Dr. Pham's tests are hard, but you are more likely to succeed if you stay relatively up to date with the material. Just don't fall behind! This class is pretty quick, but the reactions get pretty similar. Understand the patterns to make your studying easier! Dr. Pham is awesome, and his TAs are also great. He makes himself available to students, and he is very funny. He has quite the backstory, too. Attend his office hours to unlock the secret backstory DLC and to get life advice. Lastly, the time you get for discussion doesn't really matter. He said he would institute mandatory attendance at enrolled discussions if students crowded up specific sessions, but that never happened. I can confidently say that thanks to Dr. Pham, organic chemistry has been my favorite subject in college thus far. 14C and 14D were truly a blast. Take Dr. Pham!

Dr. Pham is one of the most entertaining professors I've had at UCLA. Although this class is difficult and requires tons of memorization, it's doable because of all the resources he offers (do the TA worksheets- they're MUCH more similar to his exams than the suggested book problems). His tests are difficult, but they're also very fair (he never tested us on something he hadn't covered in lecture). Make sure to participate in all the extra credit opportunities!

Dr. Pham is the best professor I've had at UCLA so far. His lectures are clear and concise, which made the material easily digestible. He also posts his slides at day or two before lecture, so make sure to print/download/write them before class so you're not wasting your time writing down what's already on the slides. It's more important to listen to what he's saying and writing down info that's not explicitly written on the slides. Despite Chem 14D's reputation, the material wasn't actually that dense, and Dr. Pham definitely made it easy to understand. At the start of the course, he says to not focus on memorizing every single reaction/mechanism, but to strive to understand the transformations that occur and why they happen; he is 100% correct. Yes, there are a few things like reagents that have to be memorized, but seeing the bigger picture in terms of electrophiles/nucleophiles, acidity/basicity, solvents, carbocation stability, stereochemistry, sterics, and electronics will go a long way in this class.

The midterms are very fair as he only tests you on things talked about in lecture, and despite the averages for the two being 62 and 60 points (which is a C-) it isn't difficult to get a good grade as long as you are on top of your studying. Make sure to review the slides and do practice problems frequently (shoutout to my TA Sean's worksheets), and not just a few days before the exam. You have to be responsible about knowing your reactions and concepts/patterns to do well, especially on synthesis problems. Do not try to cram and memorize before the exams.

The final was optional due to COVID-19 but it seemed to be about the same difficulty as the midterms.

Grading breakdown:
40 pts BACON (easy points)
100 pts Midterm 1
100 pts Midterm 2
200 pts Final

Dr. Pham also offers an obscene amount of extra credit which is really nice: 10 pts for Tophat clicker Qs, up to 15 pts for CrYOFF (optional group project), 2 pts each for post-exam questionnaires, 2 pts for course evals, and 5+ points of potential extra credit on exams.

Pham is the greatest professor I've had. I had him both for 14C and 14D. His lectures are engaging and concise, though it was unfortunate to have his lecture at 8am, making it difficult to properly absorb all the information.

Discussion sections are helpful, but not mandatory and the LAs and TAs offer a lot of resources to prepare for the test. Youtube also offers a lot of information relating to his course (check out Organic Chemistry Tutor and Professor Dave Explains). Also gotta love his t-shirts. Definitely a classic.

Midterms are very fair. There is a time constraint, but it isn't a problem if you studied the mechanisms well. It is definitely not the play to study the night before because of all the memorization. This class is honestly what you make of it. Put in the work, and you will be rewarded.

Professor Pham is the GOAT. He's hilarious, engaging, and an amazing lecturer. The class speeds up a lot after the first midterm, but as long as you don't fall behind (and pay attention in class!) you'll do fine. His office hours, TA office hours, and discussions are all VERY helpful but optional.

Grades are made up of midterm 1 (23%), midterm 2 (23%), BACON exercises (9%), and the final (45%). The two midterms are 50 mins long and in class. They are very reasonable, and I found the time limit to be the most challenging part. TA worksheets, going over the slides, and Prof Hardinger's past exams were all very helpful for the exams. BACON exercises are basically free points. The average for our final was 68%, so it wasn't easy but if you thoroughly understand his slides/memorize the mechanisms you can definitely do well.

Professor Pham provides a LOT of extra credit through TopHat questions (10 points) which are like clicker questions, CrYOFF, and each exam has ~5+ points extra credit as well. The CrYOFF is this optional group project where you create something (website, poster, powerpoint, etc) about a chemistry topic of your choice. You can get 10 points extra credit + 5 points more if your group project is chosen as the best. Even if you don't do well on the exams, you can still get a good grade from all the extra credit.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend taking Professor Pham whenever possible. He honestly cares about the success of his students and his pre-exam emails were so cute and encouraging.

Pham is a great professor and really teaches the material well. It was honestly baffling to me how people did so poorly on the midterms, because if you kept up in the class and studied by doing the discussion worksheets you should have been fine. He is an amazing lecturer and teaches everything very clearly and also gave out a solid 20 points in extra credit so passing in definitely doable. He also makes the class about more than academics which is nice. If you're complaining about him its probably on you, not him. Just keep up in the class and you'll do well.

Pham is a very fair, clear professor. Nothing on his exams are curveballs because everything from the lectures are clearly told to be fair game for the exams. However, he is very arrogant, unapproachable, and borderline rude. Going to his office hours are a waste of time, just go to your TA's. His lectures are fine (I'm biased because this was an 8 AM so O chem was never going to be enjoyable), and he is always very straightforward with what he wants you to know. Keep up with the material as you learn it because otherwise it's really difficult to learn all the mechanisms the week of an exam (and if you don't do this, your first midterm experience will force you to do this afterwards). Overall, if he were just slightly more helpful and nice, I would give him a better rating.

Amazing professor - definitely favorite professor I've had so far, cares a ton about his students. Definitely will give it to you straight and no bs but is super clear and helpful. Difficulty of the class is hard but getting an A is definitely doable. Most people I know got As and A-s. Pay attention, work hard, and you'll do well. Ochem isn't as scary as everyone overhypes it to be and he prepares you well for 153A and the MCAT.

This was my favorite class in the 14 series. I took 14C and 14D with Pham and he is without a doubt my favorite professor. 14D is easy if you stat on top of the reactions and mechanisms which is totally doable. Pham goes fast but it’s because as the quarter progresses the reactions get more similar to each other. I did practice tests from Nag’s class to help study for the tests and it was a really good tool. (Hardinger’s thinkbook and TA worksheets are also good, but avoid the book unless you are cripplingly confused)

I absolutely loved taking 14C and 14D with Professor Pham. He lectures very quickly, but pay attention and make the conscious effort to stay on top of your learning both in and outside of class. 14D was definitely more challenging than 14C, as I found that the 50 minute midterms in this class were more challenging to finish in time. However, my biggest recommendation is to stay alert in class, read the slides, do all the TA/LA worksheets, and reach out if you need help in the class! This class is not only about memorization but also about a true understanding of the class content. He offers loooots of extra credit (i.e. I should not have gotten the grade I got in this class based on my performance on the midterms, but I received all the extra credit possible and did well on my final). Professor Pham is one of my favorite professors I've had at UCLA. He genuinely cares about students' learning and is a really cool human being.