She is one of the best professors I have had at UCLA. Her workload isn't too bad, and he gives out plenty of A's as long as you understand the material. Take her by all means, I would definitely recommend her.

Very hard class, amazing professor. The first Ochem class will be hard for anyone, but the professor makes it so much better. she posted the lecture notes online so you print them before lecture and then work through the problems in class. It makes lecture so much better and I actually learned a lot more. The material is hard so I read the textbook before class which helped a ton. Grading is 23% midterm 1, 23% midterm 2, 45% final, and 9% bacon (online HW, very easy, and free). She also offers 1.5% extra credit for going to lecture which is nice. The test are very hard midterm 1 (avg. 83%), midterm 2 (avg. 52%), final (avg. 60%). The key to do well is do good on mdterm 2. The material on midterm 2 is not hard but you learn a lot of reactions between weeks 4-8 so make sure you stay ahead of schedule and know all the reactions very well before then. The really hard test is the final. By now everyone knows all the reactions, so she adds tricky problems that don't just test your knowledge on memorizing reagents and reaction, but to truly think like a chemist and draws a little on acid/bases and general chem knowledge from chem 20A/B. Overall to do well in this class you need a solid understand of chemistry and there is no way to fake it

Dr. Reilly is a very compassionate and clear professor for Chem30A! She really wants to help students to the best of her abilities, and was good about having office hours, review sessions, extra practice problems, video keys, etc. to help students. This past quarter, she did lecture very quickly and at times it can be rather difficult to keep up with what is going on. But I walked away with a very strong understanding in the end. If you take her, here's some things to know:
-Dr. Reilly lectures extremely quickly, especially after the first midterm things start flying by. Really try to look at the material that will be covered beforehand, and review it consistently after.
-Reilly makes very helpful worksheets that are pretty reflective of the kind of material that will be on exams. Definitely do all of the worksheets and go to discussions.
-The textbook problems were not too helpful/reflective of what is expected. Often they are significantly easier. Maybe do some early on for practice.
-One frustration I had with the class was how much of the exams relied on being creative with mechanisms/synthesis. You can still understand the reactions but still do very poorly on exams. Do not let the 1st midterm fool you! Exams got significantly more difficult afterwards. Practice, practice, practice with the resources she makes + anything you can find.
-Averages of 2nd midterm and final were in the 50s, low 60s, but Reilly adjusts her grading around these. She wants a more difficult exam for a better distribution.
-Its been said that Reilly manipulates grades at times significantly, and values improvement, so don't be discouraged!

Regarding the class, the pre and post labs can be a bit of a pain (probably less so in the school year since lab isn't twice a week). However, Reilly will answer any and all questions you have (especially with the NMRs, which I was really bad at reading) so I would suggest you get as much of it done as you can and then ask her for help!

Regarding the professor--Professor Reilly is amazing! She is an engaging lecturer, incredibly smart, and also super kind and understanding. She's patient with everyone and never condescending--she treats all questions equally and answers them thoroughly. This was really helpful since I switched from the 14 series and lacked a lot of self-confidence in my abilities, especially when it came to organic chemistry. I felt welcome in the classroom AND encouraged to learn and try my best. Professor Reilly constantly reassured me that she was here to help and her office hours were a great place to get my endless questions resolved. I love her so much and I wish I could take 30CL with her :(

I'd like to preface this by saying that I am awful at chemistry, have little to no interest in it, and only took this course because it was a major requirement. Prior to this class, the last time I took an organic chemistry class was over a year ago. I was dreading this class so bad.
Professor Reilly made this class as painless as possible. She's a great lecturer, understands that people come from very varied backgrounds in ochem (people like me versus some second year biochem / chem majors) and is so incredibly responsive towards her students. She makes an effort to attend lab sections, holds office hours in lecture if she finishes early, and has the fastest Piazza response time of any professor I've seen. Also, our TAs all love her, which is a good sign. This is a class that you can absolutely succeed in if you try. Pre and post labs can be tricky, but TAs hold office hours, Piazza is a thing, and Reilly herself will give you some answers in lecture. You don't have to worry about not having study material for the final, because there's a practice worksheet for every week, plus three full length practice finals that she releases.

Note: She made the final exam optional this quarter (winter 2020), which I appreciate a lot, though she would've received a positive review anyways.

Dr. Reilly has very very good intentions as a professor, and it was clear very early that she was passionate about both the students and the subject. Her lectures were all on Zoom and recorded and she was generally good at explaining concepts, making it clear what we needed to know, and responding to questions. However, she was also regularly disorganized and missed lectures without warning. I'd like to be understanding because there's a good possibility that she had some sort of prior commitment or larger events happening in her life, but it really did affect our class significantly because we were behind on the material by the end of the class and there was a lot of added stress over the way she would handle her absences. She'd often say that she'd post a supplemental lecture and just not do it or send in a week later, and she was pretty much always tardy in posting midterm or final review material. The review material would have definitely be helpful, but I will also say that the actual exams were significantly harder and additional study is recommended even if you did well on the practice test. The partial credit is also very unforgiving. In all, I think Dr. Reilly is a great person, but a bit of a gamble as a professor. I'd probably retake the class but given Dr. Ow as an alternative I'd definitely go there

This review is for Dr. Reilly for Chem 14D. Coming into this class, I thought I was screwed for two big reasons: I was awful at gen chem and therefore thought I was awful at all chem, and the quarter prior I took 14C with a brand new and very scattered professor who I don't believe got through all of the material we should have covered. We definitely hit the ground running with Dr. Reilly, as 14D is a lot to begin with but she also recognized that a lot of us had gaps in our fundamental ochem knowledge. However, even though she oftentimes spoke really *really* fast and covered A LOT of material in the span of each 50 minute lecture, she is the most patient, thorough, and articulate professor I've had at UCLA so far. She went out of her way for her students, posting tutorials on confusing (14C AND 14D) topics, posting pdf and video answer keys for each week's discussion worksheet, having super flexible and helpful office hours. Her tests were hard and both midterms had averages in the 60s. But they were completely and entirely fair. If nothing else, Amber Reilly is an incredibly fair professor. Ochem was definitely hard, but professor Reilly really holds your hand as much as she can throughout the course. I imagine she's just as fairminded, generous, and thorough in her other classes as well, so I highly recommend taking organic chemistry or whatever else with Dr. Reilly.

Definitely recommend taking Dr. Reilly. She is the best professor I have met so far.

Walking into the Chem 30 Series, I was nervous/scared as I heard that organic chemistry is by far the hardest chemistry you can ever encounter. However, Dr. Reilly proved that this is wrong.

She is so knowledgeable in Organic Chemistry and you can feel the love and passion for the subject from her at every lecture and office hour.

She is also very helpful and actually wants you to succeed unlike some of the other professors. She will hold additional office hours, study sessions, review sessions, and work on the homework with you after you attempted it yourself.

The notes she gives out are super helpful. I definitely recommend also going to office hours as she is great at eliminating any sort of confusion you have on the subject.

Overall the breakdown of the course is:
BACON UCLA (X6): 12%
Problem Set (X5): 25%
Midterm: 25%
Final Exam: 38%

Her exams are fair and if you learn the material and understand it, do the discussion worksheets, problem sets, and additional practice problems she gives out, you should be well prepared for any examination.

In times of COVID-19 Pandemic and BLM movement, she was very understanding adjusting the coursework accordingly.

YOU WILL NOT REGRET TAKING ORGANIC CHEM WITH DR. REILLY!

She is perhaps one of the best professors you can get when just beginning organic chemistry! I am very excited to continue to take her class in the summer for 30B! I hope to get her labs as well :)

Dr. Reilly is a wonderful professor. Her lectures were to-the-point and clear, and she was always helpful during office hours.Would 100% recommend her for 30BL or any organic chemistry class.