You will learn more from the TAs then from the professor himself,
All he does is read from the course reader, and there are some very disturbing times when you realize he doesn't know what he's talking about. He will put u to sleep if ur not ready for it.
His Midterms/finals are curveballs testing on very specific and random things that he doesnt cover very well in class.
My final he put "optically active" however he never referred or explained wat optically active was, only about "optical isomers" fortunately I guessed this right, if your ready for a LOT of self studying, mass confusion, and wtf is he talking about moments, he's for you, GO TO THE TA DISCUSSIONS, in fact go to more than 1, u will learn much more and be much better prepared as they fill in the holes, and also CORRECT THE MISTAKES SCERRI MAKES IN LECTURE.

Epic fail. Doesn't know what he's talking about in class, all he does is read his course reader. The only reason he might be easy is because he doesnt know what he's talking about, but you won't learn anything from him, so you'll have to learn most of it urself. Fortunately his TAs are good and you'll probably learn more from them.

In an effort to be as succinct as possible, Scerri > Felker. I have not had Neuhauser (sp?) as a lecturer, but I have heard that Scerri would be a better choice there as well.

Professor Scerri was a good teacher. He's arrogant, but he's a seasoned lecturer, so he knows how to effectively present the material that you need to know. He's also funny sometimes.

Don't bother buying the Oxtoby book or Scerri's book on the periodic table - the reading is useless, and so are the homework problems that are assigned from the textbook.

It sucks that you have to pay for his course reader and practice exam book, but they are KEY to doing well in the class.

I recommend that you don't take notes in the course reader during lectures. In fact, don't even bring the course reader to class. The reader pages are shown as powerpoint slides during the lecture. Copy everything down into a regular notebook during lecture (pretend the reader doesn't even exist; use it only to study outside of class) and you'll absorb the material much better (trust me, I did that and got an A+). To get ready for the final, do every single problem in the practice book that comes with the reader, and you'll be set.

If you're wondering which professor to take: Take Scerri over Neuhauser at all costs. Also, take Scerri over Felker at all costs.

The guy below me is a straight up loser.

Holy G-force! This arrogant yet obnoxiously beautiful man was most certainly a fitting class for a freshman such as I! He is not too difficult to understand, and he offers coffee breaks, during which only he drinks coffee, in class. If you ask a question in class, he surely will respond to it but if you cannot withstand the sheer brute force of his sarcasm, then don't do it (it just might cause your eyes to erupt tears of anger whilst the class laughs at you)! He goes slowly during some lectures, while he blazes by others, such as spectroscopy (20 minutes as mentioned by one of the TAs, but I cannot affirm this as I sleep in class. No! Not the guy who snores aloud! I'm a peaceful dozer!).

The only graded homework he assigned this quarter included two things: the $75 past midterm exams practice questions booklet (yes, the midterms booklet itself is still $75, confirmed in person by myself) sold by a monopolistic Course Readers Store and the $32 online Thinkwell Quizzes ($25 for the early birds! ...the bastards). The past midterms booklet, highly recommended to be purchased with the course reader for $75, contained a grand total of two assignments during this quarter, making each assignment worth $37.50 apiece. The problems included were not difficult, and they were actually similar to the midterm and final questions. As for the online quizzes, which were multiple choice and takes the score of best out of three different tests, the concepts were not difficult to comprehend per se; however, the intense detail or lack thereof makes nearly each test extremely difficult to ace. Three Thinkwell quizzes were assigned, making each quiz $10.66 and two-thirds of a cent. Whoever wrote these obtuse quizzes is the suckiest suck who ever sucked.

Onward to midterm and final! Doctor Eric Robert Scerri taught up to the subject of Lewis dot structures for the midterm. Good foundation from AP Chemistry will definitely (hey look, I spelled "definitely," right!) help for that test--and obviously for the class--but it won't as much for the final because he introduces spectroscopy and coordinate complexes, both of which were major parts of the 08F final, and goes more in-depth on various other subjects of the AP Chem curriculum. And yes, I did mention he spent around 20 minutes lecturing about spectroscopy. I didn't think the final was that difficult; then again, I did study for the duration of an entire day prior to the test...with some DOAX.

Overall, from what I heard about other Chem 20A professors, Scerri seems to be the best of those professors. Take him if you're aiming for a "good" GPA or if you're rich (Careful! The course reader's price might more than double again if the monopolists decide to add some more few blank pages!). Jay kay about the rich part. Just save cash for it.

Scerri was a good teacher. His classes (ignoring the numerous technical difficulties :) were always interesting, and enjoyable. Know the course reader and the yellow book. And go to class. It is important to take notes on what his notes in the course reader mean because some of them require extra explanation.
I would recommend Dr. Scerri though.

Scerri's a pretty decent professor. He got someone like me, who has always hated and never understood chemistry, to start to understand it. If you actually like/get the subject, you'll like his class a lot. Even I thought it was bearable, and he's definitely better than the other lower division chemistry professors at UCLA.
He assigns optional homework out of the textbook. It's not that important that you learn how to do all the homework problems perfectly, but it's nice to have if you learn by working out problems.
Part of your grade is online quizzes. You get three tries and he only takes your highest score. They help a lot for reviewing conceptual questions and they're not that hard.
Another part of your grade is doing questions from a booklet of past exams. Again, it's not very hard because the TAs only grade some of the questions. This booklet is a VERY valuable resource. I highly recommend trying to do as many of the problems as you can from this book! Also, I'm sure everyone has said this before, but make sure you learn everything in the course reader before the exams and you'll do well!

The class was fairly interesting, and Scerri really knows his stuff. He's not the best at explaining things, but he's still pretty good, and if you have a question, feel free to raise your hand and he'll answer it. However, he tends to advertise himself a bit (his book on the periodic table is "highly recommended reading" -eyeroll- and his notes include a paper or two written by him). You also have to buy his course reader that's written in large handwriting, and could be half the size (and price) it is while still keeping all of the info. Also, his powerpoints and the course reader aren't always synced, and he spent a lot of time trying to get the powerpoints and microphone to work.

The book for the course isn't really required, and I ended up returning it. There are no readings and the homework from the textbook is optional. You can do it if you need practice, but instead of buying the (very expensive) book, you can check the course reserves in the library. Instead of a textbook, you have to buy the course reader + past exam booklet (still expensive, but not as much as the text). The course reader is good because instead of writing down everything, you can spend most of your time understanding, only making a few notes for clarification.

He periodically assigns homework out of the past exam booklet. There are also online quizzes that you must take, but they aren't timed, you can use any notes (or even the internet), and you can take them 3 times and your best score will count.

The midterm was in class during week 5. It was somewhat difficult (though definitely passable if you studied), but a bit more time would've been nice. However, he has an odd rule that you can't dispute your grade unless you're disputing 3 or more points, and when you do dispute it, they regrade the entire exam. The cumulative final was pretty similar in difficulty to the midterm.

Scerri was an enlightening professor, in my opinion. He really took the time in his class to explain why things such as periodic trends, bond angles, etc. are the way they are, and you will leave the class knowing more and knowing why it is true as well. He clearly has a background in philosophy, physics, and the periodic table (he wrote a book on it), and all of these are integrated into his teaching style. He can also be a bit arrogant at times, but it's nothing detrimental to his teaching. It's funny and easy to get used to.

Do beware, however, not to go into 20A thinking AP Chem will cover you. Some concepts do overlap, but a lot of it is new and in-depth material. And Scerri focuses primarily on concepts, not calculations, although he does include both on his exams. He will almost always ask you to conceptually justify your answer on tests, so it really is not enough to memorize and regurgitate.

Fortunately, his course reader is the Chem 20A Bible. Know the course reader and be sure to pay attention to any curious anomalies in the expected results on topics. He loves to ask about the exceptions to the rule and why they occur.

In summary, Scerri is a good professor that appeals to those who want to know not only about chemical structure, but also WHY things are the way they are. His class is a good example of how college work differs from high school work in that some higher-level thinking is necessary to succeed in his class. The workload is manageable, the course reader is much more useful than the textbook, and Scerri does a decent job. Take him if you have the chance.