I loved this class. Lavelle is amazing and goes above and beyond to provide help outside of the classroom. His lectures are engaging, most of the TAs and UAs are awesome, there is very little I could complain about.

Biggest problem? The tests are sloppy. There are always mistakes, and a lot of people end up going to get regrades because the questions can be pretty vague.

I probably should've taken Chem 17 first, because my chemistry background was really weak. Lavelle does cover fundamentals, so you can start here and be fine, but my lack of chemistry knowledge combined with my first quarter and awful time-management made this one a close call for me.

I have heard that there are easier chemistry professors (Caram gets mentioned a lot) but in my opinion, Lavelle's the best if you really want to understand chemistry. I'm taking him for the rest of the 14 series, and would encourage STEM majors to do the same. However, if you're only taking this to fulfill a requirement and chem doesn't interest you, you should find an easier professor.

Don't let this class trick you; the tests are deceivingly easy and there's a light workload however the midterm and final are very hard. Grades are out of a total of 500 points consisting of 2 tests, a midterm, final, weekly homework, and weekly online forum participation. I thought I was doing fine in the class because I had gotten A's on the 2 tests and a B - on the midterm along with turning in all the homework however I bombed the final and ended with a B- in the class. The class itself isn't super engaging as it seems like a lot of review from high school and the homework problems themselves aren't difficult either but the questions on the midterm and final tend to be way way harder than any of the practice problems given during lecture. For the final we had to know stuff Lavelle didn't really emphasize and all the stuff the TA's swore would be on the test because he emphasized it a lot didn't really take up a significant percentage of the test. I will say he offers a lot of additonal help and I recommend going to the one's held by Lyndon Bui or any standout TA's at the time, even if you don't think you need it (this was my mistake). It seems like having a good TA had a major impact on final grades; my TA wasn't the best at providing additional help and just gave us problems from the textbook (which we had to do for homework anyway) but I heard that people who had a good TA did well on the final. Honestly I think if you have a strong chemistry background and good TA you'll be fine.

Selling past tests, midterms, and finals. Text me at ********** if you're interested.

He really is a nice nice nice nice guy. He’s such a dad with his jokes and his DJing skills. I also like that you could attend a different lecture time since attendance isn’t mandatory. I probably wouldn’t take him again though. I just didn’t like how he would slam slides on the projected board while trying to explain a concept on the white board. It made it harder to focus in class. I also thought it kind of dragged in sometimes because his voice was just very soft .. so soft I could probably fall asleep. Tests are straight forward but simply practicing homework problems isn’t enough, really gotta memorize the conceptual part too. In addition, chemistry community was also mandatory but I found that helpful.

Dr. Lavelle is such a lovely man and he offers so many resources for his students. His midterm and final were pretty difficult, and there aren't really practice problems in class, so it's pretty much up to you to do practice problems outside of class whether that's on your own or through OH and review sessions. A lot of self-studying with this one. The class (at least the way Lavelle teaches it and 14B) is definitely very geared towards pre-med students, which is pretty clear by the test questions and references to biological applications of chemistry concepts he makes in lecture that might sound obscure but end up being really important. He's said he wants to prep his chem students for taking the MCAT in the future with these types of questions.

I'd recommend doing ALL the homework problems (you're only required to do 5 a week but I did all of the problems in the book and it helped a ton).

otherwise, enjoy this legend's presence. and don't forget to post in Chemistry community.

This review is going to be coming from someone who neither loved nor hated the professor (unlike the majority of reviews on Bruinwalk). Overall, professor Lavelle is definitely a good lecturer and makes sure his class is taught correctly as he is well organized and always making sure that the TAs are up to standard. That being said, the tests are not easy. The tests require a deep understanding of rather conceptual material, and you must not only know why something occurs but be prepared to explain it in detail. Office hours are a huge plus because such conceptual matters are mostly discussed and he provides clear explanations for material that can be on the tests but was not thoroughly gone over in slides. If there is any suggestions I can give it is to do as much of the homework problems as possible including the ones at the end of the chapter as these are frequently on tests and when understanding material to learn all rules and especially their exceptions. This class is definitely doable but will require lots of effort and analysis.

I took IB Chem in high school, so I didn't struggle as much in this class. But I do know friends who didn't take AP/IB in high school and they did struggle in the class since it's super fast-paced. Professor Lavelle spent around 4-5 classes on each topic, so he didn't go too in-depth on each one. He is a pretty engaging and funny lecturer, and he always leaves a few minutes left to answer questions. He also provides many study sessions per week. Overall, he is a really nice professor but his tests are quite tough. Some of the questions were worded confusingly and ambiguously.

Be very weary of reviews on Lavelle because most people at this school took AP chem so for them this class is a review. I did not take AP chem so this class was a whole different battle. Lavelle does not go over any basic concepts and expects everyone to have taken AP chem. Lavelle has an obsession with a “bell curve” and his goal is for his test averages to be at 70%. He knows that most people have taken AP chem so he makes his tests unnecessarily confusing and vague to stump even AP chem students and achieve his perfect curve. Lavelle does not care about his individual students, speaking from experience. Apparently according to some of the TA’s, Lavelle isn’t as sweet as he seems in lecture. Basically, Lavelle only cares about his website views, teaching awards, and Bell curves. He puts no effort into getting to know anyone and does not accept student questions outside of lecture. If you’re an AP student from a good high school, you’ll be fine. If not, well good luck! You’re probably better off taking a different professor with less pretentious awards and website views!

Going into the quarter I was really excited to take this class as I'd heard that Dr. Lavelle was the best chemistry professor. I'd previously taken AP Chemistry in high school, but I knew that I was still really shaky with chemistry. He's a really funny guy and loves cracking jokes periodically, often times ending lecture with a funny slide.

But, his lectures are honestly hard to listen to. Because his class isn't Bruincasted and he doesn't upload his slides, you have to attend lecture to get these slides. It's difficult to both copy down that information while also trying to listen to what he's saying about them. He doesn't really have an engaging voice, so it's difficult to focus on what he's saying.

He only assigns five homework problems a week, which doesn't take much time at all. But the TA's don't really check them, just as long as you completed the five problems. My TA wasn't all that great, as it was his first time being a TA, so he wasn't too sure on how to help us the most.

Dr. Lavelle has a total of four exams all quarter (Test 1, Midterm, Test 2, Final). The tests are easier questions that are relatively similar to the homework problems, but the midterm and final has questions that are MUCH more difficult. They're more conceptual and have different types of questions being asked. I studied so hard for the final and I really thought that I had understood the material, but... y'know.

He offers daily review sessions that his TA's and UA's organize, and he also offers Chemistry Community, which is an online website where we are supposed to make five posts each week for points. I personally thought the final review session was so much more helpful than being in class during lecture. Lavelle's got me scarred from his class that I made sure to not take him for 14B next quarter.

This class is quite the roller coaster. It involves 2 tests (held in discussion), a midterm, a final, an online participation forum, and homework problems. The last 2 items are pretty much free points, the discussion tests are easy, but the midterm and especially the final are extremely difficult. He puts material on them that he talks about for maybe 10 minutes during lecture. If you are strong in chemistry and detail oriented, this might be an easier class for you. He is a pretty good lecturer and a funny guy, but his final is really no joke.