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Lavelle is not a bad teacher at all. He was surprisingly better than I thought he'd be. I had a decent amount of Chemistry in high school, so I found Chemistry (14 A and B) to be fairly easy and great courses to take my freshman year. He doesn't lie when he says he'll take midterm/final questions from the homework. I didn't do all of them, but I made sure I understood the concepts behind each question. DEFINITELY be sure to do all of his past midterms and finals. His tests format and question styles are always the same and he re uses questions from the past exams pretty often. Honestly, if you do these, you should be set.

Lecture wasn't crucial to go to because you have the course reader anyway, but I always liked going to lecture because for me just reading the course reader wasn't helpful at all. His lectures acted as a "gap filler" for the words on the course reader. People say he's boring, but he's not too bad. I chewed gum in class to stay awake.

Okay so first off...f*** the guy who got a A+ and is saying how predictable lavelles tests are....they aren't. Studying alone won't get you through this class. You need critical thinking as well. You really need to understand how to apply all the concepts. Took 14a and 14b with him..honestly the biggest mistake I've made so far. Got a A- and B+. He basically ruined all my confidence in chemistry. He made me think gawd damm this is what college chem is like...im soo f*****. But I just took 14c with hardinger and I'm pretty sure i got a A. With that said, if you're an incoming freshman reading this, want to start freshman year off right, wait a quarter and take sceri. It will save your ass. Trust me. I'm still trying to recover from lavelle. He scarred me for life...really though its just harder than intro chem needs to be.

the kid who posted about his A+.... SHUT UP.

Seriously, don't take this class. Lavelle does give practice finals and midterms, but he is NOT predictable. he throws the weirdest curveballs at you and there will ALWAYS be atleast 3 questions on the test that you're staring at, like, WTF is this? I've never seen this in my life.

And just look at the grading distribution. barely anyone gets A's. I got a C+ and this is one of the hardest classes I've taken and it killed my gpa. seriously don't take lavelle, wait a quarter to get a better professor. he sucks.

The kid who just posted about his A+ is part of the whopping 1.2% who pull off such a grade...some people are clearly far smarter than others.

Anyways...

I worked my ass off this quarter and got a B+. But honestly, when I added up all my points together, I got a 345/400. That's an 86.25%, which is practically a B+ raw score. What the eff is this? There's no freaking curve??? I'm astonished.

I've read a few of Lavelle's reviews just below me before writing this. There seems to be a common trend.

Let's get this straight. If you don't do all the work that Lavelle assigns, but doesn't grade (i.e., homework sets), then I don't know what you're expecting for a grade. Lavelle is VERY predictable. Course reader has SEVEN past midterms and finals. Problems are all straightforward if you did them + the homework sets.

I put in the necessary work. Some complain about him only going over basic stuff in class, but I don't see anything wrong with that. If you have the fundamentals he covered in class,+ did the recommended reading for each section, you'd be fine. Seriously.

Scores:
Quiz 1: 39/40
Quiz 2: 40/40
Organic Chem Worksheet: 40/40
Midterm: 109/110
Final: 163/170
Final Grade: A+

Clearly doable. Easy? It takes work, yes, but if you're willing to put that in, it's not much of a challenge at all.

It's Chemistry. If you expect with your intellect without putting a decent amount of work in, you might want to rethink taking this course until you're ready.

Best of luck to future enrollees. Take reviews saying he's bad with a grain of salt. His lectures may be a bit dull at times (I admit I've fallen asleep at times), but he does soundly cover everything, enough to make your readings through the textbook much easier.

TL;DR
Great professor, expected exam questions, do the work. Cannot stress that enough.

NO! JUST NO! DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS. YOU WILL REGRET IT. SKIP OUT A QUARTER IF YOU NEED TO, JUST DON'T TAKE 14B WITH LAVELLE! unless you want a C or a fail grade and you don't want to get into med school. then it's chill i guess...

Absolutely horrid teacher. He goes over THE MOST BASIC examples in class and then mindf**ks you when you get to the quiz/midterm/final. I would not recommend taking him for any course. I was in his class for both 14A and 14B and I somehow managed to pull off a C and B in the respective classes. Mind you, however, that this was done without going to his useless lectures. If you are unfortunate enough to take any class with this man PRAY TO GOD that you have a good TA and that he doesn't decide to f**k you too hard.

This guy is a troll.
His tests are poorly worded, so avoid him if you don't like that shit.

The overall topics in the class aren't too difficult, just gather a good study group and you should be good.

if you value your GPA, don't take lavelle's class.

His finals/midterms/quizzes have ridiculous over-the-top questions, you can't even understand what the question is ASKING.

Taking his tests, it's normal to leave whole questions blank because you have NO IDEA WHAT HE'S EVEN ASKING.

The homework problems he assigns in the book are NOTHING like what's on the test. Literally every test I've taken with him, I walked out thinking "wow... what a shit show." And I passed AP Chem and got an A too... Lavelle just likes to make tests a living hell.

Just... no. Don't take him. If you have the choice of waiting a quarter with a different professor or taking Lavelle, WAIT A QUARTER!!!