[During Covid, so distance learning]

Great class. Superb teacher.
I took AP Chem and the AP Test. The course mostly felt like review with a few exceptions, but those few topics were very digestible and easy to understand with how Lavelle taught it. He likes to teach the necessary foundations for each new topic.

Comments on HW:
We had SAPLING HW online, and we got infinite attempts to get the correct answer. Very small amount assigned too. (this one is graded)
We had book "HW" (it wasn't checked or graded). Highly recommend doing these, understanding them, and how to arrive at the answers; it might come in handy :)

Comments on the Midterm and Final:
2 Midterms:
The format was multiple choice and proctored under Zoom by your TA and through a LockDown Browser (not sure about international students; I'm sure accommodations were made for them). Fair time limit.

Final:
Same format as previous midterms. I heard it was a time crunch for some, but I thought it was fair.

I think this class is a hit or miss. If you have taken AP Chem or some other advanced chem class before and are familiar with those concepts, this class will more than likely be a review for you. Although Lavelle says that you don't need AP chem for his class, having that chem knowledge definitely helps because he goes at a pretty fast pace. He clearly states what he is going to test for on his tests in his syllabus/outlines. He records his lectures and puts them on CCLE, which is a godsend because you can watch them at 2x speed (he talks nice and slow in a way that will lull you to sleep like a kind grandpa). Lavelle seems like a really nice guy that truly wants all of his students to succeed. He offers a lot of resources for students, such as Zoom Sessions with UA's (Undergraduate Assistant that has taken 14A/B), chemistry community (his online forum where you can ask questions), and sapling.

HOW TO DO WELL IN THIS CLASS:

- DO THE HOMEWORK BOOK PROBLEMS. Not just the Sapling homework he assigns every week, but the book problems he mentions on his syllabus. These book problems aren't collected for points or anything, but he pulls questions from the book directly and puts them on his test. He is very upfront about this as well as he explicitly mentions that he puts hw problems on his tests.

- GO TO 1 OR 2 UA WORKSHOPS A WEEK. A lot of UA's hold review workshops for the week of material that Lavelle covers and some of them have old tests that they also go over. Every quarter there is usually 1 or 2 UA's that hold kickass review sessions. For me, it was Matthew Tran and Justin Sarquiz, who are the only reason I did well in this class.

- WRITE DOWN SPECIFIC BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS HE TALKS ABOUT IN LECTURE. For instance, he talks about acid rain in the acid/base unit and G-C bonds pair in DNA during that intermolecular bonds unit. He occasionally sprinkles in questions about these concepts in his tests.

Overall, I'd say this class is fair. Lavelle is a good lecturer and he does not intentionally want to trick anyone into getting a bad grade. He doesn't grade on a curve or any of that bs. However many points you earn divided by the points possible is your grade for the class. Stay on top of the book problems and you are golden.

Prefacing this by saying I took this course as a completely online class! Lavelle set it up as asynchronous and BruinCasted all the lectures. We had 2 midterms (not cumulative) and one final (cumulative) that were all online and made up the bulk of our grade.

Don’t be afraid of this class! I had only taken 10th grade level chemistry before this (no AP like many did) and ended up w/ a good grade! I did well on the tests, but I do think my quarter was a bit easier than past ones because the tests were online, multiple choice, and he was more lenient w/ grading b/c of online school, so take my grade w/ a grain of salt. He also gives a little padding to your grade by giving out 50 points just for posting on Chem Community, which is annoying busywork, but easy points. The workload is light and easy to keep track of
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I heard he changes around the structure of his grading every year or so, but generally it didn’t feel like a bad weeder course (but I also didn’t have much contact w/ my hundreds of classmates as I was in online school). Participation also wasn’t necessary even in discussion (my TA was nice)

Honestly, Dr. Lavelle gets a bad rap. I'm not sure why, but upperclassmen and fellow incoming freshmen alike told me I would regret taking his class. I will not deny, this class has a LOT of content packed within 10 weeks, and if you haven't taken any chemistry throughout high school, you will have a tough time. Having taken AP Chem before coming into this course, I felt as though it was manageable. Dr. Lavelle is incredibly sweet, and is a great lecturer. He is so clear when explaining concepts, and everything he teaches builds off of each other to make for a very cohesive course. This course, having taken it asynchronously, requires a ton of initiative and self motivation. It's not enough to just memorize the content for exams, you HAVE TO thoroughly understand each concept and connect concepts to different scenarios, especially biological ones. PAY ATTENTION when Dr. Lavelle mentions any specific biological scenario during lecture, he loves throwing those on exams. In regards to his exams, they are quite difficult. To prepare for them, don't just spend time going to TA or UA review sessions before Week 10. Do every single textbook problem, and make sure you understand each one and not just memorizing the answers. Take practice finals! Those are soo helpful for this course. Dr. Lavelle has a plethora of resources available for students, from Chemistry Community to recorded lectures to TA/UA synchronous study sessions to even separate synchronous discussions that Lavelle holds himself. He genuinely wants to see everybody succeed, but this is a difficult class nonetheless. But don't be intimidated by him--if you put in the effort you will definitely be fine.

Dr. Lavelle was especially understanding this quarter in terms of grades. He also provides a LOT of resources for us to succeed in his class. His lectures ran a little long sometimes, but I'd say that's the only drawback to being in his class virtually. He's a pretty great professor overall.

Like other reviews have mentioned before me, this class requires a lot of hard work and dedication, especially because it demands a substantial breadth and depth of chemical knowledge. Even after having taken AP Chemistry in high school, I found 14A to be incredibly challenging. As a professor, Lavelle definitely knows his material well. My major criticism of his teaching would be that the information and examples he present in his lectures are not an accurate reflection of the difficulty of exams; however, I think a large part of it has to do with the class itself rather than the professor. I would heavily recommend people to go to LA workshops, do every single practice problem that Lavelle assigns, and review exams from past years. This class can be daunting, but it's definitely doable.

Selling chemical principles the quest for insight 6th edition + workbook,
the workbook was never used, basically new. Atkins jones laverman (textbook) + Hoeger and Lavelle (workbook)
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This is coming from someone who had never taken chemistry before this class. I was absolutely terrified at the beginning of this class, but Lavelle was such an amazing professor that I felt so much more confident in time for the midterm. He explains concepts at a manageable pace, so attending his lectures and office hours is super helpful. He also provides the most resources outside of class I have seen, including a million review sessions, relevant practice problems, and Chemistry Community. This class was certainly very challenging, but I always felt like I had the resources to succeed; it was just on me to use them.

Lavelle was an okay professor for my first quarter. Although he provided many resources, I felt that his resources did not properly prepare students for the exams. His exams would include small details and omit concepts he stressed in class. As someone who didn't take AP Chem, it was rough, but it was okay.

There is not a lot of homework in this class to cushion your grade if you do bad in the tests, which I thought were pretty hard.