CHEM 14A
General Chemistry for Life Scientists I
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: high school chemistry or equivalent background and three and one half years of high school mathematics. Requisite: completion of Chemistry Diagnostic Test. Enforced corequisite: Life Sciences 30A or Mathematics 3A or 31A or score of 48 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); coordination compounds; properties of inorganic and organic acids, bases, buffers. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - If you have taken AP Chem, then this class will be a complete breeze. If you haven't, then it is entirely manageable. Regardless, if you want to get a good grade, there's a lot of work that comes with this class. Lavelle assigns 100 problems (I believe) throughout the quarter through textbook and achieve questions. I didn't read the textbook once and found the midterms very easy. What helped the most were the UA worksheets and textbook practice problems; in this class, practice really does make perfect! There is really no point in attending Lavelle's lectures. They're all recorded and uploaded within 24 hours, he doesn't take attendance, and the main reason why I didn't go is because he doesn't post the slides. He has 15 bulletpoints on a slide at once and while he's reading it he's giving additional information off the slide all while doing an example problem. Do yourself a favor and just watch the recordings so that you can go at your own pace and rewind as you need. If you have any questions, Chemistry Community (his forum) is very helpful! I've gotten answers as fast as literal minutes after submission and all questions will be answered by either a fellow student or Lavelle. Midterms were a breeze, all multiple choice 15 questions each. I and a lot of others found the final to be significantly more difficult (also multiple choice and 30 questions) as the scale in difficulty for some questions were higher than the ones given for practice. Regardless, it was manageable, especially as a multiple choice exam. Overall you get out of this class what you put in. Take the time to do practice problems and you'll be perfectly fine! Lavelle's resources are amazing and for that sole reason I would not take another professor for this series if possible :).
Fall 2024 - If you have taken AP Chem, then this class will be a complete breeze. If you haven't, then it is entirely manageable. Regardless, if you want to get a good grade, there's a lot of work that comes with this class. Lavelle assigns 100 problems (I believe) throughout the quarter through textbook and achieve questions. I didn't read the textbook once and found the midterms very easy. What helped the most were the UA worksheets and textbook practice problems; in this class, practice really does make perfect! There is really no point in attending Lavelle's lectures. They're all recorded and uploaded within 24 hours, he doesn't take attendance, and the main reason why I didn't go is because he doesn't post the slides. He has 15 bulletpoints on a slide at once and while he's reading it he's giving additional information off the slide all while doing an example problem. Do yourself a favor and just watch the recordings so that you can go at your own pace and rewind as you need. If you have any questions, Chemistry Community (his forum) is very helpful! I've gotten answers as fast as literal minutes after submission and all questions will be answered by either a fellow student or Lavelle. Midterms were a breeze, all multiple choice 15 questions each. I and a lot of others found the final to be significantly more difficult (also multiple choice and 30 questions) as the scale in difficulty for some questions were higher than the ones given for practice. Regardless, it was manageable, especially as a multiple choice exam. Overall you get out of this class what you put in. Take the time to do practice problems and you'll be perfectly fine! Lavelle's resources are amazing and for that sole reason I would not take another professor for this series if possible :).
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - take this class with Reslan!!!! Could not recommend her more. She's a bit disorganized with her lecture but holds amazing review sessions and is very helpful during office hours. The class itself can be difficult because it's a lot of material crammed but she at the end she did listen to students and cut material. She values our feedback and provides great formula sheets. Her exams are very fair and she gave good practice exams. Discussion is not mandatory but highly recommended because that's when you actually do practice problems. Lectures were recorded. Best chem teacher :)
Spring 2024 - take this class with Reslan!!!! Could not recommend her more. She's a bit disorganized with her lecture but holds amazing review sessions and is very helpful during office hours. The class itself can be difficult because it's a lot of material crammed but she at the end she did listen to students and cut material. She values our feedback and provides great formula sheets. Her exams are very fair and she gave good practice exams. Discussion is not mandatory but highly recommended because that's when you actually do practice problems. Lectures were recorded. Best chem teacher :)
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - To be honest, the lectures in this class were pretty useless. I ended up teaching myself most of the material on my own. He also tests on a lot of theoretical concepts which threw me for a loop. I wouldn't take him again, but it honestly isn't the end of the world if you get this professor. Just be ready to do a lot of self studying. Dr. Scerri honestly isn't mean though and is kind of funny in office hours (which are helpful to an extent).
Winter 2024 - To be honest, the lectures in this class were pretty useless. I ended up teaching myself most of the material on my own. He also tests on a lot of theoretical concepts which threw me for a loop. I wouldn't take him again, but it honestly isn't the end of the world if you get this professor. Just be ready to do a lot of self studying. Dr. Scerri honestly isn't mean though and is kind of funny in office hours (which are helpful to an extent).
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