Okay where should I even begin. First off, Professor Anish Nag is hands down the best professor I have ever encountered at UCLA! And all I can say is my standards for UCLA profs have now been set really really high thanks to him. He is dedicated to the students and goes above and beyond really to ensure that you not only do well in the class, but actually learn and enhance your problem solving skills. He designed the class in a way that basically ensures that you have to apply your best abilities to do well. But the thing that really sets him apart from other professors, is his empathy! He will know and check if you are struggling and he will put in extra effort for you if you go and talk with him during or outside of office hours. He is also by far the most approachable professor I have met, who will never judge you for any questions/issues you bring to him but instead would just try his best to help you! To say that he is the most caring professor ever is truly an understatement, and that in itself should wrap up this review!

But to go more in-depth with the actual class and lectures, it's true that the class is really really tough. I mean it's real o chem and o chem means a lot of different reactions/mechanisms, most of which you have to memorize. There's really no way out of this, and that's what gives o chem all the bad rep that it gets. Having said that though, I never for once (maybe once lol) thought that the challenge of mastering all of these reactions was too daunting or impossible, thanks to the constant encouragement of Anish and his clear and informative lectures and all of the materials that he puts up on CCLE. Trust me, he puts up a LOT of materials and you will NEVER be short of having practice problems to work on! And it really helps a lot. His exams are challenging to say the least, but I think I understand why they are made that way to ensure that we give our very best effort to actually apply ourselves. But irrespective of that, he always has your back like no other professor does, and if an exam (like Midterm 2) was extra challenging, he sets a generous grading scheme so that you feel better and less stressed when you see your score. Oh did I mention he remembered all of our names (without even actually having spoken to us in office hours)? How crazy is that?! Almost 300 names which he would freely call out in lecture anytime somebody raised a hand to ask him a question or approach him in person. Like that makes you feel like you matter to him, and he is as much in this class with you as much you are with him. The man was even PERSONALLY PRESENT and helped out each and every student who went to the LA review sessions. No other professor has ever been so caring!!

Overall, I would highly recommend Anish! If you want to learn about o chem, if you want to boost your problem solving skills or if you just want to learn more about life and be "a better human being" each day (or just get an A at the end because most likely you will), take Chem 14D with Professor Anish Nag! Professor Nag if you read this, just wanted to say thank you for everything!!

I'm one day into this class and I already want this man to adopt me, he is a whole KING.

Best class I've ever taken, shoutout to the LAs, especially Alison and her annotated discussion handouts!!

I have mixed feelings about this class. On one hand, Professor Nag gives a lot of practice material and problems to prepare you for the exams. The discussion sections are quite helpful and the TAs and LAs are all super kind people. Most notably, this class is very heavy with extra credit and you can drop your lowest exam.

However, I had some issues with this class. Professor Nag often wasted the first ten minutes of class with chemistry memes that made the rest of the class seem super crammed. He would go over really complicated topics super fast, and didn't use slides. It seemed liked he focused more on getting us to like him rather than teaching us the material. I ended up having to rely on discussion or outside sources to help me learn the material.

Moreover, the tests were unnecessarily difficult. I think Prof. Nag enjoyed watching us complain to him how hard the tests were. He was apparently upset that the average score was too high for the first midterm. He made the second midterm much harder and sent us an email about how we may have thought it was the hardest test we had ever taken, but he said he thought it was easy. It felt condescending and made me feel really bad about myself after I had studied so hard.

At the end of class this quarter he ended class by telling us to leave him positive reviews on Bruinwalk, and then proceeded to email us the same thing. It felt really superficial to me how he is trying to use us to boost his ego.

Overall, I would still recommend this class, but don't expect it to be easy and be critical of the rave reviews (because he made people write them). It starts out not super hard, but once the first midterm hits, the honeymoon phase ends. The extra credit and exam drop policy ultimately made the class for me, but his ego and hypocritical attitude made me not love the class as much as I could have.

Anish is incredible. He will become your best friend. And he teaches the class so well. Don't miss the chance to experience a professor like him, he's one of a kind.

you've probably heard the amazing things about Anish and they're all true!

this man cares SO MUCH about each of his students, mentally/emotionally/academically/etc. He puts in 110% to make class fun, informational, digestible, and organized.

This class is by no means easy and you should definitely study every night a week before an exam (it's the only way to actually absorb everything and get an A, trust me).

also: a passing grade is a 30%, so it's really impossible to fail the class, which takes a lot of pressure off of exams, participation, etc. The highest exam score is doubled and the lowest is dropped, so most students didn't have to take the final (this is not just a pandemic thing, I think it's Nag's policy in general).

the LAs made this class bearable and dare I say it... fun? shoutout to LAs Porus, Mahir, Kulveer, Arif, Arman, and Nada for being amazing teachers and support systems throughout this whole quarter of 14D.

I would 100% take this class again with Nag, he gives so much extra credit, was super funny and relatable, actually cared about us, and if you're premed Nag gives little tips here and there on stuff that is usually tested on the MCAT. stellar class , stellar prof, had a stellar quarter. :)

Want to know if Nag is still the legend like other reviews say he is? Spoiler alert: he totally is. Not only does the guy present organic chemistry in the most straightforward way possible, but he also makes it impossible to fail with the amount of extra credit he gives. And his motivational speeches? Amazing. Know that while ochem is difficult, if you push yourself just a little bit, you can accomplish far more than you thought you could. Do the practice problems as soon as you learn the concepts (there is no shortage), rewrite and summarize reactions in your own way, and DO. SYNTHESIS. Synthesis can be the hardest beast for some people, but it's actually super fun when you have a good grasp of the reactions, because then it's just a puzzle! Also, the LAs for this class are the absolute GOAT, I swear they are a different breed of LAs from any other class you'll take. Nobody in this class wants you to fail, and the LAs and Nag have your back. Take 14D with Nag. Do it!!!!!!

literally the best prof u will ever have at UCLA hands down.