CHEM 20B
Chemical Energetics and Change
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: course 20A or 20AH, and Mathematics 31A, with grades of C- or better. Enforced corequisite: Mathematics 31B. Second term of general chemistry. Intermolecular forces and organization, phase behavior, chemical thermodynamics, solutions, equilibria, reaction rates and laws. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Professor Barr lowkey defines the Gatekeep Gaslight GirlBoss mantra. Gatekeep: My main peeve with this class was that he wouldn’t give us answer keys for the problem sets, not even with just the numbers and nothing else (so the only way to check your work is to go to office hours/campuswire) because he thinks answer keys will “make us think we understand the problem when we actually don’t”. Because of this pandemic, recording OH would be extremely useful for all the students who have extenuating circumstances and cannot always make it, and it has been brought up before, but he is adamant about not recording it, and in general keeping resources from his students. For example, when we review the difficult midterms in class, later on he cuts the midterm rubric/answer key out of the recording so we cannot review it on our own again; make sure you screenshot the answer keys when he goes over them!! Gaslight: He likes to remind us how much he empathizes with us and seems to be a nice person, but there isn't much to prove it. Office hours are helpful but we always end up spending the whole period going over 1-2 questions from the problem set. He was super stagnant about not making an extra exam for international students so if you’re international and have a huge time zone difference, just know that your midterms/exams will likely be at an inconvenient time -- but it's ok, because he empathizes with you. Also, he loves to do the exams beforehand and tell us how he was able to complete it in 50 min, so we should have no problem with it (even though he makes the exams) GirlBoss: I can't lie, he's a pretty good lecturer and if you had Prof. Felker for 20A, you will greatly appreciate Professor Barr, who actually does example chem problems. He does run over his time a lot though, so be prepared to rewatch the lecture (uploaded the next day) if you have a class right after this one. Barr's office hours are helpful, despite being slow. However, Barr's innovative vision really shines on the exams, and by that I mean the exams feel like levels above what we learn in class. Our GroupMe was POPPIN off after both midterms with students releasing the bad vibes they absorbed from the exams. the medians for midterms #1 and #2 were around 75 and 68. Overall, this class was a spiritual journey. It taught me love, patience, and most of all, pain. I laughed, I cried, I danced (the Joker bathroom dance). I meme-ed with my fellow chem20B sufferers. I opened some chakras, yet closed even more. I was buried alive, but only then was I able to glimpse the meaning of life through the faint gaps of moonlight that fought their way into the cracks of my coffin cover. And eventually, I emerged through that coffin a new woman, one that has learned that it is not oxygen that keeps us alive, but the human spirit, and its unwillingness to concede to the darkness. Anyways, I wish you good luck on your journey if you choose to take Barr.
Winter 2021 - Professor Barr lowkey defines the Gatekeep Gaslight GirlBoss mantra. Gatekeep: My main peeve with this class was that he wouldn’t give us answer keys for the problem sets, not even with just the numbers and nothing else (so the only way to check your work is to go to office hours/campuswire) because he thinks answer keys will “make us think we understand the problem when we actually don’t”. Because of this pandemic, recording OH would be extremely useful for all the students who have extenuating circumstances and cannot always make it, and it has been brought up before, but he is adamant about not recording it, and in general keeping resources from his students. For example, when we review the difficult midterms in class, later on he cuts the midterm rubric/answer key out of the recording so we cannot review it on our own again; make sure you screenshot the answer keys when he goes over them!! Gaslight: He likes to remind us how much he empathizes with us and seems to be a nice person, but there isn't much to prove it. Office hours are helpful but we always end up spending the whole period going over 1-2 questions from the problem set. He was super stagnant about not making an extra exam for international students so if you’re international and have a huge time zone difference, just know that your midterms/exams will likely be at an inconvenient time -- but it's ok, because he empathizes with you. Also, he loves to do the exams beforehand and tell us how he was able to complete it in 50 min, so we should have no problem with it (even though he makes the exams) GirlBoss: I can't lie, he's a pretty good lecturer and if you had Prof. Felker for 20A, you will greatly appreciate Professor Barr, who actually does example chem problems. He does run over his time a lot though, so be prepared to rewatch the lecture (uploaded the next day) if you have a class right after this one. Barr's office hours are helpful, despite being slow. However, Barr's innovative vision really shines on the exams, and by that I mean the exams feel like levels above what we learn in class. Our GroupMe was POPPIN off after both midterms with students releasing the bad vibes they absorbed from the exams. the medians for midterms #1 and #2 were around 75 and 68. Overall, this class was a spiritual journey. It taught me love, patience, and most of all, pain. I laughed, I cried, I danced (the Joker bathroom dance). I meme-ed with my fellow chem20B sufferers. I opened some chakras, yet closed even more. I was buried alive, but only then was I able to glimpse the meaning of life through the faint gaps of moonlight that fought their way into the cracks of my coffin cover. And eventually, I emerged through that coffin a new woman, one that has learned that it is not oxygen that keeps us alive, but the human spirit, and its unwillingness to concede to the darkness. Anyways, I wish you good luck on your journey if you choose to take Barr.
Most Helpful Review
TAKE BAUER. BEST CHEM PROFESSOR I'VE EVER HAD. Seriously, she's so concerned about student learning and her lectures are well organized & easy to understand. Go to her office hours as much as you can, because she's really helpful & friendly. She has a good sense of humor and she does a lot of demos which keep the class interesting. Her tests are pretty fair with a generous curve.
TAKE BAUER. BEST CHEM PROFESSOR I'VE EVER HAD. Seriously, she's so concerned about student learning and her lectures are well organized & easy to understand. Go to her office hours as much as you can, because she's really helpful & friendly. She has a good sense of humor and she does a lot of demos which keep the class interesting. Her tests are pretty fair with a generous curve.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Had to take 20B to fulfill requirements, even though I had already learned the content way before. About 70-80ish students were enrolled in the class, but if you ever went to lecture you could expect to see less than 20 students, unless there was a quiz/midterm. The content is pretty simple, but Baugh can't explain it well at all. However, that's okay. He moves through his own syllabus very slowly (a week's work in a month). It's easy to keep up with the course through the textbook and a few practice questions. What's really annoying is Baugh's quizzes and exams. He is very unclear on what will be tested and keeps changing the date. Then, when you take the quiz, you'll spend half the time trying to understand what the damn question is asking you because the English used in his questions is just SO UNCLEAR. He writes them out as if he's talking, and it's hard enough to understand what he says anyway. Once you get the exams back, you'll find that the grading is frickin inconsistent and your classmate may have written the EXACT same thing as you, but you get 0/50 and he gets 50/50. His questions aren't hard, but they're stupid questions. I really thought I'd get an A in this class, because I know the topic really well. If not for his grading errors, I probably would've got it. It also felt like his final grades were quite random. I don't recommend anybody take this guy's class, and don't know how tf he is teaching at UCLA. FYI, he was "under review" this quarter for about two weeks and then he said he would improve, but that was complete BS. Don't enroll in his class.
Winter 2020 - Had to take 20B to fulfill requirements, even though I had already learned the content way before. About 70-80ish students were enrolled in the class, but if you ever went to lecture you could expect to see less than 20 students, unless there was a quiz/midterm. The content is pretty simple, but Baugh can't explain it well at all. However, that's okay. He moves through his own syllabus very slowly (a week's work in a month). It's easy to keep up with the course through the textbook and a few practice questions. What's really annoying is Baugh's quizzes and exams. He is very unclear on what will be tested and keeps changing the date. Then, when you take the quiz, you'll spend half the time trying to understand what the damn question is asking you because the English used in his questions is just SO UNCLEAR. He writes them out as if he's talking, and it's hard enough to understand what he says anyway. Once you get the exams back, you'll find that the grading is frickin inconsistent and your classmate may have written the EXACT same thing as you, but you get 0/50 and he gets 50/50. His questions aren't hard, but they're stupid questions. I really thought I'd get an A in this class, because I know the topic really well. If not for his grading errors, I probably would've got it. It also felt like his final grades were quite random. I don't recommend anybody take this guy's class, and don't know how tf he is teaching at UCLA. FYI, he was "under review" this quarter for about two weeks and then he said he would improve, but that was complete BS. Don't enroll in his class.
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Most Helpful Review
Felker isn't the most exciting lecturer, and his homework is not always like the midterm/final. But he does give practice midterms and a practice final. However, the practice ones are just previous midterms. Our second practice midterm had several problems that we could not do because he never covered them, and he never tested us on. That was just a waste of my time and made me worry that the midterm was going to be harder than it was. Overall I think that his chem 20B class is pretty tough, but it could be better and it could be worse.
Felker isn't the most exciting lecturer, and his homework is not always like the midterm/final. But he does give practice midterms and a practice final. However, the practice ones are just previous midterms. Our second practice midterm had several problems that we could not do because he never covered them, and he never tested us on. That was just a waste of my time and made me worry that the midterm was going to be harder than it was. Overall I think that his chem 20B class is pretty tough, but it could be better and it could be worse.
Most Helpful Review
After taking Chem20A, I thought this class was almost a joke! The material is much easier, because it's less conceptual than 20A. The class was not that difficult at all, but then again, I wouldn't say that it's an easy A either. He's very straight forward with his HW and most of his midterm questions. As long as you do the HW, you'll do fine. He doesn't go by the physical science book that we have. Instead, he uses the Chem14B book, and their problems are easier! I never read the book, but I managed to get good grades on the quizes and midterms. I have to admit, the final was unexpectedly really harder than his midterms. Overall, Lavelle is a good prof. He explains the concepts clearly. He'll answer all the questions you may have and he won't make you feel stupid for asking them, unlike some profs. I don't know why people say he's a bad lecturer. I don't think he's bad at all. He may not be the most exciting, but he's not the worst either.
After taking Chem20A, I thought this class was almost a joke! The material is much easier, because it's less conceptual than 20A. The class was not that difficult at all, but then again, I wouldn't say that it's an easy A either. He's very straight forward with his HW and most of his midterm questions. As long as you do the HW, you'll do fine. He doesn't go by the physical science book that we have. Instead, he uses the Chem14B book, and their problems are easier! I never read the book, but I managed to get good grades on the quizes and midterms. I have to admit, the final was unexpectedly really harder than his midterms. Overall, Lavelle is a good prof. He explains the concepts clearly. He'll answer all the questions you may have and he won't make you feel stupid for asking them, unlike some profs. I don't know why people say he's a bad lecturer. I don't think he's bad at all. He may not be the most exciting, but he's not the worst either.
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