Justin Caram
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
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4.0
Overall Rating
Based on 28 Users
Easiness 3.3 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.5 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.6 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
  • Tolerates Tardiness
  • Gives Extra Credit
  • Needs Textbook
  • Useful Textbooks
  • Appropriately Priced Materials
  • Participation Matters
  • Would Take Again
  • Engaging Lectures
  • Often Funny
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
30.5%
25.4%
20.3%
15.3%
10.2%
5.1%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

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Reviews (24)

2 of 3
2 of 3
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Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A+
Dec. 20, 2019

Honestly, Caram was a pretty good professor overall. If I were to pick classes again, I would probably not hate the idea of taking another chem class with Caram. His midterms/finals were fairly straightforward and covered the material that we went over in class; there were rarely any random things that we didn't discuss/we didn't need to know. I enjoyed going to discussion section, and the TAs and LAs were overall pretty helpful. I liked the way that the discussion section was formatted with a specific LA for each small group within the discussion because it helped to have someone who could answer questions more specifically. I think my main complaint would be that it would be hard to follow Caram during the lectures at times because he would start talking about one idea, stop, and then start another idea.

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Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A
Dec. 19, 2019

One of the best professors at UCLA, hands down. Caram is a really chill guy who really wants you to excel and just learn the material. Both midterms and the final were extremely fair; Caram does not try to trick you. His lectures were very clear and organized. Caram does give weekly quizzes, and I personally enjoyed them. They kept me from procrastinating and getting behind in material (he also drops the lowest quiz grade). The class is set on an absolute grading scale and nothing is curved, but there was an extra credit question on the first midterm and the final. The worksheets we did in discussion were super helpful in preparing for exams, he spent a lot of time writing the worksheets and they always offered "real-life" examples of what we were learning which was cool.

If you want to excel in this class, highly recommend going to his office hours after lecture and Sunday night at B plate. Probably the only professor that would come to campus from 10 to 11:30 pm to help students. He would sit down and work out problems 1 on 1 and clarified any areas of confusion. Caram is an 11/10 professor for 14a, cannot recommend him enough!!!!

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Dec. 5, 2019

Honestly, Professor Caram is one of the better professors you can have for 14A. I had Lavelle for 14B and I thought Lavelle was worse by a large margin. Professor Caram can give rather dry lectures and goes through the material quickly but his explanations are fairly intuitive and he is concerned with students learning. His tests are fair. I had him when he first started teaching and the tests were a bit rough especially timing wise and there was sometimes too much material for the allotted time but Professor Caram understood that and handed out about 5% worth of extra credit and still curved the class. Any material on the test was material explicitly covered in class or discussion and there weren't any curveball questions. The bplate office hours were extremely helpful. The homework was on. relevant material and helpful for the tests.

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Nov. 5, 2019

I personally loved Caram's teaching style. He was extremely organized, all readings and practice problems for each topic were given to us in the syllabus from the very beginning and he taught at a fairly good pace. There were quizzes every week but they were all really fair and cushioned my grade a little bit. Midterms and the final were also completely fair. I thought he was a really engaging lecturer and he also puts chem memes on the first slide of every lecture which I loved. He's definitely not as easy as Lavelle, but we learned so much more.

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Sept. 1, 2019

Selling textbook and solutions manual, and previously given exams (Lavelle's exams)! Text me at ********** if interested!

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
June 25, 2019

I actually really liked Caram's class. His lectures are engaging and I felt that he clearly described concepts to us (although he would frequently make mistakes then realize later). Discussions are helpful because tests would reflect the worksheet problems. Weekly quizzes keep you up to date with the concepts you should know. Tests are difficult but definitely doable. Review sessions are held by the TAs and are helpful. There are also lots of extra credit opportunities so make sure to do those. Overall, I would recommend his class.

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
June 15, 2019

I personally liked Caram. His quizzes were extremely fair, and his midterms were not bad. His final did include material he never taught but introduced on the exam. He was pretty generous with the curve. I got an A on the first midterm, a D on the second, and a B on the final. Overall I did like this class. Natalie, my TA, saved my grade! She was the best and explained the trickier concepts really well.

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
June 10, 2019

a no BS chem professor, I recommend reading through the book and understanding each concept as he does not always explain it completely. if you like being spoon-fed this is not the professor for you

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: B+
June 3, 2019

Terrible class. I did fine, but I probably would have done better in Lavelle. He had quizzes every Friday that he never gave enough time for and they caused so much unnecessary stress. His midterms were literally impossible, but he was nice on the final. At the end, it didn't matter because I had done so poorly on the second midterm even after studying. He knows his stuff but is unable to explain it correctly. Just save yourself the worrying and take Lavelle.

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Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
May 9, 2019

I took 14A fall quarter of 2018, and even though I got a decent grade in it in the end, I would not recommend this class. Caram's lecturing style was very disorganized and often confusing. I feel like if he was able to make the material more understandable, it would have been a breeze. He was fast and we went through a lot of content in this class. I've also attended his BPlate office hours but there were so many people, it was hard for him to accommodate everyone so that was not worth going to. The section worksheets were unusually hard. The midterms, however, were the worst part of it. They were very strangely worded and difficult to understand. Even though I had studied for about a week for the test, looking through homework problems and trying to understand the worksheets, those did not help prepare me for his exams. It was not just applying your prior understanding of the subject, but also it included having to learn often some new concepts introduced during the exam in order to do some of the problems. The final was much better, as he provided us a practice final which had a 3-4 almost identical problems on the actual final. Additionally, the quizzes were fair in my opinion, unlike the midterms. Overall, I got a D and a B on the two midterms and A- on the final and ended up with an A. I am glad Caram provided extra credit in the end because this class was difficult for an introductory chemistry class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A+
Dec. 20, 2019

Honestly, Caram was a pretty good professor overall. If I were to pick classes again, I would probably not hate the idea of taking another chem class with Caram. His midterms/finals were fairly straightforward and covered the material that we went over in class; there were rarely any random things that we didn't discuss/we didn't need to know. I enjoyed going to discussion section, and the TAs and LAs were overall pretty helpful. I liked the way that the discussion section was formatted with a specific LA for each small group within the discussion because it helped to have someone who could answer questions more specifically. I think my main complaint would be that it would be hard to follow Caram during the lectures at times because he would start talking about one idea, stop, and then start another idea.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A
Dec. 19, 2019

One of the best professors at UCLA, hands down. Caram is a really chill guy who really wants you to excel and just learn the material. Both midterms and the final were extremely fair; Caram does not try to trick you. His lectures were very clear and organized. Caram does give weekly quizzes, and I personally enjoyed them. They kept me from procrastinating and getting behind in material (he also drops the lowest quiz grade). The class is set on an absolute grading scale and nothing is curved, but there was an extra credit question on the first midterm and the final. The worksheets we did in discussion were super helpful in preparing for exams, he spent a lot of time writing the worksheets and they always offered "real-life" examples of what we were learning which was cool.

If you want to excel in this class, highly recommend going to his office hours after lecture and Sunday night at B plate. Probably the only professor that would come to campus from 10 to 11:30 pm to help students. He would sit down and work out problems 1 on 1 and clarified any areas of confusion. Caram is an 11/10 professor for 14a, cannot recommend him enough!!!!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Dec. 5, 2019

Honestly, Professor Caram is one of the better professors you can have for 14A. I had Lavelle for 14B and I thought Lavelle was worse by a large margin. Professor Caram can give rather dry lectures and goes through the material quickly but his explanations are fairly intuitive and he is concerned with students learning. His tests are fair. I had him when he first started teaching and the tests were a bit rough especially timing wise and there was sometimes too much material for the allotted time but Professor Caram understood that and handed out about 5% worth of extra credit and still curved the class. Any material on the test was material explicitly covered in class or discussion and there weren't any curveball questions. The bplate office hours were extremely helpful. The homework was on. relevant material and helpful for the tests.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Nov. 5, 2019

I personally loved Caram's teaching style. He was extremely organized, all readings and practice problems for each topic were given to us in the syllabus from the very beginning and he taught at a fairly good pace. There were quizzes every week but they were all really fair and cushioned my grade a little bit. Midterms and the final were also completely fair. I thought he was a really engaging lecturer and he also puts chem memes on the first slide of every lecture which I loved. He's definitely not as easy as Lavelle, but we learned so much more.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Sept. 1, 2019

Selling textbook and solutions manual, and previously given exams (Lavelle's exams)! Text me at ********** if interested!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
June 25, 2019

I actually really liked Caram's class. His lectures are engaging and I felt that he clearly described concepts to us (although he would frequently make mistakes then realize later). Discussions are helpful because tests would reflect the worksheet problems. Weekly quizzes keep you up to date with the concepts you should know. Tests are difficult but definitely doable. Review sessions are held by the TAs and are helpful. There are also lots of extra credit opportunities so make sure to do those. Overall, I would recommend his class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
June 15, 2019

I personally liked Caram. His quizzes were extremely fair, and his midterms were not bad. His final did include material he never taught but introduced on the exam. He was pretty generous with the curve. I got an A on the first midterm, a D on the second, and a B on the final. Overall I did like this class. Natalie, my TA, saved my grade! She was the best and explained the trickier concepts really well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
June 10, 2019

a no BS chem professor, I recommend reading through the book and understanding each concept as he does not always explain it completely. if you like being spoon-fed this is not the professor for you

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: B+
June 3, 2019

Terrible class. I did fine, but I probably would have done better in Lavelle. He had quizzes every Friday that he never gave enough time for and they caused so much unnecessary stress. His midterms were literally impossible, but he was nice on the final. At the end, it didn't matter because I had done so poorly on the second midterm even after studying. He knows his stuff but is unable to explain it correctly. Just save yourself the worrying and take Lavelle.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
May 9, 2019

I took 14A fall quarter of 2018, and even though I got a decent grade in it in the end, I would not recommend this class. Caram's lecturing style was very disorganized and often confusing. I feel like if he was able to make the material more understandable, it would have been a breeze. He was fast and we went through a lot of content in this class. I've also attended his BPlate office hours but there were so many people, it was hard for him to accommodate everyone so that was not worth going to. The section worksheets were unusually hard. The midterms, however, were the worst part of it. They were very strangely worded and difficult to understand. Even though I had studied for about a week for the test, looking through homework problems and trying to understand the worksheets, those did not help prepare me for his exams. It was not just applying your prior understanding of the subject, but also it included having to learn often some new concepts introduced during the exam in order to do some of the problems. The final was much better, as he provided us a practice final which had a 3-4 almost identical problems on the actual final. Additionally, the quizzes were fair in my opinion, unlike the midterms. Overall, I got a D and a B on the two midterms and A- on the final and ended up with an A. I am glad Caram provided extra credit in the end because this class was difficult for an introductory chemistry class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
2 of 3
4.0
Overall Rating
Based on 28 Users
Easiness 3.3 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.5 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.6 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (19)
  • Tolerates Tardiness
    (17)
  • Gives Extra Credit
    (18)
  • Needs Textbook
    (17)
  • Useful Textbooks
    (16)
  • Appropriately Priced Materials
    (12)
  • Participation Matters
    (16)
  • Would Take Again
    (15)
  • Engaging Lectures
    (13)
  • Often Funny
    (15)
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