I really did not enjoy my experience in this class. I did get an A but was only able to because I attended hours and hours of sessions outside of class in addition to a stupid amount of time practicing on my own. He does provide a lot of review sessions outside of class but I actually don’t think it’s possible to do well in the class without going to like two a week. I’m not one who’s ever needed to attend a session before and at first I didn’t believe these reviews that you really need to go, but the first test was a bit of a wake up call. This pretty much demonstrates how useless lecture is, all he does is derive stuff that will never be tested and isn’t important to your understanding of the material. However you still need to go because every now and then he’ll say one obscure conceptual thing and it’ll be on the test, and since the tests are so few questions (15) it takes away a big chunk of the grade to miss even one. The professor is not a bad guy, I would say I do agree with the other reviews on here that he’s a bit stuck up, loves to call himself generous, but he isn’t a mean person. But the tests are stressful and ridiculous, and the class requires way more time and energy than is really reasonable. I honestly ignored my other classes so bad I’m really lucky they weren’t that hard and I was able to squeak by. If you have to take it with him yeah you can do it. It’ll be a lot of work and make sure your other classes are easy.

This class is a flipped classroom even though it's not marketed as one. No matter how many lectures you attend, the textbook problems that are assigned not for a grade are the most useful thing that will prepare you for the exams which are hit or miss (more often miss). If you have a light quarter load, this class may be fine, but if you are balancing other harder stem courses or have more extra curriculars to manage, this is not the easiest class to maintain your work ethic in since there are many problems to complete and not enough time to fully learn everything. His lectures are not engaging and often do not explain enough or they over explain topics that are barely tested on.

Lavelle is a pretty cool guy (he always reminded us to exercise our mind and body at the end of each lecture lol) and a pretty good professor as well. What I really liked about Lavelle were his UA sessions and Chem Community. All of his UAs are wonderful and they host numerous sessions every week for practice worksheets. A good tip I have is to go on Chem Community (even if you aren't in Lavelle's class) and find the UA Worksheets with the answers since they're the only practice problems you'll get for the midterms and finals. Chem Community is also a HUGE lifesaver for anyone taking Chem. Just search up the textbook question or Achieve question you're stuck on, and more than likely someone has a post about the detailed solution.

The only homework is Achieve, which is due every 2-3 weeks and takes a couple hours to complete. You should also do at least some of the textbook questions just to get a better grip on the content. As for the tests, I took them all online and they were all multiple-choice on Lockdown Browser. Beware though, these tests are an easy to way to get points off since each question is either worth 4 or 8 points. However, his questions are straightforward and don't require a lot of time to solve (they're just basic calculations). You'll be in great hands if you take Lavelle!

Dr. Lavelle is a generous professor who gave us many relevant materials and organzie lots of LA's tutoring session.
To get an A in this class, you need to complete the post-class materials he assigned on time. And attend the LA tutoring session. Because he will explain the concepts very clearly, there is not much time to practice in class.

Selling textbook Chemical Principles seventh edition and solutions manual (used for both Chem 14A and 14B). Email me at hramsey121@gmail.com if interested!

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Lavelle is a garbage teacher. His tests are based on materials that are in the textbook rather than what he teaches. He wastes your time by going over derivations of equations rather than showing you how to use them. He assigns loads of practice problems that are strictly math and equation based but then decides to test you on concepts. I went to UA sessions to learn everything in this class. His lectures were boring and unhelpful. 2 times speed will never be enough for this man. He went over class time every single day and claimed that it was because he was being thorough when in reality he was simply saying the same sentence 10 times. If he did not have UA sessions, I would have failed his class. I took him for 14 A and that class was absolute garbage as well. If you want to teach yourself chemistry then Lavelle is the right guy for you.

Overall review: His tests are bullshit and they are very hit or miss. You may get easy concepts or you may get your shit rocked. His lectures are boring and garbage. Honestly you probably don't even need to attend them if you go to UA session and read the textbook. The only good thing is that discussion sections are not mandatory which is fantastic because they are a waste of time if you get a shitty TA. UA session will be your saving grace and the UA's are usually fantastic. Chemsitry Community is tedious and a waste of time. His class website is literaly a fan page for himself. He is very self obsessed. One good thing about Lavelle is he boosted grades at the end of the quarter.

Also, I'm sure you're going to read the reviews from all of the "pick me" students from this same lecture, but trust me the first years have no standard for teaching because this was literally their second class. Take this class with literally anyone else or take BE it will probably be better for you.

LIVE, LAUGH, LAVELLE! Truer words have never been spoken, as Professor Lavelle is amazing at simplifying the difficulties of general chemistry. This class is much more calculation based than 14A, which I found to be easier when doing problems and harder when trying to understand concepts.

Here's my short and ez guide to success in this class:
1. Attend lecture- Sometimes Lavelle will go off topic deriving equations that will be given, but I found them helpful to my overall understanding + Lectures serve as an outline for what is tested

2. Go to as many UA workshops as possible- Lavelle doesn't cover many problems in his lectures, so these serve as extremely valuable resources to go over past test problems and discuss topics with well educated undergraduate mentors(the boys Matthew Tran and Michael Nguyen are 10/10)

3. Do the textbook problems!(A designated amount of midterm/final problems come straight word for word from the textbook)

TLDR Lavelle is extremely fair(he doesn't curve like Scerri) and gives you all the resources to succeed in general chemistry virtually

I had Dr. Lavelle in CHEM 14A and I would say that CHEM 14B is basically the same course with different material. I would say that the content in CHEM 14B is the same difficulty as CHEM 14A. Tests make up a large portion of your grade. To do well on the tests, do all the homework problems and attend as many UA sessions as you can. A lot of the tests questions are actual homework problems. As long as you practice a lot for the tests, keep up with Sapling, and keep up with Chemistry Community posts, you will do well. Dr. Lavelle is very considerate of his students and he explains topics well. Lecture explores more of the “why” and “how” in chemistry, which you are not tested on. However, I will say that the background information of these topics is useful and helps you understand exactly what you’re doing when doing problems. After taking chemistry with Dr.Lavelle for two quarters, I have a greater appreciation for chemistry and I can say I actually enjoyed this class.

Professor Lavelle is a good professor who really cares about his students. He has been very accommodating to his students during the whole pandemic fiasco. He has a ton of extra resources and study sessions for you to get more practice. However, I did feel like his lectures were kindof confusing at times. He likes to emphasize conceptual stuff and sometimes doesn't explain how to solve the problems. Overall, if you go to the review sessions and do all of the textbook problems you will be okay.