Although I got a C in this class, Dr. Lavelle is a great lecturer, and a caring professor. His class is definitely challenging, and you have to do every single homework assignment and you basically have to master the concepts Lavelle teaches you like you're the freaking avatar. What I really liked about him was that he was passionate about helping students by setting up lots of review sessions, whether it's led by a TA or a UA. He does 2 exams during discussion, one midterm, and a final. I got a 90% on the first exam and everything went downhill from there haha. What I thought was unfair was that he'll make sure that his midterm and final conceptually harder than his exams and assigned homework problems. Dr. Lavelle is known for including problems on exams that are from his lectures (which are not on bruincast) and not mentioned in the homework at all. For example, on his second exam, he included a problem that asked for the difference in the number of H bonding sites in DNA between AT and GC strands (i forgot how it was formatted but it was about DNA), and my TA said that Dr. Lavelle talked about DNA during lecture, and on the final, the last question was about titration, which is not even part of the 14A curriculum at all, and he didn't assign any problems for us to practice on. Advice that I wish I should've taken: don't procrastinate on the homework problems & don't rely on the solutions manual to give you the answer instead of working it out for yourself because actually learning will help you in the long run.

I do concur that the course itself is relatively challenging. The class does not use a curve, the majority of your grade is determined by two tests (50 points each), one midterm (120 points), and final (180 points). I did AP Chem, so for me, the pace of the course is reasonable. Exams are doable, but the wording is tricky and cost you points. Yet, I still learned a lot from this class, and personally would take him again. Lavelle is a sweet person and experienced in lecturing (and yes he is a meme). Attendance matters, since he never posts his slides or bruincast the lectures; also do all the homework problems he assigns.

His class is definitely challenging, and it helps to have a solid background in AP Chemistry. The first week or so focuses on review of old Chemistry concepts, so if you haven't already taken Chemistry in the past, it's good to really use that time to catch up and do some extra outside studying before the topics get a little harder.

He has 2 tests, 1 midterm, and 1 final. The tests are on the easier side and straightforward if you did the homework and understand the lecture notes; the midterm is definitely more challenging and it's written by the TAs; the final is written by Dr. Lavelle himself and I found it to be the most challenging. Although all of the tests draw directly from the lectures/homework, I do have complaints about how vaguely worded the questions on the final can be. For instance, the final this year had typos, and the TAs had to make corrections and clarifications while we were taking it so many students had to re-do the problems all over again, which was pretty inconvenient.

Another tip for his exams: this may seem obvious, but always read the problem *thoroughly* and don't skim over it so you solve for the wrong thing! (I got a problem wrong because I mistakenly solved for the wavelength of light, not the wavelength of an electron, since I didn't fully understand the question.)

Doing all of the homework problems, not just the 5 assigned every week, is really advised, as well as going to the extra review sessions on topics you're unsure about.

All in all, it was a decent experience and I would probably take his class again.

***THE TEXTBOOK EXISTS ONLINE AS A PDF DO NOT PAY FOR IT. SHAME ON PEOPLE FOR TRYING TO SELL PDFS THAT THEY DON'T EVEN OWN!***

Ok, actual review:

I took AP Chem in High School, it sucked and I learned nothing;That being said, this was not the first time I had heard of most of these concepts, so my review might not apply to you if this is your first hard chem class ever.

The rumors of this class's difficulty were. . . exaggerated, to say the least. I heard so many people call this a "weeder class" during orientation, it is not. The class average was a B without any curve. If you want to take the MCAT pick Lavelle because getting a B in this class is better than taking a dummy-easy professor for an A and getting SHAFTED down the line because you lack foundations (every graduated premed I've spoken to who took Lavelle has loved him).

Lavelle is easily the best professor I had in my first quarter. His lectures taught the material very well (except the last week or so things kinda fell apart but whatever) and he offered an INSANE amount of extra help to those who needed it. I feel like this is the clearest look I've ever had at chemistry and I feel like I understand it much better. Plus he's dank.

My TA Bradley was nice and very smart, though in general the discussion sections were pretty much just good for turning in your homework and a waste of time if you understood the concepts. The final and midterms were difficult, but actually really fair and 90% of the points were in problems practically ripped from the lectures, practice exams (offered by UAs), and homework.

I know a lot of people struggled, but I think most of the reason why is because they were adjusting to the accelerated pace and didn't really have good study habits (ie they crammed, skipped lectures, didn't take notes, didn't study along with the course, etc). This is not a weeder class, but it might be a wake up call. You'll be ok.

PS the song he plays over the speakers is Numb by Portishead, yw :p

This class was harder than it needed to be. The content that was covered in class was a majority of review from AP Chemistry. However, the midterm and final were overtly difficult. They were phrased poorly and sometimes covered material that we did not go over in lecture. He teaches based on powerpoint presentations which he does not post later. The best way to do well in the class is to do the homework, go to lecture, and read the textbook. Even if you did not go over it specifically in class, I would still try to learn the material. Lavelle also does not do many practice problems during his lecture, so you are left dealing with calculation after. This structure can be difficult for many people. Your TA also plays a large role in your grade. For one exam, the partial credit earned on a certain question depended on your TA. Some TAs gave no partial credit while others gave 2 points back. In terms of the final, I was particularly surprised by the titration question since we barely covered the material in class. Overall, I would recommend that you take this class with Lavelle if you have a good foundation in chemistry and are comfortable self studying.

Everything was alright for me up until the final. Completely blew me out of the water, especially considering how easy I thought his past exams were. I think Lavelle realized the practice tests the UAs make were being a little too helpful, and decided to up things up, only the way he did this just makes everything so ambiguous. The TAs are never on the same page about anything. A whole question on the test was dedicated to a topic many of them assured wouldn't be on the test! I also expected a little bit more from Dr. Lavelle. He's fine at teaching and offers lots of office hours, but lazy when it comes to writing the test. Both on the midterm and the final there were egregious mistakes that wasted a lot of time for everyone. On the final, the TAs pointed out a mistake, which made me cross out all my work and redo the problem, only to say 15 minutes later that their correction was a mistake! so I had to do the problem yet again. Maybe this was just a one-time thing, but it doesn't change the fact that there were plenty of examples where the TAs had to get our attention mid-exam to explain an error to us. You'd think that if roughly 1000 students were going to take an exam, you'd put a little more attention to how the questions would be perceived. I'm disappointed in my grade, mostly because it was greatly affected by the mistakes and trick questions on the final. Not impossible to get an A, especially if you pay special attention to the past exams.

A lot of people are going to tell you how difficult this class is, but truth is they are absolutely wrong. Lavelle is honestly one of the easiest and most helpful professors I've ever had, and he really does take the extra mile to ensure his students succeed -- with boundless TA, UA, and prof office hours, coupled with his "Step-Up" program for struggling students, if you really want to succeed in this class (and you take the initiative to do so) it is more than practical. Lavelle's course is so well structured and there are no tricks/hidden gimics on any of his tests, midterms, or finals. One of the biggest suggestions I have if you take Lavelle (which you really should) is to do the homework (actually do it, trust). I started off doing all the homework problems for tests 1 and 2, and then by the third I started slackin on the homework problems just because I really understood chemistry and was getting pretty good grades; then, on the midterm, he literally puts a 15 point quest (out of 100 points) DIRECTLY (word-for-word, number-for-number) out of the textbook applied/integrative exercises section, and it was actually pretty hard so I lost a significant number of points there. But legit, if you put in the effort and take initiative, Lavelle's gonna be your best friend, and you'll most certainly get an A or A+ in this class. :) TAKE LAVELLE, HE'S DOPE!!

Lavelle is a great professor who always has a great lecture planned. The quizzes and exams will bite you if you don't do the work in the workbook and book practice problems. Also selling the 14A/B textbook and solution manual for lavelle. If interested email *************

Good class. Should be fairly easy if you took chem in high school. The midterm was mostly just drawing lewis structures. The final was tough though, and had some tricky questions. The key to succeed is really exposing yourself to a bunch of different problems and getting in a lot of practice to deepen your understanding. He himself says that repeatedly too. His three mini tests were not bad either, it's important to practice once again so you're prepared to take on any type of problem.

I'm selling Lavelle's worked-out solutions manual of the probelms in the book which is important if you wanna get a lot of practice for the exams, as well as previous exams for cheap! Text me at ********** if you're interested

I dropped this course, but the useless reader and workbook can't be returned. $50 or best offer,
*************

Dr. Lavelle: stop exploiting us.