CHEM 20A
Chemical Structure
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: high school chemistry or equivalent background and three and one half years of high school mathematics. Recommended preparation: high school physics. Enforced corequisite: Mathematics 31A. First term of general chemistry. Survey of chemical processes, quantum chemistry, atomic and molecular structure and bonding, molecular spectroscopy. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Not bad at all. 2 midterms worth 45% total, final is 35. Exams averaged like over 80% I think. Lectures are recorded but doing the hw and discussion problems are more helpful. Didn't feel the need to go to office hours really. Make sure to redo hw, quiz, and exam problems. Overall the course is alright and prof ow is sufficient.
Winter 2024 - Not bad at all. 2 midterms worth 45% total, final is 35. Exams averaged like over 80% I think. Lectures are recorded but doing the hw and discussion problems are more helpful. Didn't feel the need to go to office hours really. Make sure to redo hw, quiz, and exam problems. Overall the course is alright and prof ow is sufficient.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Scerri just doesn't particularly care. This unfortunately became more and more obvious as the class progressed. At first I was impressed by his obvious intelligent and occasional dry humor, but he is not a good professor. He speeds at a breakneck pace through a vast array of material without giving any context as to how concepts relate to each other or why we should care. Additionally, his lecture slides are spotted with typos and are almost entirely useless to review afterwards, so you need to take expansive notes. On the positive side, the Owl homework is very forgiving, and is a substantial part of your final grade. I learned pretty much nothing through the majority of the class, and had to frantically study outside materials and previous tests to make any measurable progress as tests drew near. While this landed me with very good scores, it was not a particularly comfortable or rewarding way to go through class. Through all of this, Scerri speeds on, unconcerned with the fact that 90% of the students have no real clue what's going on. Anyway, the long and the short of it is this: avoid Scerri if humanly possible, especially if you are not strong in chemistry coming in. My previous knowledge was the only thing allowing me to do well, and things would have been far more hellish in an already brutal class if I had not had experience going in.
Winter 2020 - Scerri just doesn't particularly care. This unfortunately became more and more obvious as the class progressed. At first I was impressed by his obvious intelligent and occasional dry humor, but he is not a good professor. He speeds at a breakneck pace through a vast array of material without giving any context as to how concepts relate to each other or why we should care. Additionally, his lecture slides are spotted with typos and are almost entirely useless to review afterwards, so you need to take expansive notes. On the positive side, the Owl homework is very forgiving, and is a substantial part of your final grade. I learned pretty much nothing through the majority of the class, and had to frantically study outside materials and previous tests to make any measurable progress as tests drew near. While this landed me with very good scores, it was not a particularly comfortable or rewarding way to go through class. Through all of this, Scerri speeds on, unconcerned with the fact that 90% of the students have no real clue what's going on. Anyway, the long and the short of it is this: avoid Scerri if humanly possible, especially if you are not strong in chemistry coming in. My previous knowledge was the only thing allowing me to do well, and things would have been far more hellish in an already brutal class if I had not had experience going in.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Disclaimer: I am a chemistry major so I actually enjoy chemistry... take it as you'd like. Chem 20A is a humbling experience. The course starts off with quantum mechanics and is very confusing at first. Midterm 1 was very long and complex even though all tests are open note, mostly no one finished. After midterm 1 the course is actual chemistry stuff which was much easier. The homework (engage assignments) are terribly long, however it is easy to get full points because you have 10 attempts per problem. The professor lacked a bit of organization, but since she's relatively new it was understandable. The grading curve most definitely saves your grade because 50% is given to you by discussion worksheets and homework assignments meaning that if you put some effort on exams you can pass. TA review sessions for exams are very useful (more than Tau Beta Pi sessions). I never went to the professor's office hours but I did go to the TA's (shoutout to Judah Raab for being a great TA!). I didn't have much of a physics background for the first part of the course, but I was still able to get an A. Overall, a good course just make sure to set aside time to review concepts and study and it should be completely doable.
Fall 2021 - Disclaimer: I am a chemistry major so I actually enjoy chemistry... take it as you'd like. Chem 20A is a humbling experience. The course starts off with quantum mechanics and is very confusing at first. Midterm 1 was very long and complex even though all tests are open note, mostly no one finished. After midterm 1 the course is actual chemistry stuff which was much easier. The homework (engage assignments) are terribly long, however it is easy to get full points because you have 10 attempts per problem. The professor lacked a bit of organization, but since she's relatively new it was understandable. The grading curve most definitely saves your grade because 50% is given to you by discussion worksheets and homework assignments meaning that if you put some effort on exams you can pass. TA review sessions for exams are very useful (more than Tau Beta Pi sessions). I never went to the professor's office hours but I did go to the TA's (shoutout to Judah Raab for being a great TA!). I didn't have much of a physics background for the first part of the course, but I was still able to get an A. Overall, a good course just make sure to set aside time to review concepts and study and it should be completely doable.
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