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Kingsbury, Kevin

Cumulative GPA: 2.82/4.00 with 31 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 2.89
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 2.82

Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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CHEM 312 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 9:07 pm, Mar 11, 2012 Report Evaluation		I HIGHLY recommend this preofessor! He was soo nice and made organic chemistry seem almost easy. He presented material very clearly and gave quizzes(lab/lecture) twice a week so that forced you to keep up with the class which was nice around midterms. It is a difficult class with a lot of material but if you keep up with the work, ask for help, its an easy A. He genuinely cares about students!

CHEM 312 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 3:22 pm, Mar 5, 2012 Report Evaluation		Best O chem teacher!!! Presents material very clearly and if you don't understand it he's very helpful during office hours and wants you to learn. He keeps class fun, I really enjoyed taking this class even though I'm terrified of chem. Weekly quizzes help you keep up with the material and he even gives out extra credit. I highly recommend this teacher!

CHEM 312 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:02 pm, Nov 17, 2011 Report Evaluation		I really enjoyed taking this guy. He is really cool and tries to make the class interesting by showing cool examples and making funny jokes. He is really nice and helpful in office hours. He does have quizzes almost every week which sucks, but they help you prepare for the midterms. His tests are pretty hard because he likes to trick you. You have to really understand the material, but he usually curves. I would definitely recommend taking him!!!

CHEM 312 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:42 am, Jun 9, 2010 Report Evaluation		I highly recommend this professor. There is a required text but I bought it and never used/referred to it. For every lecture he posts an outline on blackboard ahead of time that is to be used as a professor-guided worksheet in class. DONT FORGET TO PRINT OUT AHEAD OF TIME, or you will end up doing a large amount of unecessary writing. In addition to this he does normal lecture notes which should be kept separate in a notebook. If you keep the printed outlines and your notes well organized the midterms and finals should be managable. Don\'t miss any lectures, his tests are directly from in-class material. He is very step-by-step making organic chemistry approachable.

CHEM 313 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:39 pm, Dec 17, 2009 Report Evaluation		Dr. Kingsbury was a great teacher for organic chemistry. I was terrified going into it, but he started out slowly and made sure all the students really understand the material. He\'s very nice and always willing to help. His tests did get pretty hard, and the final was pretty much impossible but he curves ALOT, which is great. Definitely recommend Kingsbury!

CHEM 312 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 1:23 pm, Apr 15, 2009 Report Evaluation		Absolutely amazing! I was terrified going into o chem after all the horror stories I had heard, but Kingsbury actually made me enjoy the subject. You can tell he's a pretty shy guy and he's a little quiet, but his lectures were very clear and easy to follow. There is a quiz every non-midterm week based on the newest material he lectures on and they're pretty easy. Just study your notes for about a half hour for each one and you should be fine. There are 3 midterms which are pretty straightforward - he doesn't try to trick you at all - and he curves them. The final was cumulative but he took 1/3 of the points from previous midterm questions which made things a lot easier during finals week. Overall, I definitely recommend Kingsbury!

CHEM 318 Junior Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 9:15 pm, Aug 19, 2008 Report Evaluation		I am going to be retaking the class but that was based solely on the fact that the class was super early in the morning and I don't do well on quizzes which added up to a midterm. I really liked how he presented his notes. They were organized, thought out and clear. Go to office hours! I didn't and paid for it. His tests are very difficult, but they do get curved. O Chem is a difficult subject and this may be the hardest 3 unit class I have ever taken.



CHEM 319 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:08 pm, Apr 30, 2008 Report Evaluation		Amazing... SIMPLY AMAZING! Best Chem professor I've ever had. Nicest dude in the world, and explains anything you ask clearly. Take Kingsbury if you can. His tests may be hard, but is teaching is unmatched.

CHEM 317 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:39 pm, Mar 15, 2007 Report Evaluation		He's an allright dude, but damn wow does he ever write the hardest tests ever. Even for 316, which is hard but not as hard as 317, the averages were in the 50s. I studied really hard and pulled off a B in 316, but that was with the curve. He's a really organized guy though, and that is the main reason I chose to stick with him. If you dont like demoralizing tests that smash your hopes of doing well if you study, than its probably better to take Carrol or something.

CHEM 445 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 1:51 pm, Mar 15, 2007 Moderated Comment		He's the most reluctant, unenthusiastic [person] to ever be awarded a Stanford PhD. But then again, Cal Poly's a daycare center for people with PhD's.

CHEM 316 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:31 pm, Sep 1, 2006 Report Evaluation		Kingsbury is a good professor, but don't expect to be prepared for tests by just going off lecture materials. Read the book, play with the models (it really helps), and DO PROBLEMS. Do them in the morning. Do them at night. Do them in your sleep. One thing that took me a while to notice is that despite his nerdy chem prof appearance he has a hot body. Just a side note. ;)

CHEM 312 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 2:23 am, Aug 14, 2006 Report Evaluation		Although I didnt have him for the whole quarter (he left three weeks before the quarter ended) I thought he presented the material very clearly and at a level that a non-chem major could understand. He was helpful in asking additional questions after class and I thought he was an overall nice guy. He class is definelty a hard one- there is alot of matieral to know and seeing that I have Meisenheimer for the last three weeks of lecture and for lab- I dont think the material is any different or harder in Kingsburys class. Therefore I thought he was fair and although quiet he still presented the material very well and seemed genuinely concerned about how the class was doing I slowed down in spots that seemed difficult to us.

CHEM 316 Junior Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 10:39 am, May 16, 2006 Report Evaluation		this is a very hard class. his test are hard. for the final, he crammed all kinds of crap in the last class so it could be on the final, which was shitty of him. he gave me a D, even though i totally deserved an F, so that was nice of him. i retook the class with silvestri and i liked him better.



CHEM 316 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 10:51 am, Oct 21, 2005 Report Evaluation		I dont like this class....he is to quiet when teaching a big class, is very unenthusiastic....overall, he doesn't explain stuff that clearly...be prepared to read alot and teach yourself

CHEM 317 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:41 am, Mar 7, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr. Kingsbury is exactly what you think of when you think of an organic chemistry professor, a big nerd. However, with that being said I found him to be very approachable and to generally just be a very good guy. He presents the difficult material as best as anyone can and is always open for office hours (even sometimes that arent posted). I'm not saying he was the greatest professor ever, but it's organic chemistry and he did a fair job of presenting the material and testing us.

CHEM 481 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:07 pm, Jan 19, 2005 Report Evaluation		Kingsbury was a bit disorganized in the beginning of the quarter, but by the end he had very nice notes and good explanations. There was only one pretty difficult and long midterm, which made it sorta difficult to figure out how you were doing in the class. Homework was not collected, but he figured out how to give students more points and adjusted the averages so that students did better than they thought. This class would be better taught over 2 quarters or more hours a week because there is so much material. I think Kingsbury did a good job based on the limited time spent in class. Oh yeah, I got a D on the midterm, and average on the quizes, and turned out with a B in the class.

CHEM 316 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:17 pm, Dec 18, 2002 Report Evaluation		Dr. Kingsbury was a really nice guy in class, but when I went to his office hours I didn't feel like he really wanted me to be there. His lectures were kind of intense...there's a lot of material to cover. He did a pretty good job presenting it clearly, but I don't think he knew when the class was having problems. He was really enthusiastic and so his classes weren't really boring. The homework was kind of helpful but really hard and you don't get it back for a while. The tests were fair...but watch out because some of the things that he says will not be on there are. Overall he's a pretty good professor...but keep up with the reading in the book...it really helps.

CHEM 127 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:29 pm, Sep 8, 2002 Report Evaluation		Overall, I

CHEM 481 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:05 pm, Mar 19, 2002 Report Evaluation		Dr K is a great teacher. It does often feel like he is talking down to you, but he just wants to make sure he doesn't go over your head. He is very approachable. This class covers a lot of material, and he does a really good job presenting the material. The homework load is minimal, but the tests cover everything. He is very thorough to cover everything he has talked about. Read the book, it's pretty interesting, and go over the material often. I would probably have done more homework problems if I did it over.



CHEM 316 Junior Grade Earned: B Elective 10:58 am, Feb 23, 2002 Report Evaluation		Wow. O chem is really difficult in itself, but I feel that Dr. Kingsbury is an excellent professor. It's true that he kind of talks to you like you are younger than you are, but I would prefer a prof who talks slow to me when describing a tough subject than assuming we know everything already. He is REALLY approachable in his office (and he is there WAY more than his office hours) and really wants you to do well. His tests are hard, but not too long or TOO hard. You really need to know the material to get an A, but it's hard to fail if you try at all. I highly recommend him, because when you are through with this you will have learned tons of material.

CHEM 110 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 12:32 am, Dec 24, 2001 Report Evaluation		Dr. Kingsbury is a very smart individual. He's a little boring but that's partial to the fact that lab instructors lecture to 25 people who most likely want to be anywhere else but that lab for the next 3 hours. He helped me understand a lot of the concepts from the lecture and how it relates in the lab. Take notes during the beginning because they'll most likely come up during quiz time.

CHEM 319 Junior Grade Earned: Credit Required (Major) 2:58 pm, Dec 10, 2001 Report Evaluation		Kingsbury was a good 319 professor. I hadn't had organic in a couple of quarters but he was really helpful in brushing us up on lab techniques. Very no-stress in the lab and reasonable when it comes to time. The reports aren't too bad either.

CHEM 316 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 6:54 pm, Aug 27, 2001 Report Evaluation		I just noticed that no one from Organic has evaluated KBK yet. There is a lot of homework, the material is difficult, and the lectures are cram-packed with information that make your brain feel like explosion would be a relief. But that's how it is in any ochem class, and unlike other teachers (yes, I took the class twice, so I know...) when one of those brain explosions occurs, he helps you pick up the pieces and put them back together again. He has group problem sessions (on request) to help you learn the material and is very willing to talk through stuff with you in office hours or during free time in his labs. There were two midterms, and the final. Having only two midterms means you have to remember more bits of information at once, which is kind of a pain, but prepares you for the final. There are problem sets to do (not for a grade), which he got from Vandraanan, so they don't always correspond perfectly to his lectures. Just good to keep that in mind before you get all worked up over a problem you can't figure out. His tests use only the material covered in class, so if you have to choose between reading the book and memorizing mechanisms, ditch the book.

CHEM 128 Junior Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Prof. Kingsbury is an excellent teacher. He is available to help students but the student must be willing. Although I did not do well in the class it was in no way dependant upon the ability of myself. He has a very good abiility to communicate the material effectively.

CHEM 128 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Instructor seems timid and out of place in front of a classroom.



CHEM 129 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		he's a joke, he's always hesitant, and what's up with the faces he makes

CHEM 129 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 1:27 pm, Mar 2, 2001 Report Evaluation		He's a pretty good professor but he's really boring. His tests are pretty fair though.

CHEM 129 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 9:18 pm, Jan 2, 2001 Report Evaluation		This professor is by far one of the worst teachers I have had here at Poly. I went form receiving high grades in 127 and 128, to barely passing this class. He is smart, but he is not cut out to teach. He skips over steps because he assumes the class knows what just happened, and is not at all helpful in office hours. What is on the tests seem to be very unfair and tricky. Sometimes things are on there that I don't even think were lectured on. Your tests are your only grades. He is a bad lecturer and his tests are unfair, what a horrible combination! DON'T TAKE HIM, I'm not taking Organic chem next quarter only because he is the teacher teaching it. I will avoid him at all costs!!!!

CHEM 129 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 1:35 pm, Nov 16, 2000 Report Evaluation		Dr. Kingsbury is a very nice guy, like everyone has said above. HOWEVER, he will talk about the material as if it is very easy, yet when you take the exams, you will stare at some questions and think "HUH?" I'm sure he would be a very good upper-division professor where we are to know the basics, but he doesn't do a very good job at EXPLAINING the basics to us who need them. For a good note on the guy, he plays jazz during lab (if you like jazz) and also does a pretty thorough job (I think) of explaining what to do in lab.

CHEM 129 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:52 pm, Aug 9, 1999 Report Evaluation		If you are unfortunate enough to get stuck with this instructor, make sure you sit in the front row. Otherwise, you will not be able to hear him! Nice guy, I suppose, but seems really awkward in front of a classroom.

CHEM 129 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:45 pm, Jul 25, 1999 Report Evaluation		I agree with what has been said before me. Kingsbury may be a smart guy but he does not lecture well. He moves really fast on information that we should have spent more time on and then other information that is easier he spends a couple days on. I talked with others in my class and we had gone to his office hours and were treated like we were stupid. He is a nice guy but i didn't get much out of the class. I taught myself buffers, which wasnt fun. if you can take someone else, do it.



CHEM 129 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:33 pm, Jul 14, 1999 Report Evaluation		Professor Kingsbury is very intelligent and wants everybody in the class to know so by giving "trick" questions on the tests. I did, however, enjoy his experiments during lectures. He isn't very helpful in office hours unless you enjoy feeling stupid! HINT If you take his lab MAKE SURE you read the lab manual VERY WELL and understand it all.

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