This class was extremely unpleasant, but not impossible.

Pros:
-Dropping the lowest midterm - if you do badly on the first one you have a second chance, and if you do well on the first one you don't have to worry about the second one
-Fair midterms. While both midterms were relatively fair, the first midterm was EXTREMELY easy (I think everyone in my lecture hall finished in 30 minutes). This was probably because she was originally planning the midterms to only be 50 minutes long, though
-Responding to student needs. In general, I'd say that Professor Anderson did a good job responding to questions, as long as it was something that EVERYONE was struggling with. You might have to wait until late the night before it's due, but if you're all struggling on a homework set she might post a hint or extend the due date and address it in lecture the next day
-Teaching to the test. I admire Professor Anderson for making her own slides, and she only taught what was absolutely necessary for the exams. By using the slides and the supplementary Klein textbooks (quick but necessary), you pretty much had all the material you needed
-Extra credit. Anderson offered 3 points of EC for the homework and 6 points of EC for the final for filling in the teacher evals

Cons:
-Errors. Many people have already discussed the numerous errors in the slides, practice exams, and sometimes even actual exams themselves. In addition, something was almost always wrong with Gradescope not assigning the correct number of points, so if that happens just email your TA or Anderson
-Crowded office hours. I attended office hours nearly every week (the difficulty of the homework almost required it). The one on Monday (before the homework was due) was always extremely, extremely crowded. Like, running two hours long and people sitting on the floor and having to be turned away crowded. I think this definitely could have been avoided if she offered some Zoom options so that we could all hear the questions being asked (so we didn't all ask the same one 50 times) or if she posted more "hints" about the problems
-Inconsistency. Whether it's the students, TAs, or even Professor Anderson herself, sometimes no one has any idea what's going on. I remember one hw question that I attended a TA's office hours for where everyone was split between two different answers. We asked the two TAs who happened to be there and they gave different answers, and different students and TAs claimed that Professor Anderson told them BOTH answers at different times that day. Eventually this was resolved when Professor Anderson posted a "hint" late that night and extended the due date
-Useless discussion sections. I don't think Professor Anderson set expectations with the TAs about what they were supposed to teach when, so some discussion sections learned material others didn't and some learned the material differently. I had two TAs (I switched a few weeks into the quarter because I found my first discussion section pretty useless), but a common trend is that the TAs do problems that are way too easy for the questions we'll be asked on exams and may even lag behind the lecture material by a few weeks. Because of the TA strike, I ended up not even having discussion for the last 3 weeks of the quarter, and I don't think it impacted my learning at all
-Last-minute changes. For example, Professor Anderson originally announced that our midterms were going to be 50 minutes long and during two of our regular lecture times (which I already thought was sus), but they ended up being changed into the standard two-hour long ones in the evening A FEW WEEKS INTO THE QUARTER. There were also problems with the practice midterms and answer sets being posted very late (like, the night before or the day of the exam late)
-Difficult final. I did well on the midterms and expected the final to be equally fair, but I don't know what happened. It was extremely long (and in a time when there weren't as many TAs to grade due to the TA strike, leading to us only getting our final exam grades THE SECOND WEEK OF WINTER BREAK), had some genuinely baffling questions (which even redoing all of the homework sets, practice midterms, and actual midterms apparently did not prepare me for), and had TWO difficult IR/spectroscopy questions (you'll understand when you get there). It just felt like a final slap in the face

Tips for succeeding in this class:
-Klein all the way. DO EVERY SINGLE PRACTICE PROBLEM in the relevant chapters of the Klein textbooks (both first semester and second semester topics). You can find these as PDFs online. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL before diving into the (very difficult) homework. I cannot overstate how helpful these books are - if I could send Dr. Klein a dozen roses or kiss the ground he walks on, I would. (As a side note, don't bother with the Vollhardt and Schore textbook)
-Park yourself in office hours. They're a battlefield, but get there early to guarantee yourself a spot. Even if you don't talk to Professor Anderson directly, eavesdrop on other students' questions or ask people if you can compare homework answers and exchange numbers
-Buy a model kit (or borrow someone else's for tests). It can save you a lot of time when trying to figure out whether two molecules are the same/enantiomers/diastereomers, etc.

Overall, yes, this class took a lot of time, but again, I think that's pretty standard for a first ochem class. It won't kill you, and the other people in the class are genuinely nice and want to help you. Do Klein, go to office hours, and make friends, and you'll have a much more pleasant experience.

I love prof Anderson. She made me really enjoy Ochem, a subject I feared due to reputation. She is also so approachable, and she answers everyone's questions. I feel like I can talk to Anderson without feeling nervous or scared. Anderson is a gem. It was initially clear that she is a new instructor, as the course slides could be more organized (sometimes there were mistakes on there so I ended up asking my TA a lot of things), but Anderson is very patient and listens to us when we tell her our concerns. Her homework assignments and exams were very fair. I think the class was paced perfectly (as long as the student puts in the work). Also, she's really funny.
A lot of students hate her, but I really don't think the class was that horrible. It was in fact one of my favorite classes.

Pros:
- Anderson is funny
- She makes more office hours as needed and allows walk-ins even if she doesn't have office hours
- she stays after class for God knows how long answering questions
- She helps you out-- like seriously. Did poorly on one of the midterms? Ok, she decided to drop the lowest midterm. The two lectures had their final exams at different dates and were therefore at different levels of preparedness? Ok, she curved the final. Did poorly on the quizzes? Complete her evaluations on MyUCLA and gain extra credit that will cover that. Can't learn the amino acids' acidity levels? Ok, she didn't include it on any of the tests. She seriously helped us out a lot, and it's unfortunate that many people fail to see that.
- she answers A LOT of questions during lectures
- if she doesn't get enough time to go over the content in class, she makes supplementary videos

Cons:
- her slides may have mistakes
- you WILL have to study outside of class (I don't really think this is a con, I mean it's Ochem at UCLA...)

I do recommend her, but I will leave with a note that you DO have to put in the effort. Good luck!

Most of the faults of this class lay on the quality of the lectures in my opinion. Slides are misleading at times due to mistakes and Dr. Anderson can get sidetracked at times. This disorganization can be attributed to the fact that this quarter was her first time at UCLA, and I anticipate that she will (probably) be more organized in the future. In terms of assignments and exams, I will say that the problem sets were very difficult while the exams were very fair, almost easy. Dr. Anderson has a exam drop policy and a two problem set drop policy, which makes the class more manageable. There was also a quiz component that would've been given during discussion. These quizzes were also generally manageable and the lowest is dropped during the course.

As much as the reviews say otherwise, I believe it is very possible to succeed in this course if you stay on top of content review (don't fall behind).

Professor Anderson was probably the worst professor I've had at UCLA. While she is a nice person, albeit a bit quiet and unconfident, her teaching style was awful and I had to self-teach myself this whole course. She was extremely disorganized, leading to extreme confusion during lectures. She would only sometimes upload notes before class and even these notes usually had mistakes in them that she wouldn't catch. During actual class, she taught the material in an extremely confusing way that left me feeling more confused after class compared to before. Her problem sets are unnecessarily hard since she creates them on her own, leading to mistakes in the questions and hours of headaches. On the flip side though, this makes the exams feel more fair. I say "fair" but her exams still sometimes asked questions on concepts we never covered in class, which was discouraging, but these questions weren't as hard as the problem set questions at times. Even the TAs didn't know what she was doing at times, which just shows her disorganization. I could go on and on but you can read other reviews to see that she was not a good professor this quarter. The only saving grace of this course was the fact that she dropped a whole midterm, two problem sets, and one quiz but be prepared to put in a lot of time into course to teach yourself the material and complete the problem sets. Since this was her first quarter teaching though, I hope she improves.