Prof Scerri is not a great lecturer, and not good about giving help. Thankfully I learned most of this stuff from AP Chem, I don't think I could've learned this for the first time under the quarter system with Scerri. He can come across as kind of mean and dismissive, at least when I asked him questions. His tests were very easy and straightforward though.

It's difficult to say anything about Scerri that has not been already said, so this review is more of a survival guide for this class than an actual critique of the professor, because bottom line, DO NOT take Scerri unless you have to. I have never had a good chemistry teacher or professor in my life, and while Scerri doesn't take the cake for the worst of the bunch, he should not be teaching, at least not in the capacity he is. Lecture is not mandatory, but you absolutely should either go to lecture or watch the recordings, maybe even more than once, because he takes things directly from the lectures and puts them "word for word" on the exams. The exams themselves aren't actually that difficult, but the fact that he doesn't teach you sh*t means it can be difficult to prepare. I found the textbook problems helpful, the achieve questions most helpful, and the practice exams also pretty helpful. I highly recommend the MIT opencourseware gen chem videos, specifically the ones on titrations, if you're struggling with how to connect the concept to what you actually need to do on an exam. Do not go to his office hours because they're a catastrophic waste of time. He won't respond to emails, so don't bother. Ask your TA for help if you're stuck, and find a different TA if your TA also sucks at teaching. Discussion isn't mandatory, and I don't think it's worth it unless your TA is awesome. Start studying for this class week 1, and don't let the achieve quizzes creep up on you (they have unlimited attempts, thankfully).

This was probably the hardest class I've taken at UCLA so far. Coming into this class, I was extremely scared because Professor Scerri got the name "Scary Scerri" as he is often seen as unaccommodating and rude. To be quite honest, he did have his moments where it seemed like he would "belittle" people for asking a question, but it honestly could just be how he joked around. Despite receiving a lower grade in the class, I cannot blame Scerri because I didn't really put in the effort to study (I started studying for exams day of). I think that Scerri's lectures (which are recorded), although disorganized, efficiently covered the topics on the exams and the practice problems throughout lecture definitely highlighted the main points that he was trying to emphasize. Furthermore, Scerri also provided practice exams that were similar to the midterm and final, so it is definitely possible to do well in the class. The midterm was 30%, the final was 40%, and Achieve quizzes were 30%. The achieve quizzes were extremelyyy long and literally so useless. However, we did have unlimited attempts so this category should be an easy 100%. Also, definitely go to the TA discussion sections as they'll usually sum of the topics of the week and provide practice problems to enhance your understanding.

If you aren't ready to study quite a bit for this course or if you have other STEM courses/ ECs that will eat up your time, maybe this professor isn't for you. Although we have the freedom of basically not having any consistent homework, it's really up to you to stay on top of things, as you will struggle if you fall behind. However, if you keep up with the lectures, do and UNDERSTAND the problems, and put in enough time, then you should do fine in this class. Scerri was not as bad as others made him out to be, but he also isn't the best.

AVOID IF YOU CAN. The chem 14 series is hard enough as is being a weeder class, dont make it harder on yourself. The only thing I have to say positively about this class is that its Bruincasted and the Achieve Quizzes have infinite attempts. Other than that the lectures are boring with unorganized slides, the professor isnt easily accesible and doesnt seem to care all that much about student learning. He makes a lot of assumptions on chemistry knowledge even though this is only the second course of the series and is covering completely different topics. The tests are also extremely hard, the curve my quarter had a 60/90 still being an A for the midterm, due to the class struggling so hard. The achieve quizzes arent anything like the tests in class, and although you are given the whole quarter to. complete them the work load is massive. I couldn't recommend someone NOT take this class any more.

Scerri is the worst professor I have had thus far. His slides are organized horribly and he doesn't like it when people ask clarifying questions in class. He also assigned homework that was much harder than anything we did in class and was mostly unrelated to the exams. The breakdown of the grades is horrible and very harsh for a class at this level. The exams were so conceptual it was unfair because he mentioned it for 0.002 seconds in lecture yet I have to write a whole explanation for it. CALCULUS IS NOT A PRE-REC so we shouldn't be expected to know who to integrate and derive. I have not taken a calculus class and the description and syllabus did not mention needing it. Scerri needs to seriously look at his class structure and learn how to care about his students or he should quit. He has a horrible reputation as an unfair and bad professor for a good reason. I didn't think he could be as bad as the reviews and that was true - he's worse.

This class is fairly manageable as long as you can productively self-study. The breakdown of this course is 30% midterms (split into 2 midterms, which is unique only to 2023 Spring), 30% homework, and 40% final. The homework is through Achieve, and the questions can be pretty tricky and very time consuming, but you have unlimited attempts so it is manageable to get 100% in this category. As for the midterms and final, they draw similarities from his previous tests, so make sure to do a bunch of practice midterms he posts, and look at the TA study guides too. Overall, I did not go to his lectures in person often, as I found it easier to watch them online and pause/ go back whenever I was confused, and in his lectures, he would include some jokes and was pretty clear on explaining things. Lecture and discussion weren't mandatory, so this class really is a self-studying course. Scerri's 14B ultimately comes down to how well you do on the midterm and final, so as long as you set aside quality productive study time for this class, you will be fine.

This class was mid tbh. "Scary Scerri" wasn't as scary as I expected. The achieve problems were annoying and complicated and often did not connect to his lectures. He provides past exams and midterms to use as study material which is helpful, but the tests are still difficult and count for the majority of your grade (70%).

I took this course during the TA strike of fall quarter and really struggled. Chem has always never fully clicked for me so I put in THE WORK. I have a tutor, go to office hours twice a week, meet with my TA's, and study a good amount. This class is HARD and when there were no TAs, I felt little/none support from the prof. The only leeway given was an in-person, multipul choice final. I passed the course, but just expect to be teaching yourself the material. And if chem doesn't come easy to you, expect to struggle.

Honestly, I feel this class gets a lot more shit than it deserves. I, 100%, believe that I would be more peeved if I did not receive an A, so take this review with a grain of salt, since knowing my grade will give it a more positive skew. I went into this class utterly terrified due to past reviews, but left feeling... okay

Firstly, the categories and weights that make up your grade are: Achieve (30%), Midterm (30%) and Final (40%). Unfortunately, you are graded on a bell curve, it didn't seem to make much of an impact this quarter (for better or for worse). It seems like many of the complaints regarding down curving stemmed from COVID quarters where averages were far higher than they were in person. I'm not arguing that this justifies down-curving, but it doesn't seem like it's as common when there are in person exams.

The most important thing to know about Scerri's exams is that questions are often times pulled from previous exams (he posts around 3 each for the midterm and final). The amount of time allotted felt very reasonable. Some of the multiple choice questions were a little finicky, but overall not awful. This was definitely the case with the midterm for this quarter.

The final this quarter was... odd to say the least. Because of the TA strike, Scerri was forced to make the exam fully multiple choice (45 questions). While most questions were solvable (or at least, were solvable considering what we were taught), there were a few problems that we were not equipped to solve. These questions, luckily, were removed from the final entirely, so our exam was out of 41 instead of out of 45. We were not given the results of the final unfortunately, I do understand however that distributing final results may have been made difficult because of the strike, but it obviously would've been very helpful to know, especially for students who didn't do as well as they expected or hoped. I do not think making this exam online would've been a good idea. Because this class is curved, going online would only punish students who decide not to cheat on the exam. Overall, the questions on the final weren't awful. I hated the electrochemistry questions, but granted electrochemistry just sucks in general.

In terms of achieve, it's horrible if you leave it until the last minute. My final score could've been far better if I didn't have to spend hours upon hours finishing achieve during week 10. Scerri did extend the deadline multiple times, which was nice, however I did just end up putting achieve off to the new deadline. If you manage your time throughout the quarter, achieve is very doable, and serves as a free 100% to your overall grade.

This class does require a lot of self studying outside of class, but I do believe Scerri is very straightforward about what you need to know for exams. Solved examples during lecture are often times 1:1 parallels (both conceptually and word for word) to exams seen on the exam. He is pretty responsive to emails, so that's nice. The TA strike did make post midterm content harder to understand and fully comprehend, but the curved nature of grades makes accommodations (like online exams or 24 hour exams) difficult to implement without unintended side effects.

Overall, 6/10 class. I barely have HS chem experience, so if I could do ok, I'd wager anyone could.

Not a great professor, honestly. In terms of lecturing, his lectures are super dry which would be fine if the midterms and final weren't so hard. I managed to get by with Scerri in 14A because the practice problems he released actually covered all the stuff that would be on the test, but that was not the case this quarter and as a result I got a B+ when I got an A in 14A (not bad I know, but I'm lowkey bitter about it). I can say for certain that I would not understand as much as I did if it hadn't been for my TA, Thomas. He was great and really filled in the clarity gaps that were left during Scerri's lectures. Hoping that I'm not getting this professor again since I've had him for two quarters in a row now.
Another note: DON'T PUT THE ACHIEVE OFF UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. You'll regret it, I definitely did lol