Doctor Ow is a great example of professors being deattached from their students. I was able to pass the class with an A, but that doesn't mean that it was a good, or even acceptable experience. He uses his textbook on TopHat, and it's both confusing and frustrating with how he embeds questions for concepts before the book even goes over them. His grading scale is strange and I barely scraped by with an A-.

I took this as part of CSI, and this course was completely asynchronous. However, despite that, Dr. Ow always made sure to make time for his students through twice weekly office hours, answering his emails regularly, and even holding recorded exam reviews! Plenty of students (including myself) went to office hours, where most of his answers were concise and extremely helpful (he also gives little rules of thumb and stuff).

However, if you're not a great test-taker, then this class may not be 100% the best for you. Our entire grade was based on quizzes and exams, although quizzes are untimed and only 5 questions long (not always multiple choice though) and you can use the book (he said so himself in the syllabus). On the other hand, exams are timed (still open-book) but still not insanely difficult (usually 7-8 short-answer questions). Exams usually had a B+ average (which I consider pretty good for ~100 students). You do have to be motivated enough to watch the lectures and do the practice problems from the book since there's no graded homework assignments to force you to learn.

Unlike last year though, he didn't provide the textbook for us (it wasn't the Top Hat one), but it is FREE and easily accessible if you just look at other places on the internet. If it's the Chemical Principles textbook, you DON'T need to buy it from UCLA for the Achieve software as he doesn't use it at all, so there is no added benefit there if you think the cost will include special questions or examples.

Personally, I thought the professor was really cool. He's a good lecturer and is very engaging. However, that's probably the only good thing I can say about this class.

The exams were brutal. By brutal, I mean it makes you question whether or not you belong in STEM. The midterms and final were extremely hard because I essentially had no way of preparing for it. The worksheets, quizzes, and practice exams he gives us are much easier than the actual exams, so you have no way of knowing whether or not you're actually prepared for it. I found it extremely unfair that we had no actual way of preparing for it.

If you're a god at chem/a good test taker, then you should take this class.

took 14d with Prof Ow during fall 2021. hardest class I have ever taken, with no empathy shown towards the fact that we were transitioning back to in person classes after 1.5 years or that we are students with other responsibilities. if this is your only hard/demanding class, I think it is possible to dedicate ALL your time to the class and get an A or B. if you end up having to take this amongst other STEM classes/major classes or if you have other responsibilities that take up time throughout the week, it was really tough to keep up in my opinion. he goes VERY fast when explaining material and gives weekly quizzes that are pretty hard. exams are also timed and really long, and there was no curve even though our averages were very low (ie. first midterm average was a D). avoid taking with him if you can but good luck if you have no choice

Not enough practice problems were given for this class. The textbook solutions were poorly written and I honestly learnt the most by doing practice exams. Campuswire was unresponsive and normally questions were answered with a single short sentence that did not help a lot. Materials seem easy he just made it a lot harder to understand and practice.

Ok, this is a review for his 14CL class because he's not listed as a professor. Overall would recommend taking this lab with him because he was super generous (not like how his descriptions are for his 14C class). His grading scale was nice (90% and up was an A). For the final, which was in person, we were allowed to bring 1 whole page of a cheat sheet front and back--- so super nice. His exams were honestly not bad at all. The in-person labs were also not bad but that part just depends on who your TA is and if they are generous or not. Btw I had Du, S, and would def recommend it because he graded so easily. Also, I would recommend getting a PLF for this course to help with the pre and post-labs. Overall this class is A LOT of busy work. An average week was 1 prelab due Tues/Wed and 1 post-lab due Tues/Wed and those take a lot of time. All-in-all, this class is not that bad and would recommend this professor.

After taking 14D with Dr. Reilly, I desperately wish that I had Dr. Ow for 14D. In 14C, the classes were fast-paced but clear. If you do ALL textbook problems assigned you will succeed. Dr. Ow's lectures have a lot of content, but he rarely falls behind and plans the class well. He finished with content before exams so you have time to prepare. You know what will be on the tests as long as you keep up with the material.

If he is available for whatever class you are trying to take, you are the dumbest person on Earth. HE is really good.

Dr. Ow is one of the better Chem professors, he just has to cover so much material so he goes pretty fast, so make sure to use your resources. His grading distribution is really what stands out because tests count for way less and homework/discussions count for more. He's very understanding and attentive, I would definitely recommend taking his class!

Currently taking him for the summer. He's a pretty good professor and he relates to students well since he was recently a UCLA undergrad himself. The course had two midterms which are 25% each and the final is worth 50%. He gives 5% worth of extra credit. In my course he is trying a straight scale as an experiment, but he says he usually does a curve. He also assigns optional homework, but I personally don't do it because I think his lectures suffice to do well on the exam. He also does bruincast which is a great resource. Overall, I think the class is fair in terms of difficulty and grading