I agree with what people said below. Just make sure to include EVERY detail on the test. That makes all the difference. You may know the problem like the back of your hand, but if you leave out some minor detail, they leave out some major points. Oh, and make sure you have a good TA.

*Grading/Curve*
Dr. Scerri is probably one of the most polarizing professors I have heard about. I think a lot of people dislike his classes because he is not very clear about the "curve." He stated on the first day/his syllabus states something about not wanting too many people to get A's so some people do get curved down. This did happen to some of my friends unfortunately who had about an A and were given an A-. He is not transparent at all about how much he is curving people down or what the class average is etc. Additionally, your final grade may not accurately reflect how you performed on the assignments since Dr. Scerri does make mistakes when inputting final grades. This happened to me and my friends, but I emailed him and went through some back and forth, but he eventually changed my grade. Your grade is 30% midterm, 30% Achieve (homework), and 40% final. No extra credit, syllabus quiz, discussion, participation, etc. -- just those three assignments.

*Homework*
Achieve is a pain since it is graded on accuracy and some of the problems require sm time and are too extensive for what we are tested on. DO NOT LEAVE THIS TO THE LAST DAY. I think it is manageable to do in the last week, but this can be VERY stressful when studying for other finals, so I highly do not recommend doing the whole thing the last week either. The numbers will also vary from student to student so you cannot "divide and conquer."

*Exams*
Personally, I am very bad at chemistry and only took one regular chem class early in high school so everything I learned in 14A and 14B was new. However, I did some of the old midterms and finals Scerri posted and they were highly similar to the actual exams since he reuses his exams. I definitely recommend doing the old exams before studying your notes because it will help you narrow down what you need to study. The answer key for these exams are usually wrong though so you have to check with a TA for the right answers. He does not use the textbook at all and all the concepts/problem types can be found on his lecture slides. Study his slides if you have time!!

*Lecture/Content*
Lecture attendance was optional since they were recorded, but I actually really loved attending lecture. Dr. Scerri is a very amusing lecturer and I found the content very interesting. His slideshows are unorganized since everything is in different colors and fonts for no reason, but his slides have a lot of useful information and diagrams (some of which you will have to draw on exams!!) Honestly, if you put in a decent amount of effort, the slides aren't as hard to understand as other reviews state. People say that Dr. Scerri is a confusing professor, but I think that's just the content in general. He really does try to thoroughly explain the material and pauses to ask if we have questions. He even makes jokes and takes a break every now and then.

*Professor/TAs*
I had Dr. Scerri for both 14A and 14B and I had very low expectations because of the previous reviews, but after finishing both classes with him, I actually really liked him and his classes! I wouldn't say he's the nicest professor, but in both quarters, I have never heard him be rude to a student. He is very open to answering questions and usually is responsive to emails. He definitely gets a bit confused from time to time during lecture, but he will correct himself after a couple of minutes. Your understanding of the content is definitely reinforced/enhanced by the TA. I had Hootan, who I 1000000% recommend, but I've heard Spencer and Kodi are also amazing.

Believe ALL the reviews posted for Scerri, no matter the course, and I know there is a lot. If you are thinking about taking chem 14A, DON'T TAKE IT WITH SCERRI. His class is a mess, disorganized, and not fun at all. During class time (took this class online because of COVID), he just reads off his lecture slides word for word. Often focuses on the history of chemistry instead of actually solving problems. When he does show us problems, he doesn't physically go through the problems with you and because this is an introductory course, it's kind of important that he does. For midterm and final "reviews" he just combines all his slides from past weeks into one big slide and spends the class time reading them word for word, just faster. You're better off not attending lecture, just discussion. (He interrupted multiple lectures by asking why no one had their cameras on instead of focusing on teaching. When we gave reasons (internet connectivity, more cameras on = lagging issues, distractions, etc) he basically dismissed them and said they were stupid and untrue.) Discussions aren't mandatory but they're IMPORTANT if you don't want to listen to Professor Scerri. In discussions, TAs help with actually solving problems and what they mean in the context of the class. I had Spencer as my TA and he was a GREAT help. Besides 1 midterm during week 5 and the final, there are 9 Sapling quizzes you have to do. He doesn't offer any schedule to do the quizzes, just one big deadline at the beginning of week 10 so you have to create your own or you can choose to save them until the end of the quarter (I don't recommend this though). This class is heavily curved but you'll survive if you learn to work well with your peers and ask for help. Join a PLF session and talk with your peers on help with sapling quizzes. Class only consists of 3 grades: Sapling, Midterm, and Final. Our midterm was very easy with almost all questions copied word for word from another exam in previous years but for the final, it was devastating so don't think that you can float on by in this class.

tldr: This class is messy from start to finish. Don't go to lecture; go to discussions. Try to get Spencer as your TA. Sapling is required and try to finish one quiz a week to be on track. Midterm is easy but final was excruciatingly hard. Class is curved. Get help from PLF sessions. Grade consists of: sapling, midterm, and final. If you're in this class, you can text ********** for pdfs of past midterms and finals with answers (as well as blank ones so you can practice with).

You can't be a bad professor and be rude. Seriously the worst professor at UCLA. Whatever you do try to take this class with Lavelle! Received an A+ in his class due to the enormous amount of support material he gives his students. Scerri on the other hand, reads off of his bullet points and insults his students when asking a question.

The Chem 14 series is just hard altogether, there is no "easy" professor, especially if you don't know how you learn. With that being said, GOODLUCK. Try new methods, and rely on yourself rather than the professor! I personally liked Scerri for 14A, but don't rely on my review

Said this for 14A too but he's literally not that bad. If anything, he was better for 14B by a large margin. My friends that took 14B with other professors had a way worse time because the exams were harder. At least Scerri's exams are graded with partial credit in mind. He reuses a lot of questions from former exams that he provides which were my main source of studying. He had a lot of in class practice problems that were really similar to exam questions too. Attendance wasn't mandatory but I went to lectures because they were interesting enough and he's a funny and unpredictable guy. Idk I think people just hate him because they don't know how to self-study and they get mad when they don't get an A despite the class having enough resources to succeed if you put in the work. The TAs were great and made so many exam study resources that were posted for the entire class to use.

Do not take this class. This is my second class with this professor and I can officially state that I have retained and understand ZERO information. His slides are so confusing and he runs through 100+ slides in 50 minutes. His lectures consist of him reading off slides and even reading the solutions to practice problems without actually going through the way to get the answer. Chemistry is not supposed to be taught this way! It should be progressive and the professor should work throw the answer, not just read the answer off of two long slides in a few seconds as if anyone would understand that. The TA strike after midterms also meant that there were no sections so any chance of understanding the content outside of his lecture was destroyed and there was zero support given from TAs when it was needed the most. The achieve quizzes are SO long and tedious that it felt like I had numerous final exams for the class. The class is graded in the most confusing way ever that it isn't even possible to know what grade you're at and what the curve is. This is the worst class and professor I've ever encountered.

He's a great lecturer. BUT he can be very rude and arrogant. I went to his office hours and he was NOT helpful. He was very cold and unwelcoming and repeatedly said "We went over that in lecture". If I had understood it well enough in lecture, I wouldn't have gone to his office hours in the first place! He answered my questions so quickly that he was basically brushing them off. I could tell that he wasn't really interested in repeating himself or trying to explain things clearer in any case.

So basically, a talented man and an organized lecturer, but an arrogant one who doesn't really make teaching his priority.

Great class! Loved Professor Scerri. He is so intelligent and very willing to help you at office hours!

Selling textbook and solution manual--$30! Message me at **********!

Scerri is one of the worst professors I have taken at UCLA. His teaching online was not the best because the class requires a lot of math problems so he would mainly say how to solve them instead of actually be able to write out the steps, this of course was simply due to the online format. I think he is okay to take in person, where you can form study groups and ask questions. But he was very unaccommodating to the current situation and expects everyone to come in with solid knowledge of chemistry. His sarcasm during office hours and lectures made my blood boil. If you have the chance, take any other Professor.