Chem 14A was pretty straightforward and not challenging. Lavelle was a good lecturer and was very clear, though his voice is really soothing so it can be difficult to stay alert during class (lectures are recorded though). There are 2 midterms and 1 final for this class and they were all multiple choice, which means that if you missed one question, which is 4 points each, it could take a pretty bit hit to your grade. However, his midterms & finals are pretty easy as long as you do the assigned textbook problems. I really love how Lavelle has chemistry community because you can get all your questions answered there & receive points for it (which is worth more points than 1 midterm). The UA sessions that Lavelle organizes everyday are extremely helpful and the UAs teach you everything you need to know and they walk you through practice problems that you might expect to see on finals!! Would definitely recommend taking this class with Lavelle!

Pros:
-attendance not mandatory (and lectures recorded)
-super reasonable amount of homework
-lots of help with test prep
-lots of resources for help
Cons:
-exam grades HEAVILY influence your grade
-Dr. Lavelle is RUDE if you email him directly to ask questions
-Everything is on your own initiative; I know so many people that didn't go to lectures or review sessions and ended up failing/barely passing
-If you get a bad TA you're screwed

Don't let the other reviews intimidate you - this class is doable. I didn't take AP chem and went out every weekend (including the weekends before midterms and finals) and still got an A. My advice is to start studying for exams a week before, actually go to class, go to UA sessions, do practice problems, and review concepts (50% of exam questions are conceptual). utilize all of the review sessions and practice problems he gives you. It's very easy to do the bare minimum and get your discussion/homework points, but this will absolutely screw you when it comes to exams. Take initiative and put in the extra effort.
As for Dr. Lavelle, DO NOT let this man fool you into thinking that he isn't just another mean, egotistical prof. DO NOT ask him any questions personally, as 9/10 times he will find the questions a waste of his time and respond rudely. Ask TAs, UAs and Chemistry Community before bothering him, since he will most likely make you feel stupid for asking (trust me, I learned the hard way).
Don't get me wrong, Dr. Lavelle's lectures are easy to follow and he's good at teaching, but he is a menace to students' self esteems. This class is unforgiving if you don't do well on exams, and it crushes many pre-meds' dreams.

For my first quarter as a freshman at UCLA with no chemistry knowledge whatsoever(never took high school chem or ap chem) I truly succeeded in this class. Dr. Lavelle is so helpful with so many resources. His lectures are extremely clear and to the point which only made me more motivated to stay alert and attend. I alway went to UA sessions, did all the optional textbook problems, and participated extra in chemistry community discussions(pay attention to the ones Dr. Lavelle responds to). He is just amazing and has fueled a passion for chemistry I never thought I would have. Truly recommend taking this course, do not be afraid of not being prepared, you will learn so much you will be amazed!!!!

- This was my first quarter at ucla and this class genuinely made me excited about the rest of my time here. I didn't come in with an extremely strong background in chem (took honors chem in my sophomore year of high school) but before the quarter I spent a week or so reviewing AP chem material on khanacademy.

- The best thing Lavelle provides is sooo many resources. He gave preclass, optional content for the first couple units -- they essentially covered all of the first 3 weeks of content + several practice problems for each of them. His lectures align pretty well with the textbook, and he assigns specific textbook problems as optional homework (that you should definitely do). In addition, there are tons and tons of worksheets that UA's prepare with many more practice problems.

- His lectures are very clear in my opinion. What I really like is that almost everything he says is documented in the lecture notes, and they are clear/consice while not leaving out any important info. The midterms were both 15 question mcqs, and the final was 30 mcqs. Personally, I thought all the exams were extremely fair. For every single problem (I checked all of them after the exams), I could pinpoint exactly where in my notes the topic was discussed.

- For every 15 questions, i'd say that about 2-3 of them were directly taken from the textbook. another 5-6 were very similar to the textbook problems even if it wasn't exact. The remaining 6-7 were probably a bit on the conceptual side, but again were pretty straightforward. The questions are not meant to mislead (when more than half the class got a question wrong on the midterm, he gave everyone free points for that). The final was similar to the midterms, had many repeat questions, and overall was not meant to trick you. I will say that each question is worth a lot of points so there is not much room for error to get an A, but the questions are all very fair so it isn't as scary as it seems.

- If you take advantage of all of these online resources, I see no reason why you won't do well in the class. I am really excited to take 14B with him.

This class has frustrated me to my core. I had a very easy time understanding the material in the achieve question as well as those given in the outlines. Yet this proved to be a big waste of time as I feel all the practice we did not apply to the test whatsoever as Lavelle's tests consists of vague and confusing questions that do not test your knowledge on the practice he gives out. I was holding a strong B until the final came where he put such a huge emphasis on Acids and Bases which had finished learning about ONLY DAYS AGO!!!

I can admit that Dr. Lavelle is a great professor. You can tell he really enjoys what he is doing. He made the difficult chemistry seem so easy. He is an amazing individual filled with intelligence which I aspire to be.

When I first looked at reviews for Lavelle before taking the class, I didn't have a good opinion of him because I was just parroting off what people had said about him only caring about his metrics and the 100+ hours of chem help offered, and the success of his website chem community.
But honestly, after taking both Chem14A and Chem14B with Lavelle, that is completely false. He constantly mentions his extra help UA sessions and they are so helpful. And later in the quarter I really felt that he cared for the students as he boosted our final exam scores by 10 points when it was really hard.
His class is not a free A, but it is a very doable A if you watch lectures, go to at least 1 UA session a week, do all the textbook practice problems (he includes some in his tests).
Stats: MT1 100%, MT2 100%, Final 83%

Although I hate chemistry, you can tell Lavelle has a lot of passion for it and for his students. He really wants you to succeed so he provides you with a lot of support and sessions. There are three lectures a week, a discussion section that will go over a few problems each week, and a lot of UA support optional sessions. The only homework is 10 questions per week. Honestly, it's up to you to do well in his class and you have to meet him half way. I didn't really put any effort in and never went to support sessions so I did poorly on exams. But if you try, do the optional things and do practice problems on your own time it's not that hard to get an A. He is probably one of the best science professors and really breaks things down. If you're taking chem, take it with him.

This class was better than expected. I failed my AP Chemistry test, but still got an A in this class. The lectures are pre-recorded videos, which you could watch on 2x speed. Lavelle is pretty clear at explaining stuff. I didn’t even need to read the textbook for this class.

The discussion sections are not really helpful. We do a couple of problems together and take the tests together. Lavelle’s office hours are also live, but he doesn’t answer many chemistry related questions and they are not very useful.

What is extremely useful is the Undergraduate Assistant Step-Up Sessions and Workshops. The UA’s explain things very well. If you don’t have the motivation to make yourself study, just go to a lot of UA sessions because they will go over everything you need to know and they will provide practice problems.

I took this course online, and the midterms were all multiple choice. The first midterm was only 12 questions and the second midterm was only 17 questions. A lot of these problems are exactly the textbook and homework problems, with the exact numbers and everything. Final was about 30 questions. It was harder than the midterms.

Dr. Lavelle is a very engaging lecturer. I found his lectures to be very interesting and have learned a lot from this class. I did not take AP chem, but I studied a lot and went to as many UA sessions as I could and did all the assigned textbook problems. Dr. Lavelle really does want you to succeed, so you'll be fine as long as you utilize all the resources he provides.