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.

I really enjoyed this class with Professor Lavelle. Although I did not get the grade that I wanted, I learned a lot. This class was manageable, but my only problem is that the homework and lectures didn't really measure up to the difficulty of the tests. Sometimes things that were only covered for a brief minute would show up on tests, so pay attention closely to lectures! I would 100% recommend taking this class if you want a good chemistry background.

Dr. Lavelle is possibly the worst lecturer I have ever experienced. He is so unclear and ambiguous. If you take this class with Lavelle, go to the UA workshops instead of lecture. It's way more helpful because they explain the topics way better than Lavelle ever could. Lavelle does offer lots of resources like Chemistry Community and review sessions that are helpful; however, some of his TAs are literally incompetent. His UAs are much more intelligent and actually have great tips for his class. Lavelle is also very tricky and ambiguous on his tests. The questions are terribly worded and the average is always a C. This class is NOT curved and neither are the tests. I do not understand why he wants his students to perform so terribly. This man will set you up for failure!

Before taking this class, I had been drawn into the assumption that Lavelle was a very strict and intolerable professor. However, as the quarter progressed, Lavelle seemed to be very open and helpful and allows students to have numerous opportunities to prepare for his tests (which are definitely very hard). The most important takeaway from this class was that you cannot cruise through the class by straight memorization; It requires complete, yes I mean COMPLETE understanding of all the concepts Lavelle goes over. Finally, his final is difficult but doable (very similar to his midterm).

Tests were stupid hard, at least for me. I came in knowing I wasn't good at chem and genuinely worked really hard to get a B. Dr. Lavelle always bragged about having tons of hours of extra help (review sessions, office hours, etc) and I went to several of them but I don't think this helped me on the exams. My TA also wasn't the best and I've heard from other people that their TAs often messed up grading for every exam. I wish I could have gotten an A but that just wasn't feasible for me. That being said, I did have a friend who was taking 14A with Caram at the same time and it seemed like her class was even harder so you might be better off with Lavelle if those are the only options.

Probably the worst professor/teacher I have had so far. His homework questions are nothing compared to his exam questions and claims to have "so many resources to do well" when these "resources" are review sessions held by people who will only give you the basics and not information Lavelle would test you on. His exam questions are incomplete, for example, in our final, the TAs had to tell us to use the actual yield that was given to us instead of the theoretical yield for two questions when in the question we're only told to use "the yield". Our midterm average was a 72% and he was actually HAPPY. Lavelle is horrible - please save yourself, your GPA, and your sanity and take someone else PLEASE.

Lavelle was an awesome professor, I would definitely recommend taking his class. He is very passionate about chemistry and very passionate about getting everyone to understand and pass his class. This being said it was still tough - this is coming from someone who did not take AP chem in high school because it was not offered.
1. Get the book!! The book helped me a lot in expanding on the concepts he talked about in class because I did not have the background knowledge most people had.
2. ALWAYS do the homework and online assessments. Lavelle takes questions from these and puts them on his exams (easy points)
3. He gives 2 tests which aren't too bad. Just make sure to study for an adequate amount of hours.
4. The final and midterm were hard and a bit tricky, but if you go to review sessions and study everything he tells you to and pay attention in class, you should be able to get by just fine.
Although I personally got a B- in the class, I feel like I learned a lot this quarter and am adequately prepared to take chem 14B unlike some of my peers who feel underprepared when taking 14A from a different professor. I highly recommend Lavelle! Its tough but its worth it!