Deifel is an interesting professor. Firstly, he’s very caring professor who cares about your chemistry learning and is quite a fun guy. He’s willing to really help his students. He is probably one of the most disorganized professors I have (had him twice). He is really bad with deadlines, class organization and just providing a structure to a class. His lectures are okay but pretty disorganized and half him talking about his inorganic background and half talking about random stuff in lecture. This class is pretty much just TLC and extraction. I would suggest when going to lecture, writing down the things that he says will definitely be on the final and writing down the things he repeats as those are the important takeaways he will probably put on the final. The assignments (postlabs/prelabs) are graded by the TAs and can be a mixed bag depending on who is grading your lab assignment. The final exam is pretty fair for the most part, he tells you what kind of questions he will probably ask. In terms of Lab period, the TAs will absolutely carry your lab experience, your TA will probably be the one who teaches you what you need to know specifically about the lab and how to answer certain questions on the post/pre labs. If you get the goat TA Ben Janda, you are in good hands.

DEIFEL IS MY GOAT. Despite the lab being rather dull (lots of columns, TLC, and waiting, just to get a horrible NMR) and the pre/post-labs being pretty boring, Deifel is an engaging lecturer who really conveys his passion for chemistry. Since nobody is taking this class unless they have to (or they're crazy), I would highly very highly recommend you take it with Deifel.

Some benefits are that you don't need to buy a lab notebook and there's no textbook or lab manual needed, but grading is heavily dependent on your TAs.

Professor Deifel's greatest strength is his kindness and commitment to helping students. I took the class during the Summer, so there was the added pressure of having a shorter timespan. However, the intensity was not very noticeable as Deifel was available quite often to answer questions. The exams were not difficult at all and he gladly gave extensions on homework assignment. He's also a really funny guy, so if you want at least one professor that isn't so serious, this is a good one. As for issues, his lectures are a little disorganized, but this is a small problem to endure. I highly recommend.

great teacher. great vibes. material is not hard it's just new. basically a rave in his office hours

I had to take this class at 8am because all other professors had chem times that conflicted with a mandatory intro class for my major, and it's one of the best things that has happened to me. Listening to horror stories about Scerri makes me so glad I got Deifel instead.

Participation matters, but only in that you need to attend the discussion sections to get credit, and you don't even really need to be paying attention in the discussion sections to be honest. It's purely attendance-based, and I spent a couple discussion sections just zoning out the entire time. My TA was great! I just despise chem.

Attendance was not mandatory, although it was initially supposed to be part of our grades. This might change in other quarters, but this is mainly because iClicker didn't work for our class. If it did work, Deifel would have had iClicker questions as part of participation during the lectures to monitor attendance. Keep this in mind if this is offered as an 8am again. Also, lectures are not recorded.

You have to buy the textbook since the homework is on OWL, but I think that's the case for all 20a classes. Office hours are great, make sure you go to them if you have trouble understanding anything. Deifel can be somewhat unclear and rambly in lecture when he gets more passionate about the subject, but in a smaller setting, he's really helpful with explaining things and he'll go over sample problems. It's also a good way for him to get to know you better.

Homework is difficult and tedious unless you submit a blank page and use the solutions to solve. Then it's easy. You get a ton of checks on OWL too, so it's great, and whenever there's a glitch with the program where it won't accept certain answers, he makes sure to let everyone know. I also submitted homework 5 minutes late before and I was worried he'd be hard on the deadline but I asked him about it and he didn't care at all. Just don't make it a habit. Technically, I probably could've been later and it still would've been fine. He gives homework extensions a lot if you ask for it and have a good reason.

He also gave out his google home number so that you can text him if you have questions. I found that really nice of him--he's super accessible and invested in your learning. Definitely the best professor I've had so far at UCLA.

he doesn't really explain stuff that well and expects you to learn it before class but he's nice and made half the grade going to discussion and doing homework so the class is easy.

Coming into my first quarter at UCLA, I had very low expectations for a chem professor. I've heard many tales and legends of horrible chemistry professors at UCLA and the difficulty of the chemistry program as a whole. For me, I really disliked chemistry since the only time I took it was sophomore year of high school on zoom. Because of that, this was a class I thought I would absolutely suffer in. Two lectures in, I knew my mindset about chemistry would change. Deifel is the most caring professor you will ever meet. He genuinely cares about his students and will help you if you reach out. He won't let you fail. Additionally, he is one of the most knowledgeable professors I have ever talked to; he could probably teach any class in the chemistry department. He is very clear when outlining exactly what he wants you to know and take away from this class. Overall, I wish he was teaching Chem 20B because that would have been a no brainer for me to enroll in.

He was very kind throughout the quarter, especially for an 8 AM to consistently bring that energy to the course was really nice, it really would wake you up, get you going, and excited almost for the subject. Coming from a person who never really liked chemistry at all and saw it as something to get over, it was really interesting to have a teacher really have you engage in the lecture. Even though lectures were not recorded, it still shocked me how many people went to the lectures, but also it didn't because he was so enthusiastic. His office hours would be so incredibly helpful, and he would be willing to answer any question you had, give you personal practice problems, or advice on this class, or any class, or any club for that matter. Discussions were super helpful and the worksheets especially for exams, but he would always let you know basically what to expect, there were no surprises. Homework could be a lot but it wasn't too bad in the long run and he was pretty nice about it. Highly recommend!

Engaging, interesting lecturer, and awesome to talk to. Tests are not too difficult and are similar in level to homework. Tends to go off-topic during lectures and it is sometimes unclear what will actually be tested on, but in his office hours he is much more helpful in answering questions, doing hands-on problems, and being clear on what students should/shouldn't know to pass the class.

Professor Nicholas Diefel is an excellent teacher, always happy to help, and has very engaging lectures. He gives a lot of, and I mean, A LOT of, opportunities to meet up and catch up with the materials. The homework was sometimes challenging, but it was a great opportunity to raise your grade. Going to his office hours is a must - very helpful and clarifying (also pretty chill).