Current instructor
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Somehow worse having her a second time than the first, and I should not have assumed I could take it. Any other chemistry professor at this school would probably be better than her. I took this class years ago, and it was still the worst class I have ever had the displeasure of taking at any educational institution I have attended.Rate My Professors ↗
Singularly most unhelpful professor I have had at this institution. Most content was learned through reading the textbook and attempting homework, because she expects you to come to class already knowing whatever she is teaching and not slowing down for people too unintelligent to understand the first time she says it. BEWARE!Rate My Professors ↗
Not a great lecturer Only came for the TopHat questions, tuned her out for the last 3 exams and did significantly better. Averaged below 60% on exams and got an AB, so the class isn't anything to fear.Rate My Professors ↗
For Chem 103 and 104, lectures were largely based on pre-made slides. I felt that some straightforward topics received a lot of class time, while more challenging concepts were covered too quickly. The exams were much more difficult than examples in lecture, so I often relied on outside studying and additional practice to keep up with the materialRate My Professors ↗
I took CHEM103 in the fall with Paul Hooker, great teacher, and CHEM104 in the spring with Linda Zelewski. Everybody says Professor Hooker is way better than Professor Zelewski however I disagree. I think your success in this course is fully dependent on how much you read the textbook not your professor. She is a good teacher.Rate My Professors ↗
She's really not that bad, but her lectures aren't very helpful. She mostly just reads off the slides and assigns a ton of TopHat questions. Best advice I could give if you have her as your professor is to get comfortable working through the material on your own. The CLC is a lifesaver.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
CHEM 101 is a laboratory course covering general chemistry topics including stoichiometry, bonding, and states of matter.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
General Chemistry I covers stoichiometry, states of matter, thermochemistry, atomic structure, and bonding.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Linda Zelewski’s lectures are often criticized as difficult to follow and unhelpful, with students forced to self-teach. Reviewers report that exams are very hard and misaligned with lecture content. She is also described as unsympathetic regarding accommodations and grading.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
{
"instructor_uid": "instructor_0b84245a734a5c735b1b435d",
"source": "enrollment",
"source_instructor_id": "zelewski",
"identity_basis": "netid",
"identity_status": "source_identified",
"name": "Linda Zelewski",
"email": "ZELEWSKI@WISC.EDU",
"first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"ratings": {
"review_count": 390,
"quality": 2.6,
"difficulty": 3.83,
"quality_count": 390,
"difficulty_count": 390,
"profile_id": "rmp:638529",
"source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/638529",
"match_basis": "exact_name",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:23:15.970330+00:00",
"courses": {
"course_c6c64d7584708e58ca90e23d": {
"review_count": 167,
"quality": 2.66,
"difficulty": 3.86,
"quality_count": 167,
"difficulty_count": 167
},
"course_1892a0df3dfd0788ad8a857d": {
"review_count": 118,
"quality": 2.73,
"difficulty": 3.68,
"quality_count": 118,
"difficulty_count": 118
},
"course_43bbf42925cfa01efa8f1cbd": {
"review_count": 12,
"quality": 4.17,
"difficulty": 3.75,
"quality_count": 12,
"difficulty_count": 12
},
"course_a7668536d1e53aaa1b329b21": {
"review_count": 2,
"quality": 3.5,
"difficulty": 4,
"quality_count": 2,
"difficulty_count": 2
}
},
"bayesian_quality": 2.6516919894412974,
"prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
"prior_weight": 20
},
"current": true,
"courses": [
{
"course_uid": "course_92cf3f6cb9cde9c7af2db608",
"course_id": "CHEM 101",
"title": "GENERAL CHEMISTRY I LABORATORY",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 1,
"gpa": null
},
{
"course_uid": "course_c6c64d7584708e58ca90e23d",
"course_id": "CHEM 103",
"title": "GENERAL CHEMISTRY I",
"credits_min": 4,
"credits_max": 4,
"gpa": 2.978
}
],
"revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"instructor_url": "/instructors/LINDA_ZELEWSKI"
}