He doesn't fully prepare you for his exams, expecting you to read and remember little details from the textbook

Since I changed my major, 20A is only a GE for me which seems insane for my friends. I have to say I am not interested in this chemical structure and quantum thing and I don't understand the 2nd half of the course. The exercise questions in the textbook are totally unrelated to his exam. I barely concentrate in his lecture and did not read the last few chapters in the textbook but I still get a B+.I think the cheat sheet is very important, try to put all related stuff ACCORDING TO HIM. Since some of my friends got A, I guess if you follow him in lecture and study what he says in lecture, you may still be able to get A.

if you want an A in this class, don't listen to me, if you just want to pass, then this might be helpful. Do not go to class except for the midterm and final review sessions. The reason is because he emphasizes on what will be on the exams and during lecture he talks about irrelevant subjects. Instead of going to lecture, go to the test bank and print out old tests and study them because questions reappear. reading the assigned chapters will also be helpful. the average was 60% on the first midterm and 50% on the second midterm and around 65% on the quizzes. I got average on the midterms and quizzes but below average on the final and pulled a C+ in the class. the ONLY good thing about this class is that there is no homework, but besides that, it sucked.

UCLA is a baugh so hard university

Baugh so hard that shit cray

I took both AP and IB HL Chem and got the highest score for both of them, but I can assure you that none of them help you with Baugh's Chem 20A class. Materials wise, this class is pretty hard to a freshman; but curving wise, Baugh is pretty generous. I ended up an A in this class, here are some advice you might find useful:

1) Don't expect to learn anything from Baugh. He is probably smart, but definitely not a good lecturer. So what you MUST DO is to READ THE BOOK! You may find it hard to understand at first because the book itself is also very confusing. But trust me, you'll understand the materials after reading each chapter THREE TIMES.

2) DON'T SKIP LECTURES. While most of the time you won't understand what he's talking in the class(or perhaps it's just me, haha), he does talk about something that are not on the book and actually test on them. There are 2 ways to maximize what you can gain from the lectures:

A) Read the book before Baugh covers the topic in the class. You don't have to understand everything at this stage, but this will help you focus in the class by letting you feel prepared.

B) You don't have to take much note because he's going to post the powerpoints online, so you can review them later if you want. (But frankly, don't bother, because many of the stuff in the powerpoints are copied from the textbook.) What you do need to pay attention and take note during lecture are the materials that are NOT covered in the textbook.(That's why you have to read ahead.) Don't worry, he won't have too many extra materials. (That's why I only used less than half of the UCLA single subject notebook for the course.)

3) Go to Baugh's or TA's office hours. Baugh actually explains stuff better in his office hours. (It was kind of late for me to know this because I only went to his office hours twice during the 10th week.) TA is important in this course.

4) Don't feel bad if you screw up the midterms and quizzes because A) you can get back the points you lost before in the final and B) his questions can be somewhat confusing (even the TAs said they didn't get some of his questions).

5) Don't bother to do textbook problems. They are either too easy or too hard, and not Baugh's type of questions. Online questions can be a good review to clear your concepts, but that's it. To study for tests, GET THE OLD EXAMS! They help A LOT. They are the most valuable assets of this course. Again, there are 2 ways to maximize what you can gain from those past exam papers:

A) Well, this is obvious-find out what you know and don't know.

***B)Figure out the meaning of the terms baugh uses, especially the terms eigenfunction and eigenvalue. Like I said, baugh's question can be somewhat confusing, so the most important thing you should do with the past exams is to analyze his questions. What does he mean when he uses this term? What does he want for answers if he asks something like that?***

6) Go to his review sections even though they don't help much, because baugh does say something important in the review sections.

Finally, time commitment is all that matters in this course. If you're taking three classes, this class should take you 50% of your studying time. If you're taking four classes at the time you're taking this class, then may your soul be at peace.

(BTW, his jokes suck)

READ THIS AND YOU ARE GUARENTEED GOOD ADVICE:

Honestly this class is a mixture of: OH MY GOD ITS IMPOSSIBLE, and Nah it ain't that bad so if u gotta take Baugh then i guess u have to.

THINGS NOT TO DO: Do Not do OWL website questions, DO NOT DO QUESTIONS FROM THE BOOK (absolutely unrelated to his test questions), do not watch MIT lectures (it's true they might make u understand the material but that will just confuse u cuz his tests are different and this class has nothing to do with understanding, just being able to "do/answer" some routine questions he has in mind).

THINGS YOU MUST DO: Simply put, if u know exactly HOW to do every single question of every single test he has in the SAC test bank and the explanation behind the process of doing each question so u know how to do the new ones he gives u, YOU WILL GET AN "A" NO DOUBT. On ur first week just get 3 different versions of each Quiz 1 n 2 midterm 1 n 2 and the Final and make sure u know how to answer them ALL.
Secondly YOU MUST DO THE READING, do the reading weekly, then re-read it all again the 3 days before the test but make sure u understand every word and highlight/take notes all over.
KNOW HOW TO DO ALLLL THE GRAPHS in his lecture notes, not just graphs but also the drawings and diagrams no matter how weird or unlikely they seem to ever come on the tests, cuz they do.
Go to the lectures (tho u wont understand anything if not combined with the reading and past exam questions) and anything he repeats u must remember for the test. Also the lecture notes are important cuz some things he adds that arent in the book, remember those well.
Finally go to the review sessions and office hours, ALL OF THEM, his office hours are like second lectures. Also discussions are so helpful.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: i didnt take any AP or IB chem, and i am not too good at chemistry, and I got 100/200 and 92/200 on the two midterms (just lower than the class average on both midterms), but I ended up with an A cuz i did the above for my final (which allows u to gain back any points u lost on the midterms based on the professor's system).

Also the biggest mistake u can do is not listen to the things i just stated above from the beginning of the quarter, dont wait till mid-quarter when ur absolutely lost to do this, u will fail.

Baugh is a very smart man, but cannot teach. His quizzes and midterms are based off of his lectures and studying those won't even help. The highest grade I ever got was a high C on one quiz, and rest were fails. I ended up with a C+ in the class.

I was just like many of you; an incoming freshman who aced AP Chemistry in high school thinking that Chemistry 20A would be a review.

GOD NO. Totally different material. 20B is AP Chemistry-like. 20A is all about quantum mechanics, Eigen functions, and Eigen values.

TA’s can be helpful at explaining concepts, but I have never heard of a Baugh TA that has fully explained a concept. Quizzes: decent. Midterms: insane. Finals: don’t even bother even IMAGINING yourself coming out of the final saying “That wasn’t too bad.” IT WILL NOT HAPPEN.

If you MUST take this class (ChemE’s, Chem majors, etc.) take it. EE’s, MechE’s, and all other majors that only require 20A and possibly 20B, PETITION OUT.

Your steps to the highest probability of an A, if you must take it.

1) GO TO LECTURE. It may seem like a bad idea considering how bad he teaches, but if you can come out understanding parts of his form of chemistry, then you will have 5 extra points on the midterm. Also, skim the book BEFORE lecture. I can’t tell you how important this is.
2) GO TO OFFICE HOURS (TA and BAUGH). Even if you feel like you understand the material, you don’t. Nobody does. But, going to OH’s will make you understand a little more than other people, and propel you to a higher grade.
3) FUCK THE BOOK PROBLEMS. STUDY OFF OF OLD MIDTERMS. Book problems have absolutely nothing to do with the exams. Go to SAC, get old midterms/finals, and study your ass off.
4) STUDY YOUR 2 MIDTERMS AND 2 QUIZZES FOR THE FINAL AS WELL AS THE 2009 FINAL. These 5 tests propelled me above the rest of the class. Some problems were very similar and some weren’t, but it really helped.

Also, nobody laughs at his jokes. They suck. Everybody laughs after the awkward silence in the lecture hall after he tells a bad joke and laughs at himself.

This might be the worst class you take at UCLA. Don’t sweat it, just work hard.

Time spent on class = 120 hours. Grade = A

Definitely not an enjoyable experience. If you're a good listener, you should be fine. If you tend to doze off in the middle of lecture like me, you're in trouble.

I found out the best approach to taking this class is probably copying down his lecture slides on your note sheet that you get for midterms and the final since he tends to ignore the book completely sometimes (seriously, the phrase "eigen" isnt even mentioned in the book!)

I started off pretty well in his class, scoring above average on his first quiz and midterm. However, I totally got destroyed on the second quiz, midterm and the final. Ended up with a B-. Really disappointed, I'm actually considering switching out of Chemical Engineering.