Spring 2027

Organic Chemistry I

Organic Chemistry I covers molecular structure and bonding to predict reactivity of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alkyl halides, alcohols, and thiols, emphasizing stereochemical and regiochemical outcomes.

offering recorded3 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Zachary Wickens

Wickens implemented a forgiving grading system that allowed dropping the lowest midterm score, and weekly problem sets were graded based on attempting half the problems.

What you’ll be able to do

Construct and use a transition state rendering to explain how donor-acceptor interactions result in the stereochemical or regiochemical outcome observed for a reaction
Construct and use an electron pushing mechanism or reaction energy profile to evaluate the validity of claims as to the outcome of a chemical process
Construct and use appropriate structural representations to explain observed differences in the physical and chemical properties of substances in terms of electrostatics, orbital overlap and energy
Construct and use a reaction energy profile to justify why a particular reaction system is likely to produce the product formed most quickly or which is most stable
Design and justify a multi-step synthetic route capable of feasibly generating a molecular target from specified starting materials

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ALLEN D CLAUSS is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

BRENT AMBERGER is recorded teaching in Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JIA ZHOU is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KELSEY MILES is recorded teaching in Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATTHEW BOWMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PHILIP LAMPKIN is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ZACH WICKENS is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2024. 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.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 285
LEC 002	Classroom Instruction	0 / 358
DIS 321	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 322	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 324	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 326	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 327	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 301	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 302	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 303	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 304	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 305	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 306	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 308	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 328	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
LEC 003	Classroom Instruction	0 / 274
DIS 341	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 343	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 344	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 347	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 348	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 323	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 307	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 325	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 342	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 329	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 330	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 331	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 332	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 349	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 350	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 351	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 352	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 309	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 310	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 311	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 312	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 345	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30
DIS 346	Classroom Instruction	0 / 30

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 · Kelsey Miles, Zachary Wickens

Students described the lectures as clear and enjoyable, with one noting that Wickens made organic chemistry easier to understand through helpful examples.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.89 GPA, 37.4% A/AB (n=795 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.93 GPA, 38.3% A/AB (n=1088 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.90 GPA, 38.5% A/AB (n=832 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Zachary Wickens

Wickens implemented a forgiving grading system that allowed dropping the lowest midterm score, and weekly problem sets were graded based on attempting half the problems.

Past student reviews · Matt Bowman

Bowman provided practice exams that were very similar to the actual exams, which the reviewer found extremely helpful for preparation.

Topics

Molecular structure, bonding, and reactivity of organic functional groups
Stereochemical and regiochemical outcomes of chemical processes
Multi-step synthesis design

Skills

Constructing transition state renderings and electron pushing mechanisms to explain reaction outcomes
Using structural representations to explain physical and chemical properties via electrostatics and orbital overlap
Constructing reaction energy profiles to justify product stability and formation rate
Designing and justifying multi-step synthetic routes for molecular targets

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

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

1280 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.

Download part 1

Selected offering source records

CHEM 343 · Spring 2027

Organic Chemistry I

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:224:002767",
    "course_id": "CHEM 343",
    "course_uid": "course_34903ee31ae592cff4822461",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002767",
    "source_subject_id": "224",
    "title": "Organic Chemistry I",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

Download part 1

Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades

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 Download part 2

Model & dataset provenance

{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "6f97cef5e494ca09d4b2ccfd5bb29e393f7c65c14a1b9cdff5c477b0d9185d93",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

Organic Chemistry I

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to