Browse all Chemistry courses →
Red: department · Gray: UW–Madison
GPA and percentages are weighted by recorded letter grades. UW comparisons use the same terms. Cross-listed courses count once within this department and once across UW; department totals should not be added together. Grade counts are not unique students. Offering counts reflect captured records, not a complete historical schedule.
Grades have not been recorded for this term. Historical results remain in the overview above.
No released grades for this term.
48 courses
Graduate course covering selected topics in contemporary macromolecular or biophysical chemistry, focusing on discussing current topics of active interest in molecular biophysics.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Alessandro Senes
The course was rated as moderately difficult, with clear expectations set by the instructor.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026General Chemistry I covers stoichiometry, states of matter, thermochemistry, atomic structure, bonding, and lab skills.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Gilbert Nathanson
The class requires significant work to do well, though it is manageable with effort.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026General Chemistry II covers chemical equilibrium, coordination chemistry, electrochemistry, kinetics, nuclear chemistry, introductory organic chemistry, and laboratory skills.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jeremiah Duncan, Paula Piccoli
Exams were frequently cited as difficult, with some students noting they were poorly worded. Success often depended on doing practice problems and reviewing material before lectures.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Chemistry in Our World covers selected inorganic and organic chemistry topics, emphasizing relevance to biological, environmental, and social issues.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Clark Landis
Students noted weekly problem sets and Friday quizzes that did not closely align with homework, while exams were considered easy.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Chemical Principles II provides a quantitative treatment of macroscopic phenomena including thermodynamics, chemical equilibria, solution behavior, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · J.R. Schmidt
A student rated the course difficulty as 4 out of 5, indicating a challenging workload.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026ENTERING RESEARCH I introduces skills supporting chemistry research, including literature analysis, oral/written communication of findings, and ethical research practices.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Cheri Barta
Despite being a one-credit class, students reported a significant time commitment and high expectations for work quality.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026 · limited sampleA mentored research project arranged with a faculty or academic staff member, offered as Directed Study in Chemistry.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Inorganic chemistry course covering coordination, bioinorganic, solid-state, and main-group topics, including synthesis and characterization of inorganic compounds.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · John Moore, Judith Burstyn
The workload was described as super busy, involving typed lab reports of five to six pages and regular problem sets. Students reported the class was tough and required significant time management.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Covers fundamentals of chemical measurement across disciplines, focusing on equilibria, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, separations, and quantitative laboratory technique.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jeremy Weaver
The class was tough, with the bulk of the grade coming from accuracy-based labs rather than the three exams.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Covers fundamentals of chemical measurement, equilibria, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and separations with greater mathematical rigor than CHEM 327.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jeanne Hamers, Kyoung-Shin Choi
The project lab was described as taking up a significant portion of the semester, with one student noting it consumed 90% of their time. The lab component was also criticized as poorly designed and incredibly confusing.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Elementary Organic Chemistry Laboratory introduces organic lab techniques for synthesis, purification, and spectral interpretation.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Brian Esselman
Brian Esselman provided a ridiculous amount of resources for students to work from.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Organic 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 recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Matt Bowman, Helen Blackwell
Students emphasized that completing practice exams and problem sets was essential for success. Helen Blackwell’s lectures were described as fast-paced, requiring note-taking and pre-class reading, while her homework was considered easier than the actual exams.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introductory organic chemistry laboratory course covering synthesis, purification, characterization techniques, and critical interpretation of experimental data.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Brian Esselman
The course demanded significant time, including two multi-hour labs weekly and lengthy postlab reports. One student found the grading criteria on these reports confusing and difficult to navigate.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Organic Chemistry II covers molecular structure and bonding to predict reactivity in aromatic, benzylic, allylic, and carbonyl systems, emphasizing stereochemistry, regiochemistry, and spectroscopic analysis.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Ryan Stowe
The material was tough, and exams were described as test-heavy with difficult questions that required memorizing every detail of organic chemistry without cheat sheets.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Advanced Inorganic Chemistry emphasizes symmetry, structure, and bonding of inorganic compounds, covering transition metal, organometallic, and bioinorganic topics.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Thomas Brunold
The class did not require the textbook, though one student noted it probably would have helped.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026 · limited sampleAdvanced inorganic synthesis and laboratory techniques covering main-group, transition metal, bioinorganic, organometallic, and solid-state compounds.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2024–Spring 2025 · limited sampleCovers basic principles for designing, developing, and using chemical instrumentation in the laboratory, emphasizing spectroscopy, separations, and mass spectrometry.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Frank Keutsch
Tests were reported as not too bad by a student taking the course with Frank Keutsch.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Physical Chemistry I covers macroscopic theory including laws and equations of thermodynamics, chemical and phase equilibria, and kinetic theory of gases.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Arun Yethiraj
Students noted the curriculum was difficult and recommended taking notes and forming discussion groups to keep up with the proof-based lectures.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Physical Chemistry II covers molecular theory, focusing on quantum chemistry, molecular structure and spectra, statistical mechanics, and the molecular theory of matter in bulk.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Randall Goldsmith
One student reported that homework was irrelevant to lectures and the exam covered material that was never taught in class.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Physical Chemistry Laboratory I applies experimental principles to acquire thermodynamic and kinetic data using basic lab equipment, including error analysis and result interpretation.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Physical Chemistry Laboratory II applies experimental physical chemistry principles to acquire and interpret data on molecular structure, dynamics, and macromolecule properties using spectroscopic and electronic instrumentation.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Mark Wendt
Students read a handout and watch videos before class, then solve problems in class.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026This course covers various topics in chemistry at an advanced level, as indicated by its title and description.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Tina Wang
The course required a strong background in cell biology or biochemistry to follow the quick pace, though papers were graded fairly with class averages around 90%.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2025 · limited sampleDiscusses laboratory safety regarding chemical, electrical, optical, mechanical, cryogenic, and radiological hazards, introducing safety equipment, first aid techniques, and facilities.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Covers theory of structural chemistry, experimental methods, and uses diffractometric equipment and computer data analysis for actual structure determination.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2025 · limited sampleIntroduction to computational chemistry covering new techniques and developments in the literature, plus specific calculations relevant to current research.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Introduction to NMR covering theory and practice within chemical instrumentation.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Heike Hofstetter
The workload was heavy, featuring weekly homework, quizzes, and demos, plus weekly two-hour in-person experiments, which left one student exhausted by mid-October.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Materials Chemistry of Polymers covers polymer classification, synthesis, molecular architecture, solid-state structure, glass transition, rheology, and physical properties.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Mahesh Mahanthappa
The instructor held high expectations, and one student reported he became annoyed if questions were perceived as basic.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026 · limited sampleChemical and statistical thermodynamics covering phase equilibria, solutions, and calculation of thermodynamic quantities from molecular models.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2024 · limited sampleBiophysical Chemistry covers equilibrium thermodynamics and chemical kinetics, emphasizing solution behavior and applications to biological macromolecules in solution.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Silvia Cavagnero
The class is challenging with tough exams, but problem sets are described as good exam prep that make students think.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Biophysical Spectroscopy covers principles and applications of spectroscopic and microscopy methods used to solve biological problems at the atomic and molecular level.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Silvia Cavagnero
Students reported needing to study on evenings and weekends to keep up with the material, which involved switching between multiple resources weekly.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2025