Professor
Zhao Li
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2016 - I had Li for both 14A and 14B (yay, lucky me)! I got an A- in both courses. Honestly, if you do all the practice problems she gives out (handouts) + her practice midterm (very similar to real exam!!), you should be able to get a 90% at least! She also has extra credit opportunities. I avoided Lavelle at ALL costs because I did not want to get anything lower than an A-. I would HATE to do every textbook problem and suffer so much for no reason? I like to be strategic and pick the most doable courses with the best professors. If she ever teaches, pick her over Lavelle and Scerri! I took AP Chem in 12th grade (I NEVER paid attention). However, in her class, I payed attention, read the textbook, and did the problems. I never really went to OH since I studied with friends and was able to get the answers and reason through them. Like I said, this class should NOT be hard regardless if you took AP Chem or not. If you take Lavelle, you BETTER hope you took AP Chem because he is way harder. If you want to play the game right, get at least an A- or so, and not suffer so much, LI IS THE ONE!!!
Fall 2016 - I had Li for both 14A and 14B (yay, lucky me)! I got an A- in both courses. Honestly, if you do all the practice problems she gives out (handouts) + her practice midterm (very similar to real exam!!), you should be able to get a 90% at least! She also has extra credit opportunities. I avoided Lavelle at ALL costs because I did not want to get anything lower than an A-. I would HATE to do every textbook problem and suffer so much for no reason? I like to be strategic and pick the most doable courses with the best professors. If she ever teaches, pick her over Lavelle and Scerri! I took AP Chem in 12th grade (I NEVER paid attention). However, in her class, I payed attention, read the textbook, and did the problems. I never really went to OH since I studied with friends and was able to get the answers and reason through them. Like I said, this class should NOT be hard regardless if you took AP Chem or not. If you take Lavelle, you BETTER hope you took AP Chem because he is way harder. If you want to play the game right, get at least an A- or so, and not suffer so much, LI IS THE ONE!!!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - I had the greatest opportunity of having professor Li for 14B. I believe it was her first time teaching class and she was AMAZING. Coming from a person who struggles with chemistry, Li cared for everyone's understanding of the material. She would hold multiple office hours and even had snacks during them! During her review sessions, she bought 300+ students pizza! How great is she?! She's super approachable and explains everything so well. She really understands what it's like to be a student, especially at UCLA and rewards those who show improvement. LITERALLY THE SWEETEST. I hope she comes back to teach again!
Winter 2017 - I had the greatest opportunity of having professor Li for 14B. I believe it was her first time teaching class and she was AMAZING. Coming from a person who struggles with chemistry, Li cared for everyone's understanding of the material. She would hold multiple office hours and even had snacks during them! During her review sessions, she bought 300+ students pizza! How great is she?! She's super approachable and explains everything so well. She really understands what it's like to be a student, especially at UCLA and rewards those who show improvement. LITERALLY THE SWEETEST. I hope she comes back to teach again!
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2019 - Prof. Li is absolutely fantastic. She’s probably one of the best professors I’ve had for all the time I’ve studied at UCLA. She has an infectious passion for teaching chemistry and makes classes fun and engaging. She’s unbelievably helpful and clear, and will go to great lengths to help any single student understand the subject. Also, she makes chemistry jokes. That’s always a (delta) positive. Screw Pauli. Two spin states up for this professor.
Summer 2019 - Prof. Li is absolutely fantastic. She’s probably one of the best professors I’ve had for all the time I’ve studied at UCLA. She has an infectious passion for teaching chemistry and makes classes fun and engaging. She’s unbelievably helpful and clear, and will go to great lengths to help any single student understand the subject. Also, she makes chemistry jokes. That’s always a (delta) positive. Screw Pauli. Two spin states up for this professor.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - If you want an easy A in 20B, take Li. I studied for maybe an hour for each of the three tests, often missed lecture, and still pulled an A+. While she is effective in teaching the basic, high-school level topics of this class, its simplicity stems from the fact that in no way does Li challenge her students to apply these concepts to complex problems. Her homework problems are the same as the textbook problems, which are the same as example problems in lecture, which again are the same as her exam problems. Li seems like a genuinely good person and I'm sure she could be a great professor if she challenged her students. As is, however, this class offers 0 intellectual stimulation and I can only recommend it to those who would like to boost their GPA, yet are indifferent towards advancing their education.
Winter 2016 - If you want an easy A in 20B, take Li. I studied for maybe an hour for each of the three tests, often missed lecture, and still pulled an A+. While she is effective in teaching the basic, high-school level topics of this class, its simplicity stems from the fact that in no way does Li challenge her students to apply these concepts to complex problems. Her homework problems are the same as the textbook problems, which are the same as example problems in lecture, which again are the same as her exam problems. Li seems like a genuinely good person and I'm sure she could be a great professor if she challenged her students. As is, however, this class offers 0 intellectual stimulation and I can only recommend it to those who would like to boost their GPA, yet are indifferent towards advancing their education.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - She's pretty good overall. She cares a lot about her students and their individual success and also tries very hard to learn your name. She's also extremely kind and will feed you. I was personally annoyed at mandatory lectures, daily hw, and weekly problem sets, but most all of the assignments were not particularly challenging and her exams are very similar in spirit to the HW and practice tests she gives you so as long as you keep up you can do pretty well. A lot of the more advanced math topics were not covered that well imo and the last two weeks of class are kinda foggy in my brain because the math got too complicated that the book wouldn't go through them anymore so it was just a bunch of formulas thrown at us. The book is OK, not the best. The most stressful part of the class was that the cut off for an A was at 95%, so aim to get every point possible that comes up, including the extra credit assignments. The exams were incredibly dense and took the full 3 hours so make sure to read every question carefully.
Spring 2018 - She's pretty good overall. She cares a lot about her students and their individual success and also tries very hard to learn your name. She's also extremely kind and will feed you. I was personally annoyed at mandatory lectures, daily hw, and weekly problem sets, but most all of the assignments were not particularly challenging and her exams are very similar in spirit to the HW and practice tests she gives you so as long as you keep up you can do pretty well. A lot of the more advanced math topics were not covered that well imo and the last two weeks of class are kinda foggy in my brain because the math got too complicated that the book wouldn't go through them anymore so it was just a bunch of formulas thrown at us. The book is OK, not the best. The most stressful part of the class was that the cut off for an A was at 95%, so aim to get every point possible that comes up, including the extra credit assignments. The exams were incredibly dense and took the full 3 hours so make sure to read every question carefully.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2016 - We are a study group in Professor Li's Chem 14A Fall 2016. We decided to nominate Professor Li for teaching awards. We can not think of a more deserving professor for the enormous devotion to students and the tremendous success in teaching. It is a pity that she will not teach Chem 14B Winter 2017. She could easily be the best professor you can possibly have at UCLA!
Fall 2016 - We are a study group in Professor Li's Chem 14A Fall 2016. We decided to nominate Professor Li for teaching awards. We can not think of a more deserving professor for the enormous devotion to students and the tremendous success in teaching. It is a pity that she will not teach Chem 14B Winter 2017. She could easily be the best professor you can possibly have at UCLA!
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