CHEM 14C
Structure of Organic Molecules
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 14B with grade of C- or better. Not open to students with credit for course 30A. Continuing studies in structure of organic molecules, with emphasis on biological applications. Resonance, stereochemistry, conjugation, and aromaticity; spectroscopy (NMR, IR, and mass spectrometry); introduction to effects of structure on physical and chemical properties; survey of biomolecular structure. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - Grading as follow: 4 quizzes (20%, lowest dropped) 10 Problem sets (15%, lowest 2 dropped) 2 midterms (35%, lowest dropped) Final (30%) Considering F22 was Anderson’s first quarter teaching such a big class such as 14C, I can definitely see her improvement over the course of the quarter. She was very nervous and unclear during lecture in the first few weeks which made learning hard, but she definitely got way better by the time the quarter was over. She sometimes would make mistakes and have to go back over something or fix the slides which was a bit confusing at times. The weekly homeworks in this class were really hard but I do ultimately think they helped me learn better. However, they were graded solely on correctness and I wish they graded more on completion. Two homework get dropped so that helped a bit if you bombed a couple of them but honestly the harsh grading of the homeworks hurt my grade the most. The group me was helpful for the homework as people would share answers, so get on it! The 4 quizzes throughout the quarter were also pretty easy. You get to drop one quiz so when I bombed one of them but got 100s on the other 3 it definitely was a relief. The quizzes were meant to be in person during discussion but only the first quiz was in person for us due to circumstances such as holidays and the TA strike. The two midterms I felt were very fair. The first midterm I thought was really easy and was very fair covering what we learned in lecture. The second was a bit harder because the content got more difficult, but it wasn’t horrible and I felt the content was fair. The questions were really clear and not confusing to answer. I also felt the final was pretty fair, the only problem was that we hadn’t gotten our midterm 2 grade back so it was hard to get a gauge when you were studying if you really knew the material or not. Ultimately, I don’t think Anderson is that bad and everyone is gonna have to take 14C with her for the foreseeable future. This definitely was a learning quarter for her so I think she will be much better in later quarters as she gains more experience. She is also a very kind professor and wants to help you. My biggest suggestion for this class is finding a copy of “Organic Chemistry as a Second Language” by David Klein. Doing the problems associated with lecture was extremely helpful in learning the material since there was never enough time to truly grasp the concepts in a 50 minute lecture. Ochem is all about practice and I think this book was 1000% more helpful than the textbook and sometimes the lecture slides. On another note, do not be like me and take chem 14C and CL and the same time. It says they can be coreqs, but we learned spectroscopy way early in the quarter in CL and way late in C. You’ll end up having to do a lot of learning outside of class and also have to catch up learning nomenclature and functional groups really fast too as professor Anderson doesn’t really go over those either. It was doable but not an enjoyable experience so save yourself the frustration unless you really don't have a choice.
Fall 2022 - Grading as follow: 4 quizzes (20%, lowest dropped) 10 Problem sets (15%, lowest 2 dropped) 2 midterms (35%, lowest dropped) Final (30%) Considering F22 was Anderson’s first quarter teaching such a big class such as 14C, I can definitely see her improvement over the course of the quarter. She was very nervous and unclear during lecture in the first few weeks which made learning hard, but she definitely got way better by the time the quarter was over. She sometimes would make mistakes and have to go back over something or fix the slides which was a bit confusing at times. The weekly homeworks in this class were really hard but I do ultimately think they helped me learn better. However, they were graded solely on correctness and I wish they graded more on completion. Two homework get dropped so that helped a bit if you bombed a couple of them but honestly the harsh grading of the homeworks hurt my grade the most. The group me was helpful for the homework as people would share answers, so get on it! The 4 quizzes throughout the quarter were also pretty easy. You get to drop one quiz so when I bombed one of them but got 100s on the other 3 it definitely was a relief. The quizzes were meant to be in person during discussion but only the first quiz was in person for us due to circumstances such as holidays and the TA strike. The two midterms I felt were very fair. The first midterm I thought was really easy and was very fair covering what we learned in lecture. The second was a bit harder because the content got more difficult, but it wasn’t horrible and I felt the content was fair. The questions were really clear and not confusing to answer. I also felt the final was pretty fair, the only problem was that we hadn’t gotten our midterm 2 grade back so it was hard to get a gauge when you were studying if you really knew the material or not. Ultimately, I don’t think Anderson is that bad and everyone is gonna have to take 14C with her for the foreseeable future. This definitely was a learning quarter for her so I think she will be much better in later quarters as she gains more experience. She is also a very kind professor and wants to help you. My biggest suggestion for this class is finding a copy of “Organic Chemistry as a Second Language” by David Klein. Doing the problems associated with lecture was extremely helpful in learning the material since there was never enough time to truly grasp the concepts in a 50 minute lecture. Ochem is all about practice and I think this book was 1000% more helpful than the textbook and sometimes the lecture slides. On another note, do not be like me and take chem 14C and CL and the same time. It says they can be coreqs, but we learned spectroscopy way early in the quarter in CL and way late in C. You’ll end up having to do a lot of learning outside of class and also have to catch up learning nomenclature and functional groups really fast too as professor Anderson doesn’t really go over those either. It was doable but not an enjoyable experience so save yourself the frustration unless you really don't have a choice.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - First and foremost Prof. Castillo from winter quarter to spring quarter 2020 has pulled a massive 360. Take the old reviews with a grain salt, but some things still remain. Also 85-92.9 is A- and 93 up is A. She became hella lenient ngl. Lectures can be ass but go to Office Hours she's more responsive. In summary, she has shit communication and attitude problems, but hella rarely. Anyone can get tired and some of us were hella pushy for extra credit etc. She's a really smart woman tbh and in OH she knows her shit. I repeat ditch lectures and go to OH. Lectures get recorded anyways and use the powerpoint. To begin with this class as a general consensus is not as hard as Chem 14A and 14B especially if you had daddy lavelle. The concepts till about week 8 are fairly easy in this class and even the last two weeks aren't bad. The thing is this class isn't exactly organic chemistry. We do not cover reactions like SN2 and SN1 reactions. We cover concepts such as conjugation and aromaticity and etc. These are fairly easy. They don't involve calculations and hard stuff. You can even cram them tbh I did and got a 89 percent on the midterm and ended up with an A in the class. The quarter being online did make lecture kinda ass, but her powerpoint were pretty good. Also, use Chad's organic chem videos. Stereochemistry its the only bitch in this course tbh. The quizzes are 10 pts each and you get about 4 questions on each worth 2.5 its each adding up to 10. Lowest quiz is dropped. On top of that Prof. Castillo gave like 2 points of extra credit straight up in the quiz category. The midterm was also straight up similar to lecture problems and we got 1 pt of extra credit on it. Now the tea. The reason everyone basically called her a first class bitch is because the TA's and the professors had a MEGA-MEGA screwup on the grading of the midterm. They used a wrong answer key and basically our first scores were hella shit. There were 400 regrade requests and the professor got quite annoyed lmao and passive aggressive. Sometimes her attitude can be wonky, but for the most part she's a G. Finally, Dr. Castillo does not trick you at all on exams. I didn't find any trick questions on neither the midterm or quizzes. She also gives you past exam questions which are hella similar. I'm sure half this class has a solid A rn. Grade Break Down: ---30% quizzes - 5 quizzes lowest one dropped ---20% midterm ---20% discussion/hw --- everyone gets full credit on this basically free 20% ---30% final -- shit got cancelled for us but knowing her it would have been simple Final thoughts are that while Prof. Castillo has shit communication bc she never replies to emails, she is a decent lecturer. You may not learn the best from her but her assessments are frankly a joke compared to lavelle. Also, people are ungrateful cunts which led her to get annoyed. None of you would talk to lavelle the way some people did to her. She already lowered the bar for an A- to an 85 and gave hella extra credit. Take 14C with Castillo.
Spring 2020 - First and foremost Prof. Castillo from winter quarter to spring quarter 2020 has pulled a massive 360. Take the old reviews with a grain salt, but some things still remain. Also 85-92.9 is A- and 93 up is A. She became hella lenient ngl. Lectures can be ass but go to Office Hours she's more responsive. In summary, she has shit communication and attitude problems, but hella rarely. Anyone can get tired and some of us were hella pushy for extra credit etc. She's a really smart woman tbh and in OH she knows her shit. I repeat ditch lectures and go to OH. Lectures get recorded anyways and use the powerpoint. To begin with this class as a general consensus is not as hard as Chem 14A and 14B especially if you had daddy lavelle. The concepts till about week 8 are fairly easy in this class and even the last two weeks aren't bad. The thing is this class isn't exactly organic chemistry. We do not cover reactions like SN2 and SN1 reactions. We cover concepts such as conjugation and aromaticity and etc. These are fairly easy. They don't involve calculations and hard stuff. You can even cram them tbh I did and got a 89 percent on the midterm and ended up with an A in the class. The quarter being online did make lecture kinda ass, but her powerpoint were pretty good. Also, use Chad's organic chem videos. Stereochemistry its the only bitch in this course tbh. The quizzes are 10 pts each and you get about 4 questions on each worth 2.5 its each adding up to 10. Lowest quiz is dropped. On top of that Prof. Castillo gave like 2 points of extra credit straight up in the quiz category. The midterm was also straight up similar to lecture problems and we got 1 pt of extra credit on it. Now the tea. The reason everyone basically called her a first class bitch is because the TA's and the professors had a MEGA-MEGA screwup on the grading of the midterm. They used a wrong answer key and basically our first scores were hella shit. There were 400 regrade requests and the professor got quite annoyed lmao and passive aggressive. Sometimes her attitude can be wonky, but for the most part she's a G. Finally, Dr. Castillo does not trick you at all on exams. I didn't find any trick questions on neither the midterm or quizzes. She also gives you past exam questions which are hella similar. I'm sure half this class has a solid A rn. Grade Break Down: ---30% quizzes - 5 quizzes lowest one dropped ---20% midterm ---20% discussion/hw --- everyone gets full credit on this basically free 20% ---30% final -- shit got cancelled for us but knowing her it would have been simple Final thoughts are that while Prof. Castillo has shit communication bc she never replies to emails, she is a decent lecturer. You may not learn the best from her but her assessments are frankly a joke compared to lavelle. Also, people are ungrateful cunts which led her to get annoyed. None of you would talk to lavelle the way some people did to her. She already lowered the bar for an A- to an 85 and gave hella extra credit. Take 14C with Castillo.
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Most Helpful Review
When I found these ratings, I was not surprised at all, although I was surprised to see some reviews defending him. I can safely bet that whoever wrote those reviews were not students. Yes, maybe it's fortunate to have him as a researcher at UCLA, but these reviews are supposed to critique his teaching ability, and only that. If a professor is strict, gives hard tests or has a bad personality, I won't knock him/her for it as long as he/she CAN TEACH and I LEARN. I've had some professors who were really difficult, but were great teachers and so I understood their subjects pretty well. Chapman's lectures are unorganized and much of them were spent on tangents and tirades demoralizing pre-med students and his personal life. He spent one entire lecture about how to write CPR's properly (just grammar)! Where's the o-chem in all this? Add to that his crabby attitude and lack of concern for his students and you got one of the worst professors you can find. I didn't learn anything from him, except knowing what kind of professor to avoid. If he didn't have tenure, he would definitely get the axe. "Dr. Chapman's courses are clearly not for everyone. But for the right students, they are well worth taking." Well, you're right in saying they're not for everyone, but they're also not for the "right" students who actually care about learning.
When I found these ratings, I was not surprised at all, although I was surprised to see some reviews defending him. I can safely bet that whoever wrote those reviews were not students. Yes, maybe it's fortunate to have him as a researcher at UCLA, but these reviews are supposed to critique his teaching ability, and only that. If a professor is strict, gives hard tests or has a bad personality, I won't knock him/her for it as long as he/she CAN TEACH and I LEARN. I've had some professors who were really difficult, but were great teachers and so I understood their subjects pretty well. Chapman's lectures are unorganized and much of them were spent on tangents and tirades demoralizing pre-med students and his personal life. He spent one entire lecture about how to write CPR's properly (just grammar)! Where's the o-chem in all this? Add to that his crabby attitude and lack of concern for his students and you got one of the worst professors you can find. I didn't learn anything from him, except knowing what kind of professor to avoid. If he didn't have tenure, he would definitely get the axe. "Dr. Chapman's courses are clearly not for everyone. But for the right students, they are well worth taking." Well, you're right in saying they're not for everyone, but they're also not for the "right" students who actually care about learning.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - He seems like a super cool dude and has a ton of potential to be an amazing professor! He improved a lot from the first week to the tenth week. There was hardly any reading or assignments, which made the class easy but I feel very unprepared going into 14D. I feel kinda bad for Fulton because he was so nice and you can tell he is really trying, it's just so difficult because everyone in class is pretty harsh on him.
Fall 2019 - He seems like a super cool dude and has a ton of potential to be an amazing professor! He improved a lot from the first week to the tenth week. There was hardly any reading or assignments, which made the class easy but I feel very unprepared going into 14D. I feel kinda bad for Fulton because he was so nice and you can tell he is really trying, it's just so difficult because everyone in class is pretty harsh on him.
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I am not really a chem person, and I definitely was not that optimistic about how 14C was going to go for me. However, Dr. Lam is amazing. He definitely makes himself available to his students and has reviews before exams. He's such a nice man, and his lectures are easy to follow. His midterms were okay (I got a 77.5 on one and a 79 on the other) but his final was absolutely ridiculous. I think I just ended up writing down nonsense for one question because I had literally no idea what the question was asking me. This is not a class to slack in at all, because this shit is hard. I ended up with a B+ in the class, which I guess is all I could have hoped for. Also, my TA was Natalie James and she was wonderful! She's such an adorable person who also happens to be stellar at teaching you organic chemistry.
I am not really a chem person, and I definitely was not that optimistic about how 14C was going to go for me. However, Dr. Lam is amazing. He definitely makes himself available to his students and has reviews before exams. He's such a nice man, and his lectures are easy to follow. His midterms were okay (I got a 77.5 on one and a 79 on the other) but his final was absolutely ridiculous. I think I just ended up writing down nonsense for one question because I had literally no idea what the question was asking me. This is not a class to slack in at all, because this shit is hard. I ended up with a B+ in the class, which I guess is all I could have hoped for. Also, my TA was Natalie James and she was wonderful! She's such an adorable person who also happens to be stellar at teaching you organic chemistry.
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Fall 2021 - Lannan was a new teacher this quarter, so there is room for improvement. However, he wasn’t that great of a lecturer since he was just reusing Pham’s (the original teacher) slides. Quite frequently the slides would confuse him, and he would just stop and stare at them for a few minutes while the students just sat there. Explanation-wise, he also wasn’t that great—mostly given how disorganized he was when talking. He would also introduce ideas for projects and such but keep scrapping them as things turned up (likely more of an issue given he was a very new teacher). His exams were fair, but he was very unforgiving on them. As a test taker, I tend to make quite a few minor mistakes that I usually only get marked a few points off for. Lannan would mark you down almost all the points on the problem, which is what brought down everyone’s test grades (from what I understand talking to other students--the test averages were typically in the low 70s). The time crunch on the midterms was also a factor in that. The tests were also the majority of your grade. Furthermore, our original extra credit was through Mentimeter and discussion attendance. However, he realized he couldn't track students through Mentimeter and exchanged the participation-based extra credit with a very intensive group video project. These two extra credits (Mentimeter vs. group video) were not equivalent, and the amount of effort was not work it for the percent boost it gave. Even despite that, he graded these group projects very harshly (where Mentimeter was going to be for participation)--my group spent a long time on ours just to get an A-. He was very nice, passionate about the subject, and tried to be accommodating to students, but I just don’t really recommend him. TL;DR: new teacher + bad lecturer + manageable tests, but harshly graded (There are more reviews for this class on his PEERS entry since 14C was just added to his profile)
Fall 2021 - Lannan was a new teacher this quarter, so there is room for improvement. However, he wasn’t that great of a lecturer since he was just reusing Pham’s (the original teacher) slides. Quite frequently the slides would confuse him, and he would just stop and stare at them for a few minutes while the students just sat there. Explanation-wise, he also wasn’t that great—mostly given how disorganized he was when talking. He would also introduce ideas for projects and such but keep scrapping them as things turned up (likely more of an issue given he was a very new teacher). His exams were fair, but he was very unforgiving on them. As a test taker, I tend to make quite a few minor mistakes that I usually only get marked a few points off for. Lannan would mark you down almost all the points on the problem, which is what brought down everyone’s test grades (from what I understand talking to other students--the test averages were typically in the low 70s). The time crunch on the midterms was also a factor in that. The tests were also the majority of your grade. Furthermore, our original extra credit was through Mentimeter and discussion attendance. However, he realized he couldn't track students through Mentimeter and exchanged the participation-based extra credit with a very intensive group video project. These two extra credits (Mentimeter vs. group video) were not equivalent, and the amount of effort was not work it for the percent boost it gave. Even despite that, he graded these group projects very harshly (where Mentimeter was going to be for participation)--my group spent a long time on ours just to get an A-. He was very nice, passionate about the subject, and tried to be accommodating to students, but I just don’t really recommend him. TL;DR: new teacher + bad lecturer + manageable tests, but harshly graded (There are more reviews for this class on his PEERS entry since 14C was just added to his profile)
Most Helpful Review
I LOVED Luceigh's class . . . I took it over the summer, and trust me, that woman was NOT cutting out any of the material! It was fast-paced, and hard, but she is the cutest professor I have had so far. She was always doing little dances in class to act out molecules, or telling us funny stories. She really cares about you learning the material, and she will stop in the middle of class to make sure everyone understands. She uses slides, movies, drawing on the board, anything she can to help. Hers is the only class I have ever had where I felt completely welcome to interrupt her lecture to ask questions (okay, well, there was this one time I felt stupid...) Anyway it was a GREAT class and frankly it was the high point of my miserable summer! I would highly recommend her!
I LOVED Luceigh's class . . . I took it over the summer, and trust me, that woman was NOT cutting out any of the material! It was fast-paced, and hard, but she is the cutest professor I have had so far. She was always doing little dances in class to act out molecules, or telling us funny stories. She really cares about you learning the material, and she will stop in the middle of class to make sure everyone understands. She uses slides, movies, drawing on the board, anything she can to help. Hers is the only class I have ever had where I felt completely welcome to interrupt her lecture to ask questions (okay, well, there was this one time I felt stupid...) Anyway it was a GREAT class and frankly it was the high point of my miserable summer! I would highly recommend her!
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