Fall 2026

Chemistry Across the Periodic Table

CHEMISTRY ACROSS THE PERIODIC TABLE explores inorganic properties, reactions, and synthesis with emphasis on transition metals and bioinorganic chemistry.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Chad Wilkinson3.7/5Hannah CarlisleNiall Henderson

Summary

1 / 7

Historical reviews of Clark Landis, John Moore, Judith Burstyn, Sam Pazicni: Students report tough labs, medium to hard homework, and varying exam difficulty. Workload includes weekly typed lab reports, problem sets, and lengthy pre-lectures or quizzes under some instructors, making the class super busy.

Grade history

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

Prerequisites

Course map

CHEM 104, 109, or 116

CHEM 311 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

Fall 2026
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 2 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.

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

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2018: 2.95 GPA, 38.5% A/AB (n=39 letter grades); Spring 2022: 2.88 GPA, 40.8% A/AB (n=49 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.25 GPA, 60.7% A/AB (n=28 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Chad Wilkinson has no reviews. Historical reviews for John Moore describe him as knowledgeable but with exams that do not match lectures and difficult labs. Reviews for Judith Burstyn are polarized, citing either exceptional care and clear grading or poor communication and unclear expectations.

CHAD WILKINSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2018, Spring 2022, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CLARK LANDIS is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOHN MOORE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JUDITH BURSTYN is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2017, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MAHESH MAHANTHAPPA is recorded teaching in Spring 2010. 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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction33 / 450
LAB 301Classroom Instruction14 / 140
LAB 302Classroom Instruction9 / 140
LAB 303Classroom Instruction10 / 140
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 00

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

CHEM 311 is consistently described as a tough and busy course with significant workload, though it can be manageable with effort. Historical reviews highlight that the experience varies greatly by instructor, ranging from supportive and clear to confusing and overly demanding.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.35 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=55 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.25 GPA, 60.7% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.56 GPA, 72.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Clark Landis, John Moore, Judith Burstyn, Sam Pazicni: Students report tough labs, medium to hard homework, and varying exam difficulty. Workload includes weekly typed lab reports, problem sets, and lengthy pre-lectures or quizzes under some instructors, making the class super busy.

Historical reviews of Clark Landis, John Moore, Judith Burstyn, Mahesh Mahanthappa, Sam Pazicni: Supportive instructors like Mahesh Mahanthappa and Clark Landis are praised for clear lectures and availability. Conversely, Sam Pazicni's lectures and Podia usage have drawn criticism for confusion and inconvenience, while Judith Burstyn's communication style has been criticized despite her caring nature.

Topics

  • Coordination chemistry of transition-metal ions
  • Bioinorganic chemistry
  • Solid-state structure
  • Main-group elements
  • Synthesis and characterization of inorganic compounds

Skills

  • Synthesis and characterization of inorganic compounds.
  • Analysis of coordination chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, solid-state structure, and main-group elements.

Grades

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

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
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Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

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 311 · Fall 2026

Chemistry Across the Periodic Table

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:224:021698",
    "course_id": "CHEM 311",
    "course_uid": "course_0d267b79490aeb7664694e7f",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "021698",
    "source_subject_id": "224",
    "title": "Chemistry Across the Periodic Table",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, 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.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "a33ce8f463097ca420da7ea64cc41f5f709b29563dac1e890200c70a8158374a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}