Scerri is...not bad. I appreciate him always uploading his slides, and his exams (midterm, online) were mostly problem solving based--so if you know how to plug things into equations, you'll be fine. He spends a lot of class time going over practice problems, where he teaches you how to plug things into equations, so just make sure you understand how to do it before zoning out. I would say he's actually pretty receptive to questions asking for clarification/to repeat something, so don't be shy!

I do not have an AP Chem background, but this class was manageable. I definitely feel like 14B was easier than 14A (memorizing all that VSEPR was hell), but of course, I took this course online and opted out of the final. Good luck!

Due to everything that happened this quarter, Scerri made the final optional and no -harm. He also promised not to down curve people who decided to opt-out of the final. When everyone received their official myUCLA grade book grades, it was lower than everyone was expecting. When asked, he sent us an email back blaming us for using the normal 93-100 is an A grading scheme. Turns out there was a system error. He is quite stubborn as a person. Discussion sections aren't standardized, so some TAs will just review material and others will have worksheets. Scerri as a lecturer is okay. He's not fantastic but he's not the worst professor I've ever had. He isn't always the best at explaining things, however. His lectures feel like he prepared the slides a while ago and each lecture he finds out what he put on those slides. We have "homework" in the form of thinkwell quizzes it costs $35 I believe. Try your hardest on them. They're untimed 20-question quizzes that you can take 3 times. He takes the highest score. Do your best on them because it will help you study for midterms/finals, and it creates some buffer in your grade if you don't do well on exam. A lot of the questions have answers online, so just google a question and you're likely to find the answer in a brainscape flashcard set.

Professor Scerri in my opinion is the best professor in UCLA for Chem 14A & Chem 14B. I had to take chemistry 14A 3 times and the 3rd time I took it, it was with him and I passed it with a B+. I disagree with other reviews on this page over this professor! I don't have a strong background in chemistry but managed to pass chem 14B in my first try and with an A+! The workload isn't much and please don't spend your money buying the textbook for either chem 14A or chem 14B if you take Scerri! You don't need it! All you will need to pass his class are his lecture slides and his past exams and you are good to go! I really enjoyed his class and he is really passionate about the subject himself. You only have to purchase thinkwell for this class where you will be taking 4 quizzes on topics you learn in class and you have one midterm and final! Try to do really good on those quizzes because they will help when it comes to your final grade! Im honestly really sad Scerri won't be teaching Chem 14C but I'm very happy to have gotten to take his class for 2 quarters! Recommend him 100%! I was really happy with my grade but very unhappy with the grades he gave my friends since I was a witness of how hard they worked and he said he wouldn't downcurve but he ended up doing it to the grades of my friends! That's the only thing I didn't appreciate so if he says he won't down curve, don't believe him, he will! SO TAKE THE FINAL EXAM!

Dr Scerri is pretty bad at lecturing. He's overall a cool person to talk to but teaching is not his strong suit in the slightest. His tests are insanely difficult, your entire grade is mostly dependent on two tests and he does down curves. I would not recommend taking this class.

This is a copy and paste of my 14A review of Scerri as I had him for both and found the courses to be very similar in terms of what is needed to do well. I think the only difference between the classes is the content. Scerri is a great professor IF you have a strong background in chemistry from taking a good AP Chemistry class. I emphasize this point heavily because I know I did well in the class mostly because I was familiar with the content from taking honors and AP chem in high school and didn't rely heavily on Scerri's lectures. I've heard from friends and from reviews that without this background, Scerri can be a difficult person to learn from and his demeanor often makes asking questions in lecture and office hours intimidating. I did find his office hours helpful, and had good experiences with my TA Michael L. The most helpful things to do well in this class by far were using the practice tests he posts, using the SAC test bank to look at his old tests, and reviewing his slides. I never bought the textbook and didn't feel like I ever needed to use it once. Overall, I would recommend Scerri as long as you know what you're getting into ahead of time.

I definitely liked Scerri more for Chem 14A, but that was also my second time taking Chem 14A so it could have been me just having a better understanding. 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 took Scerri for chem 17, chem 14A, and then chem 14b. You just have to know how his tests work. For exams, basically memorize his slides and know exactly what he wants you to know from the slides, nothing else. His practice exams sometimes will be the exact same as the real one with a few numbers changed, so DO THEM and memorize the process. Also, get the textbook and DO THE OPTIONAL HOMEWORK PROBLEMS, they are often the exact same questions on the test. That happened to me at least 5 times and kinda saved me on the final. Overall, his tests are fair, he doesn't assign a lot of work at all (just thinkwell quizzes and homework which you can usually find on Chegg). He's also big on conceptual questions, but again those are directly from the slides. I recommend because he doesn't throw you any curveballs despite him being a kinda bad lecturer.

This class was one of the worst classes I have ever taken. I will never take a class with Scerri again. I thought Lavelle was hard but after Scerri, I saw that Lavelle was maybe the best Chem 14 professors in the school.

This class is pretty straight forward. As many have emphasized here, memorize the lecture notes and make sure you know how to do the problems on the slides like the back of your hand. He will test you even on the smallest details so cramming will not work in your favor. The practice tests he gives you are similar in difficulty and generally the practice test questions will show up on the exam. However, the practice test is NOT all encompassing. He'll definitely put other stuff on his exam that's why it is best practice to memorize/study the lectures. I did poorly on the midterm because I did not focus on the lecture slides enough but after realizing the MT was identical to the slides, I came in clutch for the final to get a B in the class. Scerri is a mediocre lecturer so it shouldn't impede your ability to learn. Just stay focused during lecturer. Too many times I've seen other students go online shopping or using their phone the entire class time. Good luck and don't stress yourself out! It's really not bad if you process everything a little bit at a time!

Scerri's exams are always fair. What sucks is you have to know *everything* when it comes to exams (even the littlest details can be tested and are often 3 points). Exams are curved, and the midterm was an average 65% that ended up being a B. He allows any version of the textbook, giving 4 online quizzes (that are kind of jank for they don't always sync to his content) and 2 homework assignments. A very low work class. Scerri himself can be funny or incredibly rude, it depends. I would not take him again for 14B, but if you end up with him it isn't the end of the world. Just make sure you know everything (and I'm not kidding.)