Extremely good professor. Lectures are very clear and Dr. Pang communicates very effectively in his office hours with students. There was no extra credit offered in the course, but the midterm was very reflective of the problem sets offered in class (if you did all the Psets you would be totally fine).

With the padding from the lab reports and the midterm, you shouldn't be too worried going into the final. The final has a large spec portion, but honestly if you thoroughly practice enough you should be adequately prepared to the point where your final grade shouldn't change.

Dr. Pang is an amazing professor and I would definitely take this class again - I feel very lucky to have taken this class with him.

chem lab is very easy to manage if you stick to a routine: it's a lab for three (3) hours every work, then post-lab + pre-lab, and it's like that every week, so my advice is to just don't fall behind!

your grade is cumulative on lab work (which should not be a problem if you're doing everything), the midterm quiz (it was online, but he's very picky with significant figures, so DON'T fumble), a final in-person (which is cumulative), and the calibrated peer review to assess if you know how to perform a lab question :)

my biggest advice is to focus on the midterm quiz + final because those two are a big part of your grade!!! every lab always includes extra support from your TA :-)

Agreed with most of the things other people have said about Pang. He is very concise, and should be the golden standard for professors here at UCLA. Lectures are easy to follow and Pang provides details to the T for labs and assignments, for the most part. The only thing that was missing from this class was grading details. The most that you get back are the assignments graded by your TA, the single midterm in the middle of the quarter, and a confusing grading system for the writing assignment. I wish Pang would use Canvas to setup a grading system like other professors but with labs I understand it can be difficult. I was on track to get an A this quarter but had a bad day and performed well below average on the final, so that sucked.

Assignments are very straightforward and each question is detailed in terms of what you need to do to solve. Pang uploads lecture slides and recordings making it easy for those who miss a lecture. I had a lot of anxiety approaching this quarter about this class because I was horrible in high school labs, but most of the labs are actually well under the 3-hour timeslot and from what I've seen Pang is great at picking chill and respectful TA's.

To do well in this class, I recommend following the practice problem sets. Pang attaches answers (unlike Barr lol) with real explanations so you can struggle but then understand what exactly happens. They're also pretty easy to study from in my opinion. Start the prelab and post-lab assignments as soon as you can. Especially in the second half of the quarter, try to start them right after your lab is finished because they often draw on information from the lab i.e. the normality of a certain solution or any observations that weren't asked of you to make in the lab itself. Sometimes these assignments took me a few hours so take that as you will; you will get exhausted trying to do it the night before, so give yourself some room to breathe. They aren't hard, just a bit time consuming making sure you get everything right. Also, some assignments are group-oriented. Other than grading and the heavy materials fee (I think I ended up paying about $130, something like that), this class is great.

Pang is a great chem lab professor! The pre/post-lab assignments aren't too heavy, and as long as you're taking chem 20B concurrently or you go to lectures/study a bit, you'll be fine. The midterm was an online test that counted for only 10% of the overall grade, and the final was pretty easy. Labs can be fun sometimes. Try your best to purchase your lab equipment, notebook, and manual from someone to avoid breaking your bank just for some class supplies.

Professor Pang is probably the best professor I've ever had at UCLA. He's the most caring, understanding, and engaging professor I've ever come across. His lectures are clear and are recorded, so going to them is optional. In terms of coursework, the pre-lab and post-lab reports can be tedious and dull; however, they should take at most 4-5 hours to complete each week. I took this class concurrently with 20B (with Barr of course lol), so it was nice seeing what we were learning being applied. In addition to lab reports, he has one online midterm quiz, one online writing assignment, and an in-person final exam. The midterm quiz wasn't too difficult if you've been paying attention in lecture and being diligent with your lab reports. The online writing assignment wasn't too difficult either since it was sectioned off into 3 sections with staggered deadlines. Overall, this was a fun class to take, and I would definitely retake it.

Grade Breakdown:
Pre-lab reports: 16%
Documentation of lab work: 30%
Lab performance: 8%
Online Writing Assignment: 5%
Midterm Quiz (Online): 9%
In-person final: 32%

Last notes:
-We were required to purchase a paper lab manual from the UCLA bookstore
-He gives numerous optional supplemental practice problems to assist with lab reports (they were also very helpful for the midterm and final)
-The grade breakdown is accurate only for Winter Quarter 2023 and may change based on the professor

The best Asian Dad energy. Take it with 20B if possible, and if you do the work you should get an A. Also you should share the lab manual with someone in a different lab so you don't have to pay as much -- it doesn't seem like you need it for anything besides during the lab and for homework

AMAZING! Dr. Pang is my favorite professor at UCLA. He is so helpful in lab and office hours and his lectures are really engaging. I can say with confidence that he truly cares about his students. I had a great experience with the class, and it was def the highlight of my week. I have never felt the joy of chemistry until I took the class with Professor Pang. I hope that he is recognized for his incredible teaching and compassion towards students academic struggles and successes.

Excellent course, Pang is very kind and straight to the point. He is one of my fav professors. I'm also selling an XL lab coat that's flame resistant. Text **********!

tbh its only week 4 so i have no business writing this but johnny pang is such a real one. his lectures are so good, he gives hints for whats on midterms, and last lab I was lowkey going through it and could not handle the fact that my sublimination not working but my man johnny fixed so fast it made me think he's been doing sublimations since birth. 10/10 if you take it with 30b this class will be the light at the end of a very dark and depressing tunnel

Dr. Pang is the GOAT. With the right TA during the lab sections you'll learn so much and this class will be your favorite class of the quarter.

Exams are clear in terms of what is expected for you to know (just review the practice problem sets before and make sure you understand them)

Pre and Post-lab work will take on average 1.5-2 hours each, and with 2 lab sections a week it will take up a lot of time completing the work. But the labs themselves aren't difficult.

Ultimately Dr. Pang is an incredibly caring and helpful professor, and is an absolute GEM for the Chem department.