Wickens made organic chemistry so much easier to understand than I thought it would be. His lectures were so helpful and he provided very clear examples. The class had a very forgiving grading system, allowing you to drop your lowest midterm score. The weekly problem sets were graded on attempting half the problems which was an great.

great professor, love a fellow ginger in chem

Probably the best teacher I have ever had. The way he explained the material made ochem way easier to learn than I anticipated. Also, it is really obvious that he cares about his students and wants them to succeed. I wish he could teach every chem class I have to take, 10/10.

AMAZING professor!! He is so passionate. I absolutely loved this course and was TERRIFIED coming into it. He made organic chemistry so interesting. Great lectures. I recommend going but not mandatory (he posts videos of his lectures if u miss one). His exams aren't bad - just like the practice exams that he gives. Loved this course!

Prof Wickens is my favorite prof I have had! He is so enthusiastic about what he teachers, very approachable, and makes guidelines and expectations very clear. He really shows how much he cares about his students and wants them to succeed.

Professor Wickens was an incredible professor to have for a class as difficult as Chem 343, and I don't think I would have done as well as I did if I didn't take his class. He really cares about student success (something that is clear in the way he structures his class), and provides plenty of material for students to do well. He's also hilarious.

Honestly one of the best professors I have had so far. He is super caring and understanding of all of his students. Also, I love the way he writes the lecture notes out alongside you, and his exam prep materials are super helpful. Totally recommend.

Wickens makes all of the ochem material easy to understand (as much as you can make ochem easy) and he shows students that he is a kind and caring person. Would 100% recommend. My personal favorite professor I've had so far.

Ochem was a bit challenging for me but I don't even want to think about how badly this class would have gone if I didn't have Wickens as a professor! He's a super kind, patient teacher who explains things well and very clearly cares a lot about the success of his students.

Zach is an amazing professor and cares so much about student success. He is very accessible outside of lecture and the practice exams/ problem sets are reflective of exam questions. As someone who hated gen chem, o chem is easier if you study and one of my favorite courses I've taken at UW; Zach was likely a huge part of why. Highly recommend!

Excellent

By far the best professor I've had at UW-Madison. He cares deeply about his subject and his students, and this is reflected in his lectures, homework, and even his exams. Show up to lecture, follow his notes, go to discussion, and the content will become much easier. For a class as difficult as ochem, it doesn't get better than Wickens.

By far my favorite professor I've ever had. I have heard many bad things about other chem 343 professors, but I have never heard anyone bash on wickens. He actually cares about his students and brings energy and passion to ochem. Could not recommend more

O chem is a hard course, but Wickens made it very digestible. His lectures are engaging and full of knowledge, so try not to skip them. It is very apparent that he cares about how the class and students are doing in his course. I do think he only teaches off-sequence (o chem 1 spring semester) though

Best teacher I have ever had at UW Madison. Very fair and straightforward with expectations. Made a very difficult class manageable. I would chose Wickens (and power lec) 100 times over. He is very helpful and responsive to questions. No notecard on exams, lec recorded but I would recommend going in person.

Truly the best professor I've had here. He makes it clear what is on exams and takes time in class to fix misconceptions before you're tested on them. He truly wants you to succeed, and rewards you for doing practice quizzes and problem sets. Exams are fair and reflective of past exams he gives as practice/aren't any harder than problem sets.

I love Zach! He tries his best to make organic chem applicable to the real world and fun. It's very clear what's expected of you.

Wickens made Ochem enjoyable! I took this class online so there wasn't much participation/involvement in the lectures. He is so respectful of questions, making sure everyone can hear / understand him, and overall kept the energy up, even during midterm season which was so appreciated. If you have the choice, take Wickens!!!

Wickens is fantastic- his lectures are clear, he is clearly passionate about chemistry, and his tests are tough but fair.

You can tell Dr. Wickens really cares about the subject and teaching ochem. I didn't do any of the textbook readings and picked up everything I needed from lecture. Do the problem sets as they cover edge cases that will show up on the test. Ask for help if you need it. He really does want to help.

He's really helpful and sets up the materials to help you learn. Chem 343 is a bit content heavy and the tests are difficult but its curved so that's fine.

Prof Wickens rocks. I definitely would recommend him to anyone who has to take o chem. He has great resources so you can better understand the content. He treats you as an equal when it comes to explaining things and never looks down upon you. O chem is a tough class and he knows that and gives you lots of opportunities to get a good grade

Best professor I have ever had, very encouraging and always cares about his students

Dr. Wickens is a fantastic lecturer. I found his explanations very clear and examples helpful. The problem sets are 100% worth doing as there will likely be a question or two not covered in class that will appear on an exam. These questions can be fairly easily worked out though with the textbook as a supplement. This was my only use for the text

Don't bother with the lectures. Just use the textbook. There's nothing extra and explanations are a lot better in the book

Posted lecture videos. I found most value in reading. His grading was terrible, averages went from 85 to 60 to 39, which is uncommon for o chem. Discussion packets are harder than exams, but those are difficult too. Memorize, but also understand why mechanisms work the way they do bc memorization won't solve every problem.

He is probably one of the greatest professors Ive ever had. He is passionate and very caring for his students successes. His lecture is a lot but understandable. His exams are tough but totally fair. Just go to every lectures and office hours before every exams!!! Love his class

Wicken's is an all around great guy. He really cares about his students and it shows. The lectures are tailored to give a great understanding of why a reaction is happening. Do all the discussion packets, and practice tests to do well on the tests. OChem is hard, of course, but Zach made lectures much more approachable.

Zach is so nice. Wish he had more practice problems. But those one he has are quite similar to the exams. Go to his office hour if you can. He is super helpful. For me, he usually explain stuff more indept when I go to his office hour.

Zach is super nice, and he truly wants his students to succeed. However, the course's lecture format (at least for me) didn't really give me a solid grasp of the material. I believe the lectures are meant to give a very rough outline of the course, and the textbook is supposed to fill in the blanks. He's very accessible outside of class, so use it!

I really thought Wickens' explanations of difficult concepts were clear and easy to understand. He showed connections between old material and new material, and put a lot of emphasis on understanding WHY every reaction happens. 343 requires a lot of work, but he helps you through it, and it's worth the effort.

Wickens is a great professor all around. His lectures make it extremely clear on what is expected. Of course, OChem is naturally hard, but you can tell he really tries to simplify the reasoning behind why each mechanism takes place. He is accessible outside of class, and super approachable. The tests are difficult, but it is clear what's expected.

Professor Wickens is great, he made things very clear and did his best to cater to student needs. I'm sad he isn't teaching 344 or I would try to have him again.

I found Zach to be an awesome professor. He really cares about his students and tries to make O Chem easier to understand. I found myself surprisingly interested in the class thanks to him. You have to do the textbook problems to do well, but he provides all the resources needed to succeed in the course. I would recommend him to anyone.

Zach is a really sweet professor and you can tell that he really cares about our understanding of ochem. I wish he had more quizzes and problem sets but he follows the textbook so the learning requirements are clear. There's no homework so our grade is just discussion attendance, midterms and the final so consider that.

Professor Wickens is probably the best professor I have had so far. He explains things simply and reviews old concepts when they resurface, which has been very helpful. I have had some trouble throughout the semester and he has been very understanding and kind throughout all of it. He is determined to do a good job and values student feedback.

Wickens has the respectability of a true professor and the swagger of a college kid. Ochem inherently is a tough class, but he makes the material easy to understand and really cares about whether or not the students understand. Testsdifficult and require textbooks reading to do well. Lectures are recorded, and he 's always available outside class.

For it being his first time teaching he has done a very good job explaining concepts in an easy to understand way and is clearly committed to the success of his students. He seems a bit nervous still, but it isn't getting in the way of his teaching. Once he gets some more experience, he will be a great professor

Difficult material but he explains it in a simple undertandable way. I took this class briefly with another instructor and it was very difficult to keep up when he spoke. You WILL need to do a lot of book work and the grades conpletely rely on exams.