I had previously taken AP Chemistry and other advanced chemistry classes in high school but Chem 14A with Lavelle was definitely still challenging. The first test was alright, but his midterm and final were pretty difficult. Make sure to go to class because a lot of the seemingly extraneous content he talks about on his slides will end up on future exams. That being said, I thought his exams were a little unfair because a lot of the information he emphasized in lecture wasn't even tested; the things that were tested were small details that required you to study facts about specific compounds. It was doable if you knew the information, but I wish there was more communication about what exactly we should and should not have known. He does provide a lot of review session resources but definitely pick and choose instead of sitting in on sessions where you aren't being challenged (when you could study on your own!). Overall, this class is doable but prepare to dedicate a lot of time into absorbing all the information you can because the exams are pretty unpredictable.

Dr. Lavelle was a great professor for me as a freshmen. He had so many resources to help us learn, such as his practice problems, UA sessions, and of course Chemistry Community (an online forum to ask any questions and they are answered very quickly by other students). And on top of that, he has a solutions manual book that gives step by step answers to all of the problems, and more, that we need to do. With the solutions manual, it’s so much easier to know what you do know and what you don’t know, which made this class WAY better. His tests are very fair- if you use his resources and you have a solid understanding of the practice problems, you will get solid scores on his tests. No trickery in his tests- very similar to HW questions.

Lavelle is the most self-infatuated professor who is bad at teaching that I've ever met. The tests he writes are the most ambiguous, unprofessional, and clumsily written tests that I have seen in my entire academic career. He does not check over his tests and the poor TAs literally have to rewrite questions every test we take, mid-exam. For example, he asked on the 2019 final "what type of compound is this", with zero context, when it could have been metal oxide, amphoteric, etc. His morbid incompetence at writing test ruined the ability of examination as a way to test our knowledge but more framed it as testing our ability to decipher his sneaky and lazy errors. He cares more about his damned "chemistry community clicks/popularity (10mil views)" and his "teaching awards" than he cares about his students' success on tests combined. I could scour the thesaurus for adequate adjectives to describe him, and there were not enough synonyms for incompetent.

This is a very tough class, especially if you have no solid chemistry background (like me). Although Lavelle has a bunch of resources, I believe quality > quantity. I spent a LOT of time studying for this class by using all the resources he says to and only managed to get a B+. Tests are supposedly based on textbook problems but there were only a few questions on the exams that were from the textbook (I did the textbook problems every single day until I got them all correct so I DEFINITELY knew which exam questions were from the textbook). Some of the questions are quite tricky, even when I went to my TA or UAs for questions they would say it was confusing. If they were confused, how would you expect students to feel?

In addition, the examples Lavelle uses in his lectures are SO SIMPLE compared to textbook problems and the questions on the exam, it was really unfair in my opinion. As a professor, I felt like Lavelle was decent. He could be funny at times and explained concepts fairly well, but his exams hurt big time. He also loves to mention Chemistry Community and how many views it has, which got quite obnoxious. He did organize a bunch of hours for review sessions but some of the sessions were honestly a waste of time because TAs/UAs would be confused themselves with questions students had, and we would spend the whole scheduled time trying to figure out the ONE question. Timing on the midterm exams wasn't a problem, but for the final exam, a lot of us felt rushed. Despite how tough this class was, he was nice enough to add 10 extra points to our final exam grade.

Overall, it was a difficult class, made me cry a few times (seriously), but I learned that the studying methods that the professor endorses or the ways other students study may not work for you. Just do your best, put in 110% of your effort, and be smart with your time. Figure out which sessions would be beneficial for you and truly understand the concepts (Lavelle loves his conceptual problems, which were the tricky questions on the exams). If you're taking this class, I wish you the best of luck! You got this. It will probably be the most difficult class you'll take especially if you're a first-year, but you'll learn a lot more than just chemistry from taking this class. I do wish I took Chem 14AE, a lot of students had an easier time while still fulfilling the same requirements, and it is something I highly recommend you consider as well, especially if you haven't taken chemistry in years.

Overall okay class! Lavelle does teach basic concepts well in class but the hw and tests are often of a harder level. He does provide lots of resources though, so definitely make use of them and you should be fine. Selling past exams for practice! Contact ************* if you’d like them :)

I did not take AP Chem like most people did in this class. The last time I took a chemistry class was sophomore year of high school, 4 years ago. So yeah this class was super hard for me, and I did not get the hang of his tests until the end. Lavelle is not that great of a lecturer, and I had to teach everything to myself (watch the organic chemistry tutor on youtube, that's the only reason I passed this class). His tests are super ambiguous and sometimes you're just like wtf is he asking. Like for the final there were random fill in the blanks which could've had a 100 different answers. I know that if I took ap chem I definitely would've done better, so if you have a strong chem background, you should be fine. Be prepared to study your ass off for this class! The good thing is you only need 50% of the points to get a C-, but there's no curve.

Lavelle yyds! I love him. He makes everything absolutely clear in his lectures and you do not need to read even a word from the textbook. The exams are not hard. I don't know why overall he has a rating of 3.6. He should have a 5! He should have a 5.1! Very very very very very very very helpful lectures. Some concepts in AP Chem are roughly explained, but he makes all of these concepts clear. I am now taking his Chem 14B. Definitely takes his courses!
Even you are trying to find a GE, take this. I would be regretful if I does not take his course.

(Disclaimer: this class was taken online) Professor Lavelle is a very nice guy and is super passionate about chemistry. Some might say he is a bit TOO passionate about chemistry. He provides a ton of TA & LA office hours and review sessions all throughout the week to help students stay on track. You have to buy Sapling to complete the homework (which is free points) and its quite pricey. He also has a chemistry forum that you post on to ask and answer questions for free points. His midterms were multiple choice with both conceptual and problem-solving questions. The final was pretty hard and there wasn't enough time to check your answers; granted, he did curve the test up ten points. This class is not easy to get an A, but easy to pass because class total 50% is a C for him. He cares a lot about his students and really wants everybody to succeed, even if he won't stop bragging about his countless review sessions and chemistry forum.

(Took this class during the COVID era)

2 midterms, 110 points each (220 total)
Final, 180 points
Chemistry Community, 50 points
Homework (Sapling), 50 points
Class total, 500 points

Having taking AP Chem before, it definitely does help to have prior knowledge. There's some stuff that's not in AP chem (mainly quantum section) but it's not bad. Overall I'd say the class is pretty tough but if you put in the work you'll be able to succeed.

Midterms/final were multiple choice, with each question being worth anywhere from 6 to 12 points, so it's very high stakes, especially if you're shooting for a high grade (you can only miss 35 points in the whole class to get a solid A). Midterms weren't that bad, but sometimes there were dumb questions that a lot of people got wrong. In a way you kinda have to get lucky sometimes to not get those questions. Otherwise they're pretty straightforward, especially since it's multiple choice. The final was much harder, with much more of a time constraint, but not the worst if you knew the material very well. However, because a lot of students complained, he gave everyone 10 points back on the final (capped at 100%). Very generous! On top of that he "curved" grades, depending on what you got. I saw that some people had a score in the mid 80's and got a B+, an 89 and got an A-, etc. However it didn't look like he rounded up to a solid A even if you were really close (ex. 91, 92), but it's understandable. He even said the final exam average was around 80% and class average was around a B+, which I'm sure is higher than previous years.

Generally Lavelle is a pretty good professor. He is very clear on introducing topics and explaining them thoroughly. DO THE TEXTBOOK PROBLEMS!!! even though they're optional. They represent midterms and the final pretty well. Some of them will literally appear verbatim and others will just be pretty similar but having practice is super helpful in this class. I didn't go to UA sessions but from what I've heard they can be pretty helpful. UA worksheets often include problems from past exams. Shoutout to the people who share their practice worksheets with the rest of the class, mainly for the people who couldn't make the sessions : ) There is so much support available in this class with all the TA office hours, UA sessions, Chemistry Community, etc. Lavelle will bombard you with emails emphasizing this :P

Anyways just be prepared to work hard and never underestimate the exams. Good luck!

His class lectures aren't as engaging as I would've liked, but they are informational. However, most of the things he cover you can learn from reading the textbooks. He does include important biological examples in lectures which are not in books. He bruincast some of his lectures but not all. He doesn't post any of his slides online, so I suggest copy all that stuff down. Most of the information are pretty straightforward. The first test was pretty easy as it was all fundamentals. For me, I did most of the hw problems, if not all, that he assigned and ended up doing well on the tests.

He organizes a lot of review sessions, and he ALWAYS mentions about them. Somehow I got a feeling that he is bragging about all his hard work. But nonetheless, I appreciate him for it. Take his class!