Bryn Lutes
3 courses · 94 reviews
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2-4 hrs/week
genuinely hated this class. would not take if it was not required for my major. not difficult, just so fucking annoying.
12/27/2024
2 or less hrs/week
terrible lectures, like actually a waste of your time. chances are your ai won’t speak understandable english so make sure to read the procedure before your lab. exams are mid
12/18/2024
2 or less hrs/week
Awfully run class and the actual professor doesn’t teach. Everything you need to know is in the reading and if you need more info, watch the lecture videos. Don’t bother going to the lecture because it’s just Q&A. Also Autry is a way better instructor even though he’s not even the professor.
12/18/2024
2-4 hrs/week
This class is taught very strangely. The "lecture" is basically just an hour and a half Q&A session and if you\'re in the right section they will help you with pre-lab assignments. You have to watch the (pretty lengthy) videos and do the readings on your own time or else you WILL NOT understand anything. Don\'t do what I did and forgo watching + reading the material because you will legitimately have no clue what is going on. If you do what you are supposed to do you can easily get an A. I have done no work for this class beyond showing up to lab and doing pre-labs + lab reports and I still have a B+.
12/11/2024
Absolutely worst course ever taken. You have abosulte no clue what to do in the lab. Worst grading system ever seen, just meant to make you fail.
9/13/2024
4-6 hrs/week
Annoying busy work with loose relevance to Chemistry lecture. Be meticulous in your reports.
7/6/2024
2 or less hrs/week
Just go to lab. The only way to do horrendously is to miss them. Exams are not that difficult, just know the labs and do the practice exams.
5/28/2024
2 or less hrs/week
Same sitch at Chem Lab I -- go to lab, know your stuff, do the practice exams. Not that hard.
5/28/2024
4-6 hrs/week
This class doesn’t have traditional lectures so you kind of have to self-learn everything through the videos and readings they give you. However, the prelab and report help sessions with mr autry are very helpful and clear things up a lot.
5/20/2024
2-4 hrs/week
Can be hard at times. But if you have a friend who’s gifted, or one that’s already taken it or you just focus up this class is quite easy. Brynn lutes sucks and is annoying though. She is actually such a millennial piece of work
5/19/2024
Professor Lutes is extremely over-hated. She is very nice and helpful, and the grading overall is very fair. The main complaint is that her lectures are not helpful, but that is because they are meant as supplements to the video lectures - not as the main teaching component. If you put in the work to prepare they are very useful for the reports.
5/7/2024
I honestly believe that she is overhated and most of the negative comments come from students who didn't bother to attend her lectures. I found that her lectures were very helpful with the pre-lab and content, and she was a chill, knowledgeable professor who put in effort to support her students. Somewhat cluttered and disorganized though.
4/26/2024
WashU is blessed to have Dr. Lutes! I never had the opportunity to have chem lab before college, and I am glad to have had the experiences I had in 151 & 152.
4/21/2024
Literally dont go to lecture its pointless. Matt Autry will be your savior
2/5/2024
weird that they mandate this course, doesnt really coincide with chem 111, can't say anything about chem 105. content itself was never really that hard, but so much of it and easy to get behind so make sure you understand each lab as you do it so you don't have to learn it all before the exam (like I did)
1/11/2024
This class was very confusing and I never knew exactly what was going on with the labs, but it's easy to do well if you work with others and keep on top of labs. Most people did not attend lecture, but I found it helpful in finishing the prelab (answers were often discussed in class). She seems nice/caring, although she gets sidetracked easily.
1/3/2024
Dr. Lutes just doesn't care if we learn. Grading is all over the place. Exams are ridiculous, but she gives extra credit. Can't Mabbs or Daschback teach the lab? That would be incredible.
12/22/2023
Dr. Lutes is engaged, caring, and human. She is explicit about grading criteria and expectations. She expects a fair amount of intrinsic motivation, maturity, and autonomy from students. She is there to help, and does so excellently, but you have to bring something to the table as well. I highly recommend and believe she is rated unfairly here.
12/11/2023
She is super nice and cares about her students. Shes also hilarious, and runs a DJing gig outside of school. Although chemistry is hard, she, and the entire chem 151 team, is there with endless amounts of support and help for you to thrive.
12/8/2023
If you need help with this course, go to Matt Autry. He is incredible at explaining difficult concepts.
9/25/2023
Not sure why she has so many low ratings, but she's one of the best professors I've ever had. She has great prerecorded lectures for students to watch and come to lecture with understanding and questions, it's much more time-effective and allows for collaboration and critical thinking during class. Slightly unprofessional but fun and knowledgeable.
8/22/2023
I know Lutes' lecture is hard to follow because she speaks very slowly and sometimes gets distracted but she is really a good person and cares about her students. Lab reports could be hard to do on your own so the key to this class is to go to office hours. I went to her office hours every single week and got good grades on all of my lab reports.
8/21/2023
While professor lutes doesn't give great lectures all of the material you need to know is in the lecture videos/lab manual. She was very understanding of personal issues and very generous with rounding up grades. Lab reports are kind of annoying but there is a lot of resources offered. You can definitely do well in this class if you want to.
5/26/2023
I rated her poorly last semester, but after having gone to her office hours, I can say that she is one of the nicest professors. She cares a lot about her students being able to understand the assignments. It is just up to the students to seek it.
5/11/2023
Lutes is sweet and cares about the department. She does not prepare well for lab lectures but goes off of student questions and still does a good job of explaining. You can also go to her with questions after class. Just listen to the safety rules.
4/10/2023
She does not seem to know what she is talking about and does not prepare for her lectures well. skip the lecture for lab. the labs are easy though and the whole class is if you've taken AP Chem
4/9/2023
Contrary to popular opinion, I found professor Lutes to be great professor.
1/19/2023
This class is required, but you won't enjoy it at all. It's incredibly disorganized and lab reports are impossible to do without attending office hours. Lab lectures are hit or miss -- either somewhat helpful or a complete waste of time. Matt Autry is my savior. He is the only reason I was able to do well in this class.
1/11/2023
Lutes is alright. Problem solving on Monday is optional- Sometimes were helpful, other times a waste. Labs required. Strange reports with harsh grading. Office hours help for prelab and reports. Tests hard to study for, but easy overall.
1/5/2023
This class, while required, is not going to be very enjoyable. Bryn Lutes was unclear with the instructions on many occasions and her problem solving sessions (non-lab section) are hardly useful. If you want to do well in this class, attend the help sessions and prelab review (taught by Matt Autry) . Matt Autry is a significantly better explainer.
12/28/2022
I do not think that she is a bad person, but the class is structured very poorly and lecture time is poorly used when it could be used for content learning.
12/27/2022
Dr. Lutes is not as bad as reviews make her out to be. The structure of the course is bad. Lecture videos were often confusing, as were problem-solving sessions. Lab reports were almost impossible to do without going to office hours. Material did not line up with gen chem. Exams were chunky, and did not line up well with the practice exams.
12/26/2022
Lectures were pointless in this class, they didn't really add anything to the lab material. Bryn tries really hard to be fun and relatable to the point that it's offputting. The canvas page is organized so that's a plus. Lab components are pretty toughly graded and it's easy to lose points.
12/23/2022
Monday "lectures" are useless and lab reports are impossible to do without the mentor help sessions. Content must be learned on our own and never aligns with gen chem lecture. It doesn\'t feel like Lutes cares about teaching as much as talking about her cats/music taste and the fact that we have a midterm & final in a lab class is ridiculous.
12/23/2022
Dr. Lutes' lectures focus on problem solving, leaving us relying on videos, readings, and help sessions (not led by her) to finish labs. She berated us on lab safety for an entire mandatory lecture, saying she would fail all of us if she had to grade us that day, and proceeded to make 40% of the final's points over lab safety. Would not recommend.
12/22/2022
Lutes is the only available professor for this course. I attended lectures weekly, although optional, and they were useless. She does not teach the content she tests on, nor the content that is on the reports. Practice tests and the midterm/final vary in consistency and TA hours are the only helpful resource (Matt Autry in particular).
12/20/2022
While the workload of this course is for the most part manageable and the chemistry content is fairly easy, the disorganization in this course makes it unbearable. Too often there were typos on lab assignments and exams, and concepts are not clearly or concisely explained. Also, there is no grace if you need to miss lab for any reason.
12/20/2022
She clearly does not know what she is doing, the practice exams are nothing like the actual exams and lectures are completely useless. If you want a good grade, go for office hours for your prelab and leb reports and always answer the extra credit questions on midterms/exams even if you don't know the answer (just make sure to put something down).
12/20/2022
The class is a grind and none of it's enjoyable. The reports are weirdly difficult at times and mistakes take a huge chunk out of each report grade so go to TA hours. Exams are extremely variable in difficulty and in content.
12/20/2022
The reports test on material she doesn't teach or give. Small mistakes on the report affect the grade greatly. In lecture, She spends most time talking about herself/cats. Exams test on info that students aren't told to review. Long response time; took 2 months. Extremely rude and petty at times. Makes you feel dumb when asking for help.
12/20/2022
Extremely awful. Does not know what she is doing, her lectures do not make any sense and do not correlate to the labs at all, just her talking about her cats. Exams are extremely difficult and practice exams do not align with exams given. Very rude and condescending. Awful professor do not take her class.
12/19/2022
I believe Lutes is a genuinely kind person outside of her profession. That being said, her teaching style is difficult. All learning must be done through recorded lectures while the actual lecture is structured to do example problems (should be the other way around). She is petty and will provide misleading information prior to exams.
12/19/2022
The labs are hard to understand, grading for the labs is rough, and for the exams you need a certain score on the exams to get a grade. That means if you got perfect scores on all the labs but you did not get a 75% or 50% average on the exams, you would still get a C in the class. The exams are really hard and not like the practice tests.
12/19/2022
The most pointless class I have taken. Literally learned nothing about chemistry and all this class did was drop my GPA. She is not very clear in articulating the topic of the lab and the exams were very hard compared to what was provided as practice and learned in class. Do not recommend taking if you don't have to.
12/19/2022
Final exam in fall of 2022 was an absolute joke. You never really know how to study for these exams and it was made worse by the fact that the lab exam was nothing like the practice exam, contrary to what the instructors claimed prior. If you're taking Gen Chem 111, good luck. The lab work is completely unrelated to what you learn in Gen Chem.
12/19/2022
Thought this course wasn't terrible until the final exam. We were told it would be like the practice exam (like the midterm was), but it wasn't even close to that. You basically have to teach yourself every single piece of information through lengthy recorded lectures and long readings. Bryn is a cringe millennial who does not care about students.
12/19/2022
THE WORST TEACHER. She puts a BOAT LOAD of info for the pre-lab readings online but for the exams does not pinpoint at all what you need to know-- essentially it could be anything. The class is ALL memorization and math. This woman cant explain anything for her life and her recitation is USELESS. When I heard she was seeking a promotion I HACKLED.
12/17/2022
Terrible lab experience. Lutes is just a miserable person. She scolded us...it would be better to teach us lab techniques and safety issues. I don't get how they let her teach at wustl.
12/13/2022
Only teaches with recorded lectures. In person sessions are not helpful at all. Can't believe after all these years of teaching the same class it's still something like this.
12/13/2022
Issues with 151 are more with its structure than its teaching. Bafflingly, the Monday class is a problem solving session, not a lecture, and can pretty much be avoided with no real loss. If Lutes was actually given the chance to teach outside online video lectures I think she would shine, but the structure chem lab has now is just lackluster.
11/17/2022
Fine as a person but she is not a good professor. There are optional help sessions for the labs but as far as the midterm and final go, you're completely on your own. If you have a string background in chem, you will probably be fine
11/15/2022
HORRIBLE. This woman does not know how to explain. She completely does not prepare you for the midterm. Midterm was hard and I'm currently at an A in 105. Go to the AI's for help instead of her. Her Monday lectures are completely disorganized and I never learned anything. She gets distracted way too easily and just talks about her cats.
10/31/2022
pretty easy class but teacher does not really do anything. gotta do most things yourself
10/19/2022
Lutes is a nice person, but a bad teacher. Her grading criteria for lec&lab is INSANE. Theres no help, the amount of work for lab is crazy. Prelab(due start of lab), electronic lab notebook(due end of lab), lab report (due ONE day after lab). This class sucks. You have to teach yourself. Be careful, these people are hoping for your failure.
9/26/2022
Professor Lutes is an amazing professor who genuinely cares about her students who make an effort. I had Prof Lutes for Gen Chem over the summer and then the in the spring of 2022 and I always made it a point to attend her office hours and ask questions. I know office hours may seem like a pain but TRUST ME! They help big time.
9/1/2022
i mean this is a really, really, really hard class. like really hard. but after looking back at it all, once you figure out how to get a perfect score on a lab report, you can basically rinse and repeat the process. very rewarding class. lutes is a great person. monday lectures are slow and unhelpful, but posted solutions are good for report.
7/5/2022
coming into freshman year, 151 was defo the hardest class id ever taken (no AP chem background). i got a 110-120 ish /150 on the midterm, which hurt my soul. then i learned how to properly do the class.... consistently hit basically perfect scores on everything and ended with A+. GRIND SMART AND HARD FOR THIS CLASS. LUTES IS A SWEETHEART.
5/18/2022
People are exaggerating or did not try enough for the class. Yes, the class can be tough and it is, but if you honestly just put in the work, watch the lecture videos, go to lecture, read the manual and attend mentor office hours you'll be just fine. Also, Lutes is very sweet, gives out answers during office hours, and gives tons of extra credit
5/17/2022
I've never experienced a bigger waste of time in my life than Lutes' lectures. Forget getting help with the one hard question on the lab. The most important topic is obviously one of her many, many cats. Piazza is never answered, deadlines are ridiculous, and feedback is never taken. If you can, spare yourself the migraine.
5/14/2022
152 is everything bad about 151 but worse. Lecture is useless, and Piazza is never answered. Takes weeks to grade and gives 0 feedback. The inclusion of "unknowns" this semester makes the class harder and the grading harsher. Takes hours of work outside of class, and the report being due after ONE DAY is ridiculous. WAY too much work for 2 credits.
5/12/2022
Lutes lectures are essentially useless. All the learning done is done through her online videos and the lab manual. Chem152 is a bit harder. I found the exams to be a lot trickier than first semester. Go to OH to get good lab report grades and then just try to study hard for the exams. I want to stress that lutes 1 lecture is useless.
5/6/2022
Absolute worst professor and class at WashU. Grading is ridiculous, you'll lose too many points for minor mistakes. Labs aren't hard but need office hours to get good grades on some reports. Doesn't teach in lecture, waste of time.
4/28/2022
lutes was great. if you go to her office hours having tried at all she'll give you the answers. she does her best to make a terrible class bearable.
4/21/2022
This class is extremely frustrating. While the material is much easier than Chem 112, somehow I found the grading much more strict and am overall miserable the whole semester. It's like the instructor's received feedback about 151 last semester and decided to use that input to make the class even worse. I spend so much time crying over 152.
4/12/2022
Professor Lutes can be sweet and maybe funny. But her class is absolutely atrocious. The exam questions are so nitpicky and ask about the most random minute details that are worth SO many points. So many random points are docked off in prelabs and lab reports. Easily my hardest class, not at all bc of material, but bc of the way it's structured.
3/17/2022
Monday lecture is completely useless. Lutes waste the lecture time not teaching and instead goofing around, and so the entire lab assignment is all self-taught from videos she post and the pre-lab reading. The pre-lab + lab + lab report all take about 6-7 hours total. Exams are okay but can be specific for no reason.
2/11/2022
Dawg all these people just being mean, she's really not that bad. Like yeah her lectures aren't all that useful, but sometimes she drops answers to the prelab. She's not that bad
2/7/2022
Lectures are more about memes than chem. Does not answer questions well. Exams are based on nit picky facts from labs. This should be a 3 credit lab for the amount of workload.
1/31/2022
Professor Lutes is very vague with her answers. She is also very slow to respond to questions. I personally stopped attending the Monday lectures because the problem-solving sessions often gave little to no assistance with the pre-lab/lab reports. This is one of those classes you'll just have to suck it up and grind through. Attend office hours.
1/6/2022
Dr. Lutes is really a nice person, and she cares her students. However, she's a poor lecturer, so you will feel her lecture to be unhelpful. The laboratory work is pretty straightforward and you would be OK since you mostly work with your AI. Some questions on the lab report are confusing, but most of them would be fine.
12/24/2021
Actual lab is fine because you only work with your lab AI. Lutes runs lab lecture, which is the biggest waste of time EVER. Questions on the actual lab report are ignored, while stupid questions after her cats are explained thoroughly. Go to lab lecture for the first week and never go again. Don't expect any feedback on your report.
12/23/2021
Dr. Lutes is a super nice person so I hate to have to write a bad review on her, but this class is horrible. There is no teaching done in our lecture sessions - I've had to teach myself everything on my own and that has not gone well. There is absolutely no partial credit which sucks, and it also is horrible because this class is required for many
12/20/2021
Partial credit doesnt exist in this class. You can put so much effort into every question, yet the entire thing will be marked off it you make the tiniest mistake on something. Triple check everything to make sure you are correct or shell mark you off for everything. Incompetent professor,
12/20/2021
Content itself isn't hard, but the instructors never answer Piazza and take off random points for no reason. You also don't get any feedback, making it difficult to actually improve. Lab lecture is totally useless and doesn't cover hard content. Student questions are ignored. WAY too much work for a two credit course. Prepare to teach yourself.
12/19/2021
The worse class I've probably ever taken in my life. There's absolutely no structure to the class and the 50 minutes feel like the biggest of waste of time I've ever experienced. You'll have to teach yourself the material because she won't.
12/19/2021
Students are given absolutely no help inside and outside of class. Professor Lutes is never available outside of class and during class, she rarely answers legitimate questions regarding the lab (even when there are an overwhelming amount of them). Monday lab lecture is the definition of useless and the Piazza is run by students rather instructor
12/19/2021
Dr. Lutes is a genuinely nice and funny person, and she does care about her students. However, her lectures are very unhelpful, and it is completely pointless to even attend the problem solving sessions. Basically, you have to learn all the lab material yourself. She is the worst professor I had this semester.
12/18/2021
Dr. Lutes is a great person who cares for her students and is quite frankly awesome! As someone who is intrigued greatly by chemistry, I came in with an open mind. But this class was taught in the worst possible way, which disappointed me to the point where even lab became misery. A great person, but this class has no structure or light to it.
12/18/2021
Her lectures are not helpful. She can be funny, but I learned almost nothing. Additionally, she's not understanding at all about genuine mistakes or sudden circumstances. If you check your labs with your friends before submitting it, you can still get an okay grade in the class, but overall I can't say I learned much.
12/13/2021
horrible professor who doesn't deserve her place teaching at washu. the chemistry department here is notoriously good, so its bizarre how this pathetic excuse of a professor is teaching. chem lab is such an interesting topic so it's amazing how she is able to make this class so boring and pointless. remove this professor from teaching immediately
12/8/2021
exams are pointless. huge workload but it's only a 2 credit course. i spend more time on this course than ALL of my other classes combined, which is saying a lot. this is only her second year teaching and you can DEFINITELY tell that she's inexperienced and incompetent.
12/8/2021
a horrible teacher who can't teach. your grade is mostly made of labs so if you don't do well on the exams it's fine. ridiculous that we have two exams for a lab class but whatever. lectures are pointless so don't attend unless you want to waste your time. lab reports can be graded harshly and have random points taken off.
12/8/2021
genuinely can't believe ppl rate her higher than a 1. any genuine questions are ignored, yet stupid questions like how to make mac and cheese are thoroughly explained. useless professor.
12/8/2021
Lutes is really nice and definitely cares about students, but she can be a little unclear with expectations sometimes
11/18/2021
For a 2 credit class the workload is outrageous and there are exams that have no purpose at all. The worst class ever.
11/3/2021
the most helpful part of this class is the mentor help sessions. go to those and you will do very well. the class tests on minute details rather than broader concepts, which I think is pretty useless. You'll do well if you don't fall behind on lectures, read and understand lab manual/lectures, and check your lab reports with the mentors
7/6/2021
This class is pretty straightforward. Do some readings, do the assignment, go to lab. There's gonna be stuff you need to learn that the readings and lectures don't help with. This is why there are so many accessible office hours. If you take the time to go, Professor Lutes is so nice and helpful, you will leave confident in your understanding.
4/28/2021