I took both 14A and 14B with Dr. Lavelle and he is hands-down one of the most interactive and caring professors I have had at UCLA. He genuinely wants his students to succeed and to do that, he goes to great lengths to make numerous useful resources available to his students. Likewise, everything taught in class corresponds to the homework and what he expects you to know for exams. He even provides you with past exams in his course reader. As a student, you still have to do work, but he provides you with the information you need to know. He is truly an exceptional lecturer who provides great and detailed examples and is more than happy to answer questions in class, outside of class, or even online. Dr. Lavelle puts his heart and soul into Chem 14A and 14B and it shows.

I had Dr. Lavelle for Chem 14A and I am so glad I had him again for Chem 14B. The resources that Dr. Lavelle provides for his classes are endless. With about 50 hours of office hours per week and over 15 hours of review sessions before an exam, there are plenty of opportunities to get your questions answered. He developed this Undergraduate Assistant program where undergrads like us hold office hours and answer all types of questions. The UAs are really helpful and really easy to approach when I had a question. Dr. Lavelle really wants his students to do well. He always stays after class to answer student questions, and even when he says his review sessions are only an hour and a half, he always ends up staying longer to make sure all the questions are answered before he concludes. When registering for classes, make sure to use your first pass on Dr. Lavelle’s Chem 14A or Chem 14B. You do not want to wait too long or else his courses will fill up!

Selling the textbook and solution manual for $70.
Can throw in the course reader for $10.
Also can throw in the book of past exams for $10.
9097536177

Amazing class and amazing professor. Many will whine that his class is unfair or too hard but in reality, if you put in the time and go to review sessions it is 100% possible to get an A+. I earned an A+ in both 14A and B. I worked my ass off and studied every day. So if you are committed, don't listen to people restrospectively bitch about their poor study habits and low commitment to excellence. Go in with a positive and confident attitude and see what happens.

Lavelle is a solid lecturer and takes time to elaborate on difficult concepts. Perhaps many of the other reviewers wouldn't agree with me, but I stand by my opinion after having Scerri for 14A and 14B (the first time around...). Lavelle goes through the Course Reader quickly at times, but he didn't skimp on discussion of key methods and concepts. He provides many resources for students to get the help they need--TA office hours, UA (Undergrad Assistant) office hours, Chemistry Community, and his very own office hours.

The 3 quizzes are hard, but one is dropped. The exams were pretty fair, and the final was a bit easier than the midterm.

You're going to have to WORK if you want to do well, or even get by, in the class. His lectures alone won't prepare you for the quizzes or exams, but there are tons of practice midterms and finals to go off of. Lectures are meant to reinforce the major concepts that are seen repeatedly throughout the class (e.g. the organic section in the latter part of the quarter).

Overall, I would recommend Lavelle over Scerri. The content in Lavelle's class is more difficult, but that impelled me to study harder and more thoroughly. If you're like me and not a hardcore pre-med/pre-health/pre-etc. student, who's just trying to get by in Chem, I would still recommend Lavelle. He makes it easier to pass, only requiring a "50% or higher to pass the class with a C- or higher." If you do fit into one of those aforementioned categories, I would also choose Lavelle because I believe he will better prepare you for 14C and beyond.

Great class! Lavelle was awesome and didn't need to study too hard, but the books were definitely critical.

Selling textbook for Chem 14B with solutions manual.
$80 or best offer.
Contact at 650 799 7119.

Lavelle is a very mediocre professor, especially given that he apparently has won a ton of awards for lecturing and teaching. He goes over the most basic concepts in class, and expects you to learn the advanced stuff, which will be on the test, yourself. Not to mention, his class is entirely based on 3 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. He drops one quiz, but you have almost no room for error if you want to do well in 14B. And his entire Chemistry Community website is just a bunch of crap to feed his ego. He gives off the aura like he wants to help and offers so many resources, but in the end, he's just deferring the help to other places and sources rather than himself. It's also always very unclear when we are supposed to do the textbook reading, and when we should complete the textbook problems. Add onto all this and the fact that he simply did not curve his class at all, and you have a chem professor that very few people will tell you they would want to take again.

No need to attend to his lectures. He only teaches you basic concepts. If you already took AP Chem in your high school, just do the problems he assigns and do the past midterms and finals multiple times. The only bad thing about this class is that there isn't a huge curve, so try to think that this class is not curved.

Dr. Lavelle is a great professor and cares about his students. His midterm and final are relatively easy compared to his quizzes.

Lavelle is not a bad professor. However, the material itself is a lot, so he can't possibly cover everything during his lectures leaving us with the responsibility to study and know everything. No, he won't cover exactly everything that will be on quizzes and exams. You just have to be able to take the basic foundations that you know and find a way to work through a more difficult problem on an exam.

Quizzes:
Tough, and hard to finish in 40 minutes. I found quizzes to be a lot more challenging than the midterm and final solely because of the time limit. 40 minutes just simply is not enough time to make sure that your answers are all sufficient. 40 points x 3 quizzes really makes up a lot of your grade. You really have to get every point you can get.

Midterm and Final:
They are tedious and time consuming, however, I found them to be less stressful because time is not an issue and you can work through difficult problems slowly and methodically because you have time to do 8 questions with multiple parts to each. I found this quarter's midterm and final to be very fair, and actually found the final to be a bit on the easier side compared to some of the past exams. However, if you will be taking this class in the future, watch out for curveballs.

Overall, you really have to take the time and do every single homework problem. It gives you confidence and helps you become comfortable with the material. Even if the exam questions will most likely not be the same as the homework entirely, the homework itself gives a basic foundation that allows you to work through the exam. Also, you need to get every single point you can get. There's no real curve to this class unless you are below average. Expect this class to take a lot of your time because you really need to understand the concepts (to the point where you will be able to teach them to someone else) in order to do some of the calculations. Read the textbook. It does take a while, but there are key pieces of information scattered in the chapters that clarify concepts. I don't really know if there will be a difference if one takes Lavelle or Scerri as the grade distributions of each professor are very similar. All in all, Lavelle is very kind, but the material is a lot and one needs to understand it relatively quickly.