I recently completed Chem 171 with Professor Richard Kaner at UCLA, and I have mixed feelings about the experience. As a chemistry major, I found the course to be one of the most challenging ones at UCLA, and I would advise biochem majors to consider alternatives if possible.

On a positive note, Professor Kaner is undeniably a great lecturer and very engaging. His passion for the subject is evident, and he makes the material interesting. However, the structure of the class left much to be desired. The way the course was organized made it particularly difficult, and my overall experience was negative. I mean absolutely horrible. My main gripe concerns the teaching assistants (TAs) associated with the course. While Professor Kaner is excellent, the TAs fell short in several areas. Firstly, there were issues with grading accuracy. My exams were graded incorrectly, and despite bringing this to the attention of my TA, I did not receive the points back. It was so frustrating. They also don't help. I don't know what it with his TAs is but they hate teaching, God damn it, don't teach and don't become a TA then. Effective communication is crucial in a challenging course like Chem 171, and struggling to understand the TAs made the learning experience even more arduous. The TAs also do not reply to your emails, like they reply back in two weeks and think they are still doing their job.

The final exam was another sore point. It was graded harshly, and I strongly believe there were mistakes in the grading process. I would never wanna go back to this class, I hated every second of it. If Kaner had different graduate students and other TAs, then I would have probably liked this class much more. One last tip would be to attend Kaner's office hours and skip TA's discussions. They should be banned from teaching (go to your lab and do your research)

I enjoyed Kaner's teaching style. Despite the slides being rather old and occasionally has errors, the TAs were helpful in fixing them quickly. There were many great examples relating to his research; he also passed out many items for us to experience and learn about with some occasional demos. He's really funny, prioritizes learning, and is an outgoing professor. He also hosts many office hours which cleared up many questions and most of the TAs were helpful. If you are interested and can fit his 1 hour seminar (Chem 189), I highly recommend it.

Personally, I struggled a lot in this class for my first quarter. The midterm and final exam isn't conceptually hard but it was incredibly comprehensive which was not my core strength. With only 50 minutes for the midterm, it was really hard to check our answers and also move on to the next question. The final exam is also very comprehensive but you get 3 hours which made it better. I thought I failed this class but he curves incredibly heavily and I got a B. The average is likely ~60% for both midterm and final exam so do your best to understand the material and know when to move on to the next question if you get stuck.

This class was definitely top 3 hardest classes I've taken so far. This class covers a lot of brand new information which I don't think is really covered in other chem classes. Had weekly problems sets which weren't too bad but make sure you have a good understanding of them! Do not recommend taking this class your first quarter as a transfer student because I was not prepared for the quarter system + a super hard class. If you spend time trying to understand the concepts and memorizing things like the different crystal structure, it will be really beneficial! Make sure you have good understanding of pi orbitals, hybridization, molecular geometry because this class is fulllll of that!

Probably one of the hardest chem classes I've taken. The way the midterms are structured, there is so much material you have to study and it definitely did not feel like a 4 unit class. Those taking this for an "easy A" be warned. Homework was moderate to light with weekly assignments and his lectures were pretty great. Kaner really loves the subject but you really have to put in a lot of time and effort to get a good grade in this class because the exams are just that hard.

This was a really great class. The topics covered are a bit complex at first, but you start to get the hang of it fairly quickly into the quarter. Kaner is also a fantastic Professor and is a master at explaining conceptually challenging material; that being said, I found it particularly helpful to rewatch lectures and write down most of what he says in lecture. You may not understand the more challenging topics immediately so writing down what he says in class really helps paint a better picture of the concepts. Also if you don’t understand something immediately it may be helpful to just go ahead into the next lecture since he does helpful reviews of the previous lecture at the beginning of each class. also found it helpful to study from old exams so you get an understanding of the important takeaways that he wants you to take into each exam. He does curve the class; I believe the first midterm average was around a D+ and the second was in the B range. Attendance is not required in discussions although the extra review may help solidify the material learned in the week. I went to one discussion and was able to get an A. Overall a great class, one of my favorites so far at UCLA.

Chem 171 with Kaner was overall a very enjoyable experience! At first, I wasn't sure I would fully enjoy the class as I struggled with some of the earlier topics (point groups, for example) but everything just started to make sense once we got further along into topics like crystal lattices and crystal field theory. I think one of the biggest advices I can give to future students is not to worry if you don't understand concepts initially - Kaner understands that the topics are challenging and he does a nice review at the start of each lecture of the topics we covered in the previous lecture, so there's a lot of time to digest new materials. His tests were overall pretty fair I thought - for fall 2020 (taken during COVID), he had two midterms + a final, and he gave us extra time on the exams which helped relieve some of the stress. The tests are relatively long though and you will find yourself pressed for time so I definitely recommend practicing with his old tests so you can see the types of questions he likes to ask.
And if you're a biochem major looking for a chem elective, I would definitely recommend this class. It's not an easy class but not extremely hard either (somewhere in the middle difficulty-wise I'd say), but you definitely learn a lot and you expand on topics that you might have only briefly covered in Chem 20A.

Extremely engaging lectures and instructions despite being online and remote. He encourages and appreciates questions and explains with depth and clarity. Made me enjoy learning Inorganic Chemistry. Best professor I met so far.

Dr. Kaner is one of the best professors i have had at UCLA thus far. His classes are always well organized and engaging, even though he does not use any slides. You can tell that he loved what he teaches and his explanation are usually fantastic. I bought the book for this class, but i didnt end up opening it once, thats how good his explanations are. The TA's were helpful in clarifying any other discreteness I had in my knowledge. The homework sets were helpful in further putting the class concepts to work. The tests were a little difficult since he is truly testing you understand the material, but extremely doable. I highly recommend taking this class if you can

Loved him and this class! But make sure to listen to lectures again on BruinCast because it really helps! There tends to be some stuff you miss because he goes fast. I purchased the class notes from the bookstore at the beginning of the quarter and found that helpful, although there were a couple mistakes so do make sure to pay attention. I always added extra notes from lecture - so I used the purchased notes as a skeleton. Tests were kind of hard for me. The midterm was difficult because it was really long. The final was not too long but was difficult material. Overall though, it's a great class with a great professor.

the class sizes are getting way too big for this sort of lecture. not the fault of the professor (whom is a very very respectable guy and the TAs are "chill bros" and much respect to the class big up big up kaner HOWEVER down with gene d block budget cuts up with education!!!)