Lavelle is a garbage teacher. His tests are based on materials that are in the textbook rather than what he teaches. He wastes your time by going over derivations of equations rather than showing you how to use them. He assigns loads of practice problems that are strictly math and equation based but then decides to test you on concepts. I went to UA sessions to learn everything in this class. His lectures were boring and unhelpful. 2 times speed will never be enough for this man. He went over class time every single day and claimed that it was because he was being thorough when in reality he was simply saying the same sentence 10 times. If he did not have UA sessions, I would have failed his class. I took him for 14 A and that class was absolute garbage as well. If you want to teach yourself chemistry then Lavelle is the right guy for you.

Overall review: His tests are bullshit and they are very hit or miss. You may get easy concepts or you may get your shit rocked. His lectures are boring and garbage. Honestly you probably don't even need to attend them if you go to UA session and read the textbook. The only good thing is that discussion sections are not mandatory which is fantastic because they are a waste of time if you get a shitty TA. UA session will be your saving grace and the UA's are usually fantastic. Chemsitry Community is tedious and a waste of time. His class website is literaly a fan page for himself. He is very self obsessed. One good thing about Lavelle is he boosted grades at the end of the quarter.

Also, I'm sure you're going to read the reviews from all of the "pick me" students from this same lecture, but trust me the first years have no standard for teaching because this was literally their second class. Take this class with literally anyone else or take BE it will probably be better for you.

LIVE, LAUGH, LAVELLE! Truer words have never been spoken, as Professor Lavelle is amazing at simplifying the difficulties of general chemistry. This class is much more calculation based than 14A, which I found to be easier when doing problems and harder when trying to understand concepts.

Here's my short and ez guide to success in this class:
1. Attend lecture- Sometimes Lavelle will go off topic deriving equations that will be given, but I found them helpful to my overall understanding + Lectures serve as an outline for what is tested

2. Go to as many UA workshops as possible- Lavelle doesn't cover many problems in his lectures, so these serve as extremely valuable resources to go over past test problems and discuss topics with well educated undergraduate mentors(the boys Matthew Tran and Michael Nguyen are 10/10)

3. Do the textbook problems!(A designated amount of midterm/final problems come straight word for word from the textbook)

TLDR Lavelle is extremely fair(he doesn't curve like Scerri) and gives you all the resources to succeed in general chemistry virtually

I had Dr. Lavelle in CHEM 14A and I would say that CHEM 14B is basically the same course with different material. I would say that the content in CHEM 14B is the same difficulty as CHEM 14A. Tests make up a large portion of your grade. To do well on the tests, do all the homework problems and attend as many UA sessions as you can. A lot of the tests questions are actual homework problems. As long as you practice a lot for the tests, keep up with Sapling, and keep up with Chemistry Community posts, you will do well. Dr. Lavelle is very considerate of his students and he explains topics well. Lecture explores more of the “why” and “how” in chemistry, which you are not tested on. However, I will say that the background information of these topics is useful and helps you understand exactly what you’re doing when doing problems. After taking chemistry with Dr.Lavelle for two quarters, I have a greater appreciation for chemistry and I can say I actually enjoyed this class.

Professor Lavelle is a good professor who really cares about his students. He has been very accommodating to his students during the whole pandemic fiasco. He has a ton of extra resources and study sessions for you to get more practice. However, I did feel like his lectures were kindof confusing at times. He likes to emphasize conceptual stuff and sometimes doesn't explain how to solve the problems. Overall, if you go to the review sessions and do all of the textbook problems you will be okay.

This class was definitely harder than 14A for me, but getting an A is a very doable task. From what I have heard of all the gen chem professors, Lavelle seems to be the fairest out of all of them, and I would recommend that you take this class with him. He does not curve his class, what you score is your final grade. If you know how to study for this class, then you will do well.

1. Watch the lectures
- this is pretty obvious, but they are the foundation of the course.
2. Do the textbook problems
- Aside from the Sapling, the textbook problems that he assigns in the syllabus often show up on tests word for word.
3. Attend as many UA sessions as you are comfortable with
- Personally, these were very helpful, and it gave me a lot of good practice with the types of questions he asks,

Pros:
- Lavelle is a caring person that is very accomodating.
- A lot of practice available (UA sessions, textbook problems, etc.)
- Tests are not tricky or filled with obscure facts that you'll have to remember. They are pretty straightforward.
- Gives the occasional extra credit.

Cons:
- All the point are consolidated in your tests. (Midterm 1, Midterm 2, Final). If you even miss a couple questions on the midterms, it could drop you out of the range for getting an A.
- Lectures can be a bit long and he talks slowly (2x speed ftw)

I honestly felt like I had a good understanding of all the material, but my grades were not reflecting that. I believe that if the class was in person and not online the tests would of been more fair considering everything was multiple choice and you could really only get 4-6 questions wrong the entire quarter on exams to get an A.

Tough class... Lavelle can be a good lecturer, but his exams can be very tough, and often ask for much more than what he goes over during class. Get a lot of practice in, and use the problems in the book to do it and check your answers in the solutions manual.

Selling the full solutions manual and full length practice exams for cheap. Text **********

Selling course reader + intro to O-chem course reader + practices all like new
best offer text me at **********

For starters: I'm not a big fan of chemistry, and my study habits are complete garbage. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt. I barely scraped by in this class, and a lot of that was my fault. However,

TESTS: Will probably fuck you over. Often poorly written, include mistakes, and overall inconsistent over time. Definitely fight for points, because every point counts. Test 1 is usually very easy, Test 2 is usually a bit harder but not impossible. However, expect the unexpected because sometimes he'll get a lil sneaky and mix things up (the previous year might have gotten a much easier exam than you end up with)

FINAL: If we had taken Lavelle's typical 3-hour paper final, I probably would have *barely* scraped by with a C- , and that's optimistic. Part of that is that I'm not great at chemistry, but everyone seems to agree that his finals are rough.

LECTURE: Lavelle's a funny guy. I really like him, and his lectures were very well organized and clear. However, you could get away with not going because he posts very detailed learning outcomes and explains before each test which ones you'll be expected to know.

RESOURCES: Lavelle provides a lot of resources. USE THEM. He organizes hours and hours of step-up sessions, workshops, and review sessions, and I definitely should have gone to more. The UAs were amazing (shoutout to Lyndon <3 )

HOMEWORK: Very small part of your grade, five problems a week, graded for completion rather than accuracy, and all answers are in the student solutions manual. HOWEVER, do every single assigned problem. This is the biggest study resource you have. Questions will appear verbatim on the exam, and many other questions are loosely based on homework questions. If you can do the homework problems quickly without making mistakes, you're golden. If your schedule doesn't allow you to attend the review sessions, this can definitely save you. The solutions manual is detailed enough that you can teach yourself how to solve problems with enough practice. I slacked off on doing additional homework problems, and my grade definitely suffered because of it.

OVERALL: Lavelle is great, and if you really need a solid base in chemistry for your major/career, I think the rigor of this course will benefit you in the long run. However, I've heard some other chem professors have easier classes, so I'd look into that if you don't want to be challenged.

This class is definitely harder than Chem 14A and involves a more thorough understanding in physics more than chemistry. Lavelle's thoughtful poetry and flexing on chemistry community makes this class tolerable somewhat.