Professor

Nicholas Deifel

AD
4.6
Overall Ratings
Based on 48 Users
Easiness 3.9 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 4.4 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.4 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.9 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (48)

3 of 5
3 of 5
Add your review...
Dec. 17, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: B+

If I could take chemistry with Deifel again, I would. Attendance and homework is worth majority of your final grade, making midterms and the final not make that much of an impact on your final grade. This is especially helpful since homework assignments are pretty easy to get a 100 on since you can redo all the questions until you get them right. Besides that, he holds review sessions before midterms, which are extremely helpful since he goes over similar problems and topics he would cover on the midterms. From my experience with his exams, they were all extremely manageable and he genuinely prepares you for what you see on the exams. Although lectures can be pretty confusing and you have to teach yourself most of the time topics you don't understand that well, he has office hours many days in the week and loves connecting with his students, so he loves helping his students! Overall, Deifel is extremely reasonable, helpful, funny, and supportive. Take him if you can!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 15, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Deifel is one of the most caring Professors on campus. He is very passionate about teaching chemistry and is dedicated to his students. He has a lot of office hours and he is very responsive. 50% of the grade is based on homework and discussion attendance. His lectures are engaging and funny. I would recommend you take the professor, Deifel makes Chemistry fun.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 14, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Deifel was honestly one of the best and funniest professors I've had at UCLA so far. I'm a math major so I had to take a chem class and I didn't know what to expect coming in with a new prof but he turned out to be amazing. The workload is manageable and I never really read the textbooks and did fine on exams. Remember the rules of sigfigs for the exam questions though! The tests are pretty fair in my opinion and Deifel even holds review sessions for each and goes over what he'd tests which was super helpful. Overall a funny and fantastic professor. Would 100% recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 14, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A+

Amazing professor who is really passionate about chemistry and about helping his students understand as much as possible, even in hard to understand concepts like quantum physics. He is super supportive for his students and knows several by first name basis despite 200+ class size. Overall, take his class!!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 13, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

TL;DR: Highly recommend this class and professor! This class transformed my uncertainty (borderline distaste) about chemistry into appreciation and comfortability.
-
General Workload: 9/10. Workload was pretty decent and manageable. In terms of specific assignments that were not exams or personal studying, we had weekly HW that took roughly 3-5 hours per week at MAX. If the class had trouble with assignments or found that deadlines weren't manageable, it was very easy to communicate with Dr. Deifel and have them reasonably extended!
-
Grading Scheme: 9/10. Offered a reasonable balance of formative assessments (HW, etc.) and summative assessments (midterms and final). The weight for participation (discussion attendance, etc.) matches that for the final (25% discussion attendance and work, 20% final). Other categories are also easy to get full points in as long as you put in effort and go to office hours consistently (25% HW, 30% midterms).
-
Readings/Textbook: 7/10. I'd say that the textbook can be helpful to supplement lecture material since they proceed pretty quickly! I also found that the readings could be substituted with extra time in office hours instead, where you could practice different assessment problems and apply skills. However, the textbook was necessary because HW assignments were assigned through the online textbook platform (Cengage).
-
Quizzes/Exams: 8/10. Midterms were extremely reasonable for the covered material and didn't contain anything unexpected. Something really helpful that Deifel did before the midterm was hold topic review sessions a few days beforehand. During these, we discussed how to work on certain problems relevant to the listed study topics, as well as reviewed certain conceptual ideas that would be helpful. As of this review, the results of the final are TBA (formatted as 1 hour MCQs, 2 hour FRQs). Occasional tricky conceptual questions, but most of the FRQs were straightforward and mimicked problems covered in office hours or the textbook.
-
Material: 8/10. Material is a fair difficulty and doing the textbook HW is essential to doing well in the class. my biggest recommendation would be going to office hours, which are held consistently throughout the week and for long hours. Deifel + the TAs put in a lot of effort into making sure students were supported.
-
Lectures: 7/10. Lectures are decently organized. However, sometimes Deifel would get a bit excited and go over advanced chemistry class topics that aren't 100% necessary for 20A (like the real-world job applications of spectroscopy).
-
Support: 10/10. Deifel + the TAs value supporting students and hold review sessions for midterms. My biggest takeaway from this class is that you will be 100% supported if you put in even the slightest effort to email questions, go to office hours a few times, etc. TA Cohen was specifically super, super helpful during discussions because she created study guides for difficult topics and was relatively available for office hours / by email.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 12, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Amazing teacher. Very manageable workload as long as you don't wait until the last minute to do homework assignments. You do have to pay for the textbook, since he uses Cengage. And 50% of our grade is based on homework and attendance, which are both very easy to get 100% on. Overall, a great teacher and I would definitely take him again if I could.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 11, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Deifel was incredibly welcoming, helpful, and an overall fun and engaging lecturer. The class is mostly based on participation - the majority of your grade comes from going to discussions, completing the homework (you have 10 attempts per question, and if you get the question wrong it shows you how to do it), and showing up to class (he tried to use iClicker but it didn't end up working out). The tests and midterms are over exactly what he says he will cover - you understand what you need to study. Deifel also offers tons of office hours where he explains so many concepts and helps answer specific questions from the homework. He truly cares about his students and wants to see them succeed. I highly recommend taking this class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 11, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Dr. Deifel is one of the best teachers I've ever had, and he's made chemistry so much more enjoyable for me. Though the course isn't exactly easy, it's not too difficult to get an A in this class. He provides all the resources necessary for you to succeed. It's very clear how much he loves the subject and how much he loves teaching. 10/10 would take again.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 11, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: N/A

Deifel is such an enthusiastic teacher. He brought so much energy to our 8 AM that I think he genuinely improved students’ moods. He really cares about his students, and it shows. 100% a teacher I bragged about to my friends. Attend his office hours; you won’t regret it.
The content can seem kind of overwhelming at first but he explains a lot, gives a lot of points for homework and participation, and his tests are absolutely fair and manageable.
I think the only complaint I heard was the homework program, but he hates it too so you end up bonding over it (don’t worry, it’s actually set up to get you a 100% on hw- it’s just annoying).
Anyways, I really liked him as a teacher and would love to have a class of his again. Definitely recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 11, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

Deifel is a a great professor. He's a little goofy but super helpful professor and has lots of office hours. He is genuinely rooting for everyone's success and really tries to make lectures engaging and fun. Even though it was an 8am, CHEM 20A is one of my favorite classes I had this quarter.

The content of the class was very difficult for me but in his review sessions, he goes over exactly what is going to be in the midterm and finals. Would highly recommend! He may be homeless(?) and divorced but he really loves chemistry.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: B+
Dec. 17, 2023

If I could take chemistry with Deifel again, I would. Attendance and homework is worth majority of your final grade, making midterms and the final not make that much of an impact on your final grade. This is especially helpful since homework assignments are pretty easy to get a 100 on since you can redo all the questions until you get them right. Besides that, he holds review sessions before midterms, which are extremely helpful since he goes over similar problems and topics he would cover on the midterms. From my experience with his exams, they were all extremely manageable and he genuinely prepares you for what you see on the exams. Although lectures can be pretty confusing and you have to teach yourself most of the time topics you don't understand that well, he has office hours many days in the week and loves connecting with his students, so he loves helping his students! Overall, Deifel is extremely reasonable, helpful, funny, and supportive. Take him if you can!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 15, 2023

Deifel is one of the most caring Professors on campus. He is very passionate about teaching chemistry and is dedicated to his students. He has a lot of office hours and he is very responsive. 50% of the grade is based on homework and discussion attendance. His lectures are engaging and funny. I would recommend you take the professor, Deifel makes Chemistry fun.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 14, 2023

Deifel was honestly one of the best and funniest professors I've had at UCLA so far. I'm a math major so I had to take a chem class and I didn't know what to expect coming in with a new prof but he turned out to be amazing. The workload is manageable and I never really read the textbooks and did fine on exams. Remember the rules of sigfigs for the exam questions though! The tests are pretty fair in my opinion and Deifel even holds review sessions for each and goes over what he'd tests which was super helpful. Overall a funny and fantastic professor. Would 100% recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A+
Dec. 14, 2023

Amazing professor who is really passionate about chemistry and about helping his students understand as much as possible, even in hard to understand concepts like quantum physics. He is super supportive for his students and knows several by first name basis despite 200+ class size. Overall, take his class!!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 13, 2023

TL;DR: Highly recommend this class and professor! This class transformed my uncertainty (borderline distaste) about chemistry into appreciation and comfortability.
-
General Workload: 9/10. Workload was pretty decent and manageable. In terms of specific assignments that were not exams or personal studying, we had weekly HW that took roughly 3-5 hours per week at MAX. If the class had trouble with assignments or found that deadlines weren't manageable, it was very easy to communicate with Dr. Deifel and have them reasonably extended!
-
Grading Scheme: 9/10. Offered a reasonable balance of formative assessments (HW, etc.) and summative assessments (midterms and final). The weight for participation (discussion attendance, etc.) matches that for the final (25% discussion attendance and work, 20% final). Other categories are also easy to get full points in as long as you put in effort and go to office hours consistently (25% HW, 30% midterms).
-
Readings/Textbook: 7/10. I'd say that the textbook can be helpful to supplement lecture material since they proceed pretty quickly! I also found that the readings could be substituted with extra time in office hours instead, where you could practice different assessment problems and apply skills. However, the textbook was necessary because HW assignments were assigned through the online textbook platform (Cengage).
-
Quizzes/Exams: 8/10. Midterms were extremely reasonable for the covered material and didn't contain anything unexpected. Something really helpful that Deifel did before the midterm was hold topic review sessions a few days beforehand. During these, we discussed how to work on certain problems relevant to the listed study topics, as well as reviewed certain conceptual ideas that would be helpful. As of this review, the results of the final are TBA (formatted as 1 hour MCQs, 2 hour FRQs). Occasional tricky conceptual questions, but most of the FRQs were straightforward and mimicked problems covered in office hours or the textbook.
-
Material: 8/10. Material is a fair difficulty and doing the textbook HW is essential to doing well in the class. my biggest recommendation would be going to office hours, which are held consistently throughout the week and for long hours. Deifel + the TAs put in a lot of effort into making sure students were supported.
-
Lectures: 7/10. Lectures are decently organized. However, sometimes Deifel would get a bit excited and go over advanced chemistry class topics that aren't 100% necessary for 20A (like the real-world job applications of spectroscopy).
-
Support: 10/10. Deifel + the TAs value supporting students and hold review sessions for midterms. My biggest takeaway from this class is that you will be 100% supported if you put in even the slightest effort to email questions, go to office hours a few times, etc. TA Cohen was specifically super, super helpful during discussions because she created study guides for difficult topics and was relatively available for office hours / by email.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 12, 2023

Amazing teacher. Very manageable workload as long as you don't wait until the last minute to do homework assignments. You do have to pay for the textbook, since he uses Cengage. And 50% of our grade is based on homework and attendance, which are both very easy to get 100% on. Overall, a great teacher and I would definitely take him again if I could.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 11, 2023

Deifel was incredibly welcoming, helpful, and an overall fun and engaging lecturer. The class is mostly based on participation - the majority of your grade comes from going to discussions, completing the homework (you have 10 attempts per question, and if you get the question wrong it shows you how to do it), and showing up to class (he tried to use iClicker but it didn't end up working out). The tests and midterms are over exactly what he says he will cover - you understand what you need to study. Deifel also offers tons of office hours where he explains so many concepts and helps answer specific questions from the homework. He truly cares about his students and wants to see them succeed. I highly recommend taking this class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 11, 2023

Dr. Deifel is one of the best teachers I've ever had, and he's made chemistry so much more enjoyable for me. Though the course isn't exactly easy, it's not too difficult to get an A in this class. He provides all the resources necessary for you to succeed. It's very clear how much he loves the subject and how much he loves teaching. 10/10 would take again.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: N/A
Dec. 11, 2023

Deifel is such an enthusiastic teacher. He brought so much energy to our 8 AM that I think he genuinely improved students’ moods. He really cares about his students, and it shows. 100% a teacher I bragged about to my friends. Attend his office hours; you won’t regret it.
The content can seem kind of overwhelming at first but he explains a lot, gives a lot of points for homework and participation, and his tests are absolutely fair and manageable.
I think the only complaint I heard was the homework program, but he hates it too so you end up bonding over it (don’t worry, it’s actually set up to get you a 100% on hw- it’s just annoying).
Anyways, I really liked him as a teacher and would love to have a class of his again. Definitely recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 11, 2023

Deifel is a a great professor. He's a little goofy but super helpful professor and has lots of office hours. He is genuinely rooting for everyone's success and really tries to make lectures engaging and fun. Even though it was an 8am, CHEM 20A is one of my favorite classes I had this quarter.

The content of the class was very difficult for me but in his review sessions, he goes over exactly what is going to be in the midterm and finals. Would highly recommend! He may be homeless(?) and divorced but he really loves chemistry.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
3 of 5
ADS

Adblock Detected

Bruinwalk is an entirely Daily Bruin-run service brought to you for free. We hate annoying ads just as much as you do, but they help keep our lights on. We promise to keep our ads as relevant for you as possible, so please consider disabling your ad-blocking software while using this site.

Thank you for supporting us!