NEVER EVER EVER EVER — and I mean NEVER EVER — take this class. Like many of you, I checked professor Ow's BruinWalk reviews and saw what seemed to be a beaming ray of sunlight — great overall rating, great professor rating, and EVEN outstanding comments from previous years. Well, I need all of you to look past all of that because ALL WRONG. EVERYONE IS LYING.

As an academic overachiever, I have found myself thriving with a 4.0, valedictorian, and even getting through my first year of college with a 4.0 across the board. So, when I say this class has single-handedly made me reconsider everything I know about science, myself, and the educational system, believe me. I had many friends with other chemistry professors, and they seemed to walk away from 14A unscathed. But Ow, on the other hand, has managed to create the absolutely most impossible class that has left many of my friends — myself included— feeling an unrepairable sense of doom, self-doubt, and lack of trust.

If you don't feel like reading everything I have to say, remember this one thing:
Ow DOWNCURVED the entire class. That pretty much sums it up.

After a quarter of sleepless nights, studying until my nails bleed, and ultimately trying to absorb every single detail, I still managed to find myself constantly surprised and disappointed by the truly unexplainably impossible nature of this class. In the end, I did get a B+, which honestly isn't that bad. But when you take a step back to realize the sheer amount of effort to reach this point, it suddenly becomes clear that this B+ symbolizes Ow's result for a student who has pushed themselves to their very limit.

I will give him credit that in the very first lecture he gently "warned" us, but the warning honestly should have been a red blaring siren because everything immediately went downhill. Each exam had an entirely different format from each other, none of which aligned with the practice exams. He did preface that they might not necessarily align, but the reality is that he truly does not create resources for us to succeed in the slightest. The ONLY people I know who even captured an A in this class were students who were scraping to ignite their chemistry knowledge from high school. Even a friend of mine who scored high As on both midterms found themselves unable to get an A in the class.

I went to office hours — which made me feel somehow emotionally penalized for showing up. He made me feel like it was my fault, as an individual, for asking for help. He invites questions to be asked but then makes you feel stupid for asking them in the first place. And the cherry on top, he offered two opportunities for 0.2% extra credit. Gee thanks. It almost felt like a slap in the face because that extra credit essentially makes no difference, and any difference it does make was ENTIRELY ELIMINATED by the class down the curve. So, if you spend the quarter attempting to calculate your grade — throw that method out the window. Your grades will ultimately be unknown to you, and unknown until he has decided how he wants curve — which was DOWN — AND ALREADY IMPUTED INTO MYUCLA. Once your fate is sealed, there is simply nothing you can do.

That being said, success in Ow's class entirely relies on your capacity to either 1. remember everything from high school or 2. miraculously become Ow and read his mind. If neither of those things pertain to you, then you simply do not stand the slightest of chances.

For some of you, taking Ow may be your only choice, in which case, I am very sorry. Say farewell to your 4.0 because after this class it will not be coming back. However, I can provide a slight bit of advice that can hopefully prepare you for your fate to come:
- The exams will present questions that you may have never seen before, so when you study, think BEYOND the content. You need to learn the context of chemistry outside of the things covered in class in order to succeed.
- mentally prepare yourself and lower your expectations. I came into this class filled with ambition, but I quickly found myself being disappointed time and time again.
- grades are not everything.... one quarter of chemistry certainly will not define the trajectory of your life. So try to remind yourself that you are so much stronger than 14A with Ow.

To those of you who have made it to the end of this review, I applaud your commitment to success. It is clear that you want to do well and that you are willing to take extra time to make that difference in your academics. I wish you all the best in your enrollment times and good grade fortune in the years to come.

Overall, not too bad of a class. 2 exams worth 20% each and a final worth 25%. Discussions are 15% based on attendance and there are quizzes most weeks that you take home with no time limit worth 20% but you can drop 2 of them so both of these categories should be free points. + and - were very generous with an A- starting at 84% and an A starting at 90%. First 2 exams are free response with a couple of mc questions and the final is all mc questions. All exam content was pretty fair but the second exam was too long for the time allotted. If you’ve never taken a chemistry class before, this class will likely be fairly difficult and take a lot of work to get a decent grade. I personally took AP Chem in high school and even though only like 1/4 of the content was stuff taught in AP Chem, the concepts and ways to think about chemistry were extremely helpful so I wouldn’t worry about this class too much if you have a chemistry background.

Dr. Ow is a nice guy with clear and concise lectures. The class was two midterms worth 20% each, a 25% final, 20% of weekly quizzes, and 15% is discussion. He did not know what content he was supposed to be teaching, so he tried to teach thermodynamics and messed up the entire 14a schedule. Much harder content than Lavelle. And then he curved our class down to match Lavelle's average. Awesome.
He hated getting questions and was always pretty rude about it. People stopped asking questions in lectures after a while. Midterm exams were free response. The first one was fair. The second one was literally just rude. Students and TAs asked for a curve because it was a ridiculous number of questions in 50 minutes. He never did. The average was a 60%. The final was 36 multiple choice questions, and the average was a "C."
The weekly quizzes made me go to a really dark place in my life.
If this class was on being a kind soul, sure. He would get a nicer review. But unfortunately, it is on general chemistry 14a. Was not a huge fan of his class.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The course material for 14A isn't hard at all, but it requires you to remember some of that prior knowledge. I don't think anything in 14A with any professor will require knowledge past an honors chem class. If you feel you really truly suck at chem, he usually recommends taking Chem 17, which I believe he also teaches.

LECTURES- His lectures are very detailed, and he often asks the class during lecture after an important concept if they have questions. If he feels that something is important enough yet no one is asking questions, he'll do an example on the board.

GRADING-The course (at least for summer) is graded as so: 2 midterms and one final exam, no curve (on any of these). He doesn't have you memorize too much, either and is really reasonable with what you have to know for his exams. He also usually posts his past exams on CCLE with the answer keys. These are really helpful practice.

HOMEWORK- He doesn't assign graded homework, but he does post readings and practice questions that are, for the most part, similar to what you'll see on the tests.

OVERALL- I wouldn't say the class is super easy, but I wouldn't say it was hard either. It's easy if you're willing to put in a little effort to take notes during lecture and do all the practice problems.

Selling required textbook: Chemical Principles, 6th Edition (by Peter Atkins, Loretta, Jones, Leroy Laverman)

The bundle will include Textbook AND Solutions manual

Purchased from Student union for $168, selling for only $100. In very good/new condition.

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