This guy wasn't that good for me. He's whatever.

I actually really loved this class. From the students I talked with that were also in the class, this seems to be one of the most polarizing classes I've been in. You either love it or you hate it. But that makes sense, since general chemistry is often a weeder-type class for many pre-med students.
I will say this though: it's possible for anyone, even if you're not "good" at chemistry, to get a good grade in Eric Scerri's Chem 14A and have an appreciation for the material.
40% of your final grade in this class is the final exam, and 30% is the midterm. Dr. Scerri will give you several old exams to study and STUDY THESE!! Even MORE importantly, go to the test bank and search for as many old exams as you can find. Split it up between you and your friends to get literally as many exams as possible. These past exams are very useful because Dr. Scerri has been known to copy and paste pretty much all of his exam questions to his current exams, or he may change a single word or number. Understand how to do problems on as many practice exams as you can find and you'll be golden. I got a 98% on the midterm and a 97% on the final through this method, because as I reviewed more and more practice exams, the problems that I had with the material eventually disappeared. I can guarantee you that people who don't do well in this class don't do this.
20% of your grade is online quizzes, which aren't too difficult, and 10% is homework, which can be quite tedious but is overall manageable. Scerri is very funny at times, but can also be quite dull at other times. However, I would say he's in the better half of professors I've had at UCLA. Don't even bother wasting money on the textbook.
Lastly, going to discussion definitely didn't hurt me either. Some of the more complicated concepts such as molecular orbital theory and hybridization were ironed out for me through my TA's teaching.
Overall, this class is manageable, and the resources for you to do well are definitely there.

Okay so coming from a low education background, this was my first REAL chemistry class. And oh my goodness, this professor made me hate chemistry.

I honestly believe that this class is just dependent on how you learn... and I've met people who really like Scerri as a professor. But he just wasn't it for me. Hardly anything stuck and I found it hard to find the correlation between some concepts and what we were talking about last week. Again, might just be me, but I feel like I didn't learn much coming out of this class and was just scraping by.

All in all, easy workload (as long as you don't put it off) and an okay class. Not my vibe though.

The Chem 14 series is just hard altogether, there is no "easy" professor, especially if you don't know how you learn. With that being said, GOODLUCK. Try new methods, and rely on yourself rather than the professor! I personally liked Scerri for 14A, but don't rely on my review

Great class! Loved Professor Scerri. He is so intelligent and very willing to help you at office hours!

Selling textbook and solution manual--$30! Message me at **********!

Wonderful professor, take this great man for 14A!!

As a north campus major having never taken AP chem, I felt uncomfortable heading into this class. However, Scerri's teaching style is extremely student friendly and easy to grasp. As multiple reviews below me have advised, MEMORIZE THE COURSE READER. EVERYTHING from his exams comes from the course reader. If it's not in the course reader- it won't be on the test. But if it is, even if it's some insignificant graph you didn't think to glance at, it might very well be.

The grading system for our year was simple- 30% midterm, 30% thinkwell quizzes, & 40% final. Thinkwell quizzes are a bit frustrating since they often cover different concepts than you learned in class, but just go by the videos posted on their site and you'll secure a 90%+ on them. Plus you get 3 tries on each, so don't sweat it too much.

All in all, this guy is amazing. He's funny, kind, and there to help students- not to mention he has an awesome accent. Nearly every lecture was entertaining for me, and again, I am not a science person. With a 92% quiz average, 91% (unweighted) midterm, and unknown final, I came out of the class with an A. If I did it, anybody can do it. Put in the time, review the course reader every night, and you'll be rewarded with that seemingly unattainable Chem 14A 4.0.

And a shoutout to the most amazing Teaching Assistant a student can ever ask for- Heidi Bednar. This woman will simply chem concepts for you like none other. Find her on the first day of lecture, write down her discussion times, and attend them. I could write an entire essay on how awesome of a teacher she is, but I'll leave it to you to go to one of her section and find out for yourself.

Coming into this class I was already feeling nervous since it had been 4 years since I took chemistry in high school and more than anything it was just honors chem. All I can say is this class was tough, definitely not one you can ease through unless you remember a lot of chem from high school or you're just cracked. Professor Scerri is a decent professor, I'd like to say he does know what he teaches and you can clearly tell that he knows his topics. However, I think he is just super disorganized and makes his exams pretty difficult. The class is made up of three things: quizzes (30%), midterm (30%), and final (40%). He curves like crazy even though on his syllabus it says he'll only grade straight. I think our midterm average was 65% and if you got a 65% you'd get a B- and the hard cutoff of an A- was 70%. I would say I definitely wouldn't have passed if it wasn't for the curve. Quizzes are an easy 100% so do not forget doing them, you basically get unlimited attempts until you get 100%! I honestly studied really hard for this class, attended office hours almost every week, so despite that still getting a B. The TAs, not gonna lie, were terrible and made so many errors that I stopped relying on them as much because the answer keys they created for their reviews were wrong and they would make small errors when I ask them to go over topics in their Office Hours. These inconsistencies during office hours would confuse myself in the topics I was trying to learn, so just be cautious. I think overall do not take this course if you don't have the time commitments for it!!! He really doesn't gaf about you and he expects you to remember everything from high school chemistry. I think it was also worse the second half of the quarter because content becomes so much harder and complex (at least in my opinion).

Honestly, I don't think Professor Scerri deserves all the hate. I am in no way a Chem Scholar, but the class was definitely not bad if you put in the work. This class isn't one to put aside studying for (from a master procrastinator), and the more you do practice questions and go to discussions, the more you will succeed. The TAs are pretty doodoo, but if you get a good one and use them to your advantage, you should be fine. There aren't a lot of grades he puts into the grade book (Midterm, Final, and Homework), but he curves the exams so much that it is pretty much gonna be okay if you go into the tests knowing your stuff. For example, for our midterm, the class average was around a 60%, and he curved the grades so that a 70% would be the cutoff for an A-. He is very lenient and very thoughtful, but he doesn't tolerate disrespect and tardiness, and HE WILL CALL YOU OUT, so don't be the student on the first day to be talking while he is. Scerri's accent honestly gave me the most motivation to succeed and listen during lectures lol. With that being said, a great professor, hard topics in a short amount of time, and prioritize studying. THIS IS A WEEDER CLASS!!!! Be ready, and good luck!

Coming into this class I was super nervous because I hadn't taken a chemistry class (honors HS chem) in 4 years and because of Scerri's reputation. But honestly this class wasn't that bad. You 100% need to put in the work to get the grade you want.
Scerri as a professor isn't that good, and the content is definitely hard no matter who you have. Lecture are recorded and not mandatory, but you definitely should go. We often did practice problems during lecture and you could ask the professor/TAs questions. Also, make sure to do EVERY single TA worksheet and practice midterm and final posted, AND sign up for a PLF if possible. The PLF was extremely helpful in creating dedicated time to study and mine taught me literally everything in a more simple way.

Grading scheme:
30% Achieve quizzes which can be retaken an unlimited number of times
30% midterm (MCQ)
40% final (MCQ)

Overall, this class is definitely hard but is doable. I spent probably 30 hours solely doing practice problems in the week leading up to the final, but it totally paid off. Also the curve is INSANE and an A for the midterm was 70% (so if youre confident in chem maybe take him for that). good luck!!

I didn't really get a chemistry education in HS, so I was really worried about taking his class (especially because I read all of the past reviews).

And honestly, he's not that bad.

Is he the greatest lecturer? No. Did I have to do a decent amount of self-studying and review? Yes. But I think that was bound to happen either way. Regardless of who you take it with, I Chem14A is a difficult class, and no professor is going to make it EASY. Scerri records his lectures, doesn't make attendance mandatory, and he goes over worked examples in class, which ended up being super helpful on the tests. There are definitely some areas where he could've explained some things a little better in lecture (he's not amazing at explaining things conceptually, and sometimes his slides are pretty confusing), but I was able to understand them with some additional Google searching or re-watching parts of the lecture.

On top of that, I felt that the midterm and final tests, albeit large parts of my grade, were extremely fair (no curveballs) and covered equations and concepts proportionately. The tests were all MCQs for us, which was nice. The curve was also MASSIVE (e.g. I needed a 71% on the midterm to get an A-), so even though I didn't do great, it ended up being okay.

Overall solid 7/10 class.