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A gem of a professor. Pham is so clear in lectures and made class very engaging. I thought the material was definitely different and much more conceptual than past chemistry classes, and taking the class in 6 weeks was a challenge. Take Pham though, you won't regret! For practice/past exams or study guide/notes, feel free to contact *************

I took Chem 30B with prof Hung V Pham for csesh. I am so glad that I took this class with prof Pham. Because our class was online, the exams were all open book, but prof Pham didn't make them insanely difficult. I actually thought his exams were quite fair. He is a very clear professor and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated, which is something a lot of professors unfortunately do. Even though I have 1.5x extra time, I found myself finishing his exams only about 15-30 min after the designated finish time for regular students.

The homework problem sets were a little long, but given that it was a condensed summer class, this was to be expected. During a regular quarter, the HWs would probably be shorter.

Overall, I really liked prof Pham and would definitely take a class with him again!

I was scared to take this class but Pham’s lectures were very engaging and the tests were very well made (not too easy but not insanely difficult). I thought that the class was well structured and very organized. The TA and LA’s were also very helpful in this course. Would definitely recommend taking chem 14D with Pham!

I can't recommend Pham enough. I never enjoyed a single Chem 14 series class, but this was the perfect way to end the journey. Pham is clear, organized, tests very fairly (no trick questions or unnecessarily tough questions), and gives a huge amount of extra credit. His support team of TAs and LAs are phenomenal and are so incredibly helpful. I would recommend going to one or two discussions a week with a TA that you like, or at the very least, do their worksheets which really help ingrain topics.

There's no two ways around it : this class requires a LOT of memorization and practice. Don't be intimidated though because the sooner you get on it, the faster it will come to you until it's like second nature. It is definitely doable if you but the effort in. Take Pham, you won't regret it!

Chem 14D is a difficult class, and there's no way around that. But, Dr. Pham was an awesome professor, especially considering who I had for A, B, and C. He was very clear in lectures, had slides and worked examples on the board, and had a ton of resources for students. The discussions are very helpful and were definitely worth attending. They were optional, but you could go and ask homework questions, or work on a practice sheet. I did well in this class but it was because I was willing to put in the time. Understanding the concepts behind the mechanisms so you can predict the outcome will be a lot better for you in the long run than just making notecards and memorizing every arrow of every reaction, but there is still plenty of memorization involved and it takes time. You cannot cram for this class. I had back to back midterms the first go around and tried to cram for this class and I did terrible--the second midterm, I started seriously studying a week in advance and was able to pull off a grade that allowed me to make up for the first one. Pham offers a TON of extra credit so make sure you take advantage of every opportunity. Also take advantage of office hours, as the problem set homework assignments can really sneak up on you if you don't start them well in advance and have time to ask all of your questions. So, since you probably have to take 14D or you wouldn't be considering it, take Dr. Pham. He was an excellent professor.

Before getting into the main body of the review, I, for the sake of context, despise Ochem and everything this god forsaken subject stands for. The constantly flurry of arrows and transfers will inevitably impact me up to my eventual demise. The apocalypse, as described in Revelations, seems trivial in comparison to the nightmarish hellscape that is Ochem. I could watch 46 of the most adorable infants (along with 7 kittens, 5 puppies, and a couple rabbits) get tied to train tracks and pulverized by a massive steam engine (all in slow motion might I add), and I would still feel less anguish than I felt trying to study for Ochem exams. I could witness the most indescribably awful crime, one that would permanently alter the life of any who witness it, and I would still only rank it as the second worst experience of my life (first should be obvious). TLDR: I find Ochem quite tough.

However... Pham is easily the best professor you can take this class with. It is only due to his wonderful instruction and generous grading policy that I did even remotely well in this class. Dramatic intro paragraph aside, Pham makes Ochem bearable. His grading scheme goes as follows:

Problem Sets x5 - (60 points, your lowest problem set score is dropped)
He assigns 5 throughout the quarter, they are due every other week (you basically have two weeks to work on each). I did not get 100% on a single one, but partial credit was very generous.

BACON x10 - (40 points, your lowest two BACON assignments are dropped)
Assigns one each week. Got a 100% in this category, try to memorize a lot of the pictures given in the BACON assignments, since some questions ask you to recall a structure mentioned in the assignment (you also cannot go back to the reading once you get to the questions)

MT1 - (50 points, 2 pnts of extra credit possible)
I got sick during this exam, so I did not take it. Average was 71% (median 75%). I took the midterm on my own time and this was quite doable in my opinion. The extra credit is often a super random question from the slides, so it could kinda be anything (even the Fun Fridays). Importantly, if you are sick or cannot make one of the midterm, Pham averages your MT2 and Final score and makes your MT1 score that average (if you got a 70% on MT2 and 80% on the Final, your MT1 would be around a 77% since more weight is given to the final).

MT2 - (50 points, 2 pnts of extra credit possible)
I personally got a C on this exam. Didn't give myself enough time to memorize the reactions and mechanisms AND didn't do enough practice. Do yourself a favor and use either a quizlet or Anki deck and give yourself at least a week/week and a half to memorize all the reactions and mechanisms listed in the slides. If it's on the slide, and Pham didn't explicitly mention that it will not be tested, assume it is fair game. Also, do the TA worksheets after you memorize your reactions, that way you get a good idea of all the different ways the reaction can affect a molecule

Final - (100 points, 3 pnts of extra credit possible)
I got an A on this exam. Giving myself more time to memorize and apply really helped here (plus, I got mildly lucky, since the mechanisms on the exam were ones I was very comfortable with / made the most sense to me). The same advice from MT2 applies here. MT1 content on the final is very implicit, since the Substitution and Elimination reactions learned at the beginning of the quarter form the basis for the rest of the reactions in the class (plus, there were some questions that required identification of a strong base, nucleophile, etc).

Extra credit was super plentiful (I think there was around 13 extra credit points total, which is a ton in this class). You can get up to 8 extra credit points if you participate in CryOFF (basically making your own Fun Friday assignment), and the rest were from feedback and evaluations.

Overall, I felt the exams were fair (but difficult, because ofc, it's Ochem). Additionally, due to how the grades are calculated, you have a lot of wiggle room to mess up and still do well in the class. As long as one stays up to date on lecture (I did not, brought me immeasurable pain later on when I had to catch up) and give yourself enough time to memorize and apply all the reactions and mechanisms (I did not, brought me more aforementioned immeasurable pain), you will do just fine in this class. And while a lot of studying is required outside of class, Pham really does do a great job at introducing you to all the mechanisms and reactions he tests on.

Side note, but the TAs and LAs in this class were phenomenal. While I did not go to a single discussion (do not do this, please go to discussion), TA office hours were a great place to get help on the problem sets (Caleb's office hours were awesome). They also make pretty great if not challenging worksheets to help you practice the material. The LAs held review sessions before every exam, which while not as good of practice and the TA worksheets, were a great way to get a quick review in before each exam (especially for the final).

Overall, 9/10 class. Professor Pham was awesome, the subject was not. For me to even consider giving an Ochem class above a 5/10 demonstrates how truly spectacular Pham was.

Pham was an impressive lecturer. He often provided useful analogies and did the best he could explaining reactions in the time he had. While the class content is difficult, his exams were fair. The final for my quarter was also graded quite leniently, albeit without the opportunity to be able to see your final. Lots of opportunities for extra credit, along with a sense of reasonableness went a long way (he made the 2nd midterm optional due to bad weather). Overall a good professor for a difficult class.

Honestly, Pham is a great lecturer and the class itself is very clear (the tests are fair, there are no trick questions, and the workload (in terms of things you actually need to do and turn in) is not that bad). It's worth noting that the cutoff for an A is a 94 instead of the traditional 93, but there are plenty of opportunities to boost your grade with the BACON assignments (basically free points, just take pictures of the lessons before you take the quizzes) and the extra credit CryOFF project (Pham also includes a few extra credit questions on the midterms and the final). Lecture is solely for going over the different reaction mechanisms while discussion is for doing your TA's practice worksheet (so it's structured lecture: learn and discussion: practice). This was a bit unusual for me because I'm used to doing more practice problems in lecture, but Pham himself never really gives you problems besides the problem sets. The problem sets are the most similar to the exams, but there're definitely not enough to practice the material (for that, do as many TA worksheets as you can).

You're not required to attend discussion (or the specific discussion you're enrolled in), so I would take a look at all of the TA worksheets the first week, see whose are the most helpful, and then attend those/that TA's discussion. I only attended my discussion for the first few weeks, but near the end of the quarter when I was really grinding I started attending 3 (but this is probably not necessary since the TAs post the answer keys afterwards).

Now onto more of the bad stuff about 14D: people say that it's not about memorizing the reactions but rather understanding them - for our intents and purposes, they're wrong. You can't even look at a synthesis problem until you know all of the different reactions for that section, so stay on top of them and maybe do the Klein Second Semester Topics chapters to better understand them. (I didn't use the Vollhardt and Schore textbook or do the recommended textbook problems, just doing all of the TA worksheets kept me pretty busy.)

In addition, although Pham is a good lecturer and communicates well about the logistics of the course, he's not that helpful in office hours. At least this quarter, office hours were in a tiny room in Young and he sat at the front of the class while we sat in the back, so it honestly felt like another lecture (yikes). In addition, he was reluctant to make broad generalizations about chemistry, so unless you had the specific problem pulled up (which was difficult for him to see from the back of the class) he wouldn't give a definitive answer. This is a pet peeve of mine, but he also seemed to take every opportunity to cancel class. We didn't have class on the days of our midterms (which I actually appreciated), but we also didn't have class the last two days before our final (one was his Ask Me Anything, and the other was cancelled simply because we'd already covered all of the material). No final review? We just got a list of all of the topics we'd covered that he sped through in ten minutes.

My apologies - overall the class wasn't that bad. I never expected to get an A+ in a chemistry class, and in 14D at that, but his tests are fair, and he offers a lot of extra credit. Just stay on top of the reactions and do practice problems like your life (and your grade) depends on it. On the bright side, I stress-bonded with quite a few people in this class!