Although the first part of the class and its material may seem hard, Shao understands and really goes through a lot to help students understand. Also, it is important to do the worksheets in discussions as they greatly help the exams. The exams weren't a breeze (the final was def way easier) but definitely doable if one puts in the effort. Also it is open note/open book so that helps as well.

definitely recommend this class with Professor Shao!! as one who actually enjoys chemistry, i really enjoyed this course during my first quarter at ucla. the grading scale practically guarantees that you pass & it is kind of hard to do bad.
however, the tests are difficult, mostly because of the time constraint. i got a 74 on the first midterm (which is a B- on her scale) & practically had a heart attack when i saw it. the first midterm was more of quantum chemistry/physics so i still did decent for being completely unfamiliar w the concept. second midterm i bounced back & got a 95, and i got a 91 on the final.
to study, i just went over the sample/expectation problems she'd post before exams & weekly worksheets from our discussion sections. for the final, i went over the two midterms & two additional practice midterms she posted.
Shao truly cares about her students -- she was super helpful during office hours and did not hesitate to re-explain concepts how ever many times. she answered my messages on canvas SO fast so don't be scared to reach out to her with questions.
one piece of advice is to print or write down her blank lecture slides (which she posts on canvas) before each lecture so you can actually listen. if you use an ipad, there's pros and cons because the midterms/finals are open-note but with no electronics.
overall, although the concepts explained in this course are not easy, the class is VERY doable. especially with all the resources provided by Dr. Shao. i would definitely take this class again & think my academic skill (in terms of studying, time management, etc.) was positively impacted by this course. take 20A w shao!!

This class is quite fast-paced! The content covered before the first midterm has to do mostly with quantum mechanics and is very different from high school AP Chemistry curricula. Though the tests are a bit challenging (with a class average of 65-70 for both midterms), the main constraint is time. I can't stress this enough — practice the sample problems covered during weekly lectures and make sure you understand the physical meanings of equations and concepts covered in class. During midterms, solve questions as quickly as possible and go back later to check your answers — you'll find the tests pretty straightforward if you work quickly.

All exams are open book/open note, and Professor Shao shows that she really wants you to understand and apply what you've learned rather than memorizing lecture material. Make sure to review consistently, since there's quite a bit of material covered during each class.

The lectures are easier after the first midterm (circling back to stoichiometry, VSEPR, etc.) and there are plenty of ways to boost your grade throughout the quarter; if you do the weekly discussion worksheets and Cengage assignments on time, they are almost a guaranteed 100% if you're thorough. Start early! The Cengage problems take 3-5 hours for 30 questions online per week. (Pro tip: If you don't know how to solve something, just hit "submit" and the program will walk you step-by-step through the problem. You get 10 tries per question.)

The grade distribution is as follows:

Chapter-end Cengage HW (20%)
Collaborative worksheets in discussion (30%)
Midterm 1 (15%)
Midterm 2 (15%)
Final (20%)
Total: 1000 pts.
Extra Credit (surveys, activities) 30 pts.

Also — I recommend printing blank lecture notes out before class, filling them in and checking them later with the annotated version she uploads to Canvas. Professor Shao speaks very quickly during her lectures, but she uploads lots of helpful resources online and takes student feedback seriously to make her content easier to understand.

I did not use the textbook and got by fine. Overall, Professor Shao is a great person and teacher despite it being her first time teaching Chem 20A here. I'm really glad to have had her during my first quarter along with my TA, Ran, who was super helpful and quick to answer any questions I had.

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH THIS PROFESSOR she is super kind and helpful and truly wants her students to succeed. She does so much to help us prepare. There aren't curveballs in this class which is really helpful when it comes to dealing with stress. At times because the class is only 50 minutes, concepts could get confusing. But if you go to office hours, she helps so much. She also posts a lot of resources and her videos are really helpful. Overall I loved this class and wish she taught more classes.

10/10 I met my girlfriend in this class and got an A

Professor Shao is an amazing and super kind, supportive professor, and I'm really glad to have had her as a professor in my first quarter at UCLA. Although the content can be difficult and fast paced at times, the professor truly wants to help students succeed. For instance, she provides a lot of helpful resources (lecture notes, recordings, expectation questions, etc), and her office hours are super helpful and individualized. Another little thing that I noticed was that she responds to student emails quite quickly, so if you have any urgent questions or concerns, definitely don't be afraid to reach out. In terms of the workload, I think the majority of the workload comes from actually studying/reviewing the lecture content, which (for me at least) took up a lot of time since there was so much content covered in each lecture. That's probably just a product of the quarter system though, and again, the professor provides a lot of support to make learning the content more manageable. Overall, I really liked this class, and Professor Shao is a really caring and approachable professor. I wish she taught more chem classes.

Professor Shao is amazing! I especially liked how she uploads the lecture slides before each lecture so I can follow along during the lecture. Since lectures were only 50 minutes long, she does go quite fast and at times it can be difficult to follow but she offers lots of office hours and is fast at replying to emails. If you understand her in class examples and discussion worksheets, test shouldn't be challenging considering how she allowed notes for each of them. Shao cares about students actually understanding and making connections between concepts rather than memorizing templates and formulas. Would highly recommend her for chem20a!

Professor Shao is really helpful. Definitely will take her class again.

I totally agree with all the comments which are saying this class is a disaster, but I just don't understand how these guys could all get an A. I'm taking this class right now, and after the first midterm, my score has already below A (to receive an A, you have to as least get 94%). I didn't do well in the first midterm but almost my best. My score is almost the same as average 73%. I spent over 5 hours on the assignment on Cengage at the end of every chapter, which can't be more depressing. This class will definitely ruin my GPA.

The lectures were fast but interesting. Although the midterms were difficult and hard to finish on time, the final was fairly simple and 50% of the grade was based on worksheets/homework. In addition, the grading scale was shifted so that 85-90 was an A- etc.. Midterms and Final were open note.