CHM 130 online at Rio Salado

ajhill00 · Mar 6, 2010

When I took CHM130 and BIO156 I was spending 1 hour a week maybe on chemistry and about 15 on bio156.... CHM is mostly math tho... so i guess that can make a difference.

mytwocents · Mar 25, 2010

DON'T DO IT.

I took both CHM130 (chem) and PHY101 (physics) at Rio Salado (online). Both at the same time, actually. In my personal experience, I think it was a huge mistake. Math does not come naturally for me. In fact, I have to work quite hard to understand and barely get by.

Both of these courses are probably just fine for those who "recently" took them in high school (but actually did well and got decent grades). But for those who've been away from math and science for a long time, and in particular for those who struggle with it, I say that you should sign-up for an in-person course with an actual instructor (one with a good reputation as one who actually "enjoys" teaching at the JC level)

In my case, I was able to scrape by with "C's" in both, but not because I really understood things as the semester went on. I learned how to take the exams and quizzes. These courses were both (quite literally) just you reading the textbook, you're being expected to IMMEDIATELY learn and RETAIN pretty much everything, and to do it with virtually NO help from the instructor. The "lag times" on getting a response from the instructor (in my case) ranged from 1-7 DAYS (yes, days). There is no "going over that again", or really, any instruction at all. Textbooks are NOT instruction. In my opinion, textbooks "support" instruction.

I have actually done quite well (A's) in both Biology and A&P. I came in thinking that I'd have little trouble with CHM and PHY. Wrong. You need to have a teacher. I'd only suggest Rio's courses if you're already quite competent at CHM, and you just need to get it on a college transcript.

Also, take note: The labs take FAR MORE time to complete than an in-class 3-hour lab. Some of mine took 7-8 hours to do, and even though I bought a $60 "lab kit", I usually still had to fetch ingredients on my own from the outside. Once, I needed just 20mL of antifreeze for the experiment. So I had to go and buy a huge, expensive jug of it. And what if I did not own a car! What would I do with it?

As far as the instructor: I felt that he had a particular penchant for being oddly cruel on the grading. He looked for any opportunity to downgrade over really insignificant errors. If your lab's data was somehow corrupted by a mistake (you had no idea you'd even made), he did not recognize your having gone through the motions correctly. He graded you down anyway. Instead of treating the course like a pre-req for nursing or allied health, he seemed to treat us like we were young chemical engineering students (hint: if you're strong with science and are majoring in CHM, you're not going to be taking CHM130 at Rio...ever)

The lecture material, the exams and the quizzes: They are filled with typographical errors, and many of the quiz and exam questions are just plain wrong. And you have to FIGHT to get them to admit the mistakes and make a correction to just YOUR exam score. And then they do not bother to fix the exam or quiz for the future (they are lazy). It was sick, actually. Inexcusable.

My teacher was a jerk, and his name rhymes with "Jackabluso". I had to fight numerous time swith him to get quiz scores upgraded (due to errors) and midterm and final exam questions overturned and fixed. The dept chair had to intervene at least 7 times on my behalf and order him to fix the score. I had a smilar experience in PHY101 with an instructor whose name rhymes with "Jablonico" (he also teaches CHM130). Horrible content, horrible teachers. A shamefully bad experience.

Take it in-person.

RaeRae11 · Jun 3, 2010

Hi, I am just now getting ready to enroll in Chm130 at Rio and am trying to decide whicch instructor. I can't email yet since I don't post very often, can anybody give any hints as to who I should try to get?

miteacher, ADN, MSN · Jun 4, 2010

I am taking it now, and my professors initials are S B, and she is female. I am not happy with the course at all. Basically you teach yourself everything, she takes several days to respond to e-mails, and on two occasions has not graded my assignment in a timely manner. I had a great professor for BIO 156 at Rio, but this lady is just awful, and I would NOT recommend taking it at Rio. I'm actually signed up to retake it at South Mountain Community College as they offer it online as well. So avoid this particular teacher unless you are completely capable of teaching yourself and will not have any questions.

RaeRae11 · Jun 4, 2010

Thanks for letting me know, I had a great instructor for BIO 156, but the class was still really hard. I can't imagine a class that is already difficult with an instructor that is not the best.

nursestudentAZ · Jun 4, 2010

I had a fantastic professor for CHM 130 at Rio this past spring with initials C H. She responded to emailed questions within a few hours--even on weekends--and graded assignments within 2 days. She went out of her way to help me understand the material. I actually had a fantastic experience with the class and preferred it to the in-class version which I started at Estrella and dropped. So, there is at least 1 good Chem teacher at Rio; however, by reading other posts, it looks like there aren't many like her unfortunately.

sarax · May 14, 2011

Is anyone interested in forming a study group for the class starting on 5/16/2011

@ Rio Salado CHM 130 section (15606) ? it is a 16 weeks class.

thanks

pre-ASUstudent · Jun 16, 2011

I am about to take this class on July 11 and might choose the instructor with the initials D.H

studentnurse1012 · Nov 4, 2014

I'm considering taking CHM130 at rio but heard so many rough reviews. I'm transferring to Arizona college in the summer. Has anyone taken chm130 in the 8 week program? I'm a mommy and a wife and work I feel like a zombie half the time but that's ok. In the end it'll be all worth it!!