CHEM 14A
Atomic and Molecular Structure, Equilibria, Acids, and Bases
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: high school chemistry or equivalent background and three and one half years of high school mathematics. Enforced corequisite: Life Sciences 30A or Mathematics 3A or 31A or score of 35 or better on Mathematics Diagnostic Test. Not open to students with credit for course 20A. Introduction to physical and general chemistry principles; atomic structure based on quantum mechanics; atomic properties; trends in periodic table; chemical bonding (Lewis structures, VSEPR theory, hybridization, and molecular orbital theory); gaseous and aqueous equilibria; properties of inorganic and organic acids, bases, buffers; titrations. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
2 of 3
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - I liked this class. I thought that he taught okay during lectures - but his office hours were great. He hosted review sessions before the exams which were extremely helpful. His final was pretty hard, but his midterms were fair. He honestly seemed like he wanted his students to do well, which I appreciated. After every midterm, he offered extra credit if the student examined and wrote a reflection on the points they missed on the test.
Spring 2023 - I liked this class. I thought that he taught okay during lectures - but his office hours were great. He hosted review sessions before the exams which were extremely helpful. His final was pretty hard, but his midterms were fair. He honestly seemed like he wanted his students to do well, which I appreciated. After every midterm, he offered extra credit if the student examined and wrote a reflection on the points they missed on the test.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Professor Randa Reslan is the best choice for taking 14A with. Her lecture was thrice a week MWF, but attendance isn't mandatory and I'd honestly recommend just rewatching the lectures back at 2x speed. We had "weekly" problem sets on Achieve that kept getting extended that were anywhere from 8-20+ problems that were based on the textbook and lectures. The grading scheme is as follows. 10% Homework 5% discussion section worksheets (you just show up for attendance) 35% midterm exam 50% final exam There was a bonus LA survey that added 0.5% to your final grade. For the exams, I would recommend going back through the problem sets and making sure that you understand each problem and how to get the correct solution. She records decently long review sessions (two 2 hour review sessions for the midterm and four 2 hour review sessions for the final) and also uploads practice exams that are similar to the actual tests. She is a very accommodating and nice professor (during the midterm, because of the unrest going on on campus, she decided to curve the midterm). Reslan added 6 bonus points on the final (126/120). She truly cares about her students and is an amazing professor, and I would never have taken 14A with anyone else.
Spring 2024 - Professor Randa Reslan is the best choice for taking 14A with. Her lecture was thrice a week MWF, but attendance isn't mandatory and I'd honestly recommend just rewatching the lectures back at 2x speed. We had "weekly" problem sets on Achieve that kept getting extended that were anywhere from 8-20+ problems that were based on the textbook and lectures. The grading scheme is as follows. 10% Homework 5% discussion section worksheets (you just show up for attendance) 35% midterm exam 50% final exam There was a bonus LA survey that added 0.5% to your final grade. For the exams, I would recommend going back through the problem sets and making sure that you understand each problem and how to get the correct solution. She records decently long review sessions (two 2 hour review sessions for the midterm and four 2 hour review sessions for the final) and also uploads practice exams that are similar to the actual tests. She is a very accommodating and nice professor (during the midterm, because of the unrest going on on campus, she decided to curve the midterm). Reslan added 6 bonus points on the final (126/120). She truly cares about her students and is an amazing professor, and I would never have taken 14A with anyone else.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - One only takes his class because it is a major requirement. If you come in with a prior foundation of chemistry, with work you can get an A in this class. However, the reason I write such a negative review for him is because he is a terrible professor. His lectures are extremely disorganized, and incredibly hard to follow. He is terrible at communicating. He tells you in his syllabus not to send him emails and to ask questions on the discussion forum. But, here is the thing he doesn't respond to them. Even when you ask him about essential things like the timing of the exam or a confusion with gradescope, he replies so rudely. His syllabus and lectures is unclear and full of typos. He simply doesn't care about you. He is very uppish and highly unprofessional. Serious action needs to be taken against professors like him.
Spring 2020 - One only takes his class because it is a major requirement. If you come in with a prior foundation of chemistry, with work you can get an A in this class. However, the reason I write such a negative review for him is because he is a terrible professor. His lectures are extremely disorganized, and incredibly hard to follow. He is terrible at communicating. He tells you in his syllabus not to send him emails and to ask questions on the discussion forum. But, here is the thing he doesn't respond to them. Even when you ask him about essential things like the timing of the exam or a confusion with gradescope, he replies so rudely. His syllabus and lectures is unclear and full of typos. He simply doesn't care about you. He is very uppish and highly unprofessional. Serious action needs to be taken against professors like him.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - I did not like this class. I did like Toumari. I really struggled because this was my first quarter at UCLA and I had the classic "I don't need to study" mindset and ended up with a 47% on the second midterm. The grading scheme was fairly lenient so I ended up with an A-, but the midterm was definitely humbling. Lectures were typically not too bad to follow along with and they were recorded. Weekly quizes/homework online, but we were allowed multiple tries and lost minimal points if we had to retry questions, so it wasn't too bad. There were several times that he shuffled around the grading scheme in response to student complaints and he eventually made the HW worth more and the midterms worth less. (thank god) I took this for Toumari's first quarter teaching at UCLA, so I'd imagine future quarters have been/will be smoother. With that said, this class is what made me decide to no longer be premed lol.
Fall 2022 - I did not like this class. I did like Toumari. I really struggled because this was my first quarter at UCLA and I had the classic "I don't need to study" mindset and ended up with a 47% on the second midterm. The grading scheme was fairly lenient so I ended up with an A-, but the midterm was definitely humbling. Lectures were typically not too bad to follow along with and they were recorded. Weekly quizes/homework online, but we were allowed multiple tries and lost minimal points if we had to retry questions, so it wasn't too bad. There were several times that he shuffled around the grading scheme in response to student complaints and he eventually made the HW worth more and the midterms worth less. (thank god) I took this for Toumari's first quarter teaching at UCLA, so I'd imagine future quarters have been/will be smoother. With that said, this class is what made me decide to no longer be premed lol.
AD
2 of 3
