WHAT CAN I SAY ABOUT MY MAN, ALBERT COUREY. ANYONE WHO IS ANYONE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE THERMODYNAMICS WITH THE LEGEND THAT IS ALBERT COUREY.
I had started with 14A with Lavelle and I remember wondering whether I should switch to Courey or stay with Lavelle for 14B. I strongly encourage taking 14B with Courey. He genuinely cares about teaching us everything from Thermodynamics to Chemical Equilibria. So the course is comprised of:
Midterm I 16%:
So Midterm 1 based on the scheduling will be the midterm that has the least amount of material being tested on so it will be the easiest of the Midterms and the Final.
Midterm II 16%:
Midterm II is covers more material, but for some reason I think this test was easier and everyone did better on than Midterm 1.
Final 32%: Because of the COVID19 crisis, we could opt-in/opt-out of the test and I opted out because I already had the grade I wanted but my friends also said this was a very fair test.
Worksheets 5%: Graded in completion, but I highly recommend studying the format of these as they are just like his tests. Usually, you will get your worksheet and be like "WTF I cannot do this" but that is the point so you work in your discussion section with your LAs and TA. After a while, you'll get the hang of the worksheets and be like "wait WTF am I like lowkey smart??"
Pre-class quizzes 16% : These quizzes had unlimited tries and were online but Courey encouraged us to not use so many tries and actually work on them by offering some extra credit if we completed the quiz in 1-2 tries. The quizzes are also very similar to the tests especially his "Challenge Quizzes" 10/10 recommend finding friends to work on them with because these definitely require group effort for like the Challenge Quizzes.
Participation 5%: Participation was the hardest thing in the class. We had these minute papers due after Fridays lectures and they would open at 2pm and close at 8pm. A lot of people would forget about them and lose these participation points. Then the next way to get participation points was the Cold Call Discussions. Basically you sign up and as long as you sign up you get participation points. The bad part is that signing up makes you available to be called on in class so if Courey has a question he can call your name from a list to answer. You do not have to be right or anything he just wants to have the lecture attentive. But it easily is the most stressful 50 minutes of your life but it will make you attentive in class I must admit.
i>clicker 10%: these iclickers are based on just doing them in class there really is not much about them.

**WARNING: Courey is different than Lavelle in the sense that Courey mainly tests on conceptual rather than calculations. His tests sometimes only used variables instead of chemical compounds so we would be forced to critically analyze the problems in front of us. But lowkey I never thought I was a conceptual person but Courey is such an amazing professor that I understood the concepts. But of course there are people who are better at calculations than conceptual so keep that in mind.

Just wanted to shout out Jason, my LA. Literally a god but i think he is graduating this year. And Jessica Soule, my TA was also pretty good.

IN SUMMARY: COUREY IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER

I LOVE YOU ALBERT COUREY!!!! After a rough experience in Chem 14A with the legendary but brain-splitting Lavelle, I made it a priority to snag one of the spots in Courey's single 14B lecture. This class is hard, full-stop (most of the gen-chem series is hard in its own way!). There's just generally a lot of information to absorb and this class in particular I felt like got really dense in the second half of the quarter. But Courey is super helpful and clearly wants his students to succeed.
The flipped classroom format was actually really helpful for me, and the more intimate group setting of discussion section with the LA's was super integral to my success in the course. DO NOT miss a single discussion. They are essential to understanding and completing the worksheets, which are formatted exactly like the tests (midterm and final) and are thus integral to doing well in the course. Participate as much as possible, but don't stress out about it. Courey offers plenty of opportunities for extra credit.
Overall, to do well in the course, I would say you need to fully understand the worksheets and powerpoints, do all your assignments on time, and take a little bit of time each week to review the previous week's topic and possible connect it to the current week's topic. Especially because the class is formatted in a weekly worksheet schedule (usually these worksheets are on new topics each week) it can be easy to compartmentalize and forget what you learned in favor of focusing on the new topic, which is bad once you get into the content-dense second half of the quarter. If you can just take 10-20 mins each week to review the previous week's topic and do a few practice problems you won't be thrown for a loop when you're studying for the final and don't remember what the frick statistical entropy is.
OVERALL, i highly recommend our good man Albert. live love Courey

Professor Courey is so AMAZING!! He's extremely helpful and approachable. He dedicates a lot of time to this course and cares so much about his students. I took the 3-week intensive version of this course over the summer, and the pace of it was pretty fast, but Professor Courey still taught everything very thoroughly. Going to office hours was really helpful because he goes through problems and concepts in detail. For the 3 weeks, he had office hours for 2 hours twice a week on top of lecturing every day for 2.5 hours. Additionally, on the first week of class, my LA couldn't make it to class, so Dr. Courey acted as my LA for discussion. For those 2 days, he taught us literally from 9 AM to 4:30 PM (lecture, discussion, office hours).

We only had two exams, and I thought they were both fair. The first one was challenging, but Professor Courey offered a chance to get a lot of our points back through test corrections. Also, when a lot of people were concerned about grades, he listened and stayed up until 2 AM the morning before our second exam in order to edit the test and make it easier for us.

Going to discussion is VERY important, and the tests are closely modeled after the pre-class quizzes he gives and the problems on the discussion worksheets. Because of COVID and the online format, the tests are open-note, so the questions are a bit more challenging than the exams from previous years. However, if you make sure to understand all the questions on the discussion worksheets and pay attention to the polling questions during lecture, the tests are definitely more than manageable. I'm so glad I took this class with Professor Courey!

I LOVE COUREY. I took 14A with Lavelle and though I usually love general chemistry, I found myself hating it during fall quarter. Courey cares so much about his students and wants them to feel comfortable with the material in a way Lavelle never did. He gives out extra credit and the way the class is structured (pre-class quizzes, lecture, slides online, weekly worksheets, etc) really helps the student go above and beyond. Honestly, the sweetest mans at UCLA and I highly encourage anyone who didn't like Lavelle to take chem with Courey.

Although this is anonymous, trust me when I say that the ONLY thing "bad" about this man is that he goes over 1-2 minutes past the 50 minute lecture mark.

I am sure that others have covered how his class is graded based on the different elements of the course, and IMO how Courey designed his class makes it approachable for students to get a "decent" grade without having a life crisis in the middle of the quarter.

To truly understand and do well in the class you HAVE to do the worksheets and understand the contents in the powerpoints. You will be tested on the materials presented by Courey and in discussion. The exams (two midterms and a final) are designed just like the worksheets.

Worksheets are given during discussion and you will be in a group of 4-6 people (i believe) with one LA, and LAs are extremely helpful for you when it comes to understanding new material. Trust your LAs because they do the worksheets beforehand, they know the answer to every question, AND they literally have to get their worksheets approved by Courey and the TA themselves.

On exams, Courey will test you on calculations and concepts (not sure if he will change this in the future). For example, he will give three statements and you have to choose which statement is false and give an explanation, there is no one correct answer. To do well on the concept questions you must understand the content by going through the powerpoints, for me, I also went through the textbook, but most people do not even look at the textbook for this class at all. Also, there is literally no need to do any textbook problem, however, Courey puts up textbook reading sections on the syllabus for students to use as another resource to help students.

Powerpoints: so Courey puts up his slides on CCLE, you are allowed to look and take notes before lecture, however, you should always go through them and comprehend the material because there is a quiz you must take before lecture. He gives extra credit for students who can get a 100% on the quiz on their first or second try, the extra credit is like one point but it adds up. The quizzes can range from true/false or multiple choice.

Lecture: you HAVE to go to lecture because there are clicker questions you must answer during lecture. answering clicker questions during lecture gives you points, and he does not deduct points for getting clicker questions wrong. he just wants you to be there hahaha. He likes to ask students to explain questions or concepts and you get to be on his good good side if you answer his questions (he asks your name and all that in front of the entire class, im pretty sure it would make you feel better as a human).
Aside from clicker questions, Courey teaches 14B different than Lavelle (from what I have heard). Courey teaches you the hard concepts in the first half of the quarter which is thermodynamics, and the second half is the rest of whatever is on the syllabus, which is pretty easy and straightforward. I believe that Lavelle teaches 14B from easy concepts to hard.

Extra credit: Quizzes, some surveys he puts on ccle, evaluation of the course, and other things Courey thinks of.

Winter 2020 was the second quarter Courey has ever taught 14B so I am sure he will continue to change how he designs the class next year in order for more students to succeed in his class.

Please choose Courey! You will not regret taking him.

Prof. Courey is a great professor and such a kind person! His lectures were really engaging and I thought that the structure of the class was conducive to thorough learning. The tests were very fair and there were many opportunities to boost our grade as well!

I really would recommend anyone to take chem with Prof. Courey and I would def take a class with him again if I could!

Prof Courey is great!! This quarter was very strange transitioning to online learning, but he was very understanding and forgiving throughout. He is the sweetest person, makes students feel very comfortable asking for help, and tries to offer many opportunities so that everyone can succeed. The tests are of similar difficulty to the weekly worksheets and clicker questions, so if you understand those, you're fine. With other professors I feel like sometimes I understand the class and homework problems then get screwed with the tests. He isn't like that. Great person! Great professor!

Courey is the BEST 14B professor you could ever find! He is such a nice person and is put in a lot of effort in order to provide all students with equal opportunity. His tests are very fair and relatively easy, and he also provides numerous extra credit opportunities in almost every section of the grade, making it easier to achieve good grades! 10/10 recommend!

COUREY IS AMAZING. He is one of the sweetest and kindest professors, and you can tell that he really cares for his students. Thermodynamics is a difficult subject, but I truly felt like I learned a lot from his class. His tests aren't easy, but they are definitely doable. He also provides Q&A review sessions before midterms/finals, so take advantage of those because they are really helpful. Definitely take Courey if you get the chance.

Courey is THE BEST. I switched from Lavelle (14A) to Courey (14B) and it was the best decision I've made. Courey genuinely enjoys teaching and actually cares about his students. He encourages people to ask questions, come to office hours, respond on Piazza. Totally opposite of Lavelle. His tests are very fair (not easy) but he never throws curve balls or asks unrelated topics. If you study his material, and go to office hours to understand, you will do well. Courey is also very reciprocal of feedback and listens to his students opinions. He actually treats us adults. He is genuinely the nicest professor I have ever had. HIGHLY highly recommend.