Same format as his Chem 14A class. Due to COVID-19 however our final was changed to an online Multiple Choice quiz, which for sure was WAY easier than any 3-hour exam he could have made in person so my grade got kind of saved on it.

I feel like I should have done better for my efforts but oh well.

Grade Distribution I got:
- Chem Community: 100% (easy points)
- Homework: 100% (also, easy points)
- Test 1: 100% (I studied through the pre assignments he assigned over break, only had to review a bit to do well)
- Midterm: 69% nice (STRAIGHT BS for this test, studied really hard on the new concepts... in the end it tested 1 problem from new content covered through class, the rest of the test was Test 1 content but more tricky, CHEM14A material, and THERE WAS NO FOLLOW THROUGH POINTS! Lost 16 points for messing up a calculation on Step 1 even though the concept was right)
- Test 2: 96% (Studied my butt off for 2 days through homework problems)
- Online Final: 100% (blessed that I went to every single lecture, took detailed notes, and had a ton of homework problems done that I can look at and refresh my memory when taking it online)

I Took AP Chem and did really well on that in high school. You need to have a pretty solid understanding of the material to do well. Proceed with Caution but Lavelle is a great teacher and you certainly will learn a lot of Chem material from him! He does do a lot of things outside of lecture to give students resources to succeed, so if you enjoyed taking him with CHEM14A then you should still take him!

I'm going give you guys a no BS review of Dr. Lavelle unlike the other reviews made here just to sell past exams which btw don't help, because Lavelle changes everything every quarter.

First and foremost, Lavelle's class is a hit or miss which is what I hated the most. Literally luck is 40% of the class. Our midterm was so fucked in terms of content distribution compared to the 2019 midterm. On the corollary our small 50 point tests were much easier. And finally COVID-19 saved us from his brutal paper final and inflated our averages. I believe the class median grade was a B+ to an A minus.

Now on to luck some TA's will be lenient with small mistakes some won't. And remember every point counts. If a TA took of too many points call them out or ask for a regrade. This is a total point system and Lavelle never curves. You need a 465/500 to get an A period!!!!! Midterm is 120 pt. Homework is 50. His chem community posts are 50. 180 pt final and two 50 pt tests. Tests are a joke but don't make silly mistakes. I fucked a quadratic equation in an ice table and got a 47/50. My total score was a 464/500, bt thankfully I argued a point from an old test and brought it up to a 465/500

This class isn't hard, but every point matters and write as much bs on a test as you can. From equations to anything just to pick up partial credit.

This class is an easy to get an A- you just ned a 450/500. Getting an A requires more luck and effort and pray Dr. Lavelle writes a fair test the quarter you are taking it.

Finally, do the fucking homework like you are reading the Bible. Lavelle puts a good chunk of homework problems on the midterm and final which are like 15 points each!!!

Lavelle is a good prof in general compared to the other ones for 14A and 14B. He doesn't expect you to know anything from hs and he doesn't pit students against each other by using bad grading systems.

If you give just one shit getting an A- isn't bad and if you try a little you can get an A

Chem 14B test bank available - includes tons of Lavelle practice material. Email me at annoyingemailthrowaway@gmail.com for price

I took Chem 14A and 14B with Lavelle through covid, and I have to say I'm impressed! His classes were well organized, and although a lot of them ran longer than 50 minutes, most people just put him on 2x speed. His midterms and finals were not very difficult imo, and very similar to the textbook problems so just do those to practice. I personally read all chapters of the book and this saved me on the second midterm for 14B, but I would say you don't have to necessarily read to do well, just go over textbook problems. He gave a lot of resources to succeed! I didn't utilize TAs that much, but the workshops and review sessions with the UAs saved me a bunch of times. Go to as many as possible! I think Lavelle really adjusted well to the online format and didn't punish students for covid (unlike some professors who made their tests harder). Just beware that the tests have questions that are 10 points each or 5 points, and if you get the 5 point questions wrong, you don't get partial credit while the 10 points have partial credit for a select few answer choices. You can only lose 28-35 points to get an A (depending on total points of the course) so this was VERY stressful.

Great class. I had Chem 14a with Lavelle also and the format was identical. I found the content more difficult than 14a, even though I got the higher grade in this class. Make sure to study for the midterm! Test 1 and 2 had very high averages, but the midterm was significantly harder. Our final was online which made it way easier than it should have been.

The concepts in this class are harder than that of 14A, but you can still get an A in class, just attend a UA session weekly, do ALL the hw problems as he puts some on the tests, and don't fall behind on lectures.
Lavelle is actually a very kind professor and he gave us an opportunity to earn 4 points extra credit on both MT2 and the final. (I completely disagree with the review saying he was self-infatuated).
If you put in the work you'll easily be able to get an A, def would take Lavelle again if I could!
STATS: MT1 95%, MT2 96%, Final 93%

The class topics were harder than 14A but was still doable. Would advise on studying all topics for the midterm instead of just focusing on thermodynamics in case future midterms are like this years. Selling past tests and midterms at schoolstuffs135@gmail.com

Dr. Lavelle is such a sweet, funny guy, but his lectures just were not as helpful as they could have been for his tests. He was an engaging and clear lecturer that broke down chemistry really well with easy-to-understand analogies and jokes, but for thermodynamics, much of his lectures were deriving equations, but we never needed to derive equations for the exam. I wish he could have spent his lecture time going over the conceptual understanding that is necessary for success on his test. His exams are very short, so you can only really miss a question or two to come out with a good score. Doing all the assigned textbook question in the syllabus is a MUST. There's a lot of questions, and it's extremely time consuming (almost all my homework time was spent on this), but you just have to push through them. He doesn't check them or give credit for them, but they will prepare you for the calculations on the test extremely well. He often includes a syllabus textbook question on the exams, too. If you complete those textbook questions and go to some of his peer review problem solving sessions for the subjects you need extra help on, you'll be all good to go for the math questions on the tests! For the conceptual questions... I don't know. Good luck. I missed a lot of points with those and didn't know what to do. When I went to him for help, he just said that the best way to prepare for the exams is to just do the textbook problems on the syllabus and go to the problem solving sessions, but this only helps with the math, and half of the test is conceptual... It is also worth noting that he said that each unit would be allotted an equal amount of questions on the final, but it ended up being mostly thermodynamics, which was the subject that students tested poorest on during the midterm and struggled with most. He ended up curving our final up by a generous amount, which saved my life and grade.

That being said, he has great energy and starts every Friday lecture with music and a little dance, which helps.

Lavelle is a very confident lecturer and definitely thinks he is doing what is best for his students with his website, but his lectures are fairly confusing and this is accompanied by very difficult only multiple choice exams.

Even if you feel confident in your chem knowledge in the class, his exams are very tricky and usually have material that was not covered in lecture. Since exams are the only thing in the grade book aside from participation (extra credit at the end usually because he needs to curve the grades), your grade in the class in my opinion does not properly reflect how you feel about the material.

I loved Dr. Lavelle. He is so sweet and cares about student learning. However, it is unhelpful when he goes ahead. This quarter, Dr. Lavelle got like a week ahead, which was great because we got to review, but I was so behind on the textbook readings and I didn't understand what was going on in class or the discussions. This was very stressful. I think that it would have been more helpful to either follow the syllabus or structure the class to have a review week from the start.
All of the textbook readings was just a lot. If you take this class, make sure you keep up with the textbook and GO TO EVERY CLASS. This is not a class you want to get behind in. After every lecture, go home and make sure you understood everything. Go to discussion and the step-up sessions. It was hard but you can do better than I did if you make sure you keep up with everything and read the textbook. Also, Lavelle *says* his tests will be very math intensive and to do all the textbook problems, but they're really more conceptual. Don't focus on doing every single textbook problem. I would say definitely focus more on concepts and understanding what is going on and the meaning of everything.