Lavelle was the most caring professor I have ever had. He provides students with many resources for extra help in understanding the material. He genuinely wants students to pass and do their best. His lectures are clear: uses power point slides to provide main ideas and visuals, and he will stop in between each important point on the slides to thoroughly explain them. Very approachable. Very good experience taking this class overall. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND :)

I came into this class absolutely absent of all my high school chem knowledge, scared this being a pre-med weeder course, my first college science class in general, and everyone in that gigantic lecture a cut-throat pre-med. Those fears and concerns Lavelle understood fully, and every moment he wants students to spend in lecture, on practice problems, UA sessions, etc. he plans with efficiency and success for every student in mind. Lectures, although sometimes dull (a combination of the subject and his voice), he tries genuinely to engage and it pays off. UA session I found especially helpful, they are FREE mini tutoring sessions, GO TO THEM. Practice problems can either be utilized to fulfill the minimum requirement or go way beyond, find somewhere in the middle! Also, definitely push TAs to go over them, especially the confusing ones. I think overall, the class is definitely what you make of it, and not even being a pre-med, I landed right where my effort wanted me to go. Would definitely want people to experience Lavelle! I wouldn't be surprised if he was the college professor who cared most about his students, and without a doubt knows how to teach this class well.

Such a good professor. I hated chemistry before this and now I love it! Many resources too!

!!!SELLING COURSE READER AND QUIZ WORKBOOK!!!
$30 for course reader and workbook together - a steal because I got it for $45.
Lavelle no longer sells these because of a change in the department policy. Nonetheless, it is an amazing resource for acing exams. The 2015 version is an almost word-for-word carbon copy of his lectures with additional midterms and finals from past years. Saved me multiple times because I was prepared for his curveball questions. The quiz workbook prepares you for the quizzes well, which should be easy points.
CONTACT: ********** if you would like to purchase.

Tips for doing well:
1) Go to lecture. He often uses further discussion of the textbook material on exams.
2) Do ALL the homework. Don't be lazy and you won't fail.
3) Aim for a 93% on quizzes and exams. With your other easy points you should get an A.

Dr. Lavelle is amazing! He offers many resources for students and seems to really want us to do well! Mandatory chemistry community posting can be a little bothersome if you don’t need it, but it really helps many students who need clarification often, and helps bump your grade up too! His tests are pretty straightforward and he doesn’t usually try to be tricky, although there are a few problems where he was. The homework is a reasonable amount and is often a bit more complex than his lectures and tests, which is better than the other way around. He also does motivating poetry and gave out M&M’s at a review session once! So sweet!

All the bad reviews of Dr. Lavelle are people who did not take advantage of all the resources that he provides. He would constantly give us reminders of different ways/places to seek help if you were struggling, and provided countless different learning mechanisms. His class is very straight forward. One piece of advice I would give is that he will often times ask for answers in different units than the ones provided in the question so always be on the look out for what unit your answer should be in. Overall, Lavelle was a quality teacher who I would gladly take again!

Definitely take this class. You'll actually learn a lot. Prof Lavelle has tons of review sessions and stuff.

Dr. Lavelle is one the most caring professors I have ever met. The subject he teaches is difficult, but he provides all the resources necessary to get an A. Basically if you put in the work, you will get an A. He really wants his students to succeed and makes that possible. He puts in a lot of extra energy he doesn't need to be expending to provide chem help.
He's also tries to make his class more fun. He has poetry time and presents chem jokes.
Overall, Dr. Lavelle creates a positive and helpful learning environment.

Prof. Lavelle has been teaching this for many many years so he is by far the best and most experienced professor you can get for gen chem. He provides so many extra resources that you can use to help you succeed, like extra review sessions, office hours, etc. You do have to put in effort to learn, but if you use the resources, you definitely can get an A. He cares a lot about helping all his students succeed. I definitely recommend taking Lavelle and shout out to Lyndon for his super helpful UA sessions.

Dr. Lavelle's lectures are extremely straightforward. Additionally, if you are ever confused or just want some extra practice there are so many different ways to get help. Lavelle has arranged a ton of office hours, peer learning sessions, and chemistry community is open 24/7. There is really no reason why you cannot be successful in this class if you are attending lecture and getting help when you need it. A lot of people seem to bash on Dr. Lavelle on Bruinwalk, but from being in his class for 2 quarters I can definitely say that he is overwhelmingly liked by his students. He is cheerful and extremely helpful!