Whoever just posted below me took the words right out of my mouth

Don't get me wrong, he's a decent prof but you MUST be prepared. This is COLLEGE and for most students, this is their first quarter at UCLA. DON'T SLACK OFF.

Each point counts (and yes, being in the first lecture majorly sucks) but it's not overly difficult. You just need to be on top of things. It's isn't a very difficult class in and of itself. I never took AP Chem and took Chem H my freshman year so yeah, it had been a while since I had taken chemistry. If you haven't taken AP Chem, DON'T TAKE CHEM H! I can't stress this enough I really regret signing up for Chem H. To be honest it's too much to study for if all the material is new to you unless you're really good at time management. It's doable, not recommended.

And if you get stuck with a bad TA, SWITCH EARLY. You're grade depends on YOU and THEM.

First of all, many of the comments that are posted below mine are very inaccurate!!! HERE IS THE REAL/HONEST-TO-G0D/MOST BLUNT/ACCURATE REVIEW YOU WILL EVER FIND ON LAVELLE.

1. If you memorize his midterms/finals, you do not automatically get an A. Sure, they are very similar, but each quiz always has that one tricky thing that you would have never expected even if you memorized the midterms/finals better than you can even spell your own name.
2. His course reader is not as helpful as others make it sound to be. The things in there are summaries or outlines of the sections in the book. Basically, 5 pages of the book (front and back typed in a font much smaller than his coursereader) is barely even half a page on his coursereader. If that is all you read, you will never understand the material. Honestly, it is such a rip-off.
3. You can skip all the lectures that you want. Basically, he podcasts everything. So what I recommend is reading the textbook (skim it if you just cannot handle reading about chemsitry) and try to understand it. Do some homework problems and then listen to the podcast(even if this means that the actual lecture was three days ago, listening to the podcast when you actually know some stuff is much more effective than just going to class clueless).
4. Make sure you discussion time is a time that you will be available and awake. Basically, you take all your quizzes in discussion, so if it is right after a hard class or at hella early in the morning when you are not really fully in the quiz mode, your grade will suffer. So that means don't sign up for the 8 am friday discussions...
5. Do the homework. Even though it is not required.... I found there is a direct relationship between the people that do homework and the people that do extremely well in the class. Do not simply look in the back of the book and think "oh i get it"... really understand everything that is on there. Actually doing the problems and writing them down helps the material enter your long term memory bank, so do it! PS There will be at least one hw problem from the book in the midterm and final.
6. If you are trying to satisfy a science GE requirement and thinking of taking this class... DON'T BE STUPID. Most people in this class are pre-med, pre-pharm, pre-dent, intense studiers... this class is not for the faint-hearted. Taking this class just to get rid of a GE is just about as stupid as going to USC.
7. If you are coming into this class not having taken AP Chemistry in high school, sorry to say it, but you are automatically at a disadvantage. However, you can easily make this up by really focusing on the fundamentals chapter that precedes chapter 1. Lavelle will spend about 2-3 lectures on the fundamentals section, but basically if you do not know this chapter by heart, you will fail the rest of the course. So spend as much time as you need to really master it.
8. DO NOT GO TO ANY OF THE REVIEW SESSIONS. They are absolutely useless. They will only confuse you more about the topics. It is much better to just study on your own. They are an absolute waste of time.
9. Okay, a theory of mine: I have noticed that the average scores of students from lecture 1 is always a little bit higher than those from lecture 2 and 3. Your grade is based on your own lecture, so I suggest that you enroll in either lecture 2 or 3. I am in lecture 1 right now... yeah, sucks.
10. If you are still reading this, then congratulations. You have heard all I can possibly say about this class. If you have to take this class, then make sure you work hard right from the get-go. Don't screw up anything cuz it will be very hard to make it up. Be confident in yourself. Work hard and good luck!

Peace!

PS Don't get me wrong. I may sound very pessimistic about the class but I actually do enjoy it. And I'm doing pretty well, might I add.

Lecture is pretty boring, but his course reader is really helpful... you basically can skip class and still do well. The layout of the quizzes and midterm is nice. Quizzes are pretty easy and the midterm was alright. If you do all the homework and study what's in the course reader, you should do well. The material isn't really but he explains it pretty well

His 14A class is super easy. If you are genuinely smart, you can easily cram everything the day before quizzes and the midterm and still get an A. I've been cramming for everything thus far, and I've gotten A+'s or 100%'s on the two quizzes and midterm so far.

You can miss lecture if you really need to if you have the course reader. Beware, though, because he uses a lot of shorthand in the course reader and kinda jumps into random things, so it might be confusing. That's where the book comes in--if you read the book, then you will understand everything in the course reader.

Reading the book is what I stress the MOST. I hate all of these shitty pre-meds who do everything from rote memorization and don't know what the hell they're really doing (I'm pre med too, but still I love baggin on them). If you read the book, then you will have a much greater understanding of everything and you will be able to answer both straightforward AND conceptual questions.

Homework is kinda necessary. You don't have to ACTUALLY do the homework...you can just do it in your head and look at the answer in the back. It's necessary because there are always little tricks and shit that you would never pick up by just going to lecture and reading, so you gotta at least go through it in your head (doesn't take that long if you don't write it out).

Oh yea check your green book answers with other people and make sure theyre always right. If someone takes the quiz before you, ask what concepts/types of questions were on it. It's not cheating since quizzes on different days are different and you could also figure it out by asking the TA's or Lavelle himself. Also, go over practice midterms and finals before you take em.

All of the advice I posted is really geared toward smart kids. If you do what I say, you will have ridiculous amounts of free time and will have a great time in Lavelle's class.

Also, his Honors 14A class is very easy too. It's once a week, so you only learn like one thing each lecture, so by the midterm you only have 5 things to study. I do NOT recommend missing an honors lecture. Even though the material is less, it's WAY harder and you will be quite lost and confused for many of the things learned. I missed a few lectures and was pretty stressed, but I pulled it back together and got an A on the honors midterm.

he is a good professor. he puts so many different resources that you could use, like old midterms and different websites. i didn't do so good in the class just because i slacked off during the beginnig.
make sure you keep up with the reading and the homework problems because they really help. just don't do what i did and fall behing..make sure you keep up. other than that good class:)

Put in effort, and you'll do fine. Slack off, and you won't. The class is only as hard as you make it, and Lavelle is overall a great professor.

Professor Lavelle is legit. I am not joking dude. He is incredibly concise and very helpful. I love his accent, and his first midterm wasn't amazingly hard; He has SO many resources dude. Dude, another thing, you will find that he actually takes the textbook and makes it sound easier than what it actually says.

anyways, that's just me. but i'm only one little booger out of the 26,000 that go here. peace

Lavelle is very competent and his teaching style is easy to follow and predictable. The course is not easy but if you work hard you will get A LOT out of it. Do all the HW problems, all the practice problems and read the book! The class is a combination of self teaching and lectures so do both if you can! Great professor!

He was very clear in his lecture and doesn't mind taking the time to address every student's question. Yes, even dumb questions and repetitive questions. And he's always around on VOH, which I don't think people take advantage of enough. and he provides a ridiculous amount of review hours. And the course reader is a good study guide. Tests are very fair. I did all the homework problems, some of which are much harder than his test questions, and I did have a decent AP Chem teacher in high school. I look forward to taking him again for 14B. Hopefully this helps.

I took Lavelle for chem 14A, and i thought he did a pretty good job. He was a VOH site where u can post questions and he usually answers them pretty quickly, which is very helpful. I thot his tests were fair. As of now, hes the only chem 14a professor, so u kind of dont have a choice of whether u wanna take another professor unless u take the 20 series. Otherwise, i thought he did a fairly good job w/ the class.