Background: I consider myself an average chemistry student. I took AP chemistry in high school with a fabulous teacher, but I was (still am) not that great at the subject.

I thought the class was fair. Homework was a moderate amount, maybe a 2-3 hours per week. Exam questions were not a big surprise.

Advice for the reader:

To others who also took AP, expect to approach chemistry differently in 20A. Scerri speaks mainly in concepts, and presumes that you already know the math (even if it is not self-evident---POTENTIALLY YOUR DOWNFALL). That said, there are many concepts that overlap with AP physics, so it would be helpful to familiarize yourself with some of those basic equations beforehand.

The covered topics are not too difficult to understand by themselves, but the sheer breadth of testable trivia and minutiae can be a bit overwhelming. Make sure to carefully study and understand (even memorize) Scerri's course reader, since just about anything from those two booklets can pop up on the exam.

Class consists of sitting in a dim lecture hall and listening to Scerri fill out the blank spaces of the course reader. It's not too bad, but if you're feeling lazy it's podcasted!

As mentioned previously by numerous others, Scerri's course reader and Thinkwell (online quiz subscription) are practically all you need in terms of material for his course. Meaning, do not buy the textbook, unless you value the more in-depth explanations; be aware that the book is mostly unnecessary for scoring well on his exams, and should you need help in studying, there is also additional material available through Thinkwell. Again, the course reader is paramount.

In a side note regarding Scerri's exams, be sure to make a visit to the test bank in the Student Activities Center as there are few types of question that he favors over others. Knowing and being able to predict these is highly advantageous.

As for the professor himself, Scerri is visibly a very experienced instructor of chemistry; it is obvious that he has done this many times before, and does not mind sticking around for more. He is also one sarcastic fellow, one who is not afraid to tell you off in his British accent, but is not altogether unpleasant. Sometimes he tries to be funny: sometimes it's funny that he tries. Another thing, Scerri plays the electric guitar, and is actually quite good---a valid excuse for having poor hearing. He calls it a demonstration of harmonics.

If you can get him, you're in good hands. At the very least you will likely pass.

Selling Chem 20A textbook, excellent condition.
$65 or best offer
text ********** or **********
(Two copies for sale)

Selling course reader, 20 dollars for both volumes. Email at *************

Scerri is intelligent and considerate. He has a nice personality as many of students have alreday heard of. Just memorize his course reader and do past exams from the test bank and you will be fine.

BTW, if someone wants to buy used CR, please email me: *************

Scerri was an okay professor. His midterms and finals are always very similar, so do a bunch of practice midterms and finals before each exam and you'll do fine! The test bank has a lot of old exams, and there's always the past exams in the back of the course reader. Also, try to always attend lecture! Scerri is one of those professors who loves certain small details of chemistry. He'll emphasize these small details in class, and they'll definitely come up in exams. Good luck!

I found Dr. Scerri to be a pretty good professor. I'm a biochemistry major, so it was fairly easy to get immersed in the material, which I found VERY interesting. I've heard people complain about his snobby demeanor, but personally, I found it hilarious. Something about his sarcastic, condescending tone could really liven up the class.

You don't use the book whatsoever in this class; rather, you use his course reader as the main textbook. It's pretty well written in my opinion, except some parts feel like filler. You'll go over some pages with RIDICULOUSLY complicated equations, only to never see them again come tests.

Ah yes, his tests. There's practice exams at the back of both volumes of his course reader. If you want to do good on the midterm and final, it's crucial to go over these, as they're fairly representative of what to expect on your actual exams. I found that the midterm was almost identical to one of the practice midterms, and that the practice finals prepared me well for the actual final, save for one question based on a concept I'm not entirely sure was in the syllabus (WTF?!)

Overall a pretty good professor. If you're up for a challenge, Scerri's your guy.

Dr. Scerri, like a review below me says, may have a fake British accent (he's actually from Malta). Anyways, as an engineering student in Chem 20A who did NOT take AP Chem in high school, I found Chem 20A to be doable.

That said, the class is not "easy." Unlike other posters who have said "Don't go to lecture" or "just memorize the course reader," first of all, how can you memorize an entire course reader? Second of all, you have to understand the concepts in his course reader.

Anyways, back to Dr. Scerri. I would say he was a fairly good lecturer, but he's not the nicest guy (he's better some days than others). Ironically, he tends to be a bit more brash during office hours, and for future 20A students, give him the suggestion to hold separate office hours for 14A and 20A because when he held office hours for both classes together, the 14A students tended to take up most of the time.

Yes, the course reader is fairly expensive, and I would recommend buying a new one. This is because like Scerri says to you on Day 1, doing this will help you understand the material more by actually writing what he says.

Also, this is really important: the midterm for this class (there's only one, so it's a sink-or-swim type of situation)was relatively easy; he pulled it straight out of the course reader SO DO THE PRACTICE TESTS AT THE BACK. ALL OF THEM. As for the final, it was definitely harder, and here comes the interesting part. One question had to do with something that was NOT directly mentioned in his course reader, so it is a great idea to write down what he verbally says in class since that material can also be testable and you do not want to lose points for that.

There's not too much homework for this class, and although you have to pay for Thinkwell, the online lectures he has are helpful if are confused by some topics (e.g. quantum mechanics, organic chemistry, etc.) but does not cover all of the topics in class.

For the final, the time of three hours was definitely NOT an issue, but the test was definitely not easy, and it was also not impossibly hard; it was leaning towards the difficult side, but I studied well so it did not seem horrible.

Also, Scerri did play the guitar for us in class, which I thought was pretty cool. If you can take him for Chem 20A, I guess you should take him. If he was offered for Chem 20B, I would have taken him again. In summation, good lecturer, sometimes mean person, great guitar player, relatively easy midterm, and moderately difficult final.

Scerri is a cool guy with a fake British accent. He might be better teaching philosophy or theology, or playing guitar (in fact he did).I scored an easy 5 in AP Chem but still didn't understand what Scerri was teaching the conceptual way. Maybe it's just me as an engineering student who much prefer the computational chemistry. 20B would be a huge challenge for students who took Scerri.

I am not a fan of course reader and thinkwell subscription. You will not be able to sell them (even brand new ones) and get some money back. Only 4 quizzes were posted on thinkwell anyway, he could have used a free website like many other universities do. I have had some professors who also have course readers but offer a free pdf on their websites. The paper ones are available for printing price. For Scerri, sorry you just have to pay.

The midterm and final are very doable. I studied only the night before (never show up to lectures after 3rd week) with a solid background, I did well in both and looking to get an A or A-.

Overall: Cool guy, bad teacher for 20A. However, I do feel that Scerri's teaching style would be perfect for 14A. Life science major, Scerri is your man. Engineering or Chemistry major, avoid him if you can!

I'm taking Scerri for 20A, and honestly the course is not hard. Scerri is pretty entertaining (I've only fallen asleep during lecture once) and he teaches well. The English accent is a plus. Additionally, he PODCASTS his lectures, which is the best thing since sliced bread. However, you should not ask "stupid" questions, because he likes to make fun of them (and the person who asked them).

If you took AP Chem and AP Physics, the first half of the course will be almost review. I really like how the course is mostly conceptual. You are not required to be able to derive any equations. He gets his exams questions from previous exams, so make sure to study from the back of the course reader, which has a bunch of old exams. To be honest, our midterm was nearly an exact copy of a previous midterm.

His exams are pretty fair, but make sure to read the questions carefully. Sometimes he changes variables around or phrases something differently. So if you don't pay attention you end up solving for something that is related, but still wrong.

Written homework is pretty easy, however, each TA will grade by their own standard. Pay attention to detail and vocabulary, if possible, just copy down exactly what is written in your notes/course reader. Thinkwell quizzes are annoying because some of the questions are on topics that Scerri did not really go over, requiring you to spend 10 minutes on Google to find out whether or not, say, EM fields are quantized.

Rumor has it, a decade ago, Scerri wrote and published the rough copy of a 20A course reader. Every year students point out hundreds of errors in the course reader, of which Scerri corrects about two. Doing so is just enough to merit releasing a new version, thus discouraging students from buying used copies. Perhaps, by the time our children are in college, these corrections will have been made, but I wouldn't bet on it.

On a more related note, I would recommend this teacher. His extreme arrogance is quite entertaining, especially when he tries to incorporate his personal ideas into the course curriculum. This is most likely the easiest non-GE you will take at UCLA and requires little more than reciting his course reader. Since there is only one midterm and the first five lectures are spent going over the plum pudding model and what a valence electron is, don't even bother showing up until at least 3rd week if you have taken chemistry before (or you can read wikipedia). On the other hand, it would be a shame to miss any of the numerous times Scerri shoots down overzealous freshmen.