GET CHENCAI WANG AS YOUR TA. You'll thank me later.

I won't go into his class in detail, since you can read the previous reviews, but I will mention important points. First of all, if you an incoming freshmen, please remember to take whatever you read on bruinwalk with a grain of salt. That being said, I was terrified when I read all the reviews about Prof. Lavelle. Everyone kept saying how his class is "impossible" and that he's unfair. Especially coming to UCLA, it can be bit scary knowing how everyone here is smart, but let me reassure you, this class is not difficult if you put in the effort. The people who say this class is "hard" are just lazy and didn't feel like putting in extra work for his class. First and foremost, DO THE HOMEWORK and I mean ALL OF IT. Usually I would do all of the required problems for each chapter, but I slacked off on the final chapter on titrations. Lo and behold, Lavelle picks not just one but THREE challenging problem from that chapter on the final. If I actually looked at the homework, it would have made a huge difference in my grade because I was borderline A- and A. The textbook is only useful for the practice problems; don't waste your time reading it. I know it can be tedious doing all the practice problems, but what I did was do a large chunk of them everyday. Honestly, it's not that bad if you make a schedule and stick to it.

Yes, we can all agree that Lavelle's voice can put any beast to sleep, but you'll eventually get used to it. His class is focused mainly on calculations and applying concepts compared to Scerri's. I've seen the exams that Scerri's class has and his students are tested on completely different concepts. Perhaps he may be easier, but I feel Lavelle prepares you well for the MCAT because his problems involve applying chemistry concepts to real life problems. He tests you on your problem solving skills that is heavily required for the exam instead of having you pull out miscellaneous information about chemistry.

My last piece of advice is to do the practice book quizzes because they will replace your lowest quiz score, which will probably be the first one that everyone bombs. From my experience I'm not sure if there is a curve, even if there is one, it will probably be minuscule since the cut off for an A and A- is still the same.

There isn't a whole lot about Dr. Lavelle that hasn't already been said.

400 points total:
40 x 3 on Quizzes (lowest gets replaced by your workbook grade)
110 point midterm
170 point final

Class is curved at the end and you need at least 200 points to pass the class.

His lectures are boring and his accent makes it extremely easy to fall asleep in class. He covers mostly conceptual things in lecture and rarely shows you how to actually solve problems. Instead you are expected to work through the (uncollected) homework problems he assigns and learn that way. Unfortunately, since Dr. Lavelle doesn't do many (if any) problems in class, the homework will take a while for you to do. If you want to do well in the class, you better do it all.

TAs make the quizzes and they vary in difficulty. The first one had an average around 20/40. The second was much easier and most people scored around a 35/40. The third quiz was somewhere between the other two, with an average around 25/40.

The midterm was pretty easy (91/110 average). Unfortunately, it was too easy, so Lavelle decided to make the final absurdly difficult. The old exams that come with the course reader were an absolute joke in comparison and as thus did little to prepare anyone for the final. There were plenty of review sessions to attend (I went to several) but once again, none of them did anything to prepare students for the final. That being said if you look at the review session schedule and see one being run by Idean, go to that. He led comprehensive reviews that cleared up any issues people had with the basic problems.

I had Mohammad as a TA and he was awesome. I learned more in my hour with him each week than I learned in 3 hours with Lavelle.

I will say that if you approach Lavelle one on one, he is a really nice guy. I never needed to attend his office hours (I did well on the quizzes and midterm so I didn't seek extra help from him) but I almost had to miss the midterm due to a family emergency, and Lavelle was extremely accommodating. All he asked was that I keep him informed of my situation and if I had to miss the midterm he would schedule a time for me to retake it.

The general consensus among students is that Scerri is the one you want to take 14A with. I haven't taken a class with him, but I think he would have to be a better instructor than Lavelle.

selling textbook
*************

Selling textbook and solutions manual (Chemical Principals 5th Edition) for $85. good condition.
text me **********

Very good professor! His quizzes are very straight forward, but can be difficult due to time restraint. SELLING 14a/b TEXTBOOK and SOLUTIONS MANUAL (YOU WILL NEED THIS) for $180. Please text me at ********** if interested!

Selling !! 5th Edition used for Chem 14A/B. includes textbook AND Solutions MANUAL. (I personally did fine without a Model Kit until Chem 14C and then I got it online for 20 bucks). Avoid the Ackerman $200 bundle :). Contact: *************

Review: Lavelle gives you PLENTY of chances to get a good grade. One quiz score dropped. Tons of past exam material. Course is not very difficult in my opinion, but I took AP Chem. There are people taking this course who got 5s on the AP Chem, and then there's people who've never taken a chemistry course. For the former this course will be all review and they might not have to work as hard to get good grades; that's just how it is.

Class Advice:
* Do that homework so when cramming time comes you aren't teaching yourself everything. -.-
* AAP members: sign up for Peer Learning. It's free tutoring, don't be proud!
* Best way to study: Do as many practice problems as possible. Not stuff you know well to boost your false sense of security: Practice the hard ones, and make those mistakes ahead of time and not on the midterm/final.

$ Advice: For my fellow stingy peoples: Don't buy the course reader. It is a $45 compilation of useless lecture notes and incredibly useful past exams. Buy someone's used copy for those past exams or make a friend and study theirs together.
The course reader store will say you cannot buy just the quiz book, you have to buy the bundle. So, find a nice person, ask if you can photocopy their quiz book and save some bucks :D (My TA was fine with my homemade quiz book :)

14A is basically AP Chem but still review very hard because people here are smart as shit.

14B is kind of new material, same as above though.

Got a B for both classes (Aced the midterms, did slightly below the average for the final, so eh. Not great but not amazing either...) I'm not sure how his grading scheme works, seems a little mysterious to me. But the class for the most part is straight forward. I'd recommend the class.

Selling Chem 14A course reader for $25! Periodic table for $5. There is highlighting and writing (all of which are useful. Text me at ********** if interested :)

Selling Chem 14A course reader for $20!