This class is very difficult, but it doesn’t help that the “MCDB 138 Team,” which is composed of 2 professors and 3 TAs, give inconsistent answers. When I ask questions, the professors give contradictory statements regarding class material (for example, if something is true or false). The questions on the assessments are often very poorly worded and it’s never easy to understand what’s exactly being asked.

Overall I think I had a love-hate relationship with this class. You go through a lotttt of material (especially before the midterm) but it is very interesting content, albeit hard to remember all the proteins you learn. Dr. Rigeuer is a very kind and approachable prof and I liked how she lectures and the overall atmosphere of the class. For discussion sections, we would read a paper each week and then talk about it and do a homework assignment answering some questions about it. They switched teaching styles a few week into the quarter which was a bit jarring, but not too bad (from the TA just going over the paper's methods and figures to having students break into groups and each group explains a figure to the class; they also started doing separate videos going over the methodology that we were supposed to watch before discussion, but they never actually told us about the videos or told us when they were uploaded which was pretty annoying). Luckily, the papers were not tested on in the exams, because some were a bit hard to understand. I also definitely would not recommend taking this class before you take MCDB 165A or 138, because we sort of just jumped straight into the papers vs for the other classes (at least with the profs I had, Sagasti and Farmer) they walked us through how to read and understand papers.
I think I have only two actual qualms with this class. First, the midterm is very very hard and stressful. It was about 50 FRQS (about 35ish short responses aka a couple words or a sentence, and about 15 longer data interpretation questions) in the class time of 75 minutes so it was a very big time crunch. I barely finished everything, and I know many people did not even finish. The test was open note, but ofc with the timing that wasn't super feasible. Luckily yhis isn't the case with the final, because it was online and untimed, with multiple days to do it. The next thing I didn't like about that class was uncertainty about grading. Before the midterm, Dr Rigeuer said that if you pass both the MT and final, the higher score can replace the other. Then after the midterm, she said even if you got a 0 on the MT, the final would replace it (she implied that it doesn't go the other way around, the MT replacing the final, but she never actually said that so even now I still don't know if it could). She said this was in the syllabus but I read through it a few times after that and this grading scheme is never mentioned. Additionally, as of the time I'm writing this, we never got our final exam grade back so I don't know how I did on it, just what my final grade in the class is. In the syllabus she says the lowest HW and quiz grades are dropped but this wasn't reflected in Canvas like I've experienced with other classes; I'm assuming they did that when calculating the final grades to submit but it would've been nice to actually see it. The syllabus also says the person with the top grade in the class gets their grade bumped up to 100%, and everyone else gets their grade bumped up the same amount, but again they never actually showed them doing this and didn't make an announcement about it or anything, so I have no clue if that actually happened.
However, I think it is safe to say that Dr Rigeuer does care about her students' learning and their grades, and I think she does try to give as many people an A as she can. So, overall a tough class but a rewarding one (if you like molbio) and you will ultimately end up okay in the end.
Grading breakdown:
10% Discussion attendance
25% Homework
10% Quizzes (started online but they found people using AI so they moved to in person; data interpretation questions that can be a bit tricky if you don't understand the data they present but overall not horrible)
25% Midterm
30% Final

Overall I think I had a love-hate relationship with this class. You go through a lotttt of material (especially before the midterm) but it is very interesting content, albeit hard to remember all the proteins you learn. Dr. Rigeuer is a very kind and approachable prof and I liked how she lectures and the overall atmosphere of the class. For discussion sections, we would read a paper each week and then talk about it and do a homework assignment answering some questions about it. They switched teaching styles a few week into the quarter which was a bit jarring, but not too bad (from the TA just going over the paper's methods and figures to having students break into groups and each group explains a figure to the class; they also started doing separate videos going over the methodology that we were supposed to watch before discussion, but they never actually told us about the videos or told us when they were uploaded which was pretty annoying). Luckily, the papers were not tested on in the exams, because some were a bit hard to understand. I also definitely would not recommend taking this class before you take MCDB 165A or 138, because we sort of just jumped straight into the papers vs for the other classes (at least with the profs I had, Sagasti and Farmer) they walked us through how to read and understand papers.
I think I have only two actual qualms with this class. First, the midterm is very very hard and stressful. It was about 50 FRQS (about 35ish short responses aka a couple words or a sentence, and about 15 longer data interpretation questions) in the class time of 75 minutes so it was a very big time crunch. I barely finished everything, and I know many people did not even finish. The test was open note, but ofc with the timing that wasn't super feasible. Luckily yhis isn't the case with the final, because it was online and untimed, with multiple days to do it. The next thing I didn't like about that class was uncertainty about grading. Before the midterm, Dr Rigeuer said that if you pass both the MT and final, the higher score can replace the other. Then after the midterm, she said even if you got a 0 on the MT, the final would replace it (she implied that it doesn't go the other way around, the MT replacing the final, but she never actually said that so even now I still don't know if it could). She said this was in the syllabus but I read through it a few times after that and this grading scheme is never mentioned. Additionally, as of the time I'm writing this, we never got our final exam grade back so I don't know how I did on it, just what my final grade in the class is. In the syllabus she says the lowest HW and quiz grades are dropped but this wasn't reflected in Canvas like I've experienced with other classes; I'm assuming they did that when calculating the final grades to submit but it would've been nice to actually see it. The syllabus also says the person with the top grade in the class gets their grade bumped up to 100%, and everyone else gets their grade bumped up the same amount, but again they never actually showed them doing this and didn't make an announcement about it or anything, so I have no clue if that actually happened.
However, I think it is safe to say that Dr Rigeuer does care about her students' learning and their grades, and I think she does try to give as many people an A as she can. So, overall a tough class but a rewarding one (if you like molbio) and you will ultimately end up okay in the end.
Grading breakdown:
10% Discussion attendance
25% Homework
10% Quizzes (started online but they found people using AI so they moved to in person; data interpretation questions that can be a bit tricky if you don't understand the data they present but overall not horrible)
25% Midterm
30% Final

Overall I think I had a love-hate relationship with this class. You go through a lotttt of material (especially before the midterm) but it is very interesting content, albeit hard to remember all the proteins you learn. Dr. Rigeuer is a very kind and approachable prof and I liked how she lectures and the overall atmosphere of the class. For discussion sections, we would read a paper each week and then talk about it and do a homework assignment answering some questions about it. They switched teaching styles a few week into the quarter which was a bit jarring, but not too bad (from the TA just going over the paper's methods and figures to having students break into groups and each group explains a figure to the class; they also started doing separate videos going over the methodology that we were supposed to watch before discussion, but they never actually told us about the videos or told us when they were uploaded which was pretty annoying). Luckily, the papers were not tested on in the exams, because some were a bit hard to understand. I also definitely would not recommend taking this class before you take MCDB 165A or 138, because we sort of just jumped straight into the papers vs for the other classes (at least with the profs I had, Sagasti and Farmer) they walked us through how to read and understand papers.
I think I have only two actual qualms with this class. First, the midterm is very very hard and stressful. It was about 50 FRQS (about 35ish short responses aka a couple words or a sentence, and about 15 longer data interpretation questions) in the class time of 75 minutes so it was a very big time crunch. I barely finished everything, and I know many people did not even finish. The test was open note, but ofc with the timing that wasn't super feasible. Luckily yhis isn't the case with the final, because it was online and untimed, with multiple days to do it. The next thing I didn't like about that class was uncertainty about grading. Before the midterm, Dr Rigeuer said that if you pass both the MT and final, the higher score can replace the other. Then after the midterm, she said even if you got a 0 on the MT, the final would replace it (she implied that it doesn't go the other way around, the MT replacing the final, but she never actually said that so even now I still don't know if it could). She said this was in the syllabus but I read through it a few times after that and this grading scheme is never mentioned. Additionally, as of the time I'm writing this, we never got our final exam grade back so I don't know how I did on it, just what my final grade in the class is. In the syllabus she says the lowest HW and quiz grades are dropped but this wasn't reflected in Canvas like I've experienced with other classes; I'm assuming they did that when calculating the final grades to submit but it would've been nice to actually see it. The syllabus also says the person with the top grade in the class gets their grade bumped up to 100%, and everyone else gets their grade bumped up the same amount, but again they never actually showed them doing this and didn't make an announcement about it or anything, so I have no clue if that actually happened.
However, I think it is safe to say that Dr Rigeuer does care about her students' learning and their grades, and I think she does try to give as many people an A as she can. So, overall a tough class but a rewarding one (if you like molbio) and you will ultimately end up okay in the end.
Grading breakdown:
10% Discussion attendance
25% Homework
10% Quizzes (started online but they found people using AI so they moved to in person; data interpretation questions that can be a bit tricky if you don't understand the data they present but overall not horrible)
25% Midterm
30% Final

She is super unorganized and is often late to grade and respond. The lectures aren't the most engaging and the tests are not that intuitive if you use only the slides to prepare. Discussions mandatory and important for understanding difficult to understand papers. She isn't the best at making a clear well structured class but she is very nice. You will most likely end with an A if you do your best and the fact that MT2, the Final, and all assignments are online/open book makes it easy to ace those portions. MT1 was in person this time and the hardest test, but MT1 can be replaced by your other exams. Overall take this class with her if you need it and you will end with an A but it will be a headache. Study lecture notes and discussion section slides for exams. Here was the breakdown this quarter below:

Midterm Exam 1 (MT1): 15.5%
Midterm Exam 2 (MT2): 15.5%
Discussion Participation: 9%
Discussion Assignments (6 take-home reports): 24%
Discussion Section Quizzes (2 total): 6%
Final Exam: 30%
Extra Credit: up to +2% (20 pts total) Just turn in the 3 study guides by end of quarter. Easy points.

I took MCDB 144 with Dr. Rigueur after taking MCDB 138 with her. Overall, I would recommend taking the courses she teaches as she is a good professor who is clearly very passionate about biology.

In terms of course content, this course is pretty biochemistry heavy as it mainly focuses on molecular mechanisms involving DNA, RNA and proteins. The trickiest part of this course in my opinion was breaking down these processes as well as keeping track of all the various components and their roles (like transcription factors) in each mechanism. That being said, don't be too intimidated as this course is very doable if you put in the effort.

I would highly recommend paying attention to content covered in lecture for this course. This shouldn't be a big problem, as Dr. Rigueur is a very engaging lecturer and facilitates discussions about class content during lecture to enhance understanding. In addition to slides, Dr. Rigueur also includes helpful videos in her lecture slides to better visualize the processes she talks about in lecture and explains what is happening in the videos as well. She also provides really helpful resources like study guides to help students study for exams.

Discussions mainly focus on research papers loosely relating to content covered in lecture. Though it may seem daunting, Dr. Rigueur provides resources in the beginning of the quarter on what to pay attention to when reading a paper with is really helpful. When I took the course, discussion consisted of discussing the assigned paper for the week.

Lastly Dr. Rigueur encourages students to reach out to her if they need help. She has office hours which are very helpful and also provides her office line for students. Highly recommend reaching out to her if help is needed!

I took both MCDB 138 and 144 with Dr. Rigueur (arguably 2 of the hardest courses in the MCDB major). I really enjoyed both courses, though I would say I liked 138 more.

Dr. Rigueur's lectures are VERY engaging, and she is very passionate about developmental biology. During lecture, Dr. Rigueur asks "check-in" questions which were very helpful to check basic understanding of key terms and fundamental concepts (answered on volunteer basis off course, so no pressure). Do pay attention to these concepts as they WILL show up in one way or another on exams.

Throughout the course, Dr. Rigueur really cares about the success of her students in the course and beyond. She makes a lot of helpful resource accessible to support studying. For example, she provided lecture recordings, slides, study guide outlines and even EXTRA summary notes that she wrote on the main take aways for most lectures. Additionally, Dr. Rigueur is very accessible through office hours as well as her office line (highly recommend going to office hours!). She also gives a decent amount of extra credit.

In terms of exams, I would say the exam questions sometimes can be rather tricky. However, the intention behind these questions is to train attention to detail during exams which is helpful for students who are planning on taking other standardized exams. Don't worry too much though, the exams are okay as long as you study. For study tips, definitely study for understanding and try to be able to explain what is happening in pictures, diagrams and figures featured on the slides to check understanding. If you struggle to explain the images, ask about it during lecture/office hours. Dr. Rigueur is really good at breaking down the concepts/key takeaways.

Overall, I really enjoyed taking MCDB 138 with Dr. Rigueur (highly recommend y'all). Although, I wouldn't say it was an easy A, it is definitely doable and rewarding as long as you put in the effort.

Dr. Rigueur is an outstanding professor whose passion for teaching and dedication to her students truly stand out. She has a remarkable ability to take complex molecular biology topics and present them in a clear, engaging, and relatable way. Her lectures are well-structured, filled with relevant examples, and always tied back to the broader significance in medicine and human health, which kept the material both exciting and relevant.

One of Dr. Rigueur’s greatest strengths is her empathy and care for students. She goes above and beyond to support us, not only academically, but also personally. She dedicates her time to listen to students’ struggles and shares her own stories, which makes her teaching feel very genuine and human. Her compassion and encouragement made a huge impact on my learning experience.

The course itself was rigorous but fair. Expectations were clear, and assessments (quizzes, assignments, and exams) reflected the material covered in class. The workload required consistent effort, but it was very rewarding, I walked away from the class with a much deeper understanding of cellular and molecular processes.

Overall, MCD BIO 144 with Dr. Rigueur is one of the most impactful classes I have taken at UCLA. I would highly recommend it to any student interested in molecular biology, biomedical research, or medicine.

Prof. Rigueur is a pretty decent professor and she gets the job done! Albeit I took this class over the summer, but I think she makes her expectations in exams clear and doing supplemental reading often provides the answers to her trickier questions. IMO as long as you keep up with the reading and attend lectures this class is not very hard.

I Had Dr, Rigueur for MCDB 144 and absolutely luveeddd the class :3. I'll list just a couple reasons why here (but trust, there are many more lol)

1. The class was a lot of biochemistry review!! I personally loveeddd all my biochemistry and organic chemistry classes (I know yuckkk!!) so this class was a really nice refresher on things I already knew. I'll be honest, that definitely helped make the concepts easier to grasp for me, but trust I'll explain some more objective reasons for why I think the class is doable even if you don't like biochem/ haven't taken biochemistry classes before (although if you've taken a biochem class before and you liked biochemistry, I think you'll like the class even more just because you're getting to learn again about something you already liked before from a good and knowledgeable professor).
2. We had numerous opportunities for Extra Credit. I think there was like 40 points EC in all. I forgot how much total points were in the class, but 40 points EC was enough to cover you if you boomed like 2-3 quizzes, or got a C on one or both exams, seriously.
3. I liked that we read research papers. I had never done research before her class so research papers and being in a class with people who have/are doing research (in a major very focused on research no less) was admittedly, intimidating. But she did well to make sure TAs and she explained how to approach research papers, understand, and mostly, apply them. We encountered some test questions where we had to analyze research results and apply them which seems daunting especially cause I had no experience, but trust, this class, and her questions on the exams will make sure you know how to do both (her exam questions about research results really aren't that difficult promise)
4. She had study guides OMG this was soooo helpful. There's a lot of topics that can get overwhelming quickly but she had study guides for every test that were so detailed and helpful in pointing us towards what we need to know that I could cry of relief. It was so much easier and better studying for exams where I knew what was on it
5. She's just nice and very approachable. This is a little more subjective, but genuinely she's a kind professor and it's easy to see that as well as her passion. She wants you to learn, you just gotta be right there with her in that learning process too and you'll do just fine (and even better tbh).
6. I believe she dropped our lowest quiz scores + had options to drop either the midterm or final if we at least passed both. Put a lot less stress to feel like you had to do perfect on every exam, especially when you had multiple things to stress about during midterms and finals week.
7. Class was engaging as shed give time for us to discuss things, play videos for us to watch during lecture, etc. This helps break from lecturing and felt like she was talking to us rather than at us. Also helps with making friends in lectures as you're forced to either talk to someone or sit there awkwardly lol.
8. She had recorded Zoom lectures in which she'd lecture but also be on Zoom. She'd then post these recorded lectures for us to watch later on. This was EXTREMELY helpful in case you missed something during lecture, couldn't make it for one reason or the other, etc. Genuinely one of the biggest pluses of this class, these recorded lectures were awesome (and I like that she used Zoom instead of Bruincast bcs we all know how many times Bruincast will sometimes not record, miss audio, etc.)

There's a lot more things to be said, but to close it off, take MCD144 with this professor. Good lecture, very clear passion and knowledge, lots of opportunities for EC, and a clear intent for you to do well (due to study guides, drops, EC etc.) AND Zoom lectures which is always awesome