Challenging class. Was not ready for the amount of memorization needed for the exams and paid. It is super important to make sure that all reactions are memorized before one starts to understand the mechanism if it is required. There weren’t really any tricky reaction questions on exams, just a lot of them. The tricky questions came with the comprehensive spectroscopy questions as even if one had a good understanding of the individual parts, it could be hard to piece everything together and get the correct molecule. Overall, this class has a lot more memorization than 30A (more reactions) and knowing this will probably help prepare one for at least 60% of the material on exams.

Overall, I thought this class was fine. Professor Pham is clear during lecture, but I wish that he had more time to spend going through examples or solving problems. A lot of material builds on information from 30A, so if you didn't do well in that class (like me), you need to really look at what went wrong and try to improve, or else it's likely you'll also do poorly in this class (like me). The class is broken up into two sections of reactions/mechanisms with a spectroscopy section in the middle, which is totally new and a nice break. The latter half of the class moves very quickly, so you need to make sure you are keeping up with content. Practice is the key to doing well.

The content was difficult, but the professor made it much easier to understand. The lecture slides and recordings were very helpful to go back and review. Highly recommend the suggested book problems if the problem sets seem too daunting at first. All the materials are there, it's just up to you to manage your time well and know how much practice you need for each concept.

I liked this class a lot. Just make sure that you put in the enough work for the class and attend the lectures as much as you can. Even though it will be recorded, attending the lectures keep you focused.
The material is super clear and Pham will exactly tell you what he needs you to know for the class, but as I mentioned, you have to put in a lot of studying hours for this class or nay ochem class in general.

it was hell