CHEM 30BL
Organic Chemistry Laboratory I
Description: Lecture, one hour; laboratory, four hours. Requisites: courses 30A (or 30AH), 30AL and 30B, with grades of C- or better. Basic experimental techniques in organic synthesis (performing reactions, monitoring reactions, and conducting purifications) and spectroscopy (IR, NMR, mass spectrometry). Synthesis of known organic molecules on microscale level with focus on societal applications. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 3.0
Units: 3.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2016 - Dr. Kammeyer's crew (herself + all her TAs) are the chillest people you will ever meet in the Chemistry lab class., maybe even in the whole school. They make you feel like you are talking to a friend of yours. Dr. Kammeyer's lectures are well organized and engaging. The class isn't that hard. And you get to learn a lot about organic chemistry. The labs are fun, even the lab reports are fun. Take this class and find out more. You will definitely end up happy and Dr. Kammeyer will end up as one of your favorite professors at UCLA, guaranteed. Go to office hours. You will find out why I sad this once you keep showing up. Enjoy.
Fall 2016 - Dr. Kammeyer's crew (herself + all her TAs) are the chillest people you will ever meet in the Chemistry lab class., maybe even in the whole school. They make you feel like you are talking to a friend of yours. Dr. Kammeyer's lectures are well organized and engaging. The class isn't that hard. And you get to learn a lot about organic chemistry. The labs are fun, even the lab reports are fun. Take this class and find out more. You will definitely end up happy and Dr. Kammeyer will end up as one of your favorite professors at UCLA, guaranteed. Go to office hours. You will find out why I sad this once you keep showing up. Enjoy.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - This class wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At first I was very nervous about it because the cut off for an A was 95% and the TA's would really nitpick at your labs. I got points taken off for super minor things and they're looking for specific key words so if you don't have it then that's points off. I had Laura as my TA she was great overall I felt like she was pretty real with us and she would listen to our complaints or suggestions that we had throughout the quarter and would try to talk to the professor for us. Professor Nasrallah was also very generous with extra credit points which made the 95% cut off not that bad. The lectures were based on slides and then you'd have pre-labs, post-labs, and alternative analysis due almost every week. It got better in the second half of the quarter since we got to the two week labs so it slowed down the pace which I really needed. TopSpin is a pain, it's a program to read and analyze the NMRs. Good luck with that. The labs themselves are scheduled for 4 hours but you only need to attend 2 hours of it. The first 30 min is just the students there so you can discuss any questions you might have with each other, then the next hour is for the TA to go over the material for the lab, and the next 30 min is for the students to go over anything they have questions on with each other. There are lecture quizzes which weren't bad, they're just there to make sure you watch and understand the lecture. There is also a group presentation and we got randomly assigned. The only thing that I really didn't like was the lack of communication. We found out really late about the format of the final exam and it was proctored on Zoom and we only got 2 hours. So that really stressed me out, but thankfully, the final was not like the previous chem 30BL finals. We had those for practice and they were hard but the one that Professor Nasrallah gave us was one that he wrote himself. Some of the questions were styled similarly to the old exams but I thought it was a reasonable exam and I felt like it was very catered to what he taught us, there were no surprises and very straightforward. I started reviewing a week before and got a pretty good grade. We also only had 2 hours but I finished the exam in an hour and spent the rest of the time reviewing my answers. This class wasn't bad especially during covid and I was just taking this class as a requirement. But I probably wouldn't take this during covid/online if your future involves this material because I definitely would not be able to do these labs in real life. Otherwise, Professor Nasrallah really wants his students to learn and get excited about the material. He also tries really hard to engage students as well. I think this was his first time teaching so he's open to feedback and trying to improve. Overall, I would really recommend him! One of the best chem professors I've had.
Fall 2020 - This class wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At first I was very nervous about it because the cut off for an A was 95% and the TA's would really nitpick at your labs. I got points taken off for super minor things and they're looking for specific key words so if you don't have it then that's points off. I had Laura as my TA she was great overall I felt like she was pretty real with us and she would listen to our complaints or suggestions that we had throughout the quarter and would try to talk to the professor for us. Professor Nasrallah was also very generous with extra credit points which made the 95% cut off not that bad. The lectures were based on slides and then you'd have pre-labs, post-labs, and alternative analysis due almost every week. It got better in the second half of the quarter since we got to the two week labs so it slowed down the pace which I really needed. TopSpin is a pain, it's a program to read and analyze the NMRs. Good luck with that. The labs themselves are scheduled for 4 hours but you only need to attend 2 hours of it. The first 30 min is just the students there so you can discuss any questions you might have with each other, then the next hour is for the TA to go over the material for the lab, and the next 30 min is for the students to go over anything they have questions on with each other. There are lecture quizzes which weren't bad, they're just there to make sure you watch and understand the lecture. There is also a group presentation and we got randomly assigned. The only thing that I really didn't like was the lack of communication. We found out really late about the format of the final exam and it was proctored on Zoom and we only got 2 hours. So that really stressed me out, but thankfully, the final was not like the previous chem 30BL finals. We had those for practice and they were hard but the one that Professor Nasrallah gave us was one that he wrote himself. Some of the questions were styled similarly to the old exams but I thought it was a reasonable exam and I felt like it was very catered to what he taught us, there were no surprises and very straightforward. I started reviewing a week before and got a pretty good grade. We also only had 2 hours but I finished the exam in an hour and spent the rest of the time reviewing my answers. This class wasn't bad especially during covid and I was just taking this class as a requirement. But I probably wouldn't take this during covid/online if your future involves this material because I definitely would not be able to do these labs in real life. Otherwise, Professor Nasrallah really wants his students to learn and get excited about the material. He also tries really hard to engage students as well. I think this was his first time teaching so he's open to feedback and trying to improve. Overall, I would really recommend him! One of the best chem professors I've had.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Reilly is very passionate about the class, and she often shared about her experience in the field. This class is in no way "easy", but through the help of Reilly and my TAs, I found the class very enjoyable. Each week, you have a 1 hour lecture with Reilly and a 4 hour lab with the TAs. However, most of the labs did not take the full time. For the one week labs, you have a pre-lab and a post-lab due. Most of the lab write-ups are straight-forward, requiring that you report your data and analyze it. A portion of the lab write-up includes a "digging deeper" section, in which you google some information related to the lab and answer questions. The TAs are picky with the grading, so try to be as clear and thorough with your responses. I was able to get mid 90s to 100% on the labs, where I lost most of my points when processing my NMR data. You also need to do a presentation about one of the labs at the end of the quarter. There is no midterm, but there is a final exam. The final covered the material rather evenly. She prepares you well by posting worksheets for each lecture's material and exams from past years with answers. Her class is straight scale, and it is quite difficult to earn an A in the class because if you are not careful, you will lose points here and there and that builds up. She is very helpful in her office hours especially if you do not know how to read your NMR spectra. She also showed many demos in the lecture, which were interesting. I learned a lot about the applications of organic chemistry to different fields, and I would highly recommend this course to those who are looking into research.
Winter 2019 - Reilly is very passionate about the class, and she often shared about her experience in the field. This class is in no way "easy", but through the help of Reilly and my TAs, I found the class very enjoyable. Each week, you have a 1 hour lecture with Reilly and a 4 hour lab with the TAs. However, most of the labs did not take the full time. For the one week labs, you have a pre-lab and a post-lab due. Most of the lab write-ups are straight-forward, requiring that you report your data and analyze it. A portion of the lab write-up includes a "digging deeper" section, in which you google some information related to the lab and answer questions. The TAs are picky with the grading, so try to be as clear and thorough with your responses. I was able to get mid 90s to 100% on the labs, where I lost most of my points when processing my NMR data. You also need to do a presentation about one of the labs at the end of the quarter. There is no midterm, but there is a final exam. The final covered the material rather evenly. She prepares you well by posting worksheets for each lecture's material and exams from past years with answers. Her class is straight scale, and it is quite difficult to earn an A in the class because if you are not careful, you will lose points here and there and that builds up. She is very helpful in her office hours especially if you do not know how to read your NMR spectra. She also showed many demos in the lecture, which were interesting. I learned a lot about the applications of organic chemistry to different fields, and I would highly recommend this course to those who are looking into research.
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