I didn't expect this class to be easy since it's 14D, but it was super difficult in my opinion. However, it's organic chem, so whatever... Dr. Pham, however, made it extremely difficult to do well in the class. He was rude during office hours which always made me scared to ask questions. Our class ended up having an online final due to coronavirus and he sent lots of very rude emails (though he did apologize). He told us that our anxiety having to do with the class was self-inflicted, and if we didn't want to be nervous about our grades, to just try harder. He was arrogant and just rubbed me the wrong way, wouldn't take another class with him for sure.

As a person, Dr. Pham is quite interesting and relatable but as a professor he is horrendous. I understand that remote teaching is an adjustment for everyone but it felt like he was purposefully not trying to be reasonable. Exams were quite long and difficult to complete in the two hour time frame. After students expressed their grievances with the strict time frame, Dr. Pham basically told us to suck it up. The grading scale was also a bit unfair in my opinion with an A starting at 94%. Although there was extra credit available, there weren't many other points available in the class to compensate for a poor exam grade. During lecture, Dr. Pham briefly explains the reactions without giving adequate examples. The best way to get through this class is by doing ALL the TA worksheets and attending ALL the LA review sessions. Without those two tools and my PLF, I would not have done as well in this class. I was genuinely looking forward to this course but I was immensely disappointed. If possible, please avoid taking this class with Pham.

Professor Pham might be one of the best professor UCLA was able to accommodate. He teaches org chem with such distinction and accuracy it's almost incredible. Because of him, org chem just becomes a great course to take. He is amazingly knowledgable about the subject and incredible when explaining things to his audience. He will use metaphors and analogy that pretty sure anyone can understand. I know I did and I wasn't the smartest guy in the class. Not even close. But Prof. Pham definitely made the course a lot smoother.

His syllabus is pretty simple. 100 pts for each midterm. There are 2. Along with BACON assignment that is worth 40 or 9% of the grade. Make sure you do them. It is still worth good pts. Along with that, the final is cumulative and worth 200 pts. All together 440 pts. He does give out a lot of extra credits. Please utilize them. It will help you immensely. He puts EC on his exams. If you want those EC points, come to the lecture and pay attention to his slides. Especially his fun Friday he does every Friday. Do not feel anxious about his grade scale. If you keep asking him about grades, he will not like it so make sure to avoid that subject at all cost. But do try to ask him regarding understanding the material. He likes that. And do not ask Prof. Pham if he will curve the course. That will only be a bad game for you if you are avg standing.

This course is not an easy course. Make sure you study the lecture slides he posts on CCLE and do all the problems that he suggested on CCLE. Last minutes cramming will not help you in this course. If you do, you will fail. So please don't cram. Good luck to all future students!

This is probably the best professor you can get. He will only test you on information he has lectured on so you don’t have to worry about guessing what you need to know. The key to success is going to lecture, clarifying the information afterwards if you need it (through the book or online videos), and using the TA and LA worksheets as practice. His tests are very straight forward and fair (this doesn’t mean they’re easy). Organic Chemistry will be hard either way, but might as well have a great, fun, and nice professor to help you through it.

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He's one of the best chemistry teachers at UCLA. I've had Scerri (who is one of the worse human beings) and Lavelle (who was really nice and cared for his students). I think Pham is the best one because he keeps it real. His test are hard but very straight forward and not wordy.

Professor Pham is debatable to be one of the best lecturers and professors at UCLA. He has teaching experience in SMCC after holding a degree at UCI for Mathematics and Chemistry BS. So its quite reasonable to state that the guy is pretty damn smart. But encourage a lot of his students to ease the anxiety of grades and focus on learning the material. I first thought he was joking but later took his advice and it was worth it. LEARN the MATERIAL. Have an interest in learning. It works. So here are the stats:
Midterms: 23% there is 2 midterms.
BACON Assignments: 9%
Final: 45%
Make sure to study well, go to his office hours. It's worth it. Make sure to do some of the hw assignments that were given. Its not mandatory but highly recommended. Have a study group as well. It helps. And dont be afraid about his grading methods. Just keep working hard.

I already left my review for 30A and boy did it only get worse in 30 B. Organic chemistry overall is already a pretty tough subject and Pham does not make it any easier. I do not understand why everyone is going around saying he's their favorite professor. He is not that great!
The averages tanked even more in this class and yet again he blames it on the students rather than his own teaching (reading off slides and writing a few mechanisms off the board). 57% for the first midterm and 70% for the second. He threw the grade scaling out of the window with this class. I was worried that I wouldn't even pass.
We were behind again this quarter and 2-3 classes before midterms, there would always be a rush to finish as much information as possible to cram into the test.
In the scheme of the pandemic this quarter, he handled it so terribly (I'm not sure if it was closely affecting him, however, he was very unprofessional) he was extremely rude and angry in his email regarding the situation and called his students scum. This honestly did not shock me as he constantly treats us like we're dumb anyway and doesn't try to explain things when people clearly state that they are confused or don't understand something. He does not take into account that previous professors might not have explained what he expects everyone to know and he will not help you understand. (As I said in my previous review, he will just tell you "you should already know that" and move on).
The whole class is out of 440 points.
100pts for each midterm (there's 2)
200pts for the final
40pts for online BACON (online quizzes, super easy to get 100%)
He gives out 6pts total of extra credit in the form of post-midterm surveys and the professor review. There are also some extra credit points on the exams but not that many (probably 4pts on each).
He did make the final optional when we moved online but with the averages that we had if you didn't take the final you were likely to barely get a C so nearly everyone had to take the final (other than the 2 people who get As on every exam). I'm happy to have improved to a B- this quarter but it was hard work, and I'm sure next quarter in 30C it will suck all over again (especially since he's so angry about us going online) Good luck to all who attempt to take the "best professor ever" and keep your expectations realistic.

I scored around average on both midterms (both averages were low 60s). This class was so hard. Pham was a good professor and got his point across well, but something just didn't click for me. I thought I would fail, but the final was online due to COVID, so by some miracle I got a B+ (I did get above 90 on the final). Our class average ended up still being below 75, so we got an additional grade boost from that.
My main advice is to do all the extra credit (there's a LOT) and to study. I'm someone who doesn't study, and I met my match in this class.
I would recommend Pham if you want to learn and work for your grade, but I know the other professors are way easier.

(I put "2" for "workload rating" because that's what I felt I had to do in order to get what I got. I actually put in a "3" or a "4" despite having taken him last quarter for 30A.)

Dr. (Hung V.) Pham is quite reactive to student questions; he welcomes student questions and usually answers them clearly and thoroughly*. Dr. Pham knows his material and makes each reaction he teaches very clear, making jokes/analogies along the way. I was not able to attend his office hours, but I trust that his office hours are as productive and useful as in 30A. If nothing else, OChem has shown me my deficiency in predicting what might happen.

I understand in the light of the trials of COVID-19, everyone suffers, and that somehow led to Dr. Pham becoming infamous for his letter calling students who cheat "scum." No comment.

He does make the exams quite difficult, but as the other reviewer said, I would just focus on learning the material. The charge of Dr. Pham not making the discussion worksheets himself is true; you will never be prepared for the format of his exams (despite their relative clarity). The final was open book/notes, and since OChem has lots of memorization, the average on the final was 178.8/200 (89.4%), not 95%. I am confident that people cheated, but of course I have no evidence.

In response to the scaling, he actually did scale the class in the end; my average was 85.3%. I would consider that generous, although to be fair to Dr. Pham, none of his announcements contained the word "generous." I agree that he can be a bit disrespectful of students, sometimes expecting implicit knowledge from students.

Take him and leave a review for yourself. Proverbs 11:14 NKJV