He is a new professor who taught 171 without the conceptual rigor that the material required. Instead, he talked a ton about historical things and lecture just felt like being exposed to a ton of trivia about elements. When it actually came down to chemistry things, like drawing correlation diagrams for metal complexes, many people are confused and have to seek help because Spokoyny didnt properly emphasize how orbitals work, just assuming you remember all the way from chem 20A. For exams, just go through the slides and copy every random trivia onto the cheat sheet that you are allowed (write really tiny).

So yes, he is well-meaning and entertaining, and the class is pretty fun overall, but you will not feel like you learned any cohesive concepts about inorganic chemistry and you will be very poorly prepared for 172 (good thing im biochem so i dont need 172)

I really enjoyed this class, and as a chemistry major, I am now very much leaning towards the inorganic chemistry side because of this class. Alex is super cool, funny, and understanding. The material itself is very interesting and covers many, many real-world/relatable topics that I didn't even know had to do so closely with inorganic chemistry. With that said, most of it is introductory and general. It only gets specific and more problem-solve-y towards the end with NMR and orbitals stuff, which I really liked. Demos are informational fun (know why they happen). I went to his office hours almost every week and most of the time I would learn from other people's questions, and we also just talked about normal every day things. I definitely recommend office hours if you're not confident in the problem-solve-y stuff; he'll go over it with you real quick and easy. The Wikipedia group project was literally my first group project at UCLA and I believe was really helpful in that 1) you gotta get social with different types of people, 2) you have the freedom to venture into any topic that is inorganic chemistry-related, 3) read some real science/journal articles. Overall, I understand some people were a little frustrated with his style, but it was his first quarter and he was obviously trying what was best for us, and I thought it was a pretty neat way to do it. He also curved generously and gave extra credit. The extra credit thing was fun and you get placed and win little prizes (and extra credit). For studying, I recommend that you print out the PowerPoint and take notes directly on this since his lecture slides are mostly pictures. He tests directly from what he says about the slides. Most exam questions were short answer facts about general inorganic chemistry topics. Some bigger problems are the problem-solve-y ones. He doesn't try to trick you and it's all really fair. Mostly, just have fun in this class and if you find it genuinely interesting, then you'll do great.

He's a FANTASTIC professor. One of my memorable events while taking this class was the flexibility of his lecture. One time a student asked a very good question and Spokoyny asked the whole class if they are also interested in this question. Once he got a yes he changed his lecture on the spot! He addressed the student's question thoroughly in a clear and engaging manner. We resumed his planned lecture the following class. The point is he KNOWS his material VERY WELL...so well that he can adjust his lecture on the spot. No book is required for his class but I recommend buying it as reference especially in this day in age for any working chemist - for class sake you can save money since the book is not very necessary. Don't let the salty reviews fool you! You're only at UCLA once (maybe twice) so don't let some reviews written out of anger stop you from participating in classes taught by GREAT professors.

Just out of curiosity in regard to the last poster below: If you don't need chem 172 (and thus have not and will never even take 172), how do you know if the way Spokoyny taught will not prepare for 172 in any way? To be honest, 172 can be taken independently from 171 material-wise. I'm not sure why 171 is a pre-requisite; 172 is very straightforward because you just follow the motions of solving the same problems over and over again. I feel 172 is just an intro class for group theory and 171 helps establish appreciation and recognition of what's out there in 171. It's not the teacher's fault if the student can't put two concepts together and has to have the teacher spell out every single thing...that's called studying at home. Spookily is a great teacher and does not trick you.

For the second poster: ok sure he asked some history questions...look back at the test again...you may have missed 4 points out of 100 AND he curves in everybody's favor. Also recall the solid state chemistry questions that took a whole page. How about the page of quantum mechanics and conceptual mass spec questions on the next page? It's a lot to learn but it comes down to the student's responsibility. Good luck!

Alex Spokoyny is great. He really cares about his students and the subjects that he teaches. All of his lectures are well thought out and engaging. He usually adds a funny slide to each lecture. He is very nice and approachable. His tests are quite hard, but he adjusts the scores well (not exactly curving them). I would recommend him to anyone.

This class really prepares you for a career in research. I enjoyed taking this course and I learned a lot. I thought Alex was a great professor and formatted the class very well so the class was never boring. He's very helpful and he was always available to help us. The oral presentation was a great (but nerve wracking for sure) experience for me but I did learn a lot from that experience and I do think I do a better job at presentations now. There proposal was another learning experience for me. I became way more comfortable with reading scientific literature because of it. Extra credit was offered in the class and also pizza rumors are true! I highly recommend this class to anyone that wants to go to graduate school or anyone that is interested in research in general.

I loved taking Chem 171 with Spokoyny. Over winter break, he had us read a book to get us interested in the different elements we would be learning about in class. The book was very interesting and got me excited for the class. Spokoyny kept every lecture very engaging and was encouraging for providing help outside the designated class periods.

Spokoyny's course was structured differently than the other 171 course, but his course is way more engaging and I definitely learned a lot of material.

Alex is just simply amazing! He's a very effective presenter, funny, an absolute genius and a nice person in general. He was very approachable and the OHs helped me grasp the material better. I think listening to lectures and studying the slides are the key to a good grade in this class. None of the questions in the midterm or final were "out of nowhere" type of question. I think 95% of questions were straight out of lecture slides and 5% were based on lectures but required higher level thinking. Also there is a ton of extra credit offered in this class which is nice. I felt like I came out of class with a vast knowledge of inorganic chemistry and a passion to continue learning about this subject, in spite of not being a huge fan of it prior to taking this class. I have recommended this class to many of my friends and I believe it was the single best class that I've taken at UCLA.

Spokoyny gives you slides ahead of lecture, but you have to attend lecture because the notes by themselves aren't that helpful. His wiki project is all or nothing points, so just make sure you do it on time and put in a decent amount of effort. He also offers extra credit (you have to make a video related to inorganic chemistry). He gives you a lot of options for it. I wouldn't wait until the end of the quarter because it actually takes some time. The more creative/fun, the more points you're likely to get.
The tests aren't too hard, as long as you have some chemistry intuition. He does make you remember some small details, but you have a cheat sheet so just write those facts down.
I would recommend this class.

Professor Spokoyny is a very good professor and really does his best to get the students to really understand the material.
The Wikiproject is not bad at all. It easy points. Just don't leave it to the last minute.
If you have time do the extra credit project! It totally helped save my grade.
As for the midterm and final do his practice exams, super helpful.