I had Scerri for both 14A and 14B.

14A is much easier. If you have taken AP Chem, you should be fine in this class. The exams are not too hard, but be sure to work quickly. A ton of people ran out of time. If you score well on the midterm (90+), you don't really have to do well on the final. The homework is really and the TAs were super helpful.

14B is a whole different story. This class was much harder than 14A, and I thought he wasn't a good teacher for these subjects. Thermodynamics gets a little confusing, and the midterm had a pretty low average. I got 10% more than the average on the midterm, so I thought I was going to do well. But he made O Chem much harder than it had to be. I didn't do well on the final and ended up with a B. I was so pissed, since I did really well in 14A.

Also, thinkwell quizzes suck! Do them with friends, so you can compare answers. The questions are not worded well, and you don't want to miss any points.

Overall, I think he was ok. Lavelle and Scerri both have pros and cons, so just take whoever is available. Both are hard in their own way. There seem to be other newer professors teaching these classes as well, so maybe give them a shot?

Note: He definitely has a huge ego, but his sense of humor made me go to class. He makes fun of people who say/ask stupid stuff haha

I took Prof. Scerri's class my first quarter at UCLA (fall 2011). I didn't really care about his lectures, he basically reads you the course reader. His exams were based on the course reader and he gives you practice tests in the back of the course reader. Make sure you buy the course reader... if you couldn't tell, it's pretty important. You really don't need to buy the chemistry text book that they suggest unless you want to. You can use it again in Chem 14B, but I would suggest trying to find a used one (check bruinwalk textbooks or postyourbook.com) since the bundle in the ucla book store is so freaking expensive! I just went to the library whenever I wanted to do practice problems, which worked well for me since I was more focused in the library anyway.

What made me dislike Prof. Scerri is the fact he wasted so much of my lecture's time on the periodic table... I think it was like 3-4 lectures when he really should have only mentioned it briefly. We all took high school chemistry (hopefully) and if you got into UCLA, you probably are already familiar with the periodic table. This also meant that he did not get through all the material on acid/bases and equilibrium, which a lot of people thought was awesome at the time since it meant less material on the final. Let me tell you, if he doesn't get through the material, YOU ARE STILL ACCOUNTABLE FOR LEARNING THE MATERIAL he didn't get to. All the other chemistry classes you take( 14B, BL, etc) are based off of chem 14A and those professors will think you learned everything on the syllabus, so its best you learn it the first time. Acid/base and equilibrum WILL come back to haunt you, especially in chem BL, when you do at least 3 or 4 titrations during the lab. I talked to my 14BL professor, and he says a lot of kids in Lavelle's class the previous quarters do much better in the labs and on the BL finals than the students who took prof. Scerri.

So know this when you are deciding between Lavelle and Scerri: Lavelle is genuinely a nice guy (I know since I had him for 14B), Scerri is an ass most of the time. People will try to tell you he is funny, or sarcastic--- no, he is just mean and he will make fun of you... so I guess if you are not on the receiving end of his "jokes" it may seem kind of entertaining at first, but after a whole quarter I was pretty tired of his behavior. Scerri's class was much easier for me than Lavelle's class, but that also might be b/c A is more conceptual, and B had a LOT of calculations. I also got a little lazier my 2nd quarter, so I probably could have done better in 14B with a little more effort. Although Lavelle's tests were a little harder, you also can get more of a curve... I'm pretty sure Scerri's class didn't have that much of a bell curve. FYI: I scored above 90% on both midterm and final for Scerri and got a A in the class, but then got like 60% on Lavelle's final, which was kinda brutal... but I still pulled a B in the class, which tell you how badly everyone else failed too.

One last suggestion: NEVER take more than one final on the same day! Trust me, my second quarter I had both math and chem final on the same day, with only a 30 minute break.. it was terrible. And as you can see, I did not do so well. My brain was fried after the first test, and I was only halfway done.

Good luck choosing between Lavelle and Scerri, they both have +/- but if I had to choose professors again I would definitely pick Lavelle over Scerri, even though I did get a better grade in Scerri's class.

Took 14A and 14B

Great professor with less cost of education. Entertaining with his jokes (is it only me?)

Tips:
1. Go to lecture, take good notes: things he tells you in lectures are often in exams. Especially the ones he repeatedly tells you.

2. Understand: don't just memorize everything in the course reader. Although memorizing the course reader is a big part of the exam, understanding key concepts and understand why things happen are another important part.

3. Thinkwell: work together, and sometimes questions are in "exercise" part of video lectures in thinkwell. I don't know if it is still there because it seemed like Scerri blocked this near the end of the last course. 14B in S12

Scerri's class shows some of the best and worst aspects of science in UCLA, especially the life sciences. On the positive side: I admire his emphasis on conceptual understanding of chemistry over mathematical, his well-organized lectures, and his abundance of resources to help students learn the material.
However, I found his condescending and arrogant attitude unbearable. I know that he is "cool" and gives obnoxious and stupid people the responses they deserve, but I found him to be very rude and supercilious when answering students who asked fair questions about the material. If you are looking for an approachable professor, Scerri is not approachable.
My tips to help people succeed in this class:
1. study constantly: every day for 1-2 hours. I didn't do this for the midterm and I did badly. But when I did this for the final, it really helped me. Write flashcards, even if you don't look at them. Write down everything you know in a chapter and check to see what you are missing. Whatever helps you, do it consistently.
2. absorb the coursereader: memorizing the entire thing is not helpful because Scerri tests on how much of his concepts you understand. So instead, try to understand almost everything. But memorizing certain things definitely help, like charts or the electron configuration of Copper.
3. Do your best at Thinkwell: Like I said before, do not underestimate Thinkwell. It counts for 30% of your grade and you get three tries on each quiz, so it is like homework. It's a grade-booster so do the best you can. The upside to thinkwell is that many of the thinkwell answers are on the posted online lectures and you can collaborate with people.
4. Understand what he is looking for on exam questions: The way that I have seen him put together final exam questions is that each question has 4 parts. Part 1 is very easy like, define Hund's Principle. Part 2 and 3 are more difficult, but they are typically core concepts, like a buffer problem. Part 4 is tricky because he will try to get you to apply key concepts from one section to the key concepts in another. People freaked when they saw questions like that, but instead you should approach them by thinking key concepts for the first section and key concepts for the second one, and then you should think about how they might be connected. He loves writing pseudo "philosophy of chemistry" questions, especially if they regard quantum mechanics. BEST PREP IS TO GO OVER 2 PRACTICE EXAMS IN DEPTH. The midterm is a bit easier because it is short, but pay attention on the questions and don't panic because he will set up "traps" in terms of wording to trip people up. Really pay attention because an accumulation of small mistakes can change your B to a C.
5. Attend review sessions for the final: The best is to go to the review session hosted by a TA names Arunima . She might not be teaching anymore. I heard WINTER '12 was her last quarter. Anyways, the other girl TA is decent, but Blake and Chain are not very good.
In the end, I recommend this class for life-science people who need to take general chemistry but don't want to do a lot of mathematical problems, pre-meds because I heard Scerri is better than Lavell for the MCAT and it's good introduction to the grading curve in the life sciences, and especially for people who are "sorta pre-med/sort unsure about life science". Why I recommend this class especially for the third category is that I think it really helps you decide whether or not science should be your field of study. . You will learn some very interesting things in his class and it really opens your eyes to scientific philosophy, which is something kids out of high school don't typically know much about, but you also have to contend with the intense internal competition (and jealousy) among students, Scerri's smarminess, and that steep curve. I fall into the third category and even though I did decent in this class, B+, this class really encouraged me to switch out of science. This class made me realize I didn't love life-sciences enough to go through chem 14B with Scerri and onwards. This goes back to my opening point that Scerri's class shows the best and worst aspects of studying science: interesting material, but very rigorous and taught by an egomaniac. These aren't problems unique to the field of science, they are present in every field, but taking Scerri's class will help you determine if you love life science enough to endure chem.

Sorry for the long long review, I just wanted to give a comprehensive review of his class and how it might have significance over your academic path.

It sucks... I came out with a B+
I studied really really hard for the midterm and final and still ended up with a B+...i mean da fuck?!

anyways food for thought...
just understand the concepts and make sure you know it REALLY well. Plus don't bomb the fucking thinkwell and his hw. Those are basically free points. *sigh*
but u'll find thinkwell to be EXTREMELY ANNOYING. FUCK THINKWELL.

Scerri is NOT scary. He has dry humor and even played his guitar in class for us. He's not intimidating unless u ask stupid questions or questions he's repeated the answer over and over again for.

Scerri is a pretty decent teacher. There's a ton of mixed reviews here because it is the first college chemistry or science class kids usually take and it doesn't or does go the way they want and the reviews end up very polar (no pun intended). Trying to be as objective as I can, I can simply say that he is fair and the material isn't very difficult (comparing it to later material you will have to master in the series). You have to review the material on your own because he only goes over the concepts and never actually does practice problems ever in class. If you learn well by going to lecture and listening to the concepts and explanations and you like to practice on your own, Scerri is for you. He is a pretty funny guy and decently organized. If you want a professor who goes over questions more than the concepts (similar to a math class) take Lavelle instead if he is teaching it. I had Lavelle for 14B and the teaching style is drastically different even though the material is somewhat similar. Scerri is not very hard, but you will for sure get a bad grade if you only review concepts without taking personal time to review practice problems on your own. Be warned. If you show up for the midterm and it's basically your first time doing those textbook style chemistry problems he asks on tests you are not going to do as well as you liked. Take him, show up to most lectures, and do practice problems on your own (lots of them) and honestly there should be absolutely no reason to not come out with at least a B+.

I hated the fact that the final had most of what he taught the week of. So you literally had the learn everything of that week within like 2 days and had to take the final at 8am on Sunday. It sucked. Chemistry itself is a very difficult topic. He does expect you to take this class as "review". Many times he said "and as you remember from high school chemistry". I hated that because not all of us took chemistry in high school, we took physics. But any who, if you want to pass this class prepare for no sleep, a LOT of dedication from your part, and absolutely no slacking off. It is a very difficult course. Good luck.

He teaches VERY fast, and expects students to know concepts he hasn't taught.

The midterm wasn't too bad, but pay attention to details in the questions. Plus, he only gives 40 min, so you need to learn how to work/think quickly.

His office hours were like an extra lecture. But since it's like a class setting, it was difficult to access any one-on-one time. For example, if you don't understand the basics of a topic, he can make you feel sorta incompetent in class/OH, so you have to ask your TA or research it on your own. But I guess that's what college is all about.

Thinkwell isn't fun because he doesn't write the questions, so they don't really match up with what he lectures on.

Overall, I'm not too crazy about him. If we taught at a slower pace he'd be great.

I absolutely loved Scerri. He's really funny and sarcastic, which makes the lectures interesting. He explains concepts really well, which is good because that's basically all he ever tests on. It's mandatory to get the course readers, as all the material you know is condensed into them. A textbook wasn't really necessary for this class, just know the course reader like the back of your hand. There were a few homework packets that consisted of questions from old midterms and finals, as well as three quizzes on thinkwell.com. The final wasn't too bad either, just like a longer version of the midterm. My TA was extremely helpful as well, if you can try to get Arunima definitely do so. She knows the material really well and knows what Scerri will test on. I was a little bit disappointed by the B that I received in the class, but I'll attribute it to small & stupid mistakes made on the exams and homework. I definitely recommend taking a class with Scerri if you have the chance.

If you're going into medicine, Scerri is a much better teacher than Lavelle in my opinion.

My reasoning: Scerri goes in-depth into concepts while Lavelle only focuses on calculations. Due to this, if you take Scerri, you will be more prepared for the MCATs down the road. I don't know why Lavelle students complain about Scerri, it's not like he's easier than him.

Also, for grading, the midterm was really easy, the final was also easy, if you knew the concepts, and the homework + thinkwell quizzes acted as boosters.

Overall, I enjoyed Scerri. Just don't ask stupid questions and he won't mock you.