GOOD GOD this class kinda sucked.

AP Chem or its equivalent can be used for a good portion of the class (stoichiometry especially), but you'll need to know more for the final. The class weighs heavily on your exams (30% midterm 40% final) but the homework is pretty okay since it's just infinite attempt simulator. Don't slack on the homework -- even though all homeworks are due at the end of the quarter, they're about 30 questions each and can be quite frustrating.

In terms of lecture, you'd probably want to find someone more interesting. Scerri DOES record his lectures, so if you like to go back and watch in your free time (or skip lecture) its doable, but he writes on the whiteboard sometimes and it's really hard to see if not impossible to see on recording. He audiobooks the slides so its really monotonous and quite boring. Sometimes he does crack a joke here and there and has a few amusing slides in between, but for the most part its really hard to pay attention for the entirety of his lectures. We were on Zoom during week 2 because of the fires, so he brought out his cats which was very nice. There are a few instances where he will tell other students to quiet down but it's *really* not that big of a deal, just a minor momentary disruption.

Discussion sections are just not worth going to if it's not convenient for your schedule. I went to a few of mine and there were less than 5 people present (23 per discussion). The TA would hand you a worksheet and sort of walk the entire section on how to go through it, but most of the content on it was stuff you can honestly do on your own and check with either the textbook or GPT. While you can use it to ask questions for content, office hours is probably better. The TAs host a good amount of office hours that you can go to. I feel like youtube does a better job than the TA sometimes, heck even the textbook even though it's also a giant block of text in small font.

Exams are all multiple choice, but the practice exams Scerri gives you are his old FRQ ones, so it can be kind of janky. Practice exams don't quite reflect the kinds of questions on the exam but they loosely show you which topics will be covered. Still sucked anyways, class didn't do so well on the midterm but it got curved.

TLDR mayyyyyybeee find a different professor. Lectures are not so great, discussions kinda suck, exams are definitely not the best (but it's MCs), homework is janky, his cats are cool

If you are scheduled to take it with Scerri, just try to stay on top of the game and try to be on the good side of the curve.

honestly i dont think scerri is as bad as everyone says. yes hes a little sassy and hard to follow, but with some self studying his class is very doable.

Will preface this by saying if you took (and remember) AP Chem you'll most likely do decently well on the midterm which is great because he adjusted scores since the average was about a D. He mainly goes over slides the entire time but sometimes lets the class work on a set of problems for half the lecture. Attendance for lecture and discussion is not graded. Lectures are recorded and TA's post their worksheets/slides/answer keys online so I went to most but not all classes. If you have no knowledge of chemistry (how to balance equations, do stoich, etc.) then I can see this class with Scerri being difficult because he just told people who did not know to ask their TA's. He teaches assuming that every student understands high school level chem.
I never attended his office hours but he seems like a nice guy during lecture. I am taking him for 14b next quarter and I am not nervous. The midterm was pretty fair if you review lecture slides and do the achieve quizzes (homework) that relates to the content. Final was harder than the midterm but still fair, it was more conceptual than mathematic which threw me off. Do not know what I got on the final, but I ended the class with an A plus (because I got over a 100% on midterm after he curved) so I had to have done okay on it.
Grade is 40% final, 30% midterm, 30% homework and homework is given at the start of the quarter and all due the last day of the class so if you pace yourself you'll get full credit for it.
Overall would not worry if you have to take Scerri and have a basic understanding of chemistry.

As someone with a weak chemistry background (no AP chem in high school) I had to work really hard outside of class to understand what was going on. Prof. Scerri is very intelligent, however, his teaching style can be confusing and his lectures were very hard to follow. Lectured are recorded, attendance is not mandatory, and he curves. However, the average grade on the midterm was a D- and everyone I knew in the class was struggling. I didn’t find him to be scary or rude to students (as most people say), I think he’s just got an interesting sense of humor. If you really need to start the 14 series I would say do it, just be prepared to spend hours on khan academy. The TAs were great though. Overall, the class was not that great, but could have been A LOT worse.

Scerri does not deserve the mean nickname he gets ("scary scerri"). He's actually a very nice man and a decent lecturer. He posts slides and lectures are recorded, and he doesn't take attendance. I found it helpful to watch the recordings and pause to look up concepts I didn't understand as they came up. There's one in-person midterm and one final, which he changed to all MCQ my quarter. They were pretty fair and he curves the tests so it's not impossible to do well in this class. It's difficult material but that's just chemistry. I liked him overall and think he did a good job explaining confusing topics. Discussions were kind of pointless though, but attendance isn't mandatory.

AVOID, even if it means delaying the 14 series, just NO. Although he is decent at explaining concepts, he misses problem solving which took up more than half the midterm. I wish he would've done more practice problems as the homework also had problems we never did. The midterm average was a D-, multiple choice consisting of 90% problems, some that were never gone over. The final was also horrible. Studying any of his past midterms is not reflective of the midterms he does now. Focus on homework problems that showed up on the slides and self study key concepts and small details. His exams are very unfair with questions being concepts we never went over or appeared on homework.
Self studying is a MUST, I strongly suggest not taking this with another workload/study heavy class. There is no reason gen chem ONE should be made this difficult by him. Forget about his "attitude", focus on passing the class and if you can, AVOID HIM!

Eric Scerri is the worst professor I have ever had. I genuinely do not know how UCLA keeps him as a professor. He is rude to students when they ask questions of email him. He is so blatantly disrespectful. He focuses on minute details and expects students to already understand most topics. Seriously, he ends sentences with "so on and so forth" instead of explaining. The class average was a D- and he does not curve. And good Lord, the TA Dimitri is no help. He has no idea what is going on. Literally I would ask a question and he would say "hmmm let me think about that." And didn't even know. Also he doesn't answer emails. But Eric Scerri is way worse. He is horrible. He doesn't explain anything and his slides are disorganized and not informational. Even doing all of the possible work and having gotten a 5 on AP Chem didn't save me since he literally makes his tests trick questions. He skims over information, is rude to students, and is just generally horrible. Everyday I prayed he would have a heart attack during Lecture. I hate Eric Scerri so much. Worst class ever.

To be honest, the lectures in this class were pretty useless. I ended up teaching myself most of the material on my own. He also tests on a lot of theoretical concepts which threw me for a loop. I wouldn't take him again, but it honestly isn't the end of the world if you get this professor. Just be ready to do a lot of self studying. Dr. Scerri honestly isn't mean though and is kind of funny in office hours (which are helpful to an extent).

This class was so bad for me as someone who loved chemistry in highschool. The teacher is not thorough, though he seems very smart. I had to teach myself everything through organic chem tutor on YouTube. The midterm was okay, but I feel the final was not the best representation of the information the achieve quizzes or his slides presented to us! The practice exams were undersatable, but our tests were different. That final was hurrendous! Whew! A real piece of work! :( I would say focus on theory and the math part equally, because it’s easy to not put much thought into theory then you see it maybe 30% on the midterm and a lot on the final. This class is definitely a gpa dropper and I’m trying really hard not to feel bad about myself, but it will be okay. Very scared that I’m taking this same prof again next quarter for 14b… but I’m determined to do better ig :/

Unless you are well-versed in chemistry, this class will be one of the hardest you have to take for whatever pre req you are taking it for. He’s basically the Corbin of Chemistry. He is an intelligent person but cannot teach the basics for the life of him. He is unorganized and mean. He is not a good professor and this class is not a good class

1) YOUTUBE IS YOUR FRIEND. lectures are not helpful AND you are probably better off not watching. Watch the concepts on YouTube if you want a chance at this class

2) HIS TESTS ARE HARD!! Our midterm average was a 59% and our final had people crying during the exam. He asks incredibly hard questions where the answers all sound like each other. Your TA WILL try and help but they are just has helpless as you.

3) Be OKAY WITH TANKING YOUR GPA: this class is not a joke. It is hard and will wreck your confidence. If you feel you did bad on his exams, so did everyone else. Don’t let it affect you too much or you will choke on everything else.

4) if you have to take it, just get through it. There is light at the end of the tunnel!