Professor Baugh is very passionate about chemistry and I think he is a true scientist. However, he is not very good at teaching. His lectures can be a little bit confusing, but if you could read the textbook and understand the contents, you will get an A. His tests are not hard and his review sessions are pretty useful. Spend time reading the textbook and you will do great in this class.

Be prepared to teach yourself all the class material, and pray that you get a good TA. Like other reviewers have said, Baugh is a terrible lecturer and the textbook can be very convoluted and confusing, so you'll have to spend a lot of time outside of class teaching yourself. During class, he will often go into highly complex and confusing explanations of the course material. In addition, he is quite disorganized in his teaching. For example, he spent too long on one chapter, which meant that he did not have time to go over the last three chapters on the syllabus. In the end, we did not have to learn this material and it was not on our final. Also, Baugh does not coordinate well with his TAs. Before each exam, the different TAs and Baugh would all give conflicting answers on what material would be tested up until a day or two before the exam, which confused students a lot.

However, if you can manage to teach yourself most of the material, Baugh's class isn't hard to do well in. His quizzes and tests and based almost solely on homework problems, many of them word-for-word out of the book with numbers and elements changed. He also has this grading system where any missed points on the midterms can be "earned back" on the final exam such that the points you lost on the midterms are added to the total point worth of the final.

Summary: Take this class if you are willing to spend hours of your own time learning the material and want a (relatively) easy A. If you want to really learn chemistry, take someone else.

Delroy Baugh is quite the enigma. The man and his insanity, the disorganization of the class, how many weeks you are behind in lecture, it's all hilarious but really awful. I would recommend taking any another professor at all costs if possible, not because you'll fail Baugh's Chem20A, but because you'll waste so much time and learn little when passing it. If you do end up with Delroy, here's what you should know:

-His lectures make little to no sense to anyone, don't try to understand the complicated slides or words coming out of his mouth because it's not worth it. Often he teaches far far beyond the scope of the textbook and just talks about his own research.
-The TA's will be your best friends. They write all of the exams, and they are able to provide more clear explanations of how to solve hw problems. If you get a crappy TA, go to another one/other office hours.
-The quizzes, midterms, and final pull material directly from the homework. Thankfully there is little homework, so you are able to eliminate a lot of unnecessary stuff in the textbook from your studying.
-The final pulls 4/8 questions from the midterms exactly, so really get confident with past exams.
-Don't buy OWL, it's a total waste of money and will never ever be mentioned/used in class.
-Make sure to have a pdf of the 8th edition (or whatever current edition) is being used! Baugh probably is still using a super old edition (like 3rd or something) but the TA's use the current one, even if problem #s are different.
-Still go to lecture/discussions because even though TA's make exams, Baugh can (and will sometimes) make changes later. Also they are full of memes
-The textbook will also be your best friend in figuring out how to solve the homework, since Baugh's lectures are essentially irrelevant to the class.
-TA's will often contradict each other, and contradict Baugh, creating a very stressful situation. Just stay chill, don't be afraid to keep asking questions so you can actually understand what is expected of you.
-TA Review Sessions >>>>> Baugh Review Session
-Check his Instagram for fresh meme material weekly

This class was a nightmare. Passing it is very much possible. That being said I spent more time trying to pass this class than anything in my life.
He was unclear, unorganized, not helpful, and overall just a bad professor.
My TA is the only reason I passed.
His grading scheme is very generous, but for whatever reason did not help my grade at all. It did, however, help my friend get an A.
Overall, this class was awful but I suppose it could have been worse. Skip lectures, they're useless. Discussions will be your best friend. the TA's write everything so get to know them.

A lot of people complained about this class but honestly this class was VERY VERY easy. But if you're a first year and don't understand how midterms work in the quarter system / don't know what to expect / have good resources for test preparation; then get ready to get rekt. However, this class was very very easy IMO but felt more like EE2 (Electrical Engineering 2: Physics for Electrical Engineers. You mostly talk about Quantum stuff with Electrons and Holes, but the key thing you learn from EE2 was how electrons interacted in certain scenarios; eg diodes, potential wells (infinite, finite, different scenarios)). In CHEM 20A, you learn how (but dont have to have the Math 32B skills of an EE class) the different wave functions inside a potential well, a square 2D Well; different (basic) atomic pheonomena (on a quantum level / understanding, but it's just probability analysis; don't worry.)

My advice to anyone taking this class: Look at past exams, especially the newer ones from Fall 2018 / etc., because the problems tend to be similar; ESPECIALLY on the quizzes. On the midterms, just make sure you have a good TA. Lectures weren't useful for acing the exams on this class but were... actually fun to listen to if you're interested in the subject. Unfortunately I took this as a requirement as an EE and ended up getting an A+ in the class.

Good luck to everyone taking this class; if you have a good study mentality you will be fine. If you're an incoming freshman, you better harden up or you might get wrekt on the exams.

If you don't mind learning by yourself and half a good grasp on basic physics and chem, you will be fine in this class. The midterms and final are pretty easy, and you get a cheatsheet for both. However, the professor is next to useless in this class. His lectures don't make sense, have nothing to do with the content on the tests and aren't worth attending.

Dr. Baugh has really changed compared to the old reviews. Although his slides and lectures remain irrelevant, the exams were straightforward, and questions were taken almost directly from the homework. The TAs were very helpful, and without them, the class would have been a train-wreck.

This class is going to be difficult no matter who your professor is. The content is unlike anything you may have seen in high school chemistry (maybe also AP chemistry but I didn't take it), so be prepared to learn a lot of brand new material. Baugh himself is not a horrible professor; he seems to know and enjoy what he's talking about, but it seems that a lot of the difficulty of this class stems from the lack of communication between him and the TA's as far as what to cover in lectures and on exams. As far as the TA's, they can be a mixed bag, which puts some students at an unfair advantage over others (because the TA's write the tests and do the grading). My TA wasn't very good, but I still did decently well in the class because I went to the other TA's for help (get Rosie or Austin if you can!)

Exam-wise, however, this class was pretty straightforward. There were two in-class quizzes, two midterms, and the final, and Baugh has an interesting grading scheme where the points you miss on the midterms are added onto the final, so chances are the final will be worth at least a little bit more than the 40% stated in the syllabus (if you miss a midterm or get a zero on it, your final then becomes worth 60 percent, so do the best you can!!) My quiz and midterm averages were just okay, but the final was a piece of cake, which ended up saving me in the end.

All in all, this class wasn't a ton of fun, but I got through it fine, and if you HAVE to take the 20 series (as opposed to the 14 series, which is easier/better taught from what I've heard), and you trust yourself enough to self-teach a lot of content straight from the book, then you will, too.

Baugh is a terrible professor. I suggest NOT going to any of his lectures at all. The class itself isn't that hard though. Everything is based off the homework and TAs make the tests. TAs are helpful in understanding the hw so make sure to attend discussion. Every quiz,midterm, and final is based off the homework so if you completely understand/memorize the homework, you're guaranteed an A.

Literally did not learn a single thing from his lectures. Midterms and finals were easy because the TAs made them out of pity for Baugh's students lol He said magnetic spins were kind of hot once and that is honestly all I understood the whole quarter. Avoid if possible.