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. 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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Summer 2016 - Selling required textbook: Chemical Principles, 6th Edition (by Peter Atkins, Loretta, Jones, Leroy Laverman) The bundle will include Textbook AND Solutions manual Purchased from Student union for $168, selling for only $100. In very good/new condition. Please message for details: **********
Summer 2016 - Selling required textbook: Chemical Principles, 6th Edition (by Peter Atkins, Loretta, Jones, Leroy Laverman) The bundle will include Textbook AND Solutions manual Purchased from Student union for $168, selling for only $100. In very good/new condition. Please message for details: **********
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - I really enjoyed this class. Professor Prado taught this class along with Professor Caram and Casey, but she was the main one who lectured and taught the class. She took on the class last minute as our initial professor could no longer do so (she began teaching Friday of week 1). She uses slides that are posted on CCLE, but she writes on the slides during lecture, so I'd recommend attending class. There are clicker questions during lecture and it's hard not to get full credit; there are bunch of opportunities and you get half a point just for participating. There are weekly quizzes (Friday during lecture) which aren't too bad. I didn't read the textbook too much but used it more as a reference if I didn't understand something. There are HWs for every lecture but they don't have to be turned in. I really like Dr. Prado and the class overall. She's really nice and very approachable. She is one my favorite professors here at UCLA and I think the class overall was appropriately paced. Definitely recommend. r/ucla
Winter 2019 - I really enjoyed this class. Professor Prado taught this class along with Professor Caram and Casey, but she was the main one who lectured and taught the class. She took on the class last minute as our initial professor could no longer do so (she began teaching Friday of week 1). She uses slides that are posted on CCLE, but she writes on the slides during lecture, so I'd recommend attending class. There are clicker questions during lecture and it's hard not to get full credit; there are bunch of opportunities and you get half a point just for participating. There are weekly quizzes (Friday during lecture) which aren't too bad. I didn't read the textbook too much but used it more as a reference if I didn't understand something. There are HWs for every lecture but they don't have to be turned in. I really like Dr. Prado and the class overall. She's really nice and very approachable. She is one my favorite professors here at UCLA and I think the class overall was appropriately paced. Definitely recommend. r/ucla
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Spring 2017 - Reviewing this class a year late because she wasn't listed as a professor when I first took the class in Spring 2017. I have to say, Shiraki probably isn't the model of what you would like in a professor. She visibly cringes when students don't understand, so even though I don't think it's intentional, she can definitely make students feel stupid. With that said, if she ever teaches 14A in the future, I'll say that this class is extremely flexible and success is definitely possible as long as you know how to approach the material. This is especially true given that her practice exams are almost exactly like her real exams. It's flexible because it's all based on quizzes or exams - no homework, so no accountability. This was daunting for me at first, but once again, not only are her exams similar to her practice exams, her quizzes are incredibly intuitive / reasonable especially in comparison to, say, Lavelle's (from speaking to a friend). In the end, I loved having her because I could not show up to class for 4 weeks and still be able to keep up with material since she posts her slides and answer keys. I'd just read Atkins, Chemical Principles and I was set. If you're a student who learns just as well from textbooks and independent learning, this is a great class because she essentially makes it so that you can do it on your own - especially since she's not an engaging lecturer. In the end my grade breakdown was Quiz 1: 19/20 Quiz 2: 20/20 Quiz 3: 20/20 Midterm 1: 97/100 Midterm 2: 96/100 Final: 179/200 Total: 431/460 (93.7%) = A Even getting a concussion ~2 weeks before the final and not having gone to class for those 4 weeks (and not keeping up), I was able to do well in the class simply by methodically going through the textbook and doing her practice exams. Chemistry is an intuitive subject for me, but nonetheless I think it was definitely feasible to do well in this class. It's just that most students didn't really have a chem background (including me) and also didn't really know how to study for the class because it's the first in the series. She's fair, but chemistry is just hard for people and her mediocre lecturing probably didn't help. So yeah, it'd be tough if you're not an independent learner, but personally her style actually really worked for me.
Spring 2017 - Reviewing this class a year late because she wasn't listed as a professor when I first took the class in Spring 2017. I have to say, Shiraki probably isn't the model of what you would like in a professor. She visibly cringes when students don't understand, so even though I don't think it's intentional, she can definitely make students feel stupid. With that said, if she ever teaches 14A in the future, I'll say that this class is extremely flexible and success is definitely possible as long as you know how to approach the material. This is especially true given that her practice exams are almost exactly like her real exams. It's flexible because it's all based on quizzes or exams - no homework, so no accountability. This was daunting for me at first, but once again, not only are her exams similar to her practice exams, her quizzes are incredibly intuitive / reasonable especially in comparison to, say, Lavelle's (from speaking to a friend). In the end, I loved having her because I could not show up to class for 4 weeks and still be able to keep up with material since she posts her slides and answer keys. I'd just read Atkins, Chemical Principles and I was set. If you're a student who learns just as well from textbooks and independent learning, this is a great class because she essentially makes it so that you can do it on your own - especially since she's not an engaging lecturer. In the end my grade breakdown was Quiz 1: 19/20 Quiz 2: 20/20 Quiz 3: 20/20 Midterm 1: 97/100 Midterm 2: 96/100 Final: 179/200 Total: 431/460 (93.7%) = A Even getting a concussion ~2 weeks before the final and not having gone to class for those 4 weeks (and not keeping up), I was able to do well in the class simply by methodically going through the textbook and doing her practice exams. Chemistry is an intuitive subject for me, but nonetheless I think it was definitely feasible to do well in this class. It's just that most students didn't really have a chem background (including me) and also didn't really know how to study for the class because it's the first in the series. She's fair, but chemistry is just hard for people and her mediocre lecturing probably didn't help. So yeah, it'd be tough if you're not an independent learner, but personally her style actually really worked for me.
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Fall 2022 - He honestly doesn't teach, just reads the slides. My class was his first time ever teaching chem at UCLA so I understand he just needs more practice. As the year went on, he became significantly better at teaching us brand new concepts. However, he was absolutely unwilling to listen to students' feedback. The first midterm was insanely unfair (it contained all the exception problems and nothing that was reasonably taught yet, because he taught us the stuff AFTER the exam). The final was much clearer and I don't have complaints about that. However, we did have weekly quizzes which were only 10 minutes long. The problems contained in these quizzes take a long time (he took 1 hour and 40 minutes to explain two problems), and we had both of these types of problems as well as 8 more to do in just 10 minutes. When we voiced our concern with the time, he said "it is what it is" and that was that.... lol.
Fall 2022 - He honestly doesn't teach, just reads the slides. My class was his first time ever teaching chem at UCLA so I understand he just needs more practice. As the year went on, he became significantly better at teaching us brand new concepts. However, he was absolutely unwilling to listen to students' feedback. The first midterm was insanely unfair (it contained all the exception problems and nothing that was reasonably taught yet, because he taught us the stuff AFTER the exam). The final was much clearer and I don't have complaints about that. However, we did have weekly quizzes which were only 10 minutes long. The problems contained in these quizzes take a long time (he took 1 hour and 40 minutes to explain two problems), and we had both of these types of problems as well as 8 more to do in just 10 minutes. When we voiced our concern with the time, he said "it is what it is" and that was that.... lol.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Where do I begin? Eric is BY FAR the best professor I have ever had the pleasure of learning from. I was dreading the chemistry series and Eric has now made it my favorite class, so much so that I always sit in the very front of the lecture hall excited to learn. Eric is not only an incredible lecturer with the impeccable ability to break down complex topics, but he knows how to incorporate a joke or two into each lecture (they're usually really cheesy but I enjoy them nevertheless). Besides his actual teaching ability, amazing as it is, Eric is also resource savvy. Eric uploads lecture notes before lecture, allowing us to review difficult concepts before diving right in. Two versions of the lecture notes get uploaded actually, the blank lecture notes and the filled lecture notes. The blank lecture notes allow you to take notes as Eric lectures and the filled lecture notes allow you to follow along and absorb everything Eric says without having to stress about note taking at the same time. Eric uploads both because he understands that everyone has different learning strategies. Furthermore, Eric is a great resource himself. He responds to emails within 30 minutes, even on weekends and in the odd hours of the night. Eric also has plenty of office hours and is so nice and approachable. The cherry on top of all of this, he is understanding and practical. He only assigns homework which will actually contribute to a solid foundation in chemistry and quizzes us weekly on material in order to see how solid that foundation is. If it's not solid, better to find out sooner rather than later so that you can improve before the exams. In addition, Eric lets us keep our best midterm score and drop the other one; this saved me since I practically failed the first midterm. I have truly never had such an amazing experience with a professor before. In fact, the entire 358 person class came together in the GroupMe and orchestrated a mass wave of emails to the chair of Chemistry department regarding hiring Eric as a full-time professor and not a temp. This worked so well that the chair emailed Eric asking him to inform his students to stop emailing the department because their inbox was flooded. Anyways, love that man. Would marry him even.
Spring 2021 - Where do I begin? Eric is BY FAR the best professor I have ever had the pleasure of learning from. I was dreading the chemistry series and Eric has now made it my favorite class, so much so that I always sit in the very front of the lecture hall excited to learn. Eric is not only an incredible lecturer with the impeccable ability to break down complex topics, but he knows how to incorporate a joke or two into each lecture (they're usually really cheesy but I enjoy them nevertheless). Besides his actual teaching ability, amazing as it is, Eric is also resource savvy. Eric uploads lecture notes before lecture, allowing us to review difficult concepts before diving right in. Two versions of the lecture notes get uploaded actually, the blank lecture notes and the filled lecture notes. The blank lecture notes allow you to take notes as Eric lectures and the filled lecture notes allow you to follow along and absorb everything Eric says without having to stress about note taking at the same time. Eric uploads both because he understands that everyone has different learning strategies. Furthermore, Eric is a great resource himself. He responds to emails within 30 minutes, even on weekends and in the odd hours of the night. Eric also has plenty of office hours and is so nice and approachable. The cherry on top of all of this, he is understanding and practical. He only assigns homework which will actually contribute to a solid foundation in chemistry and quizzes us weekly on material in order to see how solid that foundation is. If it's not solid, better to find out sooner rather than later so that you can improve before the exams. In addition, Eric lets us keep our best midterm score and drop the other one; this saved me since I practically failed the first midterm. I have truly never had such an amazing experience with a professor before. In fact, the entire 358 person class came together in the GroupMe and orchestrated a mass wave of emails to the chair of Chemistry department regarding hiring Eric as a full-time professor and not a temp. This worked so well that the chair emailed Eric asking him to inform his students to stop emailing the department because their inbox was flooded. Anyways, love that man. Would marry him even.
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