Sell the totally useless course reader and workbook. $30 or best offer. Contact me at **********.

You will definitely get an A in this class as long as you do all the required textbook problems, go to lecture and take good notes, and do the midterm /final review posted by the TA's for the course.

Lavelle is a fun man, and he is also quite hip. He is in with the memes, and understands the importance of "exercising your mind and body". For the final lecture before winter break, Lavelle displayed a GIF of a dancing orangutan, and he too got down.
He is not at all self-absorbed or snobby, as some of the past posts have claimed. He is very proud of the many hours of helpful resources available to you, but only because he is happy to see you learning. I feel as if he is doing all he can to help us learn and understand the material (especially in an online setting).
Before taking this class, I'd heard a lot of chemistry horror stories and I am happy to declare that I did not experience this with Professor Lavelle. I recommend taking his class.

Selling 7th edition pdf version of textbook for 20$ (1/4 the price)! Regular price at UCLA store for ebook is 80$! Text me @ **********

One of the questions on his final was "draw cisplatinum" something he never even mentioned in class, then he said it was on his slides but he DOES NOT POST HIS SLIDES. That was probably the most UNFAIR class I've ever taken and i didn't even think the material was hard, he just was awful and unfair. 10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND AVOID IF YOU CAN OR TAKE SOMEONE ELSE, don't do this to yourself.

I loved Dr. Lavelle. He is so sweet and cares about student learning. However, it is unhelpful when he goes ahead. This quarter, Dr. Lavelle got like a week ahead, which was great because we got to review, but I was so behind on the textbook readings and I didn't understand what was going on in class or the discussions. This was very stressful. I think that it would have been more helpful to either follow the syllabus or structure the class to have a review week from the start.
All of the textbook readings was just a lot. If you take this class, make sure you keep up with the textbook and GO TO EVERY CLASS. This is not a class you want to get behind in. After every lecture, go home and make sure you understood everything. Go to discussion and the step-up sessions. It was hard but you can do better than I did if you make sure you keep up with everything and read the textbook. Also, Lavelle *says* his tests will be very math intensive and to do all the textbook problems, but they're really more conceptual. Don't focus on doing every single textbook problem. I would say definitely focus more on concepts and understanding what is going on and the meaning of everything.

Professor Lavelle has been one of the most engaging professors I've had here at UCLA so far. His passion for the subject is infectious, making me sometimes think if I should've majored in chemistry instead. Although I love him as a person, I do feel some things could have been done better.

1. Organization
His slides are all on a powerpoint that feels like it was made 30 years ago. It's all walls of text with a few pictures every now and then that you need to quickly grasp since Lavelle moves at a rapid pace. This course is taught under the quarter system, so I'll give Lavelle some slack, but it was sometimes an uphill battle trying to simultaneously write down notes from the powerpoint while he lectures about key concepts not found on those same powerpoints.

2. Use of Lecture Time
He would sometimes spend half the class deriving an equation we'd then use on the homework when I feel it would have been better to spend that time understanding its application and meaning. He often times lost and confused me when deriving chemistry equations.

3. Exam Contents
A lot of the midterm & final questions were conceptual based that required practically no math. It made the hours I poured into doing and studying the assigned homework problems feel a little fruitless. I say "a little fruitless" because I acknowledge that his homework problems helped reinforce the concepts in my head and let me understand it better than someone who skipped the homework, but it's a bit frustrating because his syllabus explicitly states the homework mimics what will be on the exam. That was hardly the case.

All things considered, I would still say Chem14B with Lavelle was one of the best classes I've taken so far at UCLA. I truly felt like I was learning and understanding the concepts taught in class because he gives his students so many resources to become chemistry masters. There was never a doubt in my mind that he truly cares for the well-being of his students.

It truly makes me sad I'll probably never get to take another class with him again, but I'll treasure my experience in Chem14B.

Good chemistry.

He is my favorite professor ive had so far because he is an excellent teacher with decades of experience, which many many other professors here cannot claim. He is very intelligent and there is not a single chemistry question he would be unable to answer.

However, the lectures and homework and exams did not relate. I feel like I learned more in this class than any other class I've ever taken, but the exams did not allow me to demonstrate my learning because they were based on tiny little things he said in lecture, instead of difficult chemistry/math questions that required a whole page of solving (like the homework).

This is also the hardest class I've ever taken but it is not too bad since I feel like for this class (unlike many other classes with different professors) the more you study, the better you will do.

Lavelle is funny and enjoys teaching and TAs had excellent communication with the professor which made the whole class experience ideal.

Nice guy, but exams sucked. First and second midterm was like 14 questions (All multiple choice, mostly conceptual), final was 20 or so questions (also all multiple choice). He expects 16 hours of independent study per week, which is a lot when managing other classes. Don't take this class unless you're willing to sacrifice most of your time studying for it.
Lavelle also never answers emails, and did not give clear answers to TAs about exams or otherwise. I think the average for the midterms and final were all around a C. However, the final grade was curved up and above a 50% in the class is considered a pass, which is nice.

I really loved how enthusiastic Lavelle was about chemistry. He provides so many resources such as TA office hours and UA workshops/step-up sessions to help his students. There's also chemistry community which is so nice as any question you have will be answered very quickly. I took this class the previous quarter with Scerri but dropped it as his teaching did not aid me at all. I found Lavelle's class to be much more manageable and clear. There are two midterms which are 15 questions multiple choice. There is no partial credit given which is annoying. The final was 25 mc questions. I believe you can only miss 8 questions in total on the exams if you want an A in the class (before the curve, and assuming everything else is 100%). The midterms were very conceptual. He tells you to do all the assigned textbook problems, but a good amount of the exam was conceptual and not math focused. Before the test, everyone gets the same practice question/repsondus question to test the system. This question shows up on the exam, so technically it's free points. The workload for the class is not bad, but there is a lot covered in ten weeks so make sure to study as you go along. I should have gotten a B in the class but he curved to a B+ which is very nice. Towards the last few weeks, he did offer 4 extra credit points and two respondus questions for the final, instead of one.