This is the best class at UCLA. It is hard (honors), but well worth it. Paul takes students and turns them into scientists with labs, connections, and experience. After this class, you have a guaranteed lab, you'll be reading scientific articles, and you'll be attending seminars, meeting all the top scientists and professors at UCLA. Paul is very engaging in class, and often tells stories from his millions of miles of traveling and his interactions with hundreds of Nobel prize laureates

This class is marked as 4.0 units according to the Registrar. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Paul will tell you in the first class that this class will be approximately 5 times the workload of the non honors class. Basically everyone scoffed at this assessment. After all, how could a class be FIVE TIMES the work of the non-honors version? Would make no sense.

In all seriousness, this class is a TON of work. You'll be assigned textbook problems that basically cover the entirety of the workload and more material than regular Chem 20B. This is worth 10% of your grade. Every week, you will also develop a "creative problem" about the material, and write a page-long report on a recent scientific article in some field of chemistry. These are engaging but very time consuming, and are worth 10% of your grade each. Midterm exams, which have both an individual and group component, are each worth 10%, with a fully individual final being worth 20%. The exams are by far the easiest part of this class, with extra credit almost always being offered.

Now, the biggest killer for this class is the final project. You write a 10-page research paper + make a poster + pre-record a presentation on a topic of your choosing. Overall, it's worth 20% of your grade. Do NOT underestimate this: deadlines sneak up fast, and reading scientific literature is not for the faint of heart. However, because you get to choose the topic yourself, it's actually very engaging, and time seems to FLY while you work on it (so don't save it for the end!).

Rounding out the grading scheme is participation (5%), and auxiliary topics (5% + extra credit). Nobody really knows how the participation grade is calculated, but it is a combination of showing up to class (which is 5 times a week rather than 4 in the regular version) and attending Paul's and the TA's office hours, as well as exam reviews.

Overall, this class was very interesting and a ton of work (lol). Basically everyone in it was a chem/biochem/chem e major, so I was kind of an odd one out (took as an elective). You will gain not only a great understanding of chemistry, but also insights on how scientific research is conducted and published.

Many reviews have already captured the amount of work required for Chem 20BH. If you look at the distribution of grades, you will be able to see that, given the proper amount of effort, it is quite easy to get an A. Paul WILL reward you for trying hard, showing up to office hours (he makes a point of ensuring everyone goes), and putting effort into this class. By the end, you aren't really concerned about your grade, and it's more the skills in research and intuition that you've gained that matter.

This class is an experience that is very much worth it for people interested in going into research as a career, looking to gain advice on joining research labs, grad school, etc. It is an experience more than anything else. I would not exactly describe this class as enjoyable, but looking back I would definitively take it again; he pushes a "foreign language immersion" philosophy and in turn expects a lot from his students, including putting in tons of extra time outside of class to go to office hours, seminars, etc. beyond the arduous amount of assignments he gives. Ultimately, you could probably get by without too much pain if you just show up and put half-effort into the assignments, but then you're losing the whole point of the class. You SHOULD be kind of a try-hard in this class because then you'll get the most out of it. But, as a result, the class takes so much of your time and the "4-unit" thing is essentially irrelevant because Chem 20BH was the ONLY class I was ever truly focused on over Winter quarter, despite taking 20 units of credit.

I said multiple times over the quarter that Chem 20BH was ruining my life, that I wanted to switch majors, that I hated Chemistry, and I wasn't exactly lying; but perhaps the catharsis at the end when you turn in your final exam and feel the weight of Chem 20BH lift off your shoulders makes you realize that the class is worth it in the end.

Only take Chem 20BH if you are committed to the experience, to letting Winter Quarter be defined by this class. You have to be committed from Day 1 to the workload. But if you take the class, you will learn to love it, make meaningful relationships with Paul and your peers, and recite LAnOx and GRedCat an unhealthy amount of times. And, in the end... it's kind of an easy A.

This is a great class, I definitely recommend taking it instead of CHEM 20B if you can get it. It may be more work i'm not sure but the projects make it more interesting/applicable. I didn't find the class super stressful.