Current instructor

Randall Goldsmith

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.37/5 from 46 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

CHEM 562
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Prof. Goldsmith is incredibly smart and intelligent, and you can tell he knows this too. Most of the time his lectures and his vocabulary are unnecessarily complex to the point of me wondering what is he trying to prove. The material is not conveyed clearly and I rely heavily on the textbook to understand concepts.
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CHEM 562
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
He might understand quantum mechanics, but he can't teach it! He assumed we somehow understand everything and uses advanced PChem language in class. Also, his hand is on top of his writing 70% of the time, and he explains the topics extremely fast. Homework is irrelevant to both lecture notes and textbook. Exam had stuff we never learned. Bad prof.
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CHEM109H · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 5/5
Goldsmith is by far one of the best professors I've ever had. He's super smart and passionate about chem, which is awesome. The exams are the hardest that I've ever taken, but he gives plenty of opportunities to build up your grade outside of the exams (weekly quizzes, problem sets, tophat, etc). Definitely a hard class but worth it!
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CHEM109H · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Goldsmith was overall good, with a few small flaws. His lectures are clear and informative, though sometimes his homework sets aren't really taught/addressed in class. Overall, you end up very prepared for lecture.
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CHEM109H · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Lectures are always super interesting and engaging he truly cares that students understand the material. Very accessible during office hours and also very approachable.
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CHEM109H · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Prof Goldsmith is an amazing teacher that genuinely cares a lot about his students. The class is challenging but he sets you up for success. This was the course that convinced me to change my major to Chemistry. My biggest piece of advice is to go to the group homework sessions; they did wonders for my understanding of the material.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Randall Goldsmith

A 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

Directed Study is an advanced mentored research project arranged with a faculty or academic staff member.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2023–Spring 2026 · limited sample
CHEM 990

Research

1–15 credits

Supervised research course where students exhibit broad understanding of chemical principles, conduct independent research, and collaborate with investigators.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027CHEM 299Directed Study
Spring 2027CHEM 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027CHEM 699Directed Study
Spring 2027CHEM 990Research
Spring 2027NTP 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026CHEM 299Directed Study
Fall 2026CHEM 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026CHEM 699Directed Study
Fall 2026CHEM 980Seminar: Review of Current Research
Fall 2026CHEM 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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