Taking 14A with Scerri can be difficult. He does not give that much work (two graded homeworks, 3-4 online open book/person/professor quizzes) but his lectures can be hard to understand. He projects the course reader on screen (so I highly recommend taking notes before class) and often just uses it to branch into more information. He is very focused on concepts, but it's very easy to tackle what he will test you on. Focus on understanding and being able to copy graphs he provides, definitely focus on little things (ie: philosophy/history of chemistry), and, of course, the content. The midterm can shake you (just because he asks for such random information) but once you are able to figure out his thought process behind making exams, you can easily prepare for the final. The textbook can be 'bought' from the 3rd edition up, so it's easy to find online for free.

I was expecting to come into an introduction of chemistry, aside from what I had already learned in high school. However, that was not even enough for one week. The professor went through everything very quickly. He speaks as if though we should already know what he is referring to. He said buy a textbook but he never said what to read and honestly there was so much you can't just pin point a chapter. His lectures were boring and monotone. You could miss the lectures because you wouldn't really pick up on anything. If you fall behind day 1 because you don't understand the topic, there is no chance at recovering. I went to every single lecture and still didn't understand. The tests were hard and it covered historical parts of chemistry. Only take this class if you HAVE TO. And try to get another professor.

Hi! I'm selling both the textbook required for this class (Chemical Principles 6th edition) and the solution manual for $50! Please text ********** if interested!

This man is a stain. A stain on my otherwise decent transcript. Avoid him at all costs!!!! He is a LIFE RUINER. He will ruin your life.

I'm selling PDFs of The Chemical Principles, Official Studyguide, and Student Solutions Manual. Text me at **********.

honestly class was pretty easy, i didn't do much and could have gotten an A if I studied a bit more in advance (and by more in advance I mean early than the night before)

I took this class with basic knowledge from my regular chemistry class in high school. That is, simple mole calculations and ideal gas law. This material was only covered in the first week and half. So everything covered afterwards was completely foreign to me. Despite the reputation of chem 14a being difficult, the grade you get is the work you put in, even if it's your first time learning chem (no excuses!). In order to do well (get an A) in the class, you want to review his lecture slides (he doesn't sell course readers anymore, but you can get an old one since not much has changed. I actually recommend getting one so you can write down your notes directly on the slides).

Since Scerri teaches things conceptually, you want to know the main ideas for the most part. For instance, for the photoelectric effect, it is important to know the experiment that led to the discovery of photons and the graphs associated. Formulas are provided on the exams so you do not have to memorize any of them, but do know what to plug in. Attendance is not necessary but it does help since he often points out the key things to study for. If you do decide to go to lecture, you must pay attention since you'll be actively figuring out a puzzle. This is because when he writes on the blackboard, it does not flow from left to right but instead he'll just use any available space (often starting from the middle to the left then the right board). This means that you should take notes as he is writing things down. He is somewhat monotone but tends to crack jokes every now and then. One cool thing about him was that he dedicated 1-2 lectures for review where he covered all the topics from day 1 before the exams . He also has TAs that hold after-class review sessions. The only issue with him was that he assumed that most students knew how to do stoichiometry and covered that very quickly. So if you have not done stoichiometry, try to grasp what you can in lecture, then reinforce it by watching Khan Academy, etc. And to those saying, "I pay tuition to learn from the professor, not a textbook or Khan Academy", there is only so much information that Scerri can cover in 50 minute lectures and all the tested information is on his slides anyway.

Again, to do well, make sure to spend time studying on your own every week (2-4 hours/week), go to discussion/lecture, and do the practice midterm and finals (he often reuses a few questions). My TA was Sam Lilak and he was great because he offered weekly problem sets with solutions (very helpful) and was also very thorough in discussion. Oh, and the exams are curved generously. The average for both lectures in winter quarter for the midterm was around 63/92 or 68% with a standard deviation of 17 points. He made the average a standard B (so one SD up is an A, 80/92). The final was much harder due to it being cumulative and also because the content after the midterm was more complicated (I do not know the stats). In total, exams will make up 70% of your grade (30% midterm, 40% final). The other 30% lies in Thinkwell quizzes and written homework (20% and 10% respectively). The Thinkwell quizzes (3-4) are open notes and you have 3 tries, with the highest score being recorded. You have about a week to complete it. The quizzes were relatively easy but often times had nothing to do with what was covered in lecture. In order to do well on these, watch the Thinkwell videos as many of the answers are there. As for the written homework (2), Scerri took problems from past midterms and finals. You also have a week to complete this. Make sure to check your work, especially when using sig figs! (1-2 points taken off incorrect sig figs) Overall, you should be getting pretty high scores (near 100%) for the homework.

Remember, chem 14a is a weeder class and is designed to "weed" out those who doesn't have what it takes or are not ready for the pre-med life. The negative reviews (blaming the professor rather than themselves) simply show how many there are. Those people probably did not put the extra effort to study or go out of their way and attend office hours when they don't understand something in lecture. As long as you try and use your resources correctly, you should be perfectly fine.

Don't let other reviews fool you- you CAN get a good grade in this class if you put in the work. I entered the class with virtually 0 knowledge of how to do even simple mole calculations. I put in a lot of hours into this class doing practice problems, reading the textbook, and studied the slides religiously. For midterms and finals, EVERYTHING was predictable and expected if you looked at his past exams that he both provides and you can get from the test bank. Nothing was a shock. Curve on exams was a big help too. If you put in extra hours, you will get a good grade.

Selling hardcover textbook for 14A/B for 50$. **********

Chem 14A, and the rest of the chemistry classes, is one of the most feared classes at UCLA. The material is very interesting but sometimes hard to grasp. I went into chem 14A scared, and that caused me to work very hard. Professor Scerri is not the worst and is not the best professor out there, and his class is not a walk in the park, but it is also not a heavy load. I recommend going to office hours, studying his past exams (he reuses them), and taking advantage of other resources such as youtube. If you try hard, you'll be okay! You need to put in work in this class, no doubt.

I am also selling his Chem 14A course readers which contain all his lecture slides, extra notes, and his past exams as well as the required textbook Chemical Principles. Email me at *************