Dr. Lavelle is a great professor and cares about his students. His midterm and final are relatively easy compared to his quizzes.

Lavelle is not a bad professor. However, the material itself is a lot, so he can't possibly cover everything during his lectures leaving us with the responsibility to study and know everything. No, he won't cover exactly everything that will be on quizzes and exams. You just have to be able to take the basic foundations that you know and find a way to work through a more difficult problem on an exam.

Quizzes:
Tough, and hard to finish in 40 minutes. I found quizzes to be a lot more challenging than the midterm and final solely because of the time limit. 40 minutes just simply is not enough time to make sure that your answers are all sufficient. 40 points x 3 quizzes really makes up a lot of your grade. You really have to get every point you can get.

Midterm and Final:
They are tedious and time consuming, however, I found them to be less stressful because time is not an issue and you can work through difficult problems slowly and methodically because you have time to do 8 questions with multiple parts to each. I found this quarter's midterm and final to be very fair, and actually found the final to be a bit on the easier side compared to some of the past exams. However, if you will be taking this class in the future, watch out for curveballs.

Overall, you really have to take the time and do every single homework problem. It gives you confidence and helps you become comfortable with the material. Even if the exam questions will most likely not be the same as the homework entirely, the homework itself gives a basic foundation that allows you to work through the exam. Also, you need to get every single point you can get. There's no real curve to this class unless you are below average. Expect this class to take a lot of your time because you really need to understand the concepts (to the point where you will be able to teach them to someone else) in order to do some of the calculations. Read the textbook. It does take a while, but there are key pieces of information scattered in the chapters that clarify concepts. I don't really know if there will be a difference if one takes Lavelle or Scerri as the grade distributions of each professor are very similar. All in all, Lavelle is very kind, but the material is a lot and one needs to understand it relatively quickly.

After a horrendous experience in 14A, I came into 14B with more fear that I would have liked. People said the transition from Scerri to Lavelle would be very difficult and the material in 14B to be a lot harder than 14A.
I had no AP chem background and I did pretty bad in 14A so I can safely say I suck at chem. Anyways, the material was actually a lot more interesting. Now onto the review
Professor Lavelle: I actually enjoyed his lecture style because he repeats what he says often or tries to explain it in other words for those who couldn't get it the first time. Unlike Scerri who just rambles on and on, Lavelle clarified examples and often gave us a brief recap of last lecture topics. Unfortunately, Lavelle even said himself that the examples given in class are the basics and that we would have to master them and learn to apply them come exam time. Lectures weren't all that helpful, I learned a lot more going to UA office hours and learning online on my own. Before coming to this class many people said Lavelle is "mean" and "unfair" but I think his grading is fair. Other than that, Lavelle's lectures weren't that bad, he was very caring towards his students offering numerous office hours, and he was very nice to talk to in person. He would always come in with a bright smile and greet us with a "Good morning!" rather than Scerri who comes in and says "Ok let's start..so the periodic table..."
The Workload:
The homework problems he assigns are optional but really, they're mandatory because without them, you won't know how to do any of the problems. I did about 95% of all the problems he assigned and they took a lot of time. I mean A LOT. HOURS upon HOURS. However, he does use homework problems verbatim on his exams so it's good to do them. seriously.
Exams:
Honestly, his exams were completely fair (except a few little questions on the midterm I felt were a bit curve ball-ish). But overall both his midterm and his final were similar to past exams, they weren't hellishly difficult either, and they tested us on all the main topics that we should have learned by then. All in all, I'm not complaining about unfair exams but def. they were not a breeze
Quizzes:
Quizzes will not only destroy your morale, it'll also damage your grade severely if you consistently score terribly. Quizzes are harder than the exams and you only get 40 minutes for like 8 questions??!! I hate the quizzes. BUT, lavelle takes your lowest grade and replaces it with your workbook and that saved my ass. Still, my average quiz grades were garbage
Overall:
Lavelle makes you think. He makes you cry. He makes you want to quit pre med because you hate chem so much. But he's not a jerk. He's not some unfair professor who enjoys crushing your dreams. Yes I didn't get the grade I wanted despite studying everyday and barely going out. The class was hard and I actually mean it when I say it was hard. I would definitely not take it again but for those students who will take Lavelle for 14B, don't be so terrified because I expected a C or C- in the class and I ended up with a solid B. So keep fighting and put in the work.

Professor Lavelle definitely tries hard to connect with the students, and his passion for Chemistry is clearly shown during lectures. However, the material he covers in class is very basic, and sometimes even unnecessary, compared to the concepts and questions he expects us to know for his final exams and midterms. He takes much pride in his 50+ hours of office hours and his online forum, but they are not as helpful. To obtain a good grade in this class, students must depend on their TAs, UAs, and other outside sources like the textbook homework problems. I did not learn much from Professor Lavelle himself.

This class made me want to die.

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Selling everything for Chem 14B
Email me at *************

CHEM 14B
selling chemical principles the quest for insight 5th edition and the solution manual for 115 OBO. books are in great condition, better than used condition. Ill be on campus all summer. if interested email me at *************

The midterm that Lavelle gave for Winter 2015 literally scarred me for life. The average for the midterm was 60% and I got a 40% on it. I felt like dropping the class, but I didn't give up. I studied my ass off for the final and pulled off a 93% on it and a B overall in the class. I fucked around too much in the weeks prior to the midterm.

Do ALL of the homework problems. I mean ALL of them. Do them EARLY and WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE SOLUTIONS. Look at the solutions after you have fully attempted the problem. Get help from the UAs and TAs in office hour if you don't understand any problems.

Your grade for every class, not just chemistry, is the work you put into it. Good luck!

Selling the textbook for 14A & 14B (Chemical Principles). Email me if you're interested: *************