Each lecture served as naptime for half of the class. It's hard to stay attentive because Professor Lavelle reads straight off of the overhead. But then again, how else do you teach chemistry without confusing the students too much? Professor Lavelle is very organized, outlining what we need to know before he begins a new chapter. He may be a dry lecturer, but he knows his stuff and he's a really nice guy. If you have any questions, ask him on VOH and he'll answer back very quickly. His midterms and final aren't too bad; you just need to know the material well. I never did any of the homework and studied the day before the exams and ended up with a B-. If you keep up and do the problems, you should get an A.

Lavelle's lectures are like lullabies: they put you right to sleep. In most lectures half of the people that were sitting in my row would swing their heads back and forth in an attempt to stay awake. Although Lavelle is a knowledgable chemist, he's an incompetent teacher. Everyone mindlessly copies his notes off the projector without understanding what he's talking about. His midterms are fair because they come straight from material covered in the book, but Lavelle has a few tricks up his sleeve now and then. Also hope that your TA knows what he/she is doing because it seemed like half the people in my discussion knew more chemistry than my clueless TA. Focus and keep up with the weekly agenda he gives you (by teaching yourself). His generous curve compensates for his inability to teach.

He is pretty easy but, it is also easy to goof up in there. He assumes that the students have strong grasp of the concept but, unfortunately, students don't. That's the problem. Not a bad teacher. Usually he doesn't show us on how to do the problem. He goes over the concepts, etc. You will have to learn on doing most of the problems yourselves.