Really funny and nice guy, the most helpful teacher on campus and 50% of the grade are homework and attendance. Gives review sessions before tests which are really helpful through the test are not easy to say. Weekly graded homework which may take some time through, however it is easy to get 100% on that and it is like half of your grade. Definity 5/5 class and would gladly take again.

I’m really bad at chemistry so I had to actually put in a lot of effort but he was really accommodating and had a lot of office hours. He gave us his google number so we could text him questions and usually answered quickly. I thought the midterms were hard but considering the median was like 90-95 maybe that was like a skill issue on my part. Before every midterm he gave us practice problems from the book that were representative of the midterm. The final had a lot of questions that were like totally copied from the midterms so If you understood the mistakes you made on the midterm, you were good. I got a 90 on midterm 1 and an 88 on midterm 2. Idk what I got on the final but considering I got an A then probably 93+. Homework was also a guaranteed 100.

this was an 8 am lecture and I was always dead when I arrived. But he’s actually really engaging and energetic. Participation was a big part of our grade but since I-clicker didn’t work all quarter, you pretty much got away with not going to lecture. But he said some important stuff in lecture and with like drawing the axis, he did it differently than the book so basically If you studied from the book and didn’t go to lecture you would have gotten those questions wrong. He also had review sessions where he went over everything or like mostly everything and those were super helpful.

He’s a really good teacher but like chemistry sucks and this class is hard.

HOLY SHIT, if you want a funny, unregulated, talks in 3rd person, cares about students and their lives and will show up to your sports games like the dad you always wanted, then take Deifel. Want to focus more on learning content than worrying about tests that will completely bomb your grade? Take Deifel. Scared you'll somehow fail even just the homework somehow? Good news you can't since Deifel sets the homework problems to each have multiple tries and even gives explanations on how to work through it when you get it wrong, making getting 100% on assignments physically impossible. Take Deifel. Scared of your first midterms and finals? Tough luck, man gives all the resources necessary, from practice exams to tons of outside sources. Take Deifel. Even if the class is early Deifel like everyone else is tired, yet he still makes the effort to bring in as much energy as possible to the class of 200+. Take Deifel. And oh boy, if you want to learn more, this is the best person to go to as he is just beaming with extra knowledge that's fun to learn and fun for him to teach. Take Deifel. He is enthusiastic, great at teaching, gives the flipping slides out, funny magic man speaks funny magic words. TAKE DEIFEL NOW.

Deifel is awesome, he is so down to earth and approachable! He makes lectures really easy going and doesn't use slides but instead will use the board and give great examples that correlate with labs or the final. No tricks with the final, he tells you what he would ask and gives worksheets that are so similar to the types of questions on the exam. He's so funny and real which made it easy to go up to him and ask anything. He's so flexible and lenient as well and also understands how busy we are as students and will make sure his class is not a burden to you! I learned a lot from this class and also how to better connect with a professor thanks to Deifel. I really recommend you take this class with him for a great quarter :)

CHEM 17 REVIEW : I took Chem 17 (no BruinWalk page yet for that class) with Deifel this quarter and he is an awesome professor. He genuinely cares about his students and wants them to succeed. He offers so many office hours and opportunities for you to do well. There is a homework assignment every week of around 30 questions but you get unlimited attempts so it acts as a grade cushion. There is 2 midterms and a final that are relatively easy, as long as you go to lecture and pay attention. This class is genuinely the best chem class you could take if you need to fulfill a chem pre req (esp Psych majors)

I took 20L with him Summer 2025 (maybe I'll transfer this review once he gets a 20L page), and it's safe to say that Deifel is quite literally one of the most caring and loveable professors I've had here. He's funny, overshares (in my opinion, a charm) about his life, and genuinely engages with his students. I've never met a professor who cares so much about his students' success. Yes, he challenges us, but fairly. He has literally 10+ office hours a week, which I HIGHLY recommend taking advantage of, because you get to know him well and get to understand his personality and course content.

Since our class was small, Deifel was also our lab section lead as well (as opposed to a TA), and those were so memorable and fun, despite labs being stressful.

However, more about the class, it's a fair class with not too much work, given that 20L is a gen chem lab. He often does things his own way, which can sometimes be confusing, but just communicate with him, and he'll understand. He is also super chill, so I would try not to stress much during this class, especially if you put in the work to succeed. This is not a class you can slack off in, but definitely a class that is manageable if you are taking multiple classes (during summer).

One thing about this class I loved: it was so collaborative! I genuinely felt like working with the students in the class, as Deifel fostered that community. I never felt more supported by peers, especially when I was confused about lab write ups.

Anyways, just take this class with Deifel if you can! Or any class with Deifel, to be honest. Deifel Deifel Deifel!

Professor Deifel is hands down the best professor I’ve ever had at UCLA. I’ve now taken three classes with him (Chem 20B, 30B, and 30AL) and each time, I’ve come away learning so much and actually enjoying the process. He’s incredibly passionate about chemistry, and it shows in the way he teaches and interacts with students. He makes challenging topics approachable and never makes you feel bad for asking questions.

What stands out most is how much he cares about his students’ success. He’s super approachable during office hours, always happy to re-explain concepts or just chat about chemistry and life. His lectures are engaging and filled with helpful insights that connect the theory to real applications. Plus, the labs are structured in a way that you actually understand what you’re doing rather than just following steps.

Even when things get hectic or disorganized (which is common in any lab course), Deifel is always flexible, understanding, and willing to adjust deadlines to help students. If you ever have the chance to take a class with him, I cannot recommend it enough. He’s truly one of those professors that makes a lasting impact on your education.

Deifel was super understanding and an awesome professor! I had to miss one of the labs for a graduation, and it was not a hassle. In some of my other labs classes like 20L or 30AL, that would've been trickier. The prelabs and post labs are PDFs, which is nice, so you didn't need a carbon copy notebook. Diefel explains all of the labs ahead of time during the lectures, helping us know what to do, and some background context. The workload is pretty manageable because the lab is only once a week. Overall, I would definitely take again, the labs are fun and Deifel is great!

I would say this class was a good work load and overall a not too stressful class. However the data sometimes would come out late causing stress but Professor Deifel always pushed back the deadlines. The class at times was chaotic but Deifel always had office hours and is very passionate about this course and his students. He never wants to fail students and it helps on the exam if you go to his office hours and ask questions or just listen. The final had all the content he reviewed, and nothing was out of the blue or unexpected. Overall amazing teacher!

Dr. Deifel is an interesting guy. He's not an awful professor and knows somewhat about the subject. However, I'm not sure if it is CHEM 30BL or Deifel specifically, but the class was the most unorganized class I've ever. taken. Our data from our experiments would always be uploaded late (in fact our last lab was waived because the data was not ready until finals week) and the experimental procedure was somehow wrong. So much so that our TA would frequently tell us to do something differently. The lectures being at 8am also did not help matters but that's not on the fault of the prof. Back to the assignments, they are graded pretty harshly (prelab and postlabs). From what I've heard from other students, the labs would also be graded differently, with some people being knocked out points while others would not despite having nearly identical answers. Class structure wise, there is no midterm and one final worth 30% of your grade. The rest of the class is made up of lab assignments and required lecture attendance (5 or 10% I forget). For attendance you have to sign your name and UID on a piece of paper that gets passed around in class.