Without a doubt, Dr. Block is the best teacher I've had. HOWEVER, beware. He's incredibly kind and genuine, yet writes BRUTAL exams, no curve. I took Summer Chem 104 and was doing upwards of 40 hrs per week on chemistry. You will emerge from his class a far better student than when you entered, but for the A, you will have to extremely hard.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
Stephen Block
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 5/5
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
. I watched him throw a beaker at a student during lab and the University ignored my concerns and hushed the whole situation. I recommend you stay as far away as you can from him.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Dr. Block manages the 103 labs extremely poorly and is not accommodating. It takes 6+ hours to complete 1 lab and worse if you are blamed when technology and equipment that's broken when you had no control to begin with. Labs are unclear, unforgiving and nitpicked on the poor wording to be used against you. Be very careful with him...Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
If I had just one—it would be to take this class again. If you are lucky enough to have Dr. Block, consider yourself blessed by the chemistry gods. He is a genuinely great person. You can tell he is smart—not just STEM-smart, but broadly so. I strongly encourage you to visit him during office hours; he has wonderful stories to tell.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Dr. Block is an amazing professor. He really cares that his students succeed and has very engaging lectures. He is very thoughtful and hilarious which makes his lectures fun to attend. He goes over different examples from what is given in the pre-class readings which really helps solidify what you read.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Chem 109 has a very difficult nature. The tests are incredibly difficult, much more than the practice tests given. Dr. Block is extremely knowledgeable in his field . The thing is Dr. Block says there will be an "adjustment" to grades at the end, but will not post it anywhere. You cannot see how much (if any) your grade was "adjusted".Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Stephen Block
No teaching recorded in Spring 2027.
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Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | CHEM 109 | Advanced General Chemistry |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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