Richard Mabbs
2 courses · 26 reviews
Courses
All Reviews
2-4 hrs/week
Mabbs is a fantastic lecturer. I never found myself bored during class. The class is relatively difficult; it will likely be different than any other class you have taken. Super interesting material though.
2/27/2025
4-6 hrs/week
Mabbs is an awesome lecturer with a passion for the subject. The first half of the semester is dedicated to wave physics which was kind of frustrating because my friends taking 105 were learning actual chemistry and I was struggling to understand how what I was learning applied to anything. In the last month or so of class everything started coming together and it was very satisfying having everything tie in. DO UNGRADED HOMEWORK and go to PLTL.
12/11/2024
Best prof ever. Really appreciated how he talks about scientists from underrepresented groups and achievements. Chem111/112 is not an easy course, but his lectures are very helpful. Hardworking pays off in this course.
10/29/2024
Dr. Mabbs is a fantastic professor. Probably the best lecturer I have ever had. The content of Chem 111 is pretty difficult, but he always kept the lectures super engaging, and I never really found myself bored. He uses the chalkboard much more than slides which facilitates note-taking very well.
10/16/2024
2-4 hrs/week
Certain concepts can be tricky to understand, but go to office hours when you have questions. Discussing concepts with others can be helpful to clarify misunderstandings. Do the non graded homework and PLTL, and you will be fine. If you don't have a background in chemistry (taken 0 chemistry courses in hs then for sure take 105) (if you have taken ap chem and ap phys 2 then for sure take 111)
5/18/2024
Chem 111 is a total disaster, but Mabbs is awesome. He gives very clear lectures and is very personable.
5/6/2024
Mabbs includes weekly chemistry in the real world segments which combine the topics learned with applications. It is really engaging and unique to this teacher. He sometimes goes through topics a bit quickly and his examples aren't very reflective of quizzes and exams. His handwriting on the board isn't very good and it can be hard to take notes
12/22/2023
Very good lecturer, his lectures tell a story about chemistry. He is kind and very interested in helping us succeed.
8/15/2023
Mabbs cares about his students, but his lectures are just average. He can ramble and go in circles so they are hard to follow sometimes. That being said, if you put in the work outside of class, it's not impossible to do well.
12/23/2022
There's no denying that the exams are really hard. That said, the class has REALLY leniant cutoffs, and as long as you average your exams to around 80% you will definitely get an A. That said, 80 is even pretty hard to get sometimes. Mabbs is really caring, but he likes to make things difficult, which made me learn a lot.
9/15/2022
Mabbs is hard to follow in lectures. He's not good at explaining concepts clearly and often goes in circles that makes you lose focus of the key concepts. He genuinely wants his students to understand the content though, especially in office hours. Chem 106 isn't as bad as it's reputation, but you have to put in a lot work outside of lectures.
5/20/2022
chem106 = easy material made very difficult (for no reason) with very lenient cutoffs... the HARD A was an 83 or an 84? and an A+ is 97.. like what lol. mabbs is clear in lecture but overexplains easy shit. if you have a question go to luo. before exams go to bakupog. u will overstress and learn way too much and get a 96.9 (same grade as da 83.01s!
5/18/2022
Based on the previous reviews, I was afraid of Professor Mabbs, but having gone through Chem106 with him I know he's a very thorough and excellent professor. He is a very good lecturer, you just have to pay attention and be an active learner. He's very kind, answers questions thoroughly, and is accessible outside of class.
5/16/2022
I think 106 was much harder than 105, but I think Mabbs handled the content well. He was a good lecturer and usually went at a good pace. He held a lot of outside review and was always available for extra help. Overall, he seemed like a good guy and a strong professor. Just keep up with the content and attend PLTL! You got this, chaps!
5/16/2022
if you haven't taken AP chem, this class will be HELL. Get ready to dedicate half a semester to this one single class.
5/7/2022
Get ready to learn an entire course by yourself. Mabbs is funny, charming, and VERY CLEAR, but lacks the most important teaching skill for an introductory course: teaching you what you need to know. He stresses things that are unnecessary for exams and glosses over the most important concepts. Material presented is unorganized. Exams are RLY hard.
4/5/2022
Mabbs does not explain concepts very clearly during his lectures (which are also quite dry), but he is pretty helpful in help sessions. His exams are way harder than any practice sets given.
11/18/2021
After hearing how hard chem106 was, I was terrified, but for anyone who complains about the difficulty didin't put in the amount of effort it took to do well. Of course this class is difficult, but I absolutely loved Dr Mabbs and think he did an incredible job if you sought out his help. I felt so supported by him, and it was my favorite class here
11/18/2021
Whether you aced chem 105 or struggled in it, GOOD LUCK in 106 with Mabbs. He is terrible at explaining things and the sample questions he goes over in the worked example videos are not nearly as difficult as the exam questions. To survive this class you really must do the most and that probably isn't even enough.
7/21/2021
Mabbs does not always explain concepts clearly during lecture and the lectures are usually rushed. Also, the exams are much harder than the recitation worksheets and the problem sets, so it is hard to be prepared for exam questions. For this class you definitely need to go to office hours, do PLTL, and consistently review your notes.
12/30/2020
Exams felt significantly more difficult than the work done in class. I would go into exams feeling 100% certain and confident on the material, but the exams would catch me so off guard. Especially the final, it was just tragic. Would've been helpful having practice problems that were actually similar to exams and not an easy version of the exams
12/20/2020
Mabbs would speed through lectures just to get through more information. He would not spend enough time on difficult concepts and then expect us to know how to solve problems related to it.
8/27/2020
He is unclear a lot of the times during lecture, and questions on the tests are not always directly aligned to what you learned in class (but I guess this is what the large curve is attributed to). Also disorganized and takes a long time proving equations rather than giving examples similar to what we will see on assignments later on.
5/8/2020
The jump from Chem 105 to 106 was drastic and unexpected and with a different professor, it did not help. During lectures, he does a problem on the board and you will have no clue why or how he is doing it because he never gives you any equations. He also goes super fast through lecture and you can barely read his handwriting.
5/6/2020