Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor goes into the specific mechanisms for each reaction which is nice but not always helpful. Grading rubrics are extremely specific and can be harsh.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
Helen Blackwell
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
This was my second time taking Ochem, and the first time I crashed and burned. Blackwell made it easy to get back on my feet and keep on learning. Excellent Teacher, I'd take her for sure.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Such a great professor! Makes organic chemistry really interesting and does a really thorough job at working through the material at a reasonable pace and providing lots of practice! She is also really clear about her expectations! She made Chem 343 a very positive experience!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Dr. Blackwell is a solid ochem professor, one who isn't talked about much. She really cares about her students and explains topics quite well. I felt like Sapling problem sets didn't convey the difficult material well compared to the exams though. Her lectures are quite interesting actually.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Blackwell is one of the best professors I have ever had. She does an amazing job explaining the "why behind everything which helps decrease the amount of memorizing in the course. She is extremely clear in lecture. Overall, she is amazing and I highly recommend taking Ochem with her.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Overall pretty good prof. However, lectures are very fast-paced. The second half of the semester seemed rushed and we went through a ton of mechanisms very quickly. The class became more about memorizing mechanisms than actually learning about what was happening. Just do lots of mechanism practice for exam 3 and the final and it will be okay.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Helen Blackwell
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
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Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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