to spark our interest, and make us want to learn. She presents material clearly and makes it very obvious what kinds of problems can be expected on a test. Her tests are fair and the handouts make revision easy and accessible. Take her if you get the opportunity.

HYPERACTIVE WOMAN!! I don't know whats wrong with her but she'd always be saying "isn't that cool? Don't you like that? Isn't that neat? Wow, that's so cool!" But anyways, I had her 8 AM and she was so wacky, I was so sleepy, we didn't mix well. But she is a good teacher. The tests were tough and she didn't go over them afterwards. But we had quizzes every week so those help and she IS pretty entertaining. She made us worksheets and really tried to help. But the way she teaches is mostly through examples. Which sometimes was cool, like when she'd talk about beer, soda, soap, oil, fog, stuff we understood. But when she'd fill the chalkboard three times to finish one problem, we'd get annoyed. Oh and chem 128 with NO DEMOS, no explosions!! man, thats where she really lacks... take schoonover instead.

Van Draanen is awesome! She was fun and entertaining and always willing to help if you ever had any questions about anything. She really cared about her students and did what ever she needed to help us understand. She was a lota fun and I had a great time in her class. DO THE EXTRA CREDIT! oh, and you don't really need the book, I didn't use it. Just go to every class and study your notes.

If you are going to take 312 this is most definitly the teacher you want. She presents the material in effort to make it as least complicated for you as possible. She taught us well, and gave us so much less stress than everyone taking 312 with the other instructers.

Yes, she is nice and wants everyone to be happy and understand, but she is just not an effective instructor. Her quizzes and exams are unreasonably difficult, and there is virtually no study material. Don't take her, unless, of course, you enjoy feeling frustrated and inadequate.

She is a very good person, and a decent teacher. Her lectures are very fast pace, so if you can write at the speed of light you should be fine. Her quizzes are group quizzes, so you can work together to clarify student difficulties. Her exams, are all of themed which was very problematic, from my stand point. During exams, it was easy to get confused, or diverted by some of her themed paragraphs. My only words of recommendation is to take, the class with another teacher. The book, \"A Complete Idiots Guide to Organic Chemistry\", would have been a decent supplement, but was never meant to be a text book.

Dr. V was such a good teacher for Ochem! I had her for both Lecture and Lab. She really had a heart for her students to do well. Was very informative during her office hours, and would always answer questions during lecture and Lab. I HIGHLY recommend taking Dr.V for Ochem. Even though understanding the material is difficult she took a lot of the stress away!

Dr. Van Draanen was EXCELLENT. Organic Chemistry can be a bit tough, but she takes a very practical approach to the subject, which is really nice (and makes it more interesting). Tests were definitely fair. She has past tests available and very similar to examples and stuff from the lectures. Also has a few projects/assignments that are easy and worth big points that supplement the grades nicely. Quizzes are probably the toughest part of the class... but they\'re group! Final is 1/2 old questions 1/2 new material. She was great and would take any other class she teaches in a heartbeat. Sick office as well.

Average at best.

she is very enthusiastic about chemistry, and that totally helps to get you through o-chem. it is a tough subject, and she is a tough teacher, but by the end you seem to have a certain appreciation for it, which is scary. she gives lots of notes, which is good because you don't have to rely on the book. but it helps to read the chapters just to make sure you understand everything because trust me, you don't want to fall behind in this class. she is a very fair teacher, and is awesome in lab. if you have to take the o-chem series, i would recommend her because you will most definately learn a LOT!!

she is an excellent teacher for the o-chem series. and it's very true that if you want to know the material, she's the one. if you just want to get through o-chem, take someone else. by the end of the series we all really had an appreciation for o-chem, and classes were fun. she writes everything on the board, so it's really easy to take notes, and she's always available to help out. and don't be discouraged if there is a really hard test, because she has a crazy curve that she does at the end of the quarter. i'm still not sure quite what it is, but i always ended up with a better grade than i was expecting, so i'm not complaining. overall, she's very down to earth and genuinely loves what she is doing, and that makes a world of difference.

She represents the material in an easy to understand manner and you think you got the knowledge ankered in your overworked brain... you feel confident going into the test.... and then comes the rude awakening!!! WHERE IN THE WORLD OR WHEN IN THIS LIFETIME DID WE LEARN THIS STUFF???? Her tests are a killers.... She knows her material. Very intelligent, but she has a hard time stubbing to the students' level. Less arrogance would be nice!

Organic Chemistry is hard! Dr. Van Draanen knows this, and tries to make the material as painless as possible. Assuming of course, you're actually willing to do some hard work. She is incredibly enthusiastic about the material. Don't take this class with her if you just want to get through o-chem; take her if you want to understand it.

"Isn't that cool....look at the schlaring!"

DO NOT TAKE HER!!! EVER!!!

Van Draanen is so sweet! She is so helpful and it's obvious she really cares about her students.

I don't think there is a bad organic professor here; although I would have to say that exam-wise she is the toughest. You have to be able to really manage your time well to do well on her exams. I actually spent less time on the final than I did on her 2 hour midterms. Regardless, she made me realize my love for organic chemistry. She is very patient and will help whenever you need it. Her lectures are very interesting and will help you understand the material.

She's a pretty cool teacher, loves to talk about resonance. She is very fun ( showed some hilarious videos during class, "hitler takes o-chem", its awesome.) She is off and on tough. Some of her quizzes the averages were awful, then others were great. But one thing that's a disappointment is I don't feel super prepared for my ochem 317 class. most of the other students who took 316 with other instructors were much more prepared for what was ahead. if you only need 316, she's good, but if you plan to keep going with ochem, id suggest someone a little more difficult that will get you prepared for what is to come

Dr. V is awesome. Shes super enthusiastic about ochem. She makes the class interesting and is always there to help in office hours. If you do her hw (which she puts into wksts) then you will do good on the tests. She worked really hard to make worksheets and put them up along with the answers and always answered emails, even on the weekend. Long story short she made me realize how awesome ochem is, and how practical of a subject it is. Also she described backside attacks while holding a model in her mouth, which was kind of sexy. I'd say take her.

A super sweet lady but not really engaged like I thought she would be. Tests were easy enough but unstructured and kinda lazy in comparison to other professors. I came to poly to learn!

This teacher is VERY challenging but gets information accross well. She is very oraginized and lectures in an organized easy to follow manner. When I took the class she would type up the notes before each test and hand them out as review. I wouldn't recomend this teacher if you just want to "get through" organic chemistry, only if you really want to learn the material.

The evaluation you see below is also mine. I made a mistake in telling you that I took her for Chem 317, not Chem 318. I also did not mention how she won't ever try to help you in lecture. If you forget something and ask her for help, she'll say that "you're supposed to know that already." Lots of people seem to like her, and lots to not like her. However, I've tried to put those feelings away and focus on chemistry, not her (with the help of a walkman). That seems to do the trick. Peace out again, and good luck in O-Chem again.

Dr. Van Draanen is extremely intellegent and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, it is to the point where she expects all of the rest of us to be very knowledgable in the subject, and her enthusiasm can get depressing if you aren't enthusiastic about organic chemistry. I think part of the problem with her or anyone is just that there is no way in the time alotted to explain all the material and every possible example. We had quizzes weekly and time consuming homework weekly and those points add up, so make sure to study and do the homework correctly. She sometimes helpful on the homework, especially when a lot of people are there with questions, but sometimes she does expect you to know the answer and flat out did not answer some of my questions because she wanted me to figure them out on my own. I didn't think that was the point of office hours, obviously you should be able to ask a few questions from the lecture that you do not understand. She just generally expects her students to know a ridiculous about of material and her tests are very difficult.

Dr. VanDrannen is very knowledgeable and always willing to help you during office hours. She goes out of her way to make sure everyone understands the material. BUT HER TESTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE. She expects you to know everything and then some. High scores on her tests are usualy in the 50s.

Dr. V has to be one of the best teachers I've had at Cal Poly. Her over enthusiastic attitude may be a turn off to some, (especially in the morning) but her ability to recognize what students are not understanding is very good. Her lectures were really interesting when we talked about drug synthesis and she always has some story to tell in class. Her exams can be challenging but chem isn't really an easy subject for most to begin with. She provides a good amount of study material and I got a B without even opening a book. She is beyond helpful in office hours and she even let me grab a quiz from her even though I wasn't in class that day. If you have her for lab she kinda runs all over the place and it can be hard to find her to ask for assistance but there's no doubting her knowledge and willingness to help any student, guy or girl.

Awesome professor! Goes 1,000,000,000 miles above and beyond for her students. She held multiple study sessions on weekends and prior to tests on her own time. When she realized my class was doing poorly with mechanisms, she even held an EIGHT HOUR mechanism summit for us on a Saturday!! How many professors would do that?!? She also makes so many handouts and practice problems, I never once opened the book. Her tests are hard, sometimes I think she overestimates the ability of her students, but she seems to adjust the grades fairly in the end. Anyways, I guarantee that her tests aren't any harder than any other Ochem professor. If possible, take her for the whole series because she does have a unique way of presenting the material and I struggled at the beginning to adjust to her style. She tries so hard to make everyone love Ochem and her passion and enthusiasm makes it hard not to love her. She is SO sweet and I would recommend her a million times over if you want a professor who is really going to care about you as an individual and put time into making sure you understand a highly challenging subject. I grew to love Ochem (thanks to her!) and although it never came easily to me, she provided me with the resources to succeed. Plus her lab rocks and is the most fun of any lab I've had at Poly.

Dr. VanDraanen is an challenging professor. She lectures on stuff that you can't find in the assigned organic chemistry textbook. She claims that the book is for your personal enjoyment, and thus expands lectures with her own terms that only a genious with her education level (or like her) can understand. She speaks to you like your in pre-school. She is unecesarily enthusiastic; Nonetheless, I do agree that organic chemistry can be very fun. When you don't understand what she's lecturing on, she'll clap her hands and say "It's so eeeeaaaaaaaasy." If you take her for Chem 316, you'll probably enjoy her class since her homework assignments come right out of the textbook. She gets a little tougher in Chem 317, where she gives her own little homework sheets that sometimes contain ENOURMOUS typos that will make you believe that you're retarted. You'll never know enough in her class, you'll always have something to learn with her...or to invent! That's the reason why her tests can be very challenging. Peace out, and good luck in O'chem.

Don't take her if you can help it. I had her for 316, decided she was absolutely impossible and hoped to never have to take her again, but then I got stuck with her for 318. Yes she's entertaining and enthusiastic about what she teaches, but she expects you to be just as excited, and just as knowledgeable. Her tests are seriously impossible, and it makes you feel like sh*t after because you just studied for them for like two days straight and ended up with a 50%, which is by the way, the class average. I think about 3/4 of the class got C's, and this is the ONLY C I have ever gotten in my entire life... not to take any unecessary anger out on this class, but it's also the hardest I've ever studied for any tests.

Dr. Van Drannen is a great lady and her lectures are usually somewhat interestring. The problem with her is that her tests are really hard. Above and beyond what they should be. Her favorite expression that you will learn to hate is "This is a fun _____" insert whatever you are doing into the blank. When she says this you know that whatever she is going to do next you will never be able to do or understand. She is a really nice person in lec and in office hours. I would never take her for OChem.

Dr. V would be awesome to have as a lab teacher but she is not a good one for lecture. Her notes are disorganized and difficult to study off of. In a span of 3 weeks she assigned at least 6 quizzes and I had to sacrifice studying for my other classes. Her quizzes are not indicative of the midterms which makes studying for tests difficult. I loved her passion for Ochem but it did not rub off onto me because of her inability to clearly teach in class

Dr. Van Drannen is the best teacher I've ever had. She's very helpful, caring, and smart. If she doeen't know an answer, she has a very educated guess. I would recomend her to anyone!