You're screwed if you don't have a good TA, and the only decent TAs this quarter were Jennifer Casey and Terry. Lavelle's lectures are conceptual but all of his tests are calculation-based. If your TA sucks then you're basically on your own. Get Covel tutoring--it really helps. Lavelle has a very soothing voice and so it might be difficult to stay awake in his lectures, but I'd recommend going anyway since his webcast isn't any better and you might as well suck it up and get it over with. Take Sherry if possible.

Wow. Lavelle teach straight from the course reader. Everything he teaches is in the course reader with the same examples, and no more. Avoid. Seriously.

Course: Chem 14A & 14B
To get an A:
1. read the textbook IN TIME.
2. do as many problems as you can. for midterm/final practice with the old midterms/finals.
3. you honestly don't have to go to lecture. he has podcasts. honestly for me, i didn't go to his lectures but still pulled of an A- in the class.
4. go to discussion sections.
5. review and review for midterm and final. just do a bunch of practice problems. then you'll be fine.

it's not an easy class. but you'll learn so much after you've worked your butt off. i recommend taking Lavelle. he'll really set a good foundation for general chemistry.

Avoid Lavelle if you can. Don't go to lecture, just read the textbook and coursereaders. Enroll in the 3rd lecture if you can, the curve is lower and sometimes the other lectures don't have curves. I had him for 14a and 14b. B and B- which is ok, but everything you read below is complete BS. all those people are the crazy curve killers who miss ONE POINT on the tests...Lavelle is doable but you either get chemistry or you don't. I'd try another professor if I were you.

I got an A. The class was hard. No joke. Course Reader all the way! Read solutions manual before quiz. Will help, I promise. Get tutoring. Study in groups. Use VOH, don't be afraid. My favorite quote from Dr. Lavelle, "How can you get an A in my class before the curve?" Toward the end of the quarter, you better know titration and ideal gas. Good luck and don't change major because of this class!

I will henceforth proceed to counter all the reviews below me that said Lavelle is a hard teacher.

***DISCLAIMER*** I took two years of highschool chemistry.. so this review may be slightly biased.
***DISCLAIMER #2*** about 3 weeks into the class I stopped attending lectures.

First of all, Lavelle recommends you to go to lectures because he says actually being there helps. I say, don't bother. If you, like me, enrolled yourself in the 10 AM class, I am warning you that there will be no seats. Part of the reason I gave up going to lecture was because EVEN THOUGH I WAS ENROLLED, I ended up sitting on the floor for... maybe 80% of all the lectures I attended. In the end, even though I was at the lecture, I couldn't really see the board, and couldn't really focus on the lecture because people kept stepping by me and I had to keep shuffling around. Just study from the book, and refer to the podcasts if you don't understand anything.
But if you're in the 12 pm or the 2 pm lecture, then by all means go to lectures. Especially when it gets to the chapter on VESPR.

This class isn't hard... you just need to put in the effort to do all the homework. Obviously this class is going to be hard to ace if you're not willing to do all the stuff he assigns, and not willing to try to work out the problems. In my opinion, if you work through all the midterms nad finals in the coursereader, you'll be fine. The test format never changes, and the degree of difficulty isn't too different. He'll occasionally quiz on obscure things, but anything in the coursereader is fair game, so people shouldn't complain if he tests something that was covered only briefly. With that said, DO ALL THE HW. particularly the 90's and 100's, because I didn't once and it was on the quiz, and I got owned on that one question. =__=;

Don't rely on the curve. I'm not quite sure how high it was, but it sure didn't help me. Then again, he probably curves more for people who didn't do as well. But just saying, don't bank on it, don't use it as an excuse to slack off during the quarter. If this course is hard in terms of anything, it is hard to catch up on.

In conclusion: Don't be freaked out by all the people who are moaning about how difficult or how terrible a teacher lavelle is. He isn't a horrible teacher. His lecture style is kind of monotonic, but he does make interesting jokes sometimes. It wasn't enough to keep me awake in class, but that's okay. I studied hard on my own, and I did very well. You can too, if you put forth the effort.

I ended up with a "B" in this class. I studied extremely hard for the Final Exam and last two quizzes and I did relatively well. I barely studied for the Midterm or first quiz and I did poorly. Thus, my overall grade of a "B" could have been an "A" potentially, but it was my own fault for not putting in the time at the beginning of the quarter. What this all means...Lavelle is a tough professor. He writes difficult exams. But, if you put the time in studying, going to lecture and section, and DOING THE HOMEWORK PROBLEMS IN A TIMELY MANNER, you will be fine.

Lavelle is a wonderful professor. A lot of students think he sucks, but one must consider the number of students that he has in each lecture. He's a very cute, old guy, and he makes himself very available to his students. Chem 14A was a challenging course, not because he's a bad professor, but because the class itself requires a lot from the students (and one must note that most of the students in this course are freshmen, fresh out of High school and not used to the "college" workload at all). If you want to succeed, make sure you do all the homework problems. I suggest that you do all the example/ self-test problems in the book as well. READ THE BOOK. Living off the course reader alone won't get you anywhere. Make sure that you are on top of things, and DONT FALL BEHIND (as most students tend to). Give yourself at least a week to study for each quiz, and I would suggest at least two weeks studying in advance for the final. If you procrastinate, you'll be overwhelmed with the amount of work and the number of hours you'll have to spend just trying to catch up.

Chem 14A kicked my butt. Lavelle's a nice guy and all, but I found myself completely lost during his lectures. It's not one of those classes where you can go into without having any knowledge of chemistry. Having zero background in chemistry, I was screwed from the start. His course reader was hard to understand. It's good to use as a review of key points, but you have to read the textbook in order to understand those key points. It's all gibberish if you don't know what you're doing. Stay on top of things because it's extremely easy to get behind. Unless if you're a science genius, it's almost impossible to master the material by cramming the night before. If you really have a deep interest in chemistry and have an aptitude for it, then you'll learn a lot.If you're looking for an easy GE to take, I suggest you stay away. I did enjoy his cheesy chem jokes though.

omg i worked my ass in the class and thought i was doing well but i ended up with a D a freaken D come on, that is so not fair. My tutor was totally irresponsible and really bad, he would take the whole class time to solve one problem an the class still corrected him.. I highly recommend to go to tutoring and try to get a good TA. your chances of talking to Lavelle and getting to know him are slim. I like chemistry but this guy made it me hate it.