Honestly the best way to start off the 14 series. He is such a clear and thorough lecturer and this class does not make you memorize too much. He goes over everything at a good pace. Fast enough to finish the material but slow enough to absorb all of the information. This man loves chemistry and sometimes I would get excited just listening to him.

Class Breakdown:
2 Midterms (25% each)
1 Final (50%)

He assigns optional homework and gives you all of his practice exams from his previous years and doing this is enough to do well on the exams imo. Although I think some of the practice exams were somewhat easier compared to his current exams. Some of the homework problems are harder than the exams but if you can ask for help in your discussion for the more difficult questions then the exams should be a breeze.

We had 3 extra days total for just review since he finished so early. One day was dedicated to review for the second midterm since he knew we would have extra time and that way we could be prepared for the second midterm. (Week 5) 2 whole days (~4 hours) for just review for the final. (Week 6)

Definitely recommend to anyone considering taking this class.

Professor Ow is very clear in his lectures and provides useful practice exams.

You can find the textbook for CHEM 14 A and CHEM 14B for free online: libgen.io
During Summer 2018, the sixth and seventh edition was preferred. I also found the fifth edition textbook along with the solutions manual on that website as well.

Tips: Make sure to do the homework (although not due for grading) once after you learn the material and a second time before the exam, as the professor suggests. This is extremely helpful in preparation for the two midterms and the final exam.

As for TA's, I had Zeeshan and he was helpful to the extent to which he knew what was going to be on the first midterm and gave us a list of what to expect.

The professor provided outlines for each chapter and also provided a study guide for the final. Utilize the outlines as study guides. Make sure to leave no stone unturned and go through the entire study guide when preparing for the final.

Best of luck.

Dr. Ow is an amazing professor. He uses his own textbook on TopHat which makes exams very fair since they are the same format as the optional homework questions, making expectations straightforward. He was very clear and helpful during lectures and office hours. As long as you study and put the time in, you will get an A. Would highly recommend taking 14A and 14B with Dr. Ow if you have the option.

Grading distribution was as follows:
100 points midterm 1
100 points midterm 2
200 points final
50 points homework

Dr. Ow was amazing. I took him for 14A & 14B during the summer. It was a lot of work, but only because 6 weeks is an accelerated period to learn chemistry, especially if you are taking other classes along with it. I had 0 prior chemistry experience too, so it I had to study a lot. However, Dr. Ow uses an interactive textbook through Tophat which was amazing in my opinion. He wrote the book himself, and the textbook simplifies and presents the material in a very concise manner. It provides a ton of video examples and practice problems so you can really learn at your own pace and self-study efficiently. He uses pre-recorded lectures which are straight to the point and explain the concepts clearly. This is how online classes should be run and I wish more teachers would follow his example. Take Dr. Ow if you can. You won’t regret taking this awesome teacher.

We used a textbook called Top Hat that he gave us FREE(!!) access to which was super nice, and the textbook had pretty clear explanations. I highly recommend going into the summer session with good chem knowledge because those 6 weeks are very, very fast-paced. It starts out slow but then becomes really fast toward the end. If given the opportunity to, I highly recommend taking this as your only CSI class (but that option may have only been available summer 2020 because it was all online). It may get overwhelming otherwise.
The set-up was basically read through a Top Hat chapter every week and answer the questions embedded in the text. He also posted asynchronous lectures that you need to watch too (but that wasn't ever graded). He posted practice exams which were super helpful and similar to the actual exams, and held exam review sessions as well. He's pretty good with explaining answers to your questions and really tries to make sure you know the material. I would take Chem 14B with him if I had the chance.
Basically: do your work, attend his office hours (even if just to listen in), and you will do well.

Doctor Ow is a great example of professors being deattached from their students. I was able to pass the class with an A, but that doesn't mean that it was a good, or even acceptable experience. He uses his textbook on TopHat, and it's both confusing and frustrating with how he embeds questions for concepts before the book even goes over them. His grading scale is strange and I barely scraped by with an A-.

I took this as part of CSI, and this course was completely asynchronous. However, despite that, Dr. Ow always made sure to make time for his students through twice weekly office hours, answering his emails regularly, and even holding recorded exam reviews! Plenty of students (including myself) went to office hours, where most of his answers were concise and extremely helpful (he also gives little rules of thumb and stuff).

However, if you're not a great test-taker, then this class may not be 100% the best for you. Our entire grade was based on quizzes and exams, although quizzes are untimed and only 5 questions long (not always multiple choice though) and you can use the book (he said so himself in the syllabus). On the other hand, exams are timed (still open-book) but still not insanely difficult (usually 7-8 short-answer questions). Exams usually had a B+ average (which I consider pretty good for ~100 students). You do have to be motivated enough to watch the lectures and do the practice problems from the book since there's no graded homework assignments to force you to learn.

Unlike last year though, he didn't provide the textbook for us (it wasn't the Top Hat one), but it is FREE and easily accessible if you just look at other places on the internet. If it's the Chemical Principles textbook, you DON'T need to buy it from UCLA for the Achieve software as he doesn't use it at all, so there is no added benefit there if you think the cost will include special questions or examples.

took 14d with Prof Ow during fall 2021. hardest class I have ever taken, with no empathy shown towards the fact that we were transitioning back to in person classes after 1.5 years or that we are students with other responsibilities. if this is your only hard/demanding class, I think it is possible to dedicate ALL your time to the class and get an A or B. if you end up having to take this amongst other STEM classes/major classes or if you have other responsibilities that take up time throughout the week, it was really tough to keep up in my opinion. he goes VERY fast when explaining material and gives weekly quizzes that are pretty hard. exams are also timed and really long, and there was no curve even though our averages were very low (ie. first midterm average was a D). avoid taking with him if you can but good luck if you have no choice

Not enough practice problems were given for this class. The textbook solutions were poorly written and I honestly learnt the most by doing practice exams. Campuswire was unresponsive and normally questions were answered with a single short sentence that did not help a lot. Materials seem easy he just made it a lot harder to understand and practice.

Ok, this is a review for his 14CL class because he's not listed as a professor. Overall would recommend taking this lab with him because he was super generous (not like how his descriptions are for his 14C class). His grading scale was nice (90% and up was an A). For the final, which was in person, we were allowed to bring 1 whole page of a cheat sheet front and back--- so super nice. His exams were honestly not bad at all. The in-person labs were also not bad but that part just depends on who your TA is and if they are generous or not. Btw I had Du, S, and would def recommend it because he graded so easily. Also, I would recommend getting a PLF for this course to help with the pre and post-labs. Overall this class is A LOT of busy work. An average week was 1 prelab due Tues/Wed and 1 post-lab due Tues/Wed and those take a lot of time. All-in-all, this class is not that bad and would recommend this professor.