took 14d with Prof Ow during fall 2021. hardest class I have ever taken, with no empathy shown towards the fact that we were transitioning back to in person classes after 1.5 years or that we are students with other responsibilities. if this is your only hard/demanding class, I think it is possible to dedicate ALL your time to the class and get an A or B. if you end up having to take this amongst other STEM classes/major classes or if you have other responsibilities that take up time throughout the week, it was really tough to keep up in my opinion. he goes VERY fast when explaining material and gives weekly quizzes that are pretty hard. exams are also timed and really long, and there was no curve even though our averages were very low (ie. first midterm average was a D). avoid taking with him if you can but good luck if you have no choice

Not enough practice problems were given for this class. The textbook solutions were poorly written and I honestly learnt the most by doing practice exams. Campuswire was unresponsive and normally questions were answered with a single short sentence that did not help a lot. Materials seem easy he just made it a lot harder to understand and practice.

Ok, this is a review for his 14CL class because he's not listed as a professor. Overall would recommend taking this lab with him because he was super generous (not like how his descriptions are for his 14C class). His grading scale was nice (90% and up was an A). For the final, which was in person, we were allowed to bring 1 whole page of a cheat sheet front and back--- so super nice. His exams were honestly not bad at all. The in-person labs were also not bad but that part just depends on who your TA is and if they are generous or not. Btw I had Du, S, and would def recommend it because he graded so easily. Also, I would recommend getting a PLF for this course to help with the pre and post-labs. Overall this class is A LOT of busy work. An average week was 1 prelab due Tues/Wed and 1 post-lab due Tues/Wed and those take a lot of time. All-in-all, this class is not that bad and would recommend this professor.

Everyone, fear not as you enter the 14 series. As a scared cat that had not taken Chemistry since ONLINE with cartoon labs in high school, I somehow pulled an A+ in this class. Dr. Ow is the best you get for 14A or any other class, let me tell you I love this man so much. Yes, he can be quite aggressive sounding if you ask a question in lecture, but I think that is just how he is. His slides go over what is covered on exams very well and he does not pull too many tricks or surprises ever; I found all exams extremely fair. On the first exam though, I did not fill out the boxed area for the answer, as i ran out of time, and got a 64% because of it, but I got an A+ still after locking the hell in for the next two exams, and I somehow got 34/36 on the final, saving me.

I believe it was very helpful as I’m in AAP PLF sessions, so if you are able, totally join one!! I found discussions n
NEVER helped as the TA acted as if we should know literal rocket science, so seek out other resources for sure to be successful.

First two exams are mixes of free response solving, mostly using equations for the first exam and knowing all of the bonds and things he puts on the slides for the second one. The final is 36 multiple choice questions and sadly the average was 72% on it, and I don’t know that he curves unless the average strays too far from about a B+ (chem dpts typical grade).

You got this ik its a bit scary but if u can, absolutely take it with dr owowowowowowo, he also made me laugh just due to his bluntness a lot so that was entertaining and worthwhile!

After taking 14D with Dr. Reilly, I desperately wish that I had Dr. Ow for 14D. In 14C, the classes were fast-paced but clear. If you do ALL textbook problems assigned you will succeed. Dr. Ow's lectures have a lot of content, but he rarely falls behind and plans the class well. He finished with content before exams so you have time to prepare. You know what will be on the tests as long as you keep up with the material.

Grade distribution as of Spring 2025:
Mandatory discussion attendance - 12%
Canvas Quizzes (basically practice quizzes) - 20%
Practice Exams - 3%, graded by completion
Exam 1 - 20%
Exam 2 - 20%
Cumulative Final Exam - 25%

NOTE: You won't need Achieve to access the textbook, all quizzes are in Canvas and practice problems are in the content of the book and not the courseware, so I'm sure you know where to get the textbook elsewhere.

Dr. Ow is a really good professor to introduce chemistry with. Even though I had experience in AP Chemistry, a lot of what we learn in 14A goes even more in-depth than any high school/AP Chemistry type course, while still emphasizing the fundamentals. If you have to memorize something, Dr. Ow will make it VERY CLEAR. If you have to know a certain concept/type of problem, Dr. Ow will make it VERY CLEAR indeed. Homework is NOT graded. However, do not let that fool you; practice problems are essential for succeeding in this course.

Lectures are recorded, both through BruinCast and through Zoom, which he uploads in case BruinCast takes too long. In all honesty, I've only attended one lecture in person my entire quarter because this class was during the section of a different class I had to take (by unfortunate coincidence). Instead, I always made time to take notes on the recorded lectures.

Even if you do not attend lectures, do not slack off with practicing and keeping up. Topics can go by fairly quickly in a quarter system and pop up when you least expect them on an exam. Go to office hours, whether it is Dr. Ow's (his were unfortunately 8am this quarter) or your TA's. Shoutout to Kathryn for being such a goated TA. She gave a lot of practice and knew the ins and outs of the course content very well, you can tell she has a lot of experience.

The CHEM14 series is designed so that the average grade is around a B+, but don't let that scare you. With lots of practice and seeking out of resources, you will thrive even if unconventionally, like what I did with conflicting lecture times.

Dr. Ow was a decent professor and fairly helpful. I didn't find the class particularly hard, but be sure to study every single slide he posts. Even though he often said that we wouldn't go that in depth for certain topics, he would ask questions on his tests that were on slides he didn't go over that much - I found that these were the points I missed the most on all his tests. The class consisted of two midterms, a final, and discussion attendance.

This is my second course taken with Dr. Ow, and I honestly cannot convey how great this man is. He's definitely my favorite and probably the single best professor I've had thus far. The material is obviously very complicated, but Ow is able to explain it in a way that makes a lot of sense because he goes through problems from the perspective of how he would solve them. He points out patterns and key clues that help show you how to solve a problem, doesn't unnecessarily complicate things, and is actually pretty funny and engaging during lecture. He's also very responsive via email and hosts frequent office hours, so he's definitely in your corner.

Because there is a lot to cover, the amount of material shown in lecture can feel a bit rushed at times, but because he pays attention to where students struggle the most, the amount of lectures allocated to each topic feels pretty good. Ow also has review lectures before midterms instead of trying to jam in material that isn't on the midterm but may be confusing, and we had an entire week worth of lectures before the final that were purely review. The exams themselves were very fair because he communicates clearly what will and won't be on the exam, and they are very similar to the old and practice exams he provides. They also aren't wildly different from the stuff that you are shown in class. The only non-exam assignments are weekly quizzes and discussion attendance; there's no homework assigned for you to do. However, you should still expect to dedicate time to practicing outside of discussion and the quizzes because that's the only way to get better at the retrosynthesis and multistep reaction questions. If you're willing to put in the time, it's very, very feasible that you can get an A.

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