Not sure what all the bad bruinwalk reviews are talking about in this class with Dr. Ow. I feel like you are guaranteed to do well if you stay caught up with lecture and the extra practice problems that Dr. Ow provides, which is what he warns you about in the very first lecture. I will say that the problems from the textbook don't align too well with his exams, but they are still good to understand the material thoroughly. Furthermore, there are some topics where Dr. Ow does NOT teach you how to approach (ie. chair conformation + flips) and you will most likely have to go to outside resources in order to fully understand how to do the related problems. So make sure to review material early on so you can tackle problems right away and see if there are things Ow did not touch up on. That being said, there are some ochem professors that do not provide practice problems, and fortunately Dr. Ow provides a lot of them.
I felt that the exams were very fair. If you know the material, both midterms and the final should leave you with a lot of extra time to check your work. For the first two midterms, they were more similar to the quizzes, homeworks, and extra problem sets on canvas. The final definitely caught some people off guard, as Ow implemented more conceptual questions like how different spectroscopy methods work. SO make sure to pay attention to lecture slides as the material in them is all fair game. In the event you do sorta bad on an exam, it's not the end of the world. There's a review with the category weights and you can see that the homework, quiz, and discussion categories add a lot of cushioning for the exams.
My last comment is to beware of the biomolecules. Dr. Ow kinda just speeds over them in the last week before the final and you don't really know what he would ask about them eeee

Prof Ow is pretty cool. His lecture is very well organized and concise. His exams are pretty much straightforward from his notes and practice exams. He curves the average to B/B-, which looks good. My only complaint is that he sometimes does not explain the concepts in detail if you don't ask him. If you put some efforts, definitely you can get an A. Highly Recommended.

NEVER EVER EVER EVER — and I mean NEVER EVER — take this class. Like many of you, I checked professor Ow's BruinWalk reviews and saw what seemed to be a beaming ray of sunlight — great overall rating, great professor rating, and EVEN outstanding comments from previous years. Well, I need all of you to look past all of that because ALL WRONG. EVERYONE IS LYING.

As an academic overachiever, I have found myself thriving with a 4.0, valedictorian, and even getting through my first year of college with a 4.0 across the board. So, when I say this class has single-handedly made me reconsider everything I know about science, myself, and the educational system, believe me. I had many friends with other chemistry professors, and they seemed to walk away from 14A unscathed. But Ow, on the other hand, has managed to create the absolutely most impossible class that has left many of my friends — myself included— feeling an unrepairable sense of doom, self-doubt, and lack of trust.

If you don't feel like reading everything I have to say, remember this one thing:
Ow DOWNCURVED the entire class. That pretty much sums it up.

After a quarter of sleepless nights, studying until my nails bleed, and ultimately trying to absorb every single detail, I still managed to find myself constantly surprised and disappointed by the truly unexplainably impossible nature of this class. In the end, I did get a B+, which honestly isn't that bad. But when you take a step back to realize the sheer amount of effort to reach this point, it suddenly becomes clear that this B+ symbolizes Ow's result for a student who has pushed themselves to their very limit.

I will give him credit that in the very first lecture he gently "warned" us, but the warning honestly should have been a red blaring siren because everything immediately went downhill. Each exam had an entirely different format from each other, none of which aligned with the practice exams. He did preface that they might not necessarily align, but the reality is that he truly does not create resources for us to succeed in the slightest. The ONLY people I know who even captured an A in this class were students who were scraping to ignite their chemistry knowledge from high school. Even a friend of mine who scored high As on both midterms found themselves unable to get an A in the class.

I went to office hours — which made me feel somehow emotionally penalized for showing up. He made me feel like it was my fault, as an individual, for asking for help. He invites questions to be asked but then makes you feel stupid for asking them in the first place. And the cherry on top, he offered two opportunities for 0.2% extra credit. Gee thanks. It almost felt like a slap in the face because that extra credit essentially makes no difference, and any difference it does make was ENTIRELY ELIMINATED by the class down the curve. So, if you spend the quarter attempting to calculate your grade — throw that method out the window. Your grades will ultimately be unknown to you, and unknown until he has decided how he wants curve — which was DOWN — AND ALREADY IMPUTED INTO MYUCLA. Once your fate is sealed, there is simply nothing you can do.

That being said, success in Ow's class entirely relies on your capacity to either 1. remember everything from high school or 2. miraculously become Ow and read his mind. If neither of those things pertain to you, then you simply do not stand the slightest of chances.

For some of you, taking Ow may be your only choice, in which case, I am very sorry. Say farewell to your 4.0 because after this class it will not be coming back. However, I can provide a slight bit of advice that can hopefully prepare you for your fate to come:
- The exams will present questions that you may have never seen before, so when you study, think BEYOND the content. You need to learn the context of chemistry outside of the things covered in class in order to succeed.
- mentally prepare yourself and lower your expectations. I came into this class filled with ambition, but I quickly found myself being disappointed time and time again.
- grades are not everything.... one quarter of chemistry certainly will not define the trajectory of your life. So try to remind yourself that you are so much stronger than 14A with Ow.

To those of you who have made it to the end of this review, I applaud your commitment to success. It is clear that you want to do well and that you are willing to take extra time to make that difference in your academics. I wish you all the best in your enrollment times and good grade fortune in the years to come.

If you want to regret ever becoming a STEM student, take this class. I would rather repeat my junior year of high school (with SAT stuff, AP classes, and college apps) and relive the whole of quarantine a hundred times than take this professor again. TBH Ochem is not that hard of a subject but teachers like this make it extremely difficult for students to pass the class. How is the midterm 5 pages for 2 hours but then the final is 14 pages for 3 hours including upload time? It's not adding up. In the last two weeks of class, he merely glanced over the biomolecular stuff without any concrete examples and that made up 60% of the final. He is very nit-picky with answers and sometimes it's hard to get partial credit. If you want peace of mind and a decent grade, save yourself and take someone else.

This was amazing. I strongly recommend taking this class over the summer.
Three exams. Each multiple choice. 12 questions.
Homework is based on completion and there is one assigned every week.
Lectures are recorded.

30B is one of the most difficult chem classes you'll probably have to take, but even for someone like me whos weakness is chem, and scored low on the two exams, his grade thresholds makes it virtually impossible to fail.

He doesn't curve or offer extra credit, but is a very straightforward lecturer. He explains his thought process with every step and his lectures are pretty helpful to gain a decent understanding, but 30B requires a lot of critical thinking and an "intuition" for a lot of it that you'll have to develop on your own with soooo much practice. He doesn't overcomplicate concepts during lecture which makes it very easy to digest in-class, but you have to master these concepts to be able to apply them in an much more advanced way during the exam. Lectures are recorded, and you pretty don't need to actually go but I learned better in person. He throws in some humor here and there which is nice to break up the rigor of the class.

The book problems are not required and are a hit or miss, they were helpful in the beginning but too easy compared to the actual exams near the end of the quarter. For alcohols and mechanisms I'd recommend making a list of each "toolbelt" item he gives you and what it does. Refer back to this while you practice till it becomes second nature. He says there's no memorization but you definitely need to memorize these "tools"

The quizzes are online over the weekend and not too bad, two are dropped. The exams however are rough. The way he asks questions on exams is really weird and he will throw in the random thing from lecture you probably didn't think was important. It's also a LOT of work for a 50 minute exam so make sure you don't freeze up during it.

Having no assignments other than a small quiz means lots of time to study for this class on your own which is doable! I know a lot of people who succeeded in this class despite the tough exams

I don't like ochem. However, this professor made the subject bearable. He was very straight to the point and his lectures are helpful. There is no mandated homework, but DEFINITELY do the discussion and suggested problems. The only way to study for ochem is to do the questions enough to understand the patterns. He is a great professor. Attendance is not mandatory but I really felt like his lectures helped me understand and get a good grade in ochem which I personally never thought was possible. I would take him again if I had another chem class, but I do not plan to anytime soon.

This review is someone who has a weak Chemistry background (no honors Chem or AP Chem):

Ow, is very clear on what he teaches, he uses slides, but he makes you interact with them and he tells you what is "important" and what to prioritize on the tests. There are quizzes that are assigned on Friday that you take home and due every Sunday. There isn't homework, but I recommend you do the practice problems as they are relatively the same difficulty as the Midterms and Exams. Attending lectures is a must if you don't want to fall behind.

He has office hours for those who need extra help. IF you are someone who doesn't get Chem I suggest you sign up for the AAP sessions and don't skip Discussion.

It's organic chemistry; there's are very few positive things to say about the material itself, but Professor Ow makes the subject so much more digestible than my professor for Chem 30A. As long as you pay attention in class, Professor Ow provides you with all of the necessary information to do well on the exams. There is no hunting for a hidden meaning; his lectures are very straight-forward. His exams are completely fair.

Take this guy!!!! He is so good at lecturing and he really knows his stuff!!! I had questions TAs couldn’t answer and he could in like 2 sentences. As long as you go to class and do the homework it will be a piece of cake. That being said he did downcurve the class by 1% which is the only thing he did that I disagreed with. Overall, 14A w Prof Ow was a really enjoyable experience!!