Though Prof Lavelle is a really nice guy who means well, when it comes down to it he's a dick. I'm not sure why but he acts as if its his personal mission to deter as many people from the sciences (i.e. pre-med) as possible. And he succeeds.
Showing up to class is basically optional because 1) the class is videocasted and podcasted, which he is immensely proud of, and even when you do show up, the odds are that you will either not understand whats going on or fall asleep trying to understand. If you've already read the chapter or have some knowledge then lecture is great, otherwise you can pass.
The class is basically 3 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. Homework is optional but you should do it anyways, because theres no other way you gonna understand the material, especially when you start having to do more math based chem. The quizzes are easy but most people mess up on the first, which is ok since he drops one quiz. If youre prepared, the midterm isnt bad either, but for my year the final was a bitch. Lavelle openly said that he was not happy that the midterm average was sooo high (a B-) and so he was gonna make the final difficult, which he did by putting questions on there from the MCAT. He sent us a congratulatory email on a final average of a D-.
Overall, he's a nice guy who makes a simple beginning chem class wayyy too difficult for unknown reasons. If I had the chance, I wouldn't retake him. The best part of his class was trying to imitate his South African accent.

For most of the quarter, Chem 14a was ridiculously easy for me. I got high As on all the quizzes and the midterm without any sort of chem background (although AP Physics helped a lot for the first couple of weeks). However, the final totally fucked me over. It was about 5 times harder than anything I had ever seen for that class and so I was left unprepared, especially because I had my Math final the day before (as a side note if anyone reading this is considering taking a class with Watson, DON'T!). I got a D on the final and ended up with a B+ in the class. To be honest, I definitely could have tried a lot harder but it was a dick move of Lavelle to make the final so difficult.

Let me just start off by saying that in order to survive in Professor Lavelle's lectures, you need some sort of energy-boosting stimulant (because his lectures are very monotone and midway through, students can be seen dozing off) and two, you NEED to have a strong background in Chemistry otherwise you will fall behind. This class is full of dense concepts and quite frankly, I don't understand why any sane person would take this class for "fun" because you'll be competing with a class full of pre-meds. Personally, this class killed my freshman year and it made me want to reconsider my major.

I am a physiology major student and I found this course quite manageable. I believe that if you have a strong background in chemistry, like AP Chemistry, and you did well in the AP test, there won't be too much difficulties in this class overall. However, doing the homework and scanning through the book and course reader was very important. Furthermore, finding Lavelle in office hours are quite difficult seeing that only that like 8 people can be in the room at any given time. I would highly suggest to go see the TA's office hours for any questions, no matter how big or small. They saved my ass soo many times. Again, doing the homework is extremely important, not only does it prepare you for the quizzes that you will be getting, but also for the midterms and exams. The 2010 Fall quarter was, according to Lavelle, "The highest midterm average he has ever had in UCLA history." I believe he said it was like an 80%? Regardless, it was high. Freaked most of everyone out since we were expecting the final to be twice as hard. It was okay. At the end I got an A- in the class which was what I expected since I didn't get 97-100% in all the quizzes and tests. I got like 93-95% in all the quizzes and tests and that is considered an A- or B+. It depends more on the curve too. But let me warn you guys, taking this class is not an easy A. This is kinda like a weeder class, it tests you if you are a premed or if you should consider about taking another major...there are some students here that are hardcore premeds...like they'll scream and try to fuck you over sometimes. Just one or two of these people I've met. But there are those that I question their ability to get into UCLA (helps the curve a lot) =D

Lavelle is a decent lecturer and I feel that I learned a lot in his course.
The grading is split between three quizes, a midterm and a final.
It is not impossible to get an A in his class, I finished with an A-
You need to know that the quizzes and midterms are considerably easier than the final. Be prepared for a difficult final because it is 55% of the grade and it was a big determinant of me getting an A- instead of a high A.

fuck lavelle

I had 14A and B with Lavelle in Fall and Winter '07. He is usually the only one who teaches it those quarters, so just suck it up and be ready for pre-med classes! He's a really good transition from high school to college because he has quizzes and little homework assignments. Just stay on top of the material, pay attention in lecture, and you'll be fine. I hear Scherri's (sp) class is a little easier, but Lavelle's not that bad!

Something very wrong here. Only 309 reviews and many sooo negative. Dr. Lavelle has had HUGE numbers of UCLA students take his classes since 1997 and they rate his lectures OUTSTANDING! He has won many teaching awards and the only way to get them at UCLA is with very strong class evals from enrolled students! If you don't believe me take a look at http://faculty.chemistry.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=293559 and http://www.chem.ucla.edu/dept/Faculty/lavelle/LavelleTeaching.pdf
From the above link from 2001-2010 a total of "10,741 student evaluations with an average lecture quality of 8.13 on a 1-9 scale."

I also watched his interview on teaching. Watch the entire interview and decide for yourself. Impressive and thoughtful stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLqLGf3Lr8A&feature=channels

This interview was more fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qFNPdCLwIs

Some of the reviews on this page talk about him as oustanding and the real deal for a quality education. Read and watch the above and decide for yourself. Take his classes, work hard, enjoy the rewards!

Course taken: Chem 14A and 14 B
Professor Lavelle's lectures are quite boring due to his voice. I swear, the voice seems to have the power to put you to sleep. Lavelle's class are based on a course reader that was $40. His lecture overheads are exactly the same as those in the course reader. They are all written in CAPS, which makes it difficult and confusing for me to understand the topics. I always went to lectures and took detailed notes, but never studied them for exams and quizzes. Personally for me, the book has better explanation than his notes. There are 3 quizzes, 1 midterm, and 1 final in chem 14a. There are 2 quizzes, 1 organic worksheet, 1 midterm and 1 final for 14b. One low quiz score can be dropped and replaced with your workbook grade, so make sure to do your workbook. One thing that i like from Lavelle is that he offers so many resources. There are tons of old exams in the course reader (the only thing i find useful in there) and review sessions by him and ALL of the TAs prior to the exams. Make sure to look around or ask around for a good TA and go to his or her session. From my experience, Terry Kennair, Jennifer Casey, and Avery Sader are some of the good TAs. Go to their office hours if you have questions. Lavelle's exams are doable. However, there will always be one very difficult and tricky problem that no one (or most) can't figure it out. He gives out a lot of problems for homework, but trust me, it is nothing compare to Professor Hardinger when you get to 14C. So if you want an A in this class, make sure to do all your practice problems on a regular basis. The class requires lots of efforts, but it is definitely doable.

Dr. Lavelle is seriously one of the best professors I have had. He is VERY knowledgeable in his field and makes sure that he spends time on the fundamentals before moving on to apply them. Maybe I got lucky and synced with his learning style, but apart from attending every review session, I rarely did book problems and got easy A's in 14A and 14B. He is a great professor if you can learn in the way he presents things!