Griffin, Kimberly  

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.

Dr. Griffin is a really awesome teacher. She understands that Organic Chemistry is a really difficult course and she doesn't try to make it any harder than it needs to be. She also acknowledges that students taking 312 aren't taking a series so she doesn't try to shove extra information down our throats. She was clear about what would we need to know for quizzes and tests and she always followed through with her word. Literally, do the homework and it is exactly what you will see on your quizzes. Do the practice exam and is exactly what you will see on the actual exam. There is no way to not do well in this class. I suggest you take her for lab because I know people that have her for lecture and a different teacher for lab and their labs seemed a lot harder (grading wise). I am glad I took her for this course because she made it as painless as possible. I hate chemistry a little less because of her.

Professor Griffin was very straightforward on what she wanted and expected from her students, which was appreciated. I never felt as if she got annoyed from student questions and she provided a lot of helpful examples. She is empathetic towards students, which I think is a valued trait in a professor. Basically, she provided HW questions that she would not collect but were EXACTLY WHAT THE QUIZ WAS. She gave us practice exams which were extremely helpful for the exams, although the problems were not 100% exclusive to what was actually on the exam. She even would let you not take the final and average your two exams for your final score.

Dr. Griffin is a really cool professor. I am so glad that I took her for my first O Chem class, considering the fact that everyone talks about how terrible it is. She makes the class seem far less intimidating. She does, like all of the chem professors, expect a lot from her students. Be prepared to study way more than 8 hours a week! She gives homework that she collects and grades, which is good to have as a grade booster, however, it can hurt your grade if you don't do well on it. The homework is really challenging and takes awhile so make sure you start it far before the due date and not the night before. Her tests are lang and really difficult, but fair. Stay on top of everything because she will put a little bit of everything on the exam. She is very helpful in office hours and just a cool person in general so go to her office hours right away! The material only builds upon itself so don't let yourself fall behind. She wants her students to succeed. She does generously curve the class in the end.

Dr. G is by far my favorite chemistry professor at Cal Poly. She's down to earth, super smart, and a cool person overall. Not to mention she's really young and has a great sense of humor. She's tough but go to her office hours. She wants to see her students do well and really tries to explain material to the best of her ability. She's even fun just talking to in office hours and relates easily to her students. She teaches above and beyond what is required and it isn't easy material, but later on you'll be happy she was so challenging. Do the homework, do book problems, go to office hours and study more than you think you have to. She's a great professor but organic chemistry will always be difficult.

If you are going to take the ochem series, take it with Dr. Griffin! She presents the material clearly and prepares you for the midterms with homework problem sets (which are written similarly to her test questions). Lab was actually fun, too. I dreaded taking ochem mainly for the lab, but with Dr. Griffin it was never stressful and she was helpful. She is also pretty young too, so she is approachable, which is nice. I made the mistake of taking 217 and 318 with another professor...big mistake.