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Dibs Fall 2026

CHEM 14A

General Chemistry for Life Scientists I

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: high school chemistry or equivalent background and three and one half years of high school mathematics. Requisite: completion of Chemistry Diagnostic Test. Enforced corequisite: Life Sciences 30A or Mathematics 3A or 31A or score of 48 or better on Mathematics Diagnostic Test. Not open to students with credit for course 20A. Introduction to physical and general chemistry principles; atomic structure based on quantum mechanics; atomic properties; trends in periodic table; chemical bonding (Lewis structures, VSEPR theory, hybridization, and molecular orbital theory); coordination compounds; properties of inorganic and organic acids, bases, buffers. P/NP or letter grading.

Course statistics

Predicted GPA
3.23
n = 6,599 · 12 terms · ± 0.007
A range
51%
of letter grades
Taken P/NP
1%
78% of those passed
D / F / W
3.9%
incl. withdrawals

Sections in Fall 2026

Sections offered, with live enrollment and predicted GPA
Section Status Enrolled Seat risk Meets Instructor Predicted GPA
Lec 1 Closed
211 of 211
100% full
 fills MWF 10:00am-10:50am Lavelle, L.
3.29n=2,353 · this instructor
Lec 2 Closed
211 of 211
100% full
 fills MWF 1:00pm-1:50pm Lavelle, L.
3.29n=2,353 · this instructor

Enrollment history

Final enrollment per term, averaged across that term's sections. Four years deep, summer excluded. Per-section live curves are on each section page.

  • 34221F
  • 28022W
  • 35822S
  • 27723W
  • 35123S
  • 33923F
  • 28324W
  • 34324S
  • 33924F
  • 24325W
  • 34125S
Enrolment by term: 21F 342, 22W 280, 22S 358, 23W 277, 23S 351, 23F 339, 24W 283, 24S 343, 24F 339, 25W 243, 25S 341
Peak 358 Most recent 341 in 25S 11 terms on record

Grade distribution

  • A+ 838 · 12.6%
  • A 1,465 · 22.0%
  • A- 1,094 · 16.4%
  • B+ 779 · 11.7%
  • B 641 · 9.6%
  • B- 487 · 7.3%
  • C+ 372 · 5.6%
  • C 409 · 6.1%
  • C- 259 · 3.9%
  • D+ 19 · 0.3%
  • D 96 · 1.4%
  • D- 27 · 0.4%
  • F 113 · 1.7%
  • P 32 · 0.5%
  • NP 9 · 0.1%
  • I 15 · 0.2%

Grey bars are non-letter outcomes — P/NP, S/U, incompletes. They are excluded from the GPA entirely rather than scored, because counting a P as a 4.0 would be a fabrication.

By instructor

Instructor Predicted Raw n Terms A range
LAVELLE, LAURENCE 3.29 3.29 2,353 3 51%
SCERRI, ERIC ROBERT 3.09 3.09 2,143 4 44%
RESLAN, RANDA 3.29 3.29 694 2 62%
OW, FRANKLIN P 3.29 3.29 675 2 56%
WU, ERIC C 3.36 3.36 352 1 65%
NAVA, MATTHEW J 3.26 3.26 349 1 54%
RAMACHANDRAN, ROSHINI 3.75 3.95 33 1 97%

“Predicted” is shrunk toward the course average, which is itself shrunk toward the department — so an instructor with a handful of students sits near the course mean rather than topping the list.

By term