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 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.

I had only honors chem in my background before taking this class, so this review is for the people who don't know anything about chem:

I am absolutely horrified with this class. Just throw in the towel. This class was disturbing. It was extremely challenging. Do not let my grade fool you. I had to do the following extra things to achieve this grade...barely.

-14A workshop (practice worksheets with a TA for ~3 hours per week)
-14A PLF (basically tutoring for 3 hours per week)
-14A Discussion (1 hour per week)

I knew more of the content than the average student in that class because of how much I studied throughout the entire quarter. The class average on the midterm was 62%....a lot of people got 20%s and someone even got a 5%. Please do not take this class if you don't think you can commit to at least that amount of studying every week throughout the quarter. You will barely make it. And if you do, you will probably end up with a C. Scerri curves the average to a B so yeah, you have some hope, but I recommend just waiting for a different quarter with a different professor. This class is really rough. You can prepare for this breakdown:
-Midterm (30%)
-Quizzes (30%)
-Final (40%)
The quizzes are unlimited tries and at home. You must do these throughout the quarter to get it in on time so keep that in mind. This class is really very difficult. I noticed that the people who did okay were the ones who had taken AP Chem and did well in that class. Just do not take it with Scerri (but if you must, watch youtube, sign up for a PLF, and Godspeed).

Eric Scerri is the worst professor I have ever had. He is rude to students, uhelpful, and pedantic. His slideshows do not have thorough explanations, and neither does he! He expects students to already understand many concepts, or ends him explaining topics with "so on and so forth." I emailed him once asking a question, as my TA did not respond, and he was extremely rude and demeaning, not even offering an answer. He clearly thinks he is better than his students, and does not care about their understanding of material or general well-being. The class average on the midterm was a D-, and he did not seem bothered; he actually laughed about it in lecture! I believe he thrives on his students' failures, because it might him feel as though he has outsmarted us. He spends lots of time explaining anomalies on subjects, just to end it with 'you won't be tested on this' -- wasting all of our time, while boosting his ego. I genuienly do not understand how he is tenured. He is the worst professor I have ever had. Plus, he is kind of (actually that is an understatement, he is extremely) creepy. I suppose that is not his fault, however. He is overly self-important; often telling students in the courtyard outside to be quiet despite them simply having a conversation. His only strength is he has cute cats he showed us once on Zoom -- I'll give him that.
I took AP Chem in high school, earning an A and passing the test, and still, Scerri's explanations of basic chemistry concepts are SO confusing, as if his goal is to mislead or confuse us. Scerri needs to be fired, or only allowed to teach upper divion or graduate student work, since he gets frustrated when student's ask questions or do not understand concepts; he should NOT be teaching a introductory chemistry class for hundreds of students. He does not give enough example problems, focuses too much on specific scenarios instead of general ideas, and does not review well for exams. He also does not ever talk about the course textbook or assignments. He just assumed you immediately understand all topics. If you want to get an A in Chem 14A, you have to teach yourself and supplement course material with YouTube videos, or hope you have outside knowledge or a background in chemistry. He doesn't care how you perform, so don't expect him to be direct or ever help. Eric Scerri is not just an awful and inconsiderate professor, he is simply bad at teaching chemistry. 2nd most influential chemist of the 2010s my ass.