Okay here's the thing.

Scerri is a terrible teacher. His lectures are disorganized and confusing, and he's not exactly eager to help students. HOWEVER . . . his exams are very predictable and easy to study for, and he grades entirely on a curve which really helped me out.

My recommendation? Take this class with him, but don't expect lecture to help you. Watch Professor Dave Explains on Youtube and study off past exams. You'll be fine.

This class was extremely fair, the midterm/final were based off of previous years exams... so literally study those and you will be fine! My only chem experience was Honors Chem from sophomore year and I wouldn't say that was helpful at all. Many of the concepts he goes over in class aren't too hard and there are tons of videos on the internet that will help you understand the concepts more if you need.

Overall, the workload for this class was extremely light and many of the test questions were pulled straight from lecture/previous exams. Scerri himself is not that most helpful or best lecturer, but the TAs were generally helpful. I would highly recommend looking at various TAs worksheets when studying for the exams.

Very fair class. Although the material during lecture can feel overwhelming, if you go back and go over the slides you should be fine. His tests are VERY fair, he is not trying to trick you at all. I had Lavelle and felt his class was way more work and his tests more complicated than Scerri. Just put in extra work outside of lecture and you should be fine.

For some reason, people are really going off on Dr. Scerri in these reviews. Please DO NOT BE MISLEAD!!!! Dr. Scerri is an amazing person, period. He is a wonderful lecturer, his workload is minimal, and he encourages questions more than any other professor I've had so far. I've had Dr. Scerri for both 14A and 14B and I was honestly nervous to take him at first because of some of the reviews I've read, but he has blown my expectations out of the water.

First, let me start by saying this: we literally have no homework in this class. Our only workload consists of four Thinkwell quizzes which are not bad at all (you get three tries and unlimited time on each one and you're allowed to collaborate, so you can definitely get 100% on all four and this makes up 50% of your grade) and that is it!! He also has suggested problems that he recommends we do but I didn't do a single one of the suggested problems from the textbook and still ended up fine. My biggest advice is to just study his lecture slides and make a study guide using the problems from lecture. Some people say his slides are confusing, but they're honestly really thorough and they're organized in a super strategic way so you can learn by just reading through the slides and referencing your notes.

One thing that I absolutely love about Dr. Scerri is he is SO OPEN to questions. He stops every ten minutes to ask if students have questions and he will answer ALL questions. Literally there were times when people asked him to repeat a whole entire section from lecture and he did it with no hesitation. Even more so, he'll stay a whole HOUR after lecture to answer questions if they take that long! Lecture ended at 1:50pm for us but after lecture, there would always be like five people who stayed until 2:45 or so. After he was done answering all of our questions, he even cared about getting to know us on a personal level and we would all introduce our pets or he would play guitar for us or we would talk about some deep philosophy on life and the universe. Dr. Scerri is absolutely hilarious and maybe some people mistake his sense of humor with arrogance, but he is genuinely just trying to be funny and he has a golden heart. He really cares about his students. He wants you to succeed and he is there for us to help make sure that happens, so take advantage of the resources he offers!

I'm going to miss Dr. Scerri and I would definitely take a class with him again if I could. Out of all my classes at UCLA so far, Dr. Scerri has created one of the most positive and light-hearted atmospheres, such that I enjoyed coming to lecture every day because I always knew I would get a good laugh out of it.

Also, about his exams: I do agree that there was a time crunch on the first midterm, but he was receptive to our concerns and made the final much more manageable timewise. As for the content of the exams, it is very doable. Just study his problems from lecture, and make a study guide!!! My study guide saved me in both the midterm and the final. I didn't do any of the practice exams he posted, but I spent like 20 hours making my study guides and that was enough to get me through.

Take this class if you have the chance! And get to know Dr. Scerri!! Go to his office hours, ask a ton of questions, and turn your cameras on during lecture. Also, stay after lecture because that's when all the fun times happen and you get to meet Dr. Scerri's cats (: Great professor, great person. Would highly recommend.

Take it with Scerri if you had him for 14A. Pretty much the same deal. Shitty lectures, easy tests.

This guy caused so much anxiety for my dear roommate I needed to report it, he sucks so bad, don’t take him he is the worst

Overall, I think the only drawback of the way that Dr. Scerri teaches is that he grades the class on the curve, which can be difficult for students in a class like chemistry. Otherwise, I thought he did a good job of getting students to understand why we are learning certain methods and equations, and while some people complain about his attaching history in his lectures, I think it is because they received a bad grade. This history helps you understand what those scientists were thinking when they came up with their theories, and you are more likely to remember it. He also has jokes!

I think Scerri's reviews are too harsh, personally. He's not my favorite Professor, but he is certainly not as bad as other reviews make him seem I think. He's pretty funny sometimes and always has his lectures posted in advance to take notes on. Some of his slides are unrelated and some of his explanations could be more clear, but his exams are pretty predictable and I feel like I learned a lot of chemistry in his class.

Wonderful professor, take this great man for 14A!!

As a north campus major having never taken AP chem, I felt uncomfortable heading into this class. However, Scerri's teaching style is extremely student friendly and easy to grasp. As multiple reviews below me have advised, MEMORIZE THE COURSE READER. EVERYTHING from his exams comes from the course reader. If it's not in the course reader- it won't be on the test. But if it is, even if it's some insignificant graph you didn't think to glance at, it might very well be.

The grading system for our year was simple- 30% midterm, 30% thinkwell quizzes, & 40% final. Thinkwell quizzes are a bit frustrating since they often cover different concepts than you learned in class, but just go by the videos posted on their site and you'll secure a 90%+ on them. Plus you get 3 tries on each, so don't sweat it too much.

All in all, this guy is amazing. He's funny, kind, and there to help students- not to mention he has an awesome accent. Nearly every lecture was entertaining for me, and again, I am not a science person. With a 92% quiz average, 91% (unweighted) midterm, and unknown final, I came out of the class with an A. If I did it, anybody can do it. Put in the time, review the course reader every night, and you'll be rewarded with that seemingly unattainable Chem 14A 4.0.

And a shoutout to the most amazing Teaching Assistant a student can ever ask for- Heidi Bednar. This woman will simply chem concepts for you like none other. Find her on the first day of lecture, write down her discussion times, and attend them. I could write an entire essay on how awesome of a teacher she is, but I'll leave it to you to go to one of her section and find out for yourself.

Chemistry 14B with professor Scerri was honestly a breeze. He was overall very clear during his lectures and provided multiple practice exams to help prepare students for the midterm and final. I found his exams to be very similar to the practice tests which allowed me to so very well in his class. I took him for 14A as well and can say I truly enjoyed his class and am glad I had the opportunity to take them.