I actually liked him as a professor, and the comments by students before do not make too much sense. I didn't see the huge ego problem but maybe I am a bit naive when it comes to people (although the detail in triads and his periodic table could be seen as slightly egotistical though not really, nothing wrong with a bit of pride in your work). When it comes to understanding, his lecture made perfect sense. If they don't, then it is probably because you're falling asleep. I admit that I dozed in and out at times.

If you do have trouble staying awake in class or understanding the material, the online videos will be a life saver. They are a more detailed, reviewable version of what he will discuss in class. By watching and understanding them all first, everything he says will make complete sense. And if you still can't understand a thing, then go to Scerri's office hours. Heck, even if you do understand it, still go to Scerri's office hours cause someone will ask a good question that you never even thought of.

He can answer any questions you have, and I have not seen him decline to answer any question. Although, if that really did happen it must have been one awfully stupid question (no offense). I must say though that the TA discussion sessions were completely useless for me, nothing mentioned came up on tests and going to professor office hours was extremely beneficial. He may seem intimidating at first, but it's not so intimidating when you get used to it, and you probably won't be alone when you visit him. If you do not go to office hours you will regret it.

The TA grading is a bit nitpicky, and very unfair at times. It's like they're reading off an answer key for key phrases which is irritating so make sure you throw in those key words. Although, I can't really complain since I got A's on them. All in all, the class wasn't so bad and Scerri is a good professor, I would take him again any day. Everything in a nutshell: Review online videos, course reader, Scerri's office hours (don't hide at your TA's office hours) and you should do great.

Scerri was a good lecturer and made things interesting. His British accent and the fact that he dims the lights did put me to sleep a few times though. He is a good teacher and seems to like students in class, but don't let that fool you. He has his TA's grade very hard, and if you go to office hours he responds with "We covered that in the lecture I'm not going to repeat it." Also, his little rants on Christianity and creationists get annoying.

Scerri was not THAT bad of a teacher, even though a lot of people seem to think so! He's pretty bad at lecturing and he seems to not understand even his own notes, but the midterm and final aren't too difficult. If you go to class, study the COURSE READER (which is pretty much your chemistry bible in that class), and study a decent amount, you'll get a decent grade. I got a B, but I was pretty disappointed.

Bottom line: he's not as bad as he's made out to be and he's definitely better than Felker or Baugh.

He wasn't horrible, and the class was not that hard if you are good at science, which most everyone taking the class should be. The textbook is a waste of money; I just borrowed from other people in the my class the few times I read it. I actually liked the Thinkwell videos because they were much clearer than his lectures, which are jumbled and skipped over a lot of important information. I learned more from my TA than Prof Scerri, but it is still important to go to lectures because he mentions something once and then it shows up on the midterm or final. I didn't take AP Chem in high school and i still got an A+ in Scerri's class so you can do well without a lot of chemistry background.

Scerri, Scerri, Scerri...

I really don't have too many good things to say about him. He's arrogant, condescending, and he seems to enjoy belittling his own students. Such a shame that its the only way he can get a laugh out of everyone. After all, he needs to boost his already enormous ego somehow. What better way than to make fun of someone for asking a question? I agree with some of the other people that commented that...he really does not know much about what he is teaching besides what is in his course reader. One instance I found amusing was when a certain student asked him a question and he was completely stumped. It wasn't an obscure question either - it related directly to the subject at hand. And after promising him and the rest of the class that he would look up the answer and get back to us, he never did. Another thing I really didn't like was his attitude. It just seemed like he never really wanted to be there. Maybe that's just his personality, but it was irritating nonetheless.

Onto specifics: I DID like the course reader - it definitely made studying much easier. Not the most organized thing ever made, but....it's either that or read through the textbook sections which are infinitely more complicated and wordy. I also did like his lectures. To his credit, he is pretty clear and explains things pretty well. The Thinkwell quizzes he made us take were just ridiculous. Honestly, why quiz us on material that we don't even discuss in lecture? He's too lazy to make his own quizzes so he just uses their question bank. If some of the questions are unfair, why should he be bothered? That's our problem. The pink book was some pretty easy points, but they were picky grading it. It was also a decent way to study for the midterm/final, although there is no answer key so you have to compare your answers with friends or go to office hours.

Midterm was very difficult, my lecture had an average of 26/49...his other lecture had an average of under 50% (21/49). I agree with whoever said that the questions were graded pretty unfairly because the TAs looked for key words instead of understanding of the concept. If you didn't have the word they were looking for they would give you no credit for the problem. Final wasn't too bad but there were some tricky questions, although those were to be expected. The curve compensates for that.

Somehow I got an A in the class, but I did not like Scerri, and as a first year chemistry major I hope he is not indicative of things to come.

I'll try not to repeat what others have already said in the previous posts. I will try to make my evaluation as objective as possible. I got an A+ in his class, and it certainly wasn't a cakewalk, but it wasn't hell either.

You have to buy his coursereader. I originally thought that it was a complete waste of money, but it proved to be helpful when reviewing the major topics for the final at the end of the quarter. Here is one IMPORTANT piece of information: his enthusiasm for teaching varies with the lecture you're in. I was in Moore 100 for my lecture, and our midterm mean (or median?) was 21/48. The other lecture in room CS50 had a 26/48. The other lecture received more information, and Scerri is a lot nicer and more fun in that one. He just doesn't like Moore 100 for some reason. If this happens again, try to go to both lectures, or go to the one with a CS50 lecture hall. Or if you want to play it easy, get the Moore 100 room, and go to the CS50 Lecture. You'll probably get a higher grade than the average in the Moore 100 lecture. Odd, isn't it?

About the coursereader: He will have a powerpoint up with the course-reader there. He'll introduce material according to that, and you will have to write in many equations and notes as he goes along. Try to write down everything, you never know what will be tested on. It's hard to do this because he talks quickly, that's why I recommend going to both lectures sometimes if you feel you missed a lot of what he said. I just reviewed the course-reader and my notes a little bit everyday. I found that having colored tabs and a multi-colored pen was very helpful in organizing it. Try to skim the chapters that he lectures on in the book - the book is very advanced, and Scerri actually does a good job summarizing the basic concepts that the book tries to teach. Reading the book will help give you a better idea of how things fit together, how concepts and applications tie together in his course-reader. If you don't take notes, you will get a bad grade (unless of course you're amazing at chem and know everything about quantum mechanics and such).

Thinkwell quizzes: as said before, Scerri doesn't teach you what is on the Thinkwell quizzes. He doesn't even know the questions on the quizzes. Just remember for one of them, the axes x, y, and z are the opposite of what Scerri teaches you. It'll help a lot. The vertical axis is actually the Z axis, not the x like he says.

Pinkbook: pretty okay questions, check answers with other people etc.

Overall, I liked his class, he was very theoretical, rarely any math (I dislike math). The final was okay, go to review sessions and his office hours (I only went once). He seems kind of nice when I asked him a question, so don't be too scared. Good luck. Don't fall asleep in his class, what he says is very important for the midterm / final. It's definitely not impossible. I didn't spend all my time studying for his class, (I spent a lot of time watching fox and playing games) so don't worry too much. Good luck.

He is arrogant and thinks he knows everything, in fact, he doesn't even know what he's talking about. HE SUCKS -.-

I liked Scerri; he was actually my favorite professor this quarter.
Some people say he is arrogant, but he is an expert in his subject area and just knows what he's talking about. Yes, sometimes he's a little mean to people in lecture, but it's all in good humor.
I disagree with what people before me said about the course reader. It was annoying that we had to pay for an extra book, and yeah there were some blank pages, but we knew exactly what to study for for the midterm and final. It made my life so much easier. And I really liked how the lectures went along exactly with it - it made it so your studying was recalling exactly what he said in lecture (if you took good notes), instead of reading out of a boring textbook. That's the other thing - textbook is totally unnecessary. I bought it and never opened it.

I would highly recommend Scerri. He is a competent professor, and I learned a lot from him.

Scerri is terribly organized. I could barely understand what he wrote on the white board because all of his drawings of molecules were all over the place. Overall, he was just a decent professor who only had half enthusiasm to teach a class.

Scerri's obnoxious, arrogant, and pretty funny sometimes. He also requires you to buy a $75 course reader and pink book which contains previous exams. And yes, you have to buy them.

The class itself is relatively not that bad. Well, it's not that bad if you took AP Chemistry, knew the material, and got a 4 or 5. Scerri goes by the course reader exclusively, so you don't really need the $130 textbook if you feel like you're up for it. The book does give better explanations, but it's oftentimes too complicated for the average student. During lecture, he reads off a PowerPoint (aka your course reader) and draws diagrams that are the blanks in the reader. Make sure to pay attention in class, because his exams are based exclusively off the course reader. There are a few exceptions, and while they are rare, they are pretty annoying.

Students also have to pay $30 for Thinkwell. This is mostly stupid because he only does it to put his mini-lectures on there, which aren't any more helpful than his in-class lectures. Plus the Thinkwell quiz questions are from a set bank, which means there are oftentimes questions that discuss material never covered in class. This is 15% of your grade. Another 15% comes from homework, which is assigned from the pink books. Try to be as precise as possible, and follow the reader when you can.

30% of the grade is the midterm. Lecture 1 had an average of 21/49, and this can mostly be attributed to the fact Scerri loves to ask conceptual questions and wants exact answers. For example, if you're missing one key word, you don't get all the points. He also asked a question that maybe 10 out of 300+ people got correctly. This is one of those exceptions I'm talking about. Again, that previous chemistry experience REALLY helps.

The last 40% is the final. I personally did not think the final was that hard; if you did all the pink book questions and memorized the course reader, then you're pretty good to go for the final. The only issue was that I heard Lecture 3 got some of the most random questions ever. Again, exceptions to the norm.

How do you survive this class? Pay attention in lecture, memorize the course reader, do the pink book, and have previous chemistry experience. Otherwise, good luck, because he moves fast. Very fast.