CHEM 14A
General Chemistry for Life Scientists I
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: high school chemistry or equivalent background and three and one half years of high school mathematics. Requisite: completion of Chemistry Diagnostic Test. Enforced corequisite: Life Sciences 30A or Mathematics 3A or 31A or score of 48 or better on Mathematics Diagnostic Test. Not open to students with credit for course 20A. Introduction to physical and general chemistry principles; atomic structure based on quantum mechanics; atomic properties; trends in periodic table; chemical bonding (Lewis structures, VSEPR theory, hybridization, and molecular orbital theory); coordination compounds; properties of inorganic and organic acids, bases, buffers. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Lavelle is so amazing, I could say infinite things that make me think he's the goat of this school. His lectures are engaging and really applicable to life science - the whole point of taking 14a instead of 20a - and he's just such a kind and funny person. If you didn't take AP Chem, make sure to take advantage of his massive amounts of student help hours offered. If you did, then do whatever you think is necessary to make sure you grasp everything well. In terms of difficulty of tests, I'd say that they are very similar to the difficult of the Achieve and textbook problems - ie if you have no difficulty in those then you'll be fine for the midterm. This guy is the goat.
Fall 2024 - Lavelle is so amazing, I could say infinite things that make me think he's the goat of this school. His lectures are engaging and really applicable to life science - the whole point of taking 14a instead of 20a - and he's just such a kind and funny person. If you didn't take AP Chem, make sure to take advantage of his massive amounts of student help hours offered. If you did, then do whatever you think is necessary to make sure you grasp everything well. In terms of difficulty of tests, I'd say that they are very similar to the difficult of the Achieve and textbook problems - ie if you have no difficulty in those then you'll be fine for the midterm. This guy is the goat.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - take this class with Reslan!!!! Could not recommend her more. She's a bit disorganized with her lecture but holds amazing review sessions and is very helpful during office hours. The class itself can be difficult because it's a lot of material crammed but she at the end she did listen to students and cut material. She values our feedback and provides great formula sheets. Her exams are very fair and she gave good practice exams. Discussion is not mandatory but highly recommended because that's when you actually do practice problems. Lectures were recorded. Best chem teacher :)
Spring 2024 - take this class with Reslan!!!! Could not recommend her more. She's a bit disorganized with her lecture but holds amazing review sessions and is very helpful during office hours. The class itself can be difficult because it's a lot of material crammed but she at the end she did listen to students and cut material. She values our feedback and provides great formula sheets. Her exams are very fair and she gave good practice exams. Discussion is not mandatory but highly recommended because that's when you actually do practice problems. Lectures were recorded. Best chem teacher :)
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Scerri does not deserve the mean nickname he gets ("scary scerri"). He's actually a very nice man and a decent lecturer. He posts slides and lectures are recorded, and he doesn't take attendance. I found it helpful to watch the recordings and pause to look up concepts I didn't understand as they came up. There's one in-person midterm and one final, which he changed to all MCQ my quarter. They were pretty fair and he curves the tests so it's not impossible to do well in this class. It's difficult material but that's just chemistry. I liked him overall and think he did a good job explaining confusing topics. Discussions were kind of pointless though, but attendance isn't mandatory.
Winter 2025 - Scerri does not deserve the mean nickname he gets ("scary scerri"). He's actually a very nice man and a decent lecturer. He posts slides and lectures are recorded, and he doesn't take attendance. I found it helpful to watch the recordings and pause to look up concepts I didn't understand as they came up. There's one in-person midterm and one final, which he changed to all MCQ my quarter. They were pretty fair and he curves the tests so it's not impossible to do well in this class. It's difficult material but that's just chemistry. I liked him overall and think he did a good job explaining confusing topics. Discussions were kind of pointless though, but attendance isn't mandatory.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - I took this class 3 years ago so I can't remember too much about it, but I just want to note that Wu was the best science professor I've ever had. He was super chill, took his time explaining concepts to the class, and was very understanding with midterm regrades. I honestly think he is the only reason I was able to pass this class. He is an incredible professor that makes chemistry seem much less daunting to non-stem majors like myself who hate science. I'm not sure if he still teaches this class but if he does, I HIGHLY recommend taking it with him. I've heard lots of horror stories about the other chem professors but Wu was incredible and I don't have a bad word to say about him.
Spring 2022 - I took this class 3 years ago so I can't remember too much about it, but I just want to note that Wu was the best science professor I've ever had. He was super chill, took his time explaining concepts to the class, and was very understanding with midterm regrades. I honestly think he is the only reason I was able to pass this class. He is an incredible professor that makes chemistry seem much less daunting to non-stem majors like myself who hate science. I'm not sure if he still teaches this class but if he does, I HIGHLY recommend taking it with him. I've heard lots of horror stories about the other chem professors but Wu was incredible and I don't have a bad word to say about him.
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