Eric R. Scerri
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
AD
3.2
Overall Rating
Based on 162 Users
Easiness 2.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.1 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.5 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
19.7%
16.4%
13.1%
9.8%
6.6%
3.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

16.1%
13.4%
10.7%
8.0%
5.4%
2.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

16.3%
13.6%
10.8%
8.1%
5.4%
2.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

16.3%
13.6%
10.9%
8.1%
5.4%
2.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

18.7%
15.6%
12.5%
9.4%
6.2%
3.1%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

13.9%
11.6%
9.3%
7.0%
4.6%
2.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

26.8%
22.3%
17.9%
13.4%
8.9%
4.5%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

18.8%
15.7%
12.5%
9.4%
6.3%
3.1%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

18.3%
15.2%
12.2%
9.1%
6.1%
3.0%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (137)

1 of 14
1 of 14
Add your review...
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
July 23, 2011

This guy wasn't that good for me. He's whatever.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: A+
Aug. 7, 2019

I actually really loved this class. From the students I talked with that were also in the class, this seems to be one of the most polarizing classes I've been in. You either love it or you hate it. But that makes sense, since general chemistry is often a weeder-type class for many pre-med students.
I will say this though: it's possible for anyone, even if you're not "good" at chemistry, to get a good grade in Eric Scerri's Chem 14A and have an appreciation for the material.
40% of your final grade in this class is the final exam, and 30% is the midterm. Dr. Scerri will give you several old exams to study and STUDY THESE!! Even MORE importantly, go to the test bank and search for as many old exams as you can find. Split it up between you and your friends to get literally as many exams as possible. These past exams are very useful because Dr. Scerri has been known to copy and paste pretty much all of his exam questions to his current exams, or he may change a single word or number. Understand how to do problems on as many practice exams as you can find and you'll be golden. I got a 98% on the midterm and a 97% on the final through this method, because as I reviewed more and more practice exams, the problems that I had with the material eventually disappeared. I can guarantee you that people who don't do well in this class don't do this.
20% of your grade is online quizzes, which aren't too difficult, and 10% is homework, which can be quite tedious but is overall manageable. Scerri is very funny at times, but can also be quite dull at other times. However, I would say he's in the better half of professors I've had at UCLA. Don't even bother wasting money on the textbook.
Lastly, going to discussion definitely didn't hurt me either. Some of the more complicated concepts such as molecular orbital theory and hybridization were ironed out for me through my TA's teaching.
Overall, this class is manageable, and the resources for you to do well are definitely there.

Helpful?

4 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: B-
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 15, 2023

Okay so coming from a low education background, this was my first REAL chemistry class. And oh my goodness, this professor made me hate chemistry.

I honestly believe that this class is just dependent on how you learn... and I've met people who really like Scerri as a professor. But he just wasn't it for me. Hardly anything stuck and I found it hard to find the correlation between some concepts and what we were talking about last week. Again, might just be me, but I feel like I didn't learn much coming out of this class and was just scraping by.

All in all, easy workload (as long as you don't put it off) and an okay class. Not my vibe though.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: B
Aug. 27, 2019

The Chem 14 series is just hard altogether, there is no "easy" professor, especially if you don't know how you learn. With that being said, GOODLUCK. Try new methods, and rely on yourself rather than the professor! I personally liked Scerri for 14A, but don't rely on my review

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2016
Grade: A+
Sept. 23, 2017

Great class! Loved Professor Scerri. He is so intelligent and very willing to help you at office hours!

Selling textbook and solution manual--$30! Message me at **********!

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
March 25, 2011

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.

Helpful?

1 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: B+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 16, 2024

Scerri is an alright lecturer that’s it. He wasn’t bad in my opinion, little sassy but I digress. But your success in the class is relied on your TA and the TA Dimitri SUCKED. So unprofessional always coming to discussion late, bad at explaining and will ignore emails. Helping you is not TA Dimitri’s priority he cancelled discussion so many times. He is a pure Uncle Tom. if you reading this, your beard was patchy and you couldn’t dress. And all the other TAs talked smack about you to the students. You are truly an OP.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 23, 2024

Scerri is heavily disliked by many, but I personally had no issues with him. Attendance is never taken for lecture or discussion so I did skip a lot, but easily caught up by watching the recorded lectures (all lectures are recorded and my wonderful TA dimitri uploaded all discussion materials on canvas). There are mandatory achieve quizzes that you need to have the online textbook for. He makes them due all in one date so you can do them at your pace. I highly recommend doing them as they helped me sooo much to get some practice in. There is no other homework. We only have one midterm and of course the final. We were the first quarter that had multiple choice, so his past exams were kind of useless in studying as all past reviews state how his exams are light as he repeats questions. Thats the only thing that sucks tbh but they still werent that bad. Just reallyyyy pay attention to his lecture slides, because he likes to test about really small things that you wouldnt even think would show up on the test sometimes. He curves very generously. I will be taking 14b with him next quarter and i'm not dreading it. He could have some snarky joked I guess but nothing too bad in my opinion. He might've toned it done because he would always ask if we had questions and would elaborate on the white board.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Feb. 12, 2024

I really liked the professor’s lectures and I thought the way he taught the material was clear and precise. I definitely needed to watch the recorded lectures to fully get all the info because he spoke very quickly in class. Also, I took AP chemistry my senior year of high school so I came in with some background knowledge. Overall, I enjoyed this class and found the content of this class super interesting. I would definitely recommend taking 14A.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: C+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Jan. 31, 2024

I think I would rather take my own life than take this class again with Eric Scerri. He can vanish from the face of this Earth and I think I would shed a tear of joy. If you have no choice but to take this class with him, you BETTER start praying.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
July 23, 2011

This guy wasn't that good for me. He's whatever.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: A+
Aug. 7, 2019

I actually really loved this class. From the students I talked with that were also in the class, this seems to be one of the most polarizing classes I've been in. You either love it or you hate it. But that makes sense, since general chemistry is often a weeder-type class for many pre-med students.
I will say this though: it's possible for anyone, even if you're not "good" at chemistry, to get a good grade in Eric Scerri's Chem 14A and have an appreciation for the material.
40% of your final grade in this class is the final exam, and 30% is the midterm. Dr. Scerri will give you several old exams to study and STUDY THESE!! Even MORE importantly, go to the test bank and search for as many old exams as you can find. Split it up between you and your friends to get literally as many exams as possible. These past exams are very useful because Dr. Scerri has been known to copy and paste pretty much all of his exam questions to his current exams, or he may change a single word or number. Understand how to do problems on as many practice exams as you can find and you'll be golden. I got a 98% on the midterm and a 97% on the final through this method, because as I reviewed more and more practice exams, the problems that I had with the material eventually disappeared. I can guarantee you that people who don't do well in this class don't do this.
20% of your grade is online quizzes, which aren't too difficult, and 10% is homework, which can be quite tedious but is overall manageable. Scerri is very funny at times, but can also be quite dull at other times. However, I would say he's in the better half of professors I've had at UCLA. Don't even bother wasting money on the textbook.
Lastly, going to discussion definitely didn't hurt me either. Some of the more complicated concepts such as molecular orbital theory and hybridization were ironed out for me through my TA's teaching.
Overall, this class is manageable, and the resources for you to do well are definitely there.

Helpful?

4 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: B-
Jan. 15, 2023

Okay so coming from a low education background, this was my first REAL chemistry class. And oh my goodness, this professor made me hate chemistry.

I honestly believe that this class is just dependent on how you learn... and I've met people who really like Scerri as a professor. But he just wasn't it for me. Hardly anything stuck and I found it hard to find the correlation between some concepts and what we were talking about last week. Again, might just be me, but I feel like I didn't learn much coming out of this class and was just scraping by.

All in all, easy workload (as long as you don't put it off) and an okay class. Not my vibe though.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: B
Aug. 27, 2019

The Chem 14 series is just hard altogether, there is no "easy" professor, especially if you don't know how you learn. With that being said, GOODLUCK. Try new methods, and rely on yourself rather than the professor! I personally liked Scerri for 14A, but don't rely on my review

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2016
Grade: A+
Sept. 23, 2017

Great class! Loved Professor Scerri. He is so intelligent and very willing to help you at office hours!

Selling textbook and solution manual--$30! Message me at **********!

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
March 25, 2011

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.

Helpful?

1 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: B+
June 16, 2024

Scerri is an alright lecturer that’s it. He wasn’t bad in my opinion, little sassy but I digress. But your success in the class is relied on your TA and the TA Dimitri SUCKED. So unprofessional always coming to discussion late, bad at explaining and will ignore emails. Helping you is not TA Dimitri’s priority he cancelled discussion so many times. He is a pure Uncle Tom. if you reading this, your beard was patchy and you couldn’t dress. And all the other TAs talked smack about you to the students. You are truly an OP.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A
March 23, 2024

Scerri is heavily disliked by many, but I personally had no issues with him. Attendance is never taken for lecture or discussion so I did skip a lot, but easily caught up by watching the recorded lectures (all lectures are recorded and my wonderful TA dimitri uploaded all discussion materials on canvas). There are mandatory achieve quizzes that you need to have the online textbook for. He makes them due all in one date so you can do them at your pace. I highly recommend doing them as they helped me sooo much to get some practice in. There is no other homework. We only have one midterm and of course the final. We were the first quarter that had multiple choice, so his past exams were kind of useless in studying as all past reviews state how his exams are light as he repeats questions. Thats the only thing that sucks tbh but they still werent that bad. Just reallyyyy pay attention to his lecture slides, because he likes to test about really small things that you wouldnt even think would show up on the test sometimes. He curves very generously. I will be taking 14b with him next quarter and i'm not dreading it. He could have some snarky joked I guess but nothing too bad in my opinion. He might've toned it done because he would always ask if we had questions and would elaborate on the white board.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A+
Feb. 12, 2024

I really liked the professor’s lectures and I thought the way he taught the material was clear and precise. I definitely needed to watch the recorded lectures to fully get all the info because he spoke very quickly in class. Also, I took AP chemistry my senior year of high school so I came in with some background knowledge. Overall, I enjoyed this class and found the content of this class super interesting. I would definitely recommend taking 14A.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: C+
Jan. 31, 2024

I think I would rather take my own life than take this class again with Eric Scerri. He can vanish from the face of this Earth and I think I would shed a tear of joy. If you have no choice but to take this class with him, you BETTER start praying.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 14
3.2
Overall Rating
Based on 162 Users
Easiness 2.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.1 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.5 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (34)
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