Reviews for Daniel J. Steffek
Average Rating:| mordac Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A May 12, 2012, 8:07 pm | Terrible, terrible, terrible. But required. You will HAVE to go to TA's in order to get close to full points on the lab. Even if you have everything right, the TA's will find some random place to take off a point. Final is random as hell, good luck on it. Also, they had a new practical this semester. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Basically, you were liable to get 20-30% off of a major graded event if your recrystallization yield wasn't around 90%. There was no precedence for this sort of thing in the class whatsoever. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A February 2, 2012, 10:43 am | As always, this review isn't for the Steffek since I barely saw him in the lab but for the course in general. Your grade largely is based off of what TA you get. Fortunately, I had a great TA who was easy on grading, understood the frustrations students had that this course is 1 credit and yet there is so much work involved, and helped anyone who asked for it. If you get a bad TA, may God have mercy on your soul. That's how much TA influence matters in this course. Like any other 1 credit lab course on campus, CHEM242 requires way too much work to justify as a 1 credit course. You must go to office hours to even have a chance at getting an A on the lab reports. But if you do, you will get all the help you need. Weekly lab reports take tedious amounts of time but I strangely found that it took a lot less time than lab reports in Chem232. Class was curved as always with those within 10% of highest grade getting an A and so forth for B and C. The midterm and final for me was actually manageable since Steffek sent out midterm outline reviews and shockingly, the exams were kind of straight forward with no tricks unlike previous midterms in other Chem lab courses. It's a hit or miss with this class. Hope you get a good TA. And don't fall into the temptation of cheating or plagiarizing. You will get caught and it really, really isn't worth risking your entire future over 1 credit. I say this because there were several instances of cheating in the class. Just don't do it! I gave this a four instead a five since I am always annoyed this much work is required for a one credit lab course. |
| TerpGuy Course: CHEM232 Grade Expected: A January 15, 2012, 6:41 am | First of all, this class is very stressful because the labs are usually long and take the entire time and if you are really lost about what is happening, you might actually run over allotted three hours. Dr. Steffek makes it easy by posting a pdf file on elms with all the procedures for the lab so you don't have to flip through that bulky book for procedures. The pre-labs are hit or miss because it is from the reading and it could be about anything. The post labs are really short but it can be hard. The key is to go to TA office hours and ask them for help. Try and do really well on post labs because chem lab midterms are always terrible. So its good to have a wiggle room for grades. Yes, the midterms are 10 multiple choice questions. Dr. Steffek gives out a study guide. Just try and study the review sheet and you should not fail. I had friends who studied hard and got a 15/50 while me and few others didn't study and got 40/50 and even 45/50. But its always good to study. The lab practicum is really easy compared to the midterm and the finals. If you do what the review sheet says, you should do well on your practicum. The final is the same format as the midterm. However, I found the final to be more difficult than the midterm. The finals also had two questions that were extra credit. Also, the class has a curve so getting a B or an A should not be any trouble if you do what I told you. This class is partially dependent on the TA you have too because if you have a good TA, like I did, the labs were smoother and everyone finished on time. However, Chem Dept. has hired undergraduate students as TA and some are absolute disaster with explanations and instructions. Your TA grades the first few post labs and after that, the grading of post lab is rotated among all the Chem232 TAs to be fair to all students. Dr. Steffek seems to be more organized and better than Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones always bothered us with color coded emails when I had her for Gen. Chem. Also, the TAs were terrified of Dr. Jones. So I think Dr. Steffek is much better. Overall, this class is not bad as long as you do the work required for the class with a little bit effort. Oh and Dr. Steffek is the guy with bushy mustache who randomly walks in during a lab wearing a lab apron. Just an Fyi, if anyone has to ever go looking for him. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A December 24, 2011, 7:54 am | FIRST AND FOREMOST THIS CLASS IS HARD. I think most of the other reviwers don't get that fact, but it is actually very easy to get at least a B in this class with minumun effort. All you have to do is read the labs for the pre-labs. Alot of the questionsd you could also know from lecture, as they overlapped alot for me. Next, GET SOMETHING IN LAB. It doesnot have to be perfect, but always get an IR and data. If yor IR sucks ask someone to copy there, the Tas don't care about this (my ta even told me to do it once). Finally, GO TO TAS. They have office hours and if you go they will tell you how to do the post lab questions which are really hard and how to do the worksheet. Even if you suck at lab and don't really get it you will get a B in this class if you follow those three directions. Also in steffaks class there is a pretty hefty curve. I heard its about 10%. Next, the midterms and final are very hard but doable. The midterm was not as hard as the final. For the final you either hope your lucky with the NMR and IR questions, or you better be amazing at NMR and IR. Also for the final make sure to read the questions and look at the structure correctly. There are a couple trick questions on there. All in all this class is hard but easy to get a B in if you follow the three step guide. |
| Diamond Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: B December 22, 2011, 9:04 pm | Pulled off a B only b/c of what I am assuming was a wicked curve. However, if I had to do it again, I would avoid all of the anxiety of waiting for that grade, and just do better on the post-labs by going to the TA office hours EVERY WEEK b/c I lost the most points from the post-labs. A lot of boring, repetitive elemental analysis. I just found the labs pretty boring in general actually. I thought the mid-term was fair, but that FINAL! Wow...there were questions out of left field!! Even with 10 possible extra points,I still managed to do terrible...but alas, I am done thank God! On to the next one! Oh...and I have no idea about Dr. Steffek, or how he even looks like, sorry :-) |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM232 Grade Expected: B December 21, 2011, 9:29 pm | I hate the structure of this class! I hate the pre labs, which lower my grade by couple of points all the time. There is almost no way to study for pre labs and post labs are doable if you go to TA's office. I just hated how we were so confused in this class and the TA's did a terrible job explaining the concepts and purposes of the lab. It is mostly work together or die. I had KAITYLN CRAWFORD as a TA. DO NOT GET HER. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. YOU WILL NOT GET AN A. Other TA's are so much nicer. please listen to me because it is for your own benefit. our lab section had a C average while other lab sections had B average and got their A's. Crawford is a hard grader and won't give you any points back even if she is allowed to. She goes by the rules like it's her life and pisses the students off so much. |
| jorges999 Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: B December 21, 2011, 4:52 pm | Beware, there is absolutely no curve in this class, and the averages on the midterm and final are both 50%, and the TA's grade the labs very harshly. Avoid taking this class with Steffek, Jones would be a much better option because although she is terrible, Steffek is too and at least Jones has a large curve at the end. |
| NeuroSciX Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: December 21, 2011, 12:26 pm | Waste of my time. Horribly set up, a health hazard the majority of time and heavily cheated in. Without a doubt the majority of people in this class who had A and B's either had the TA give them the answers or had the worksheets from previous years. Also post-lab questions are asinine. |
| wowumdseriously Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: December 9, 2011, 7:30 am | Talks about his dogs and wife all the time. Doesn't teach. Examples he give are useless because there will never be something similar on the test. He is more fit as a researcher than a teacher. Should never teach. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A July 10, 2011, 9:21 pm | Class is required, cant get around it. Always go to TA for help even if you think you got the answers for post labs. Midterms and finals are not that bad. I actually did better on them than 232. TAs are important, Dr. Steffek only writes the problems. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: A January 28, 2011, 2:34 pm | Unless you took AP Chemistry in high school, you might struggle with this class. If you took AP Chemistry, then you should fly by the class easily. I barely went to lecture and got above the average every time. His tests are fair, and he would throw one curve ball at you, but it shouldn't kill your grade. Lastly, randomly in class he would go off on tangents talking about his dog or his orgo labs. I would suggest actually reading the book and going to discussion rather than lecture. And Derek is an amazing TA. |
| premedkid123 Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A December 25, 2010, 9:16 am | Stupid course! Just plain straight from hell retarded dumb course. You don't learn anythinggg because lab moves ahead of lecture and focuses on stuff you don't even cover in lecture! Labs aren't too bad but post-labs are ridiculous. I did well though because I went to TA office hours. The midterm was ok, but the final was just wahhh?!? There was a question about a substance that we clean equipment with and no one pays attention to what that substance is! Steffek is nice but he clearly doesn't understand that his lab questions are ridiculous. It doesn't matter how smart you are in this class because you can't reason the problems out. Oh well, we all had to suffer through it. I had an 83 in the class and got an A. I'm guessing an 80 was an A-? Just try your best and go to office hours. I guessed on the final and did better than people who studied! Seriously though, don't stress over this 1 credit course. Worst case, you'll get a B because the curve is huge. |
| samhallen Course: CHEM272 Grade Expected: A December 23, 2010, 7:15 pm | Dr. Steffek gets a lot of negative reviews but I really like him. We were his first 272 class, which has a lecture to the portion in addition to the lab. Obviously, like most labs, you really only deal with your TA (who can make it or break it). His lectures were a bit dry and unhelpful, but going to his office was really helpful. He's jovial and outgoing one-on-one and is pleased to help. Also, I think because he really only is a lab coordinator and therefore rarely interacts with his 'students,' he loves when students come to his office and form personal relationships with him. As a lecturer, he's not great (both for 131 and for 272 lecture), but as a person, he's really nice, and I encourage you to get to know him if you have him. |
| zhangsta Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A December 23, 2010, 2:52 pm | Don't expect to see him in the lab because he never shows up. The prelabs usually quizzed you on some random details from the reading about the experiment or the procedure. Postlabs were awful and you couldn't finish them without going to the TA office hours. There was also no way to study for the midterm and final because there's no way to predict what he'd put on them, but you can be sure there will be NMR/IR questions on it. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A December 18, 2010, 5:36 pm | This class was pretty awful. There is not much that you can do because you will be losing substantial amounts of points even if you work hard. The post labs are unreasonable and it's pretty much necessary to visit the TA room on a weekly basis to get them done. Always expect there to be HNMR and IR problems on the midterm and final. Honestly, so far chem lab at UMD seems to suck and this class is a breeding ground for cheaters. Steffek himself might be fine but I have no idea what he looks like. Good luck. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: December 13, 2010, 7:49 pm | Awful class. The material itself is so difficult, and the post-lab questions usually have NOTHING to do with the actual lab. The midterm wasn't too bad, but the final was pretty awful. The averages are usually low, so try and do well on the labs (this means that you'll have to go to TA office hours and get their help, or those lab questions will get you) and try and get around the average on the midterm and final. We haven't gotten final grades yet, but the curve (I've heard) is usually pretty generous. You also get points off for having incorrect data - don't ask me how the actual data you got can be INCORRECT if it's your data. For instance, our vacuums were broken for a good part of the semester, and most of us had yields of >100% because the vacuums that we used were ancient and ineffective. Yet we got points off on our data sheets for having such high yields. Dr. Steffek also does not indicate any expectation for the lab reports -- there is no standard, so you don't know how much or how little you have to talk about. For a one credit class, it's WAY too much work and WAY too time-consuming. |
| mreese Course: CHEM135 Grade Expected: A December 4, 2010, 11:50 am | Dr. Steffek is easily the most boring teacher I've ever had in my life. Lectures were extraordinarily monotonous and uninteresting. He doesn't do much besides make a few terrible jokes to try to engage students. Fortunately, if you paid any attention in high school chemistry, most of this class is review. Dr. Steffek still managed to make the midterms moderately difficult to do well on, and the averages were so miserable that there was a bigger curve than I've had in much more challenging courses. Pretty sad for what should be a fun and easy class. |
| aralchen Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A November 9, 2010, 7:29 pm | Dr. Steffek is an extremely nice and pleasant man. When I went to office hours because I didn't understand certain concepts he was very happy to take all the time needed to explain things to me. Also, his explanations were very clear and thorough. The lab itself is actually really fun (I LOVED the last experiment with luminol). The midterm was really difficult. It required you to memorize all sorts of tests to ID organic compounds even though we didn't need to use them all in lab. The final was impossible. I mean, who has trans-p-Anisalacetophenone, and p-anisaldehyde memorized? WHO??? The time constraint was the biggest problem. 12 math based questions in 40 minutes? I think NOT! |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: C November 4, 2010, 9:41 pm | I am a 4.0 student this is the first non A I have ever received in college... My TA told me that if I guess on the midterm and final I would do better than if I actually tried doing the questions...he was right. Worst teacher in UMD hands down... |
| vnsach Course: CHEM135 Grade Expected: A November 1, 2010, 11:17 pm | Horrible class. The averages on tests are very low (between 55-65) for a 100 level class. if you have taken AP chem you should be fine though. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: August 30, 2010, 1:27 pm | Steffek is a decent teacher. His lectures were difficult to pay attention to and he does ramble, but most of the information he says is pretty straightforward. He's a lot more helpful if you go to his office hours. You HAVE to read the book. It'll help you a lot. I found it helpful to listen to what he went over in class, then read only those topics in the book. Exams were moderately difficult. Lots of short answers. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM135 Grade Expected: May 20, 2010, 4:54 pm | Terrible. Lectures are okay but really boring. You'd be better off reading the book. Weekly quizzes aren't too hard, but the exams are impossible. Many questions on the tests aren't covered during class [probably someone else wrote them]. Do not ask for a re-grade because he will take off MORE points. |
| biosci Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: A May 19, 2010, 9:01 pm | Dr. Steffek is really a nice guy. His class is straight forward. It means that you can easily predict what can be on his tests if you attend his lectures, and really understand the previous test questions that he posts online. Moreover, before each exam he will tell the class how many points will be from each chapter. SO you can focus more on the important things. His test are much more reasonable than the Aris homework problems that make 1/7 of your total grades. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A December 23, 2009, 8:49 am | Orgo II Lab is, like all the other reviewers have said, a course made much harder than it should be. The grading on the labs can be harsh and arbitrary, depending on the TA. To secure a good grade on the labs, I highly recommend going to the TAs; they lead you down the right path or better yet, give you a direct answer. To get a good grade for the class, just remember to do well on the labs; the exams are very arbitrary--midterm was manageable, but the final was inconceivably difficult. However, there's a very generous curve at the end, with (I think) a 80-82% as an A, 70% a B, and so forth. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: C- December 20, 2009, 9:13 pm | Overall, Steffek is not a very good human being. The final exam was 12 impossible multiple choice questions, most of which involved a calculator. However, it seems that random guessing resulted in a better score than actually trying to solve the problems. I am also convinced he lacks a soul because he refused to let me make up a missed make-up quiz even though it was due to mono with proper documentation. |
| notqualified Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: December 18, 2009, 1:32 pm | Hard course, Steffek was the lab coordinator, so you won't see him at all during the semester probably. I took a final makeup and he was very accommodating. And he's a polite and organized guy. The class midterm is somewhat doable but the final is impossible. Wow. |
| jaboomday Course: CHEM131S Grade Expected: B May 20, 2009, 4:52 am | It was definitely hard to listen to his lectures. I had a tues/thurs class which made lecture 75 minutes long and the exams 75 minutes long, which makes the exams way harder than a 50 minute class. The curve in this class is HUGE, at least 15% lowered. I think he's a nice man. He's not mean at all. Chemistry, in general, is a hard subject so whoever you get as a teacher, just expect to work hard. |
| cdough Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: B May 14, 2009, 7:33 pm | WARNING!!: WILL PUT YOU TO SLEEP!. I went to the first couple of lectures to listen to this man who talks like he's Marty McFly from Back to the Future. His lectures are long, boring, and full of pointless information. He has clicker questions, but I lucked out because he negated our clicker questions due to malfunction. The TAs are legit (Gary) and are key to doing well in this course. The online homework is much harder than the tests are, and the average grade (66%) will earn you a solid B. If by any means, AVOID THIS MAN |
| jwong89 Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: B April 19, 2009, 11:33 pm | I had Steffek for CHEM232 and CHEM242. For both I would say that they were much harder courses than they needed to be. TA's are highly variable, especially when it comes to pre-lab questions and unfortunately pre-lab questions constitute a significant portion of your grade. Post-lab questions required really specific answers and were often pretty difficult. Especially for CHEM242, the post-lab questions were the identification of an unknown compound or compounds from the reaction done in lab using elemental analysis, IR, and NMR. It got repetitive pretty fast. I personally never went to the TA's for help, but I have heard that going will definitely help you and many times they just give you the answer (at least point you in the right direction). Midterm and final were multiple choice, but don't let that fool you. By multiple choice, I mean choices A through F and while more than one choice might answer the question, you have to choose the answer that BEST describes the question. Unfortunately, if you are considering taking CHEM232/242 you probably have to take it and therefore just have to suffer through it. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: W April 12, 2009, 10:45 am | I dropped this course, and took it again with professor Ondov, because Steffek's style just didn't work for me at all. His lectures are difficult to pay attention to, and his tests are comprised of the most difficult versions of the problems and topics. It was also very tough to finish the test in the given amount of time. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: March 12, 2009, 11:52 am | This had to be most irritating class I've ever taken. His lectures are dry, and he hates it when you ask questions. There were a few times where he saw me with my hand up, stared for a few seconds, and totally disregarded the fact that I had a question. If you do have them, however, he does have office hours. The problem is that they are at very early hours, on very inconvenient days. Helpful? Not so much. Make sure you already have a good background of chemistry before taking this class. Seriously, you'll need it. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: A December 26, 2008, 6:19 pm | Dr. Steffek is a very nice person However, he does not like people asking questions during lecture. His lectures are a little bit boring and he only introduces the material to you (you need to read the book to actually know whats going on). His exams are broad, long and cover a lot of material but this means they are not very specific and most questions are relatively easy. His grading is really fair and he responds to emails really fast. Overall I think he was a good instructor. He does check attendance with clickers everyday and once again, he can be boring sometimes. |
| kosarow Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: c December 16, 2008, 7:24 pm | DONT DO IT!!!!DONT DO THIS TO YOUR LIFE, YOUR GRADE, AND YOURSELF! He grades hard,doesn't teach, talks theory but all of the test is application. BORING TEACHER, YOULL WANT TO DIE AND END UP SLEEPING IN EVERY LECTURE.IF YOU DO DECIDE TO commit this type of murder attending lectures are not necessary you really will not learn anything all you have to do is HOMEWORK and go to DISCUSSION. JASON: GREAT TA try to go to his review sessions he shows you how to do eveything and helps on tests. Clicker questions do help however, i guess |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM131 Grade Expected: A+ November 22, 2008, 9:36 pm | Steffek is one of the most boring people I've ever met. Half the class (including me) went to sleep every single lecture. I'm not done with his course yet but I'm almost positive I'm going to do really well. His tests are relatively easy and if you study for a couple hours for each test, you don't have to listen to a single lecture. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A November 18, 2008, 11:39 am | It REALLY depends on who your TA is. And Steffek is not a very nice person. He is a very hard-grader. |
| Anonymous Terp Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: A April 30, 2008, 2:05 pm | After going through both CHEM232 and CHEM242, I am convinced that these courses are harder than they need to be. Post-lab questions can be nit-picky and the TAs can be extremely harsh in grading. Dr. Steffek isn't much better. I once turned in a lab report to be regraded and ended up losing one more point in the end! The key to these classes is going to the TA help room. They help put you on the right track and can practically give you the right answer. As for the pre-lab quizzes, I have no advice - they are extremely arbitrary and it's almost impossible to study for them. There is a curve at the end of the semester, but be sure to try and get above the average every time. |
| Anonymous Course: CHEM242 Grade Expected: B November 7, 2007, 11:07 pm | I felt CHEM242 was a much better class than 232. Really this class is all about going to TA office hours, and getting lucky on the pre-lab quizzes. First lab is a terrible, the rest are reasonable. A lot of labs depend on waiting in long lines to use IR, making finishing sometimes a serious problem. Midterm and Final have averages of about 50%. |