I took this class Fall 2018 and was shocked to end with an A-.
Lavelle, in my opinion, isn’t a very good teacher. He does not go into any kind of practical problem solving during his lectures, so it is very easy to get behind.
Expect to teach yourself how to do everything. If you had good hs chem it will be no problem.

There are 3 tests in discussion, 1 midterm, and a final, along with 7 hw problems each week and posts on his bs chemistry forum.

I bought the 6th ed. solutions manual (or borrowed a friend’s Chegg) and found the textbook online.

The first test was a piece of cake, but the other two were difficult. The midterm was easy, but the final was quite the undertaking.
The last couple weeks of class were the most confusing and it seemed like it was the majority of the final.

I would highly recommend going to the LA workshops before the exams and working on practice test problems.

Take this class with Lavelle because he and his staff both offer numerous practice resources to do well in the class. Do all the homework problems because tests are based heavily on homework problems. The UAs make a lot of practice tests for students so that helps as well. Lavelle explains things concisely and clearly and makes tests very straightforward. If you do the homework, go to class, and find those practice tests and complete them, you'll be in good shape for this class!

I have zero background in chem (my last chem class goes back to 8th grade) and I found this class rather easy. Dr. Lavelle is super clear in his explanations. If you listen attentively in class, half of the work is already done. The textbook is also very good. Dr. Lavelle writes in his syllabus that one has to study 16 hours per week for his class, but that is a complete joke. I studied about an hour a week and did just fine.
Honestly, I was scared to take Chem at UCLA because I had zero background but there is really no reason to be. Lavelle is great and really helpful! the TAs not so much, but you can always seek advice on chemistry community. Just be careful with the final; most questions are theoretical, so you better know all the real-life applications from the book in great detail.

Chances are, this is probably one of the more up to date reviews on Lavelle 14A, and honestly I would tell you to disregard anything from before 2015 written on him - that includes grade distributions. When I was signing up for classes at freshman orientation. Bruinwalk scared me when it came to Lavelle. And the truth is, that it does this for most classes you will take. I got an A+ in this class. I did not work tirelessly to do this, and I wasn't an AP Chemistry genius. In fact, I never took AP Chemistry, just a regular chemistry class my sophomore year of high school. I knew absolutely nothing coming into this class. I went to lecture and paid attention there, took down notes, read the textbook whenever I was confused about a topic, did assigned homework problems, and did old tests that I found or got from other people when studying. Nothing too crazy. And I got an A+. The truth is, that Lavelle isn't an outrageous teacher. If you understand the concepts, and can apply them when solving the calculation based problems, you should be fine. He doesn't test on anything that isn't in lecture or in whatever textbook readings you've covered. His tests are fair, and his grading is fair. If you put in a good amount of effort, don't slack off, and make sure you take advantage of Lavelle's resources, you should do just fine in this class. Anyone on this site that tells you otherwise is simply just salty that they got a grade that they don't like and is trying to pin it on Lavelle, when it's really their own fault.

You do not need AP Chem to get an A in this class. You just need to work hard. Work hard, and you will do fine.

Be sure to do all the homework and post on Chemistry Community. Those points help a lot. Other than that, study hard for the tests, midterm, and final exam. His questions can sometimes be tricky, but usually they are manageable if you have studied all the material thoroughly.

Lavelle is a very decent lecturer. The materials for this class is pretty easy. I feel like I've learned most of it in high school except for the quantum part. I didn't actually put much effort into this class, and the workload is light too. Overall, would recommend it if you have some basic chem knowledge.

I feel like the amount of work you do in this class isnt really reflective of your grade. The midterm was pretty easy but the final was more tough. What annoys me is that he posts so many homework problems, but some problems on the final were nothing like the many problems he assigned. Its hard to critically think in this class when he does the most simple problems in class and on the hw. It's an okay class. He's also pretty full of himself when he talks about chemistry community, and he forces us to use it by posting questions each week.

I know that currently, his rating on this website is less than 4 stars but DONT TRUST THAT. Dr. Lavelle is a fantastic professor and I'm looking forward to Chem 14B with him. He only requires 7 problems a week for homework and he practically gives you a free 100 points from the homework and online discussions on Chem Community (which is super useful). Lavelle sets up so many review sessions and practically tells you what's going to be covered on the exams. His grading is fair and he has a good staff working with him. Nothing but respect for this man.

Dr. Lavelle is a good and responsible professor. He wants students to succeed and he loves good chemistry. You need to work a lot for this class in order to get a good grade, but trust me, it’s doable.

He said he wasn't going to put bond lengths on the midterm then he put bond lengths on the midterm. His partial credit sucked and only gave specific points to specific topics. If you don't get an A on every test and midterm you're a failure. HE makes you post on HIS website...but HIS textbooks and so on so to me it seems like he's in this for the money and the glory or whatever. I'm annoyed at this dude- office hours aren't helpful, filled to the brim with pre-meds...His lectures put me to sleep each time. and his audio-visual helping stuff was actually helpful but it stops at quantum stuff which legit gives me so sad because the other stuff only gets harder. He talks so slow too so watching his audio-visual stuff could be done at 2x speed. Personally, I wouldn't take him again.