UCI Survival Guide: 2021-2022 (In Person): Winter + Spring 2022 Edition (7/29/2022)

 I totally forgot to post a UCI Survival Guide after winter quarter, so I'll just do my best to recap both of those quarters in this post.

Winter

The first 5 weeks of winter quarter was actually online, due to a surge in COVID cases after winter break. I actually went back during the fourth week, however, because my ochem lab got the green light from the school to start early. I personally didn't really want to go back, not only because it meant I got to hang out with my high school friends more, but also because at this point I was a bit tired of my messy roommates and perpetually dirty apartment.

This quarter, I was still pretty involved in club volleyball and BBA, but I started to drift away from TAO a bit. This was my hardest quarter academically at UCI so far, and I started to just not have the time to hang out with people. I also didn't really study with other people because I realized that sometimes I work the best alone in silence.

Classes Taken (Winter)

CBE 40B - Mohraz (A-)

This class introduced us to thermodynamics, but without as much of the math/calculus. Getting the elephant in the room out of the way first, Mohraz is an insanely difficult professor. Generally, he is known as the hardest professor in the entire chemical engineering major at UCI, who is only to be challenged in 120C, which is the class that third year chemical engineering majors take during spring. Our class was taught at 8am, which was only made bearable because the entire class was online, due to Mohraz breaking his leg in a skiing related incident. Mohraz is the classic example of the stern, difficult, and skilled professor. He is insanely smart, and at some points he would seem almost in disbelief at how stupid the class was, especially after we scored an average of 30% on the midterm. Because of this (and also the manner in which he answered questions, especially those he deemed stupid questions), he seemed very unapproachable and outright aggressive at times. However, in reality, he is a professor that cares a lot, and after a talk with the class he was even kind enough to offer extra review sessions outside of class, which essentially acted as a discussion, which the class usually doesn't have.

I think of Mohraz as the strict Asian parent with sky high expectations. Before we were allowed a curve on the midterm, we had to take a sort of "midterm booster," where we were given one problem, and the points we got on the problem were added to our original midterm problem. This was supposed to act as a test to make sure we actually understood the material, and I honestly think this example describes Mohraz to the tee.

This class was pretty hell for me. I eventually did end up scoring higher than average on the midterm, but at the time of taking it I thought I did so bad that I was seriously considering calling my parents to tell them that I was going to drop out of chemically engineering. I think if I had a different professor this class would have been a lot easier, as historically it is supposed to be an easier class than 40B, but I guess I'm just getting incredibly unlucky with my college experience so far.

CBE 175 - Zenyuk (A)

In regards to the material covered, this class on batteries/fuel cells is, by far, the hardest class I've taken at UCI (this is including the classes I took in the spring after this class was over). Thankfully, everyone sucked at the material, and the professor made each test very easy (at least, in regards to the material, the averages were still at like 60%) in order to make the class actually passable.

This class starts out relatively easy, until you hit mass transfer, which is when the shit hits the fan. Mass transfer, as far as I aware, is a subject not covered until the spring quarter of the third year for chemical engineers, which means anyone who is a third year or younger is already a bit fucked. This class is an upper division class, which means it isn't actually supposed to be for second years like me, but it was sort of nice to see that everyone was struggling, no matter what year you were.

I respect Zenyuk a lot as both a person and a researcher, but she is not exactly good at teaching. She often goes on rambles, and it's pretty obvious that she doesn't have a good sense of direction while presenting her material. Taking notes is also almost impossible in the class, due to the complex formulas and diagrams, which is just another nail in the coffin.

I studied my ass off for this class because I was genuinely scared I would fail, but thankfully Zenyuk made each test cover only the most basic of material, which meant it just barely covered the things I at least sort of understood in class. I just managed to do better than everyone else to get an A in the class, but if I'm being honest I feel as though I didn't even deserve to pass this class based on how little I actually understood.

CHEM 51B - Guan (B, ~85)

I spent so much time studying for my CBE classes that I choked on my two ochem classes. I got above average on every test in this class, I just didn't get above average enough to get the A. Guan does this thing where you can replace a test if you score higher on the next test, and I got similar scores throughout the entire quarter, and I ended up not getting any scores replaced. I probably could've gotten an A if I took this class seriously, but those CBE classes did a complete number on me.

This was my favorite class this quarter. After taking this, I started to realize that I actually enjoy ochem a ton as a subject. It's pretty straightforward and easy to study, and getting an A is a matter of putting in the work to actually memorize and practice every reaction.

Guan is a great professor and I enjoy the way he structures both his lectures and his class in general, which regards to things such as grading. I highly recommend him as a professor. One thing to note though: Guan gives out a shit ton of homework. I'd estimate that each homework would take close to four hours to finish towards the middle-end of the quarter, and I consider myself a fast worker.

CHEM 51LB - Link (B+)

This was my first chemistry lab class. Lab is fun until you realize that each lab is like four hours long, and then it starts to suck. To her credit, Link is a great professor, and she has set up a great system for how everything works. There's a little module on the Canvas page for every week of the class, and grading isn't based on a point system like most other classes. Instead, you have this little checklist of things that you have to do in order to earn each letter grade, which was a very fair way of grading, in my opinion. You also have these things called tokens which you earn by completing extra assignments or surveys, and these work as a sort of safety net, as you can exchange them to redo assignments, get extensions, etc.

You want to make sure to really understand what each lab is about before doing it, because if you mess up you might be spending at least another hour in the class, which is hellish. My partner and I were always the last to leave the class, which felt terrible.

The post labs can also take around a day to finish, and you also want to make sure to section off some time to actually finish and understand the prelab, but overall I think this is a very fair class. It's the right amount of work (for a four unit class, its actually three units, but that doesn't matter too much), and it doesn't feel like the professor is out to get you or anything.

One thing to be wary of is you absolutely must study for the final skill assessment. For this quarter, we just took a written test, which you were allowed to bring notes for. This test is the most important assessment in the entire class, because it caps your grade, meaning that if you don't get an A level on this test you simply are not allowed an A in the class. 

I did not bring any notes to this test (partially due to my brain being focused on those hellish CBE classes), and I ended up getting a 2/6, which was a half point away from getting an A. I will probably remember this blunder for at least the next ten years.

Spring

At some point, I realized that it's not exactly good to keep hanging out with people you do not enjoy hanging out with, and I started to focus my time doing things I liked. Additionally, due to various factors during this time, my friendship with certain close friends started to wane, and I ended up not really hanging out with anyone besides my girlfriend and some other friends occasionally. I joined an intramural volleyball team, and I spent most of my time just playing volleyball, hanging out with people I liked hanging out with, and dancing. 

I actually started to have a lot more fun dancing this quarter, as some talented new members joined, and I was able to learn a lot from them. I decided to also branch out from just breaking, and start learning other styles such as house and popping. It's actually fun to be learning a new style like this, as I'm essentially a complete beginner all over again. It's fun to learn things with the other members in the club, as opposed to just teaching all the time. BBA also organized the Spring Quarter Dance Festival, which was an insanely fun event.

Academically wise, after the wintery hell I had last quarter, I decided to take an easier quarter. I still had ochem and CBE classes, but I decided to take Philosophy for my last GE class. I didn't really spend a lot of time studying this quarter, and it felt like I just cruised through everything. I guess the end of the year burnout hit pretty hard.

Classes:

CBE 40C - Adams/Reed (A-)

This class was very weird, both in structure and material wise. We had two professors, but they didn't teach concurrently. Instead, one taught for the first 5 weeks, and the other taught for the next 5 weeks. Grading wise, I thought it was pretty ok. I didn't like how the quizzes were so small but worth so much, but they weren't especially hard so just make sure to stay on top of things, and then not fuck them up.

Conceptually, this class was very weird. We started going into the nitty gritty of thermodynamics here, and there was a looooot of calculus and math and derivations involved. Doing problems often just felt like making something up until the little letters and symbols matched up with what you were trying to prove. That being said, I also sometimes just memorized exactly how to do some derivations, because that was what you were tested on. The homeworks took a long time and sometimes needed technology to solve. Because of this, a lot of the long and annoying problems would never show up on the test. Actually, in general, the questions on each test can be somewhat predicted, because there are only a certain amount of questions that you can ask, at least regarding the material covered in this class.

There wasn't really a method to study in this class. You just had to make sure to go to class, and try to hope to understand like 80% of each concept. I thought that the discussions were by far the most helpful part of this class, because they taught you how to actually solve problems (usually), instead of the bullshit theory mumbo jumbo that the lectures seemed to just set afloat.

Paradoxically, sometimes you just had to think sort of simply to understand things. For example, it's easiest to think of fugacity as just Gibbs free energy with more steps, instead of actually breaking your brain thinking about what those extra steps are, or why they even matter in the first place. (Spoiler, it's most likely because some dude from the 1800s thought it would be cool and "easier" to just make something up to make his math easier)

CHEM 51C - Van Vraken (B)

Again, ochem was my favorite class this quarter. Van Vraken is a funny and interesting professor, and I recommend his class to anyone taking it. I did actually study for this class, but I didn't exactly give a full effort. The burnout was really hitting me at this time. Like all the other ochem classes, I think that this class is definitely doable, but only if you put the work in.

People stopped showing up to the discussions around halfway through the quarter, but I recommend them a lot. If your TA is good, you will get a lot out of them, and they pretty much force you to do work and study. This is important, especially in Van Vrakens class, because he barely gives out any homework.

CHEM 51LC Link (A)

This class is the same thing as the last lab class. Make sure to study for the final skill assessment at the end of the year, and bring notes. I did that, and I got an A this time,

PHILOS 1 - Helmreich (A)

This was an easy GE. Everyone, professors and TAs included, had the vibe where we all knew that this class was just an easy filler class, so people didn't really care. The professor would show up 15 min late, and then end class early as an "apology." The discussions were also optional, and I only went to first one, which I suspect many others also did. The assignments were all easy, and the final was also very easy. Definitely a "show up to class and you'll get the A" class.