Best chem professor I have had so far.

Dr. Pham is a great professor. I took this during the quarter of COVID so the class was online, and both Pham and the TAs adapted very well to the circumstances. Overall the class was very difficult, obviously, it's Ochem, but Pham definitely made the class manageable. The lectures are jam-packed with information so it's really important to review lecture material on your own time. The problem sets were also very difficult but were always fair to the material he taught us. You are definitely going to need friends to do the homework with, though, if you want to pass this class. The tests were really hard, but I was able to do decent on them because they were open note for us since it was online. But again, they were definitely fair in terms of the material he taught us. Discussion sections are a necessity for this class, too. My TA was Cameron (idk his last name) and he was literally incredible. He was really good at summarizing what Pham taught us and giving us good examples to practice on. I literally would not have passed this class without him. So yeah overall, I definitely recommend this class and prof but if you want a good grade you really have to put the time in. If I could give one piece of advice: don't fall behind. Actually, it's not even good enough to NOT be behind. You have to be actively ahead of the class, doing extra problems and going to office hours and stuff, otherwise you're gonna be moving too slow and you'll just keep getting hit with new stuff because this class is literally all new information, it's not like anything you've learned before. So yeah, best of luck fam

This is probably the best professor you can get. He will only test you on information he has lectured on so you don’t have to worry about guessing what you need to know. The key to success is going to lecture, clarifying the information afterwards if you need it (through the book or online videos), and using the TA and LA worksheets as practice. His tests are very straight forward and fair (this doesn’t mean they’re easy). Organic Chemistry will be hard either way, but might as well have a great, fun, and nice professor to help you through it.

Dr. Hung V. Pham (NOT Hung Ding Pham) is quite the eloquent and engaging professor. He teaches OChem in a way that emphasizes understanding the patterns in the reactions and trends, not memorizing each reaction and property as a discrete item.

First off, I'd like to say I rated "Workload" as 2, but if you don't want to do well, that "Workload" can be 5, easily. If I wanted to feel super confident on the exams, I probably would have done 1 on the "Workload." In short, OChem is not easy. Not. Easy. Why did I rate the "Easiness" as 1? Pham says people say 30A is the hardest class they have ever taken, and that's because it is on a higher level of thinking. It's not as discrete as Math 31A/B and is as continuous as Chem 20 is disjointed. When you learn stereochemistry in Week 3, you will keep referring to it up through Week 10. It never. Goes. Away. Never.

But OChem is logical. After a lot of studying. Keep re-running the mechanisms for everything, and eventually, the answers to your problems will come more quickly and reliably.

Lectures? Bruincasted. Engaging? Quite. Fast-paced? Yes. I used Bruincast a bit.

I fell behind a bit in the beginning of this course. Being my first quarter in college, 30A really showed me that my study habits were not adequately developed. So I say this: don't. Fall. Behind. Practice, practice, practice. I foolishly failed to work out the worksheets from discussion, and neglected to practice the book problems. The only thing that saved me was my study group sessions (which revealed gaps in my understanding lol). Do the worksheets and practice problems, and you should excel in 30A (and hence 30B/C).

The midterms are super-fast paced, but the final has twice the content with three times the time, so don't worry too much about the final. I got 76, 74, and 86 on the midterms and final, and ended up with an A- in the class. Pham gives extra credit. On midterm 1, he asked about the little guy that appears at the top of every lecture. On midterm 2, he asked about a fun Friday activity he did. On the final, he asked you to draw four shirts he wore and to give feedback on the course.

Professor Pham is one of those rare professors that makes you excited to come to class. Coming from a bad 20A Professor, Pham completely changed my mindset regarding chemistry. In terms of his tests, if you do the discussion worksheets and some of the book problems, you’ll be fine. The average was around a 60 percent on the midterms, but the course is scaled so you can get around a 50 percent and still pass the class. He is very generous with extra credit, and he grades tests within 1-2 days. Definitely take him

Professor Pham might be one of the best professor UCLA was able to accommodate. He teaches org chem with such distinction and accuracy it's almost incredible. Because of him, org chem just becomes a great course to take. He is amazingly knowledgable about the subject and incredible when explaining things to his audience. He will use metaphors and analogy that pretty sure anyone can understand. I know I did and I wasn't the smartest guy in the class. Not even close. But Prof. Pham definitely made the course a lot smoother.

His syllabus is pretty simple. 100 pts for each midterm. There are 2. Along with BACON assignment that is worth 40 or 9% of the grade. Make sure you do them. It is still worth good pts. Along with that, the final is cumulative and worth 200 pts. All together 440 pts. He does give out a lot of extra credits. Please utilize them. It will help you immensely. He puts EC on his exams. If you want those EC points, come to the lecture and pay attention to his slides. Especially his fun Friday he does every Friday. Do not feel anxious about his grade scale. If you keep asking him about grades, he will not like it so make sure to avoid that subject at all cost. But do try to ask him regarding understanding the material. He likes that. And do not ask Prof. Pham if he will curve the course. That will only be a bad game for you if you are avg standing.

This course is not an easy course. Make sure you study the lecture slides he posts on CCLE and do all the problems that he suggested on CCLE. Last minutes cramming will not help you in this course. If you do, you will fail. So please don't cram. Good luck to all future students!