Spring 2027

Chemical Principles II

Chemical Principles II provides a quantitative treatment of macroscopic phenomena including thermodynamics, chemical equilibria, solution behavior, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics.

offering recorded5 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 J.R. Schmidt3.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · J.R. Schmidt

A student rated the course difficulty as 4 out of 5, indicating a challenging workload.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply a qualitative and quantitative understanding of aqueous equilibria and electrochemistry using fundamental chemical concepts, founded in the laws of thermodynamics.

  • Model the rate mechanisms of chemical reactions in terms of elementary reaction states and associated rate laws to explain chemical phenomena.

  • Locate, evaluate, and use information in the chemical literature.

  • Design and analyze experiments pertaining to the covered chemical concepts while developing fundamental skills in safe laboratory practices and analysis techniques.

  • Participate in a research project in an active campus research group, which formulating hypotheses informed by scientific literature, designing and performing experiments, processing data, and communicating results.

  • Communicate scientific knowledge effectively through written reports and oral presentations with visual aids.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

CHEM 115

CHEM 116 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 17 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.5/5 raw quality · 3.5/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · J.R. Schmidt

J.R. Schmidt's lectures were described as amazing and enjoyable. One student found him monotone and unsure, yet respected as a peer and active in learning, while another simply enjoyed the lectures.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Mark Ediger, Arun Yethiraj

Mark Ediger made challenging topics approachable and described tests as hard but fair, advising students to study problem sets. Arun Yethiraj received mixed feedback: one student found him caring, while others found his exams unfair or lectures frustrating, though one noted his logic was thought-provoking and discussion sessions were helpful.

ARUN YETHIRAJ is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARK EDIGER is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 340
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 601Classroom Instruction0 / 160
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 602Classroom Instruction0 / 160

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · J.R. Schmidt

J.R. Schmidt gave amazing lectures where he treated students as peers, though one reviewer found his delivery monotone.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.64 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.76 GPA, 86.2% A/AB (n=29 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.83 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=26 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · J.R. Schmidt

A student rated the course difficulty as 4 out of 5, indicating a challenging workload.

Past student reviews · J.R. Schmidt

Reviewers noted that Schmidt was active in student learning, despite appearing unsure at times.

Topics

  • Thermodynamics, chemical equilibria, solution behavior, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics.
  • Aqueous equilibria and electrochemistry founded in the laws of thermodynamics.
  • Rate mechanisms of chemical reactions, elementary reaction states, and rate laws.
  • Research projects involving hypothesis formulation, experiment design and execution, data processing, and communication of results.

Skills

  • Quantitative treatment of thermodynamics, chemical equilibria, solution behavior, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics.
  • Applying qualitative and quantitative understanding of aqueous equilibria and electrochemistry.
  • Modeling rate mechanisms of chemical reactions using elementary reaction states and rate laws.
  • Locating, evaluating, and using information in the chemical literature.
  • Formulating hypotheses, designing and performing experiments, processing data, and communicating results in a research project.
  • Communicating scientific knowledge through written reports and oral presentations with visual aids.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
CHEM 116 · Spring 2027

Chemical Principles II

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:224:002758",
    "course_id": "CHEM 116",
    "course_uid": "course_e417e49826c79d82de86997c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002758",
    "source_subject_id": "224",
    "title": "Chemical Principles II",
    "credits_min": 5,
    "credits_max": 5,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "aca981b94b06edf39639772a2fb7b2bec11ef0dc070dfcf22d25687cc01680d2",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}