This class is quite fast-paced! The content covered before the first midterm has to do mostly with quantum mechanics and is very different from high school AP Chemistry curricula. Though the tests are a bit challenging (with a class average of 65-70 for both midterms), the main constraint is time. I can't stress this enough — practice the sample problems covered during weekly lectures and make sure you understand the physical meanings of equations and concepts covered in class. During midterms, solve questions as quickly as possible and go back later to check your answers — you'll find the tests pretty straightforward if you work quickly.

All exams are open book/open note, and Professor Shao shows that she really wants you to understand and apply what you've learned rather than memorizing lecture material. Make sure to review consistently, since there's quite a bit of material covered during each class.

The lectures are easier after the first midterm (circling back to stoichiometry, VSEPR, etc.) and there are plenty of ways to boost your grade throughout the quarter; if you do the weekly discussion worksheets and Cengage assignments on time, they are almost a guaranteed 100% if you're thorough. Start early! The Cengage problems take 3-5 hours for 30 questions online per week. (Pro tip: If you don't know how to solve something, just hit "submit" and the program will walk you step-by-step through the problem. You get 10 tries per question.)

The grade distribution is as follows:

Chapter-end Cengage HW (20%)
Collaborative worksheets in discussion (30%)
Midterm 1 (15%)
Midterm 2 (15%)
Final (20%)
Total: 1000 pts.
Extra Credit (surveys, activities) 30 pts.

Also — I recommend printing blank lecture notes out before class, filling them in and checking them later with the annotated version she uploads to Canvas. Professor Shao speaks very quickly during her lectures, but she uploads lots of helpful resources online and takes student feedback seriously to make her content easier to understand.

I did not use the textbook and got by fine. Overall, Professor Shao is a great person and teacher despite it being her first time teaching Chem 20A here. I'm really glad to have had her during my first quarter along with my TA, Ran, who was super helpful and quick to answer any questions I had.

Shao is a very clear professor, and by going to lectures, doing the homework, and doing the review material that's posted on her very organized canvas page I did very well on the final. Some of the concepts are more difficult, and she goes over them at the same pace as some of the easier material. Such is the quarter system. I think that she's a pretty good professor, and would recommend her to others taking the class.

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH THIS PROFESSOR she is super kind and helpful and truly wants her students to succeed. She does so much to help us prepare. There aren't curveballs in this class which is really helpful when it comes to dealing with stress. At times because the class is only 50 minutes, concepts could get confusing. But if you go to office hours, she helps so much. She also posts a lot of resources and her videos are really helpful. Overall I loved this class and wish she taught more classes.

10/10 I met my girlfriend in this class and got an A

Honestly, I am surprised at the overwhelming positivity of the other reviews. To be fair, Professor Shao was very nice – and generous in terms of her grading scheme, giving extra credit opportunities, etc. – but I struggled in her class, and most other people I talked during the quarter really didn't like it either. I had a reasonable background in chem and some knowledge of the quantum mechanics topics we covered, but I only understood what was happening in like 4 of the 25-30 lectures she gave throughout the quarter. I found her manner of lecturing really disjointed and confusing, and I had a lot of trouble connecting topics to each other/example problems as a result. I ended up reading through like 5 chapters of the textbook before each midterm in a desperate hope to understand what was going on (and tbh it helped a bit but was absolutely miserable).

That being said, I do think she cares about her students and wants to give them as many opportunities as possible to succeed. In the big scheme of things her class is probably pretty decent, but personally if I had to take 20A again I would not want to do it with Shao.

I totally agree with all the comments which are saying this class is a disaster, but I just don't understand how these guys could all get an A. I'm taking this class right now, and after the first midterm, my score has already below A (to receive an A, you have to as least get 94%). I didn't do well in the first midterm but almost my best. My score is almost the same as average 73%. I spent over 5 hours on the assignment on Cengage at the end of every chapter, which can't be more depressing. This class will definitely ruin my GPA.

This class was a wake-up call. So many of these reviews are sugar-coating it. This class was A LOT OF WORK and dedication. IF you're not familiar with chemistry and the last chem class you took in hs was sophomore year...you're in for a SCARY time. I wasn't good at chem and this class didn't help me improve...instead made me so stressed. Shao is so so so nice and will answer any question...but the material is difficult and the exams were INSANE. The homework also averaged me 5-6 hours to finish...and I know people that took even more time for the hw...some people like 10 hours but others 3. You NEED to study for this class and take time with it. Though you will pass if you do the hw and worksheets it still takes a lot of work.

The lectures were fast but interesting. Although the midterms were difficult and hard to finish on time, the final was fairly simple and 50% of the grade was based on worksheets/homework. In addition, the grading scale was shifted so that 85-90 was an A- etc.. Midterms and Final were open note.

For her first time teaching, Professor Shao did a phenomenal job! The material and concepts themselves may initially be overwhelming but the professor is extremely clear about her expectations of the class. Her notes are very simple to follow and she uploads all her in-class lectures. The professor is very forgiving when it comes to regrade requests, extra credit, and the overall grading scheme (an A is 90-100%, an A- is 85-89%, a B+ is 80-84% and so on). The discussion worksheets and Cengage assignments were extremely helpful for practicing the course's material. Unfortunately, the online book is very dense and didn't help create a connection between the conceptual and computational sides of this course. Although the material of Chem 20A is generally hard, Professor Shao is very transparent about the processes and clearly expresses her expectations of the course.

Professor Shao is amazing! I especially liked how she uploads the lecture slides before each lecture so I can follow along during the lecture. Since lectures were only 50 minutes long, she does go quite fast and at times it can be difficult to follow but she offers lots of office hours and is fast at replying to emails. If you understand her in class examples and discussion worksheets, test shouldn't be challenging considering how she allowed notes for each of them. Shao cares about students actually understanding and making connections between concepts rather than memorizing templates and formulas. Would highly recommend her for chem20a!