Reviews for Daniel E. Falvey
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: April 8, 2012, 12:17 pm | Awesome! He is definitely the guy to take Orgo II with. Great lecturer, really funny and entertaining, and the lectures seem to move a lot faster than with other chem professors'. He really cares about his students. There is both an upside and downside to this. Be prepared for class, because by that, I mean he goes through the roster on the first day, tries to get to know everyone's name, and in class, he WILL call on you at least once. It doesn't matter that there are 200 other people in the class. You will be called on. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: B July 10, 2011, 9:08 pm | Prof. Falvey is a great professor. He is funny, cares about his students, and extremely knowledgeable. Exams are fair and looking over previous exams really helps. The only thing that didnt work for me is the curving system. 10% below the 5th highest score will earn you an A. Unfortunately, the 5th highest score was somewhere around a 94% this semester. That means messing up on one exam will cost you. So Falvey's averages tend to be higher than other classes, but his curve is almost always lower. Very easy to get a B, the A cutoff will depend on that 5th score... |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: A July 8, 2011, 5:32 pm | Dr. Falvey is a great professor! He is funny, straight forward and teaches pretty clearly. The only thing is that his hand writing was not too good for me though. I recommend to read before going to lecture (even though I never did). Since there is not much time, not everything is covered clearly. The book is kinda helpful in explaining stuff that I didn't get in class. The books problems don't really help in my opinion but more practice is better. His exams were ok if you study. He gives out practice exams before each exam and about ~50~60% is from the practice exam! And sometimes he gets a bit lazy and steals the problems that our TA Derek(One of the best TAs ever!) made up and gave us for practice. For practice exams, I remember he gives them out 2 weeks before the exam and gives out hints via email. He gives out the answers 2 days or so before the exam. I recommend start doing the practice exams right after and make sure you understand each question instead of looking at the answers the night before. I think it's important to understand and know how to draw the mechanism for every reaction instead of memorizing them. I don't really remember the averages but I think they where around 65~70%. For me I got high Bs in all of them, got a A on the final and had a A without the curve. For the final, redo all his exams, practice exams, practice sheets that the TA gave. Go over notes and clicker quiz questions. It's a lot of work but as long as you understand all those. You will do fine. Dr. Falvey is a really nice professor, although I never went to his office hours (he calls on ppl in class if he remembers you from his office hours so be careful!) The shocking thing about him was once when we were talking about cellulose, he ripped a piece of paper and started chewing O___O |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: June 14, 2011, 4:11 pm | Coming from someone who is awful at organic, he's a very good professor. He is very nice and extremely enthusiastic He likes to go off tangents, but they normally relate to the topic. His exams are things we've seen before. Half the answers are already in the notes he gave in class. As long as you understand the topic and don't just try to memorize things you should do well. However, I hated his grading system. Top 5 grades gets an A+, next 10% gets an A and so on. Oh yeah, he has clicker questions that are considered extra credit at the end of the semester |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: C+ May 21, 2011, 9:22 pm | Good professor. Very nice, tends to ramble from time to time but gets the message across. Go to office hours, he's very helpful and he puts up old tests to study from. No matter who you take orgo with it's gonna be hard so study for it every day, no joke. Tests are fair. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: A May 19, 2010, 9:53 am | FANTASTIC lecturer. He is Santa Claus. (you'll get this on the first day if you take him). He's genuinely a nice person and teaches very well. There's definitely a reason why there was a 40 pt discrepancy in averages between Falvey and Issacs during this semester. Falvey does NOT throw in any low blows on his exam - he tests you on what he teaches and what he asks you to practice. I highly recommend him for Orgo II! |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: C May 18, 2010, 9:13 pm | I did not do so well in his class because I completely panicked on the final exam like a punk. Too bad the final exam was everything we had already been tested on. Go to every lecture, every discussion, and study the practice exam problems, synthesis, and mechanisms. He doesn't surprise you on exams, which is great. I would have gotten a B had I been a better student. Overall, he is a great professor! |
| UMDfutbol3 Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: A May 17, 2010, 10:11 am | Best orgo professor out there, really just makes the material easy to learn. Exams are variations of the practice exams, with a few curve balls here and there, but if you follow the logic of the practice problems, and understand them, you'll be fine. Similar to Dixon in that he really enjoys the material and enjoys teaching, unlike some of the other orgo professors here. |
| aralchen Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: A May 15, 2010, 1:32 pm | Phenomenal professor. He's clear, succinct, and extremely engaging. He emphasizes the WHY and the HOW of organic chemistry and less of the WHAT. Memorization in his class only takes you so far. Overall, I can't even count the times I completely lost track of time when listening to him. Coming out of the class I REALLY felt I knew organic chemistry. Let's put it this way: by popular standards Dixon is supposed to be a great teacher. She really isn't worth the chalk he writes with. His exams are not easy, as shown by the relatively low averages. However, they're very fair and will reward those who study for them. He likes to send out lots of practice problems. They're really not a waste of time, considering he pulls about 60% of the exam material directly from them. I really agree with the below review - Falvey actually tests you on what you learn in class. There are no surprises going into the exam. I did have one small issue with him - his curving system is really wacky. Basically, 10% below the 5th highest score in the class in an A. You can imagine just how problematic it can get when the 5th highest score is over 90%. Overall: I will take any possible class he'll teach in the future. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: A+ October 4, 2009, 10:10 pm | Falvey is a great professor! At times, the work does seem overwhelming, but he explains everything very well. As long as you do all the homework and practice problems, you should be fine. About 60% of the exam questions come directly from the practice problems, and the others are slight variations. Unlike other professors, he actually tests you on what you learn in class, and does not try to trick you. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM241 Grade Expected: A November 18, 2008, 11:37 am | Very enthusiastic BUT he can be TOO much sometimes and unorganized. Tests are okay. Make sure you study for them. |