Barnes, J.
1 course · 37 reviews
All Reviews
Covers a lot of material and is also super caffeinated. Office hours are incredibly helpful and prepare you well for the exam. Difficult class but fair grading and partial credit.
5/9/2023
Barnes is a funny guy. You can kind of tell that he's not the biggest fan of teaching an intro chem class but he's still really kind and accessible to students. The chem department in general is really just fantastic and they provide a ton of resources to help you succeed. I actually really enjoyed this class, it was hard but not impossible.
1/24/2023
Professor Barnes was a wonderful professor. More than anything, he wanted his students to find genuine interest in the subject material. He went out of his way to be available to help students even outside of his office hours. The lectures are fast paced, but it was necessary to fit in all the material. DO PRACTICE PROBLEMS!
1/20/2023
Solid teacher and a good semester. Take Barnes' section, not Heemstra's. Barnes is better at connecting with students and pitching the material for real life stuff. Barnes seemed extremely busy, like he was running around in 12 different directions. Better AIs and evening help sessions would be awesome.
12/27/2022
Professor Barnes is one of the most caring professors I've had and is willing to go above and beyond to ensure his students' success.
12/26/2022
CHEM 261 was definitely one of the harder classes I have taken at WashU. Professor Barnes did much to assuage my fears; he is a very nice guy with an interesting sense of humor.
12/23/2022
Prof. Barnes is a great lecturer! Chem 261 is known for being one of the toughest classes at WashU, but Barnes truly cares about his students understanding the material. If you aren't sure about taking Orgo at WashU or over the summer at a different college, definitely take it here as you'll learn so much more from Barnes than you would otherwise.
12/23/2022
Orgo is very difficult by default, but Professor Barnes does everything he can to help his students. Despite the large class size, he truly wants to get to know his students and ensure they succeed. Extremely accessible in office hours and over email - definitely take advantage of these resources! Great lecturer as well :)
12/23/2022
Professor Barnes is one of the top two professors I've had at WashU. He knows orgo is a hard course and dedicates insane amounts of time to his students and offers tons of resources. He has a great sense of humor in and out of lecture and overall is a great guy. Office hours are super helpful and dedicating even an hour per week is very beneficial.
12/23/2022
Very good lecturer and very accessible outside of class. Make sure to not fall behind in the class as organic chemistry is difficult to catch up on.
12/23/2022
Prof. Barnes really cares about his students and made sure anyone could succeed if they put in the time and effort. He is always accessible through email or his office hours where he takes the time to learn all of his students names and backgrounds. If you are dedicated to utilizing the resources available, Dr. Barnes will always be in your corner!
12/23/2022
Orgo is not an easy subject my any means. However, Professor Barnes has this amazing ability to make this daunting course more approachable. No matter what, he is rooting for you. Professor Barnes is always on his student's side and he really goes the extra mile to make sure any student who needs additional help or guidance will receive it :)
12/21/2022
Barnes is fine, but the course was not structured well. It would be good to have PLTL and help sessions to work on problems in groups. TA office hours were ok, but nobody went. I tried the other section, and that was same. It didnt help that Barnes missed quite a few lectures.
12/13/2022
Barnes is engaging and enthusiastic during lectures, explaining course material throughly. Hes also super helpful during office hours. He clearly wants all his students to do well in the class
4/23/2021
Orgo is obviously a hard class, but Dr. Barnes is really good at explaining mechanisms and concepts. The hardest thing about this class for me was memorizing everything, not understanding! He's great at making clear, concise lecture structures and notes that help you comprehend. And his final review sessions are really really helpful!
2/1/2021
Professor Barnes is awesome. Despite the class being very lecture and exam heavy, he creates plenty of opportunities outside of class (help sessions, 1 on 1 chats, office hours, and email) where you could get clarification. I took advantage of those and they helped a lot! Also, make sure you stay on top of reading the textbook. Great experience!
1/18/2021
Barnes is fine, but I am disappointed by the course structure. It took me back to rote memorization, which I cannot stand. I truly wanted to know the why's of molecular structures and reactivity. Perhaps more discussion time built into class would have helped, instead of flying through PPTs. Overall, the course was not bad, just not good.
1/15/2021
Professor Barnes is a very good professor. His class is difficult as orgo requires you to invest a lot of time to really learn the material. That being said, he is very accessible. Go to his office hours to get help or any clarifications on materials in class. He also tries to be as fair as possible with his grading. You will learn a lot and enjoy.
1/15/2021
You know how they say a "man of the people"? I'd call Barnes a "man of the students." Although the class is only graded on exams, with possible extra credit, Barnes does his best to be accessible and tell you what you have to know. Take advantage of his office hours and all the additional resources of the class.
1/15/2021
Orgo was one of the hardest class that I have ever taken. That being said, Professor Barnes was one of the best professors that I have ever had. He was incredibly accessible outside of class, funny, and validating when the material was hard, yet committed to helping his students understand it thoroughly. 100% would recommend him as a prof!
1/14/2021
Professor Barnes cares about his students. He welcomed everybody to his office hours, and if you could not attend, then he would try and find another way to answer your question. The class is challenging, but Professor Barnes is straightforward about what he wants to test you on, and his exams are not impossible if you put in the work. Great prof.
1/13/2021
Professors Barnes was very friendly and open to helping students. He was consistent about implementing help sessions and office hours and used humor to lighten the stress. He was also incredibly responsive at all times which made me feel more reassure that I could get questions answered. Although the class was difficult, Im glad I took it with him
1/12/2021
Prof. Barnes is a great professor for organic chemistry. I was dreading the course before taking it because of all the horrifying stories about orgo. However, if you learn the material and do ALL the practice problems, you will get a good great. The lectures are well-organized and even the hardest topics are explained in comprehendible terms
1/12/2021
Professor Barnes is the best teacher in the world at explaining organic chemistry concepts to people who don't intuitively understand it right away. Lectures are very clear and thorough. Goes above and beyond to answer all student questions. Exams are very straightforward as long as you know the material. Highly recommended!
1/12/2021
Prof Barnes obviously cared for his students, but his lectures were not as effective as they could have been and were very hard to follow. His office hours, help sessions, and the ai workshops were the only way I was able to learn some of the material, but I still wasn't able to get a good grasp on a good number of concepts especially at the end.
1/12/2021
My favorite professor in college. Somehow made organic chemistry fun and very motivating. Amazing office hours and responded to email questions with full diagrams of explanation.
1/10/2021
Really interesting class and a lot of work. Was faster because the semester was shortened but he did his best to only test us on what we actually went over. Orgo as a 2nd language by Klein will save your life thank me later
1/9/2021
Tough material, but it did not have to be that hard. It was tough to learn from lectures as there was too much ppt. I started the semester going to class, but quickly switched to watching zoom. Just not one of those classes I was driven to attend. Fine professor, but tries a bit too hard to be macho.
1/7/2021
Barnes is a great professor! He explains things very clearly and has extremely helpful office hours. The class is difficult as it is, but he does a great job leading the students through it.
12/1/2020
This class is difficult. If you study, your whole view of chemistry will change and things will start to make sense. Barnes makes this attainable by being extremely accessible. He hosts office hours in a very effective way where groups of students can discuss questions and work through problems together. Read the textbook before tests.
9/15/2020
Prof Barnes is an amazing instructor who helped me learn the material in a difficult class. He was very accessible outside of class and very responsive to email even on the weekends. He built molecular models and sent out pics from different angles so we could understand stereochem. I started slow on exams, but did better later. Would retake again!
8/8/2019
Barnes was not organized in his lectures nor explained concepts very well. All of my learning came from assistant instructors. He was arrogant and did not care about the success of students. He cared about his status. He wrote the exams the night before, and the questions were not clear.
7/30/2019
Professor Barnes was extremely enthusiastic in classes and easily accessible during office hours- I was never afraid to go ask him questions. I was genuinely surprised at how he made Orgo enjoyable. He provided many resources such as selecting optional textbook questions, having TA hours and problem session hours many times a week.
1/25/2019
Orgo was not as bad as the rumors. Barnes is pretty good, and he does care if we learn the material. I really did not like the discretion points he gave for attending his help session or his boss lecture. Please grade us on our performance.
1/11/2019
It's orgo at WashU -- don't expect it to be easy by any means, but Prof. Barnes does a great job logically covering the salient points in the textbook and making you care about the material you are learning. Lab isn't too bad. Be sure to read the textbook; it helped my grade a lot. Go to office hours and his exam review sessions for exam hints.
1/7/2019
Professor Barnes is a phenomenal professor that really cares about his students. He was extremely helpful (and hilarious) during his office hours, which he held regularly. His lectures were also extremely clear and organized, which I really appreciated. Although organic chemistry is notoriously difficult, having Professor Barnes made it survivable!
1/2/2019