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

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.

Dr. Rigueur is an outstanding professor whose passion for research and biology shines through in every lecture. I have taken her MCDB 144, MCDB 180A, and MCDB 180B courses, and she has significantly enriched my learning experience by fostering an engaging, supportive, and enriching learning environment. From the beginning, she made me feel welcomed by ensuring that every student, including myself, was recognized and included during class discussions.

MCDB 144 itself is an intensive class covering many aspects of molecular biology. However, Dr. Rigueur's lecture style is highly engaging as she is able to simplify complex concepts for students. Attending office hours is a great way to discuss material and get to know Dr. Rigueur herself. The exams were rigorous, but fair as long as you studied and understood the material well. Under Dr. Rigueur's guidance, all of the molecular biology knowledge and techniques that we learned has well prepared me for working as a research associate in a lab after graduation.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this class due to Dr. Rigueur's enthusiasm, passion, and expertise across multiple fields of biology. Not only did she teach the material effectively, but she also cultivated a supportive community that inspired growth and enthusiasm for science. I'd highly recommend taking this class with Dr. Rigueur!

This class was intense but the learning experience was fruitful. Dr. Rigueur is an amazing lecturer and she is always available to help/answer questions. There were weekly quizzes, homework, a midterm and a final. The quizzes and homeworks are okay if you understand the papers that the TA go over during your discussion section. The midterm was a bit of a time-crunch but it also makes sense since most of the questions are rapid-fire short answers. Even if you didn’t do well on the midterm it doesn’t mean the end of the world because you will get sufficient time to complete the final exam, which can replace your midterm if you earn a higher mark. I did not do well on the midterm due to not being able to finish but the final saved my grade. For us she kept the final open for almost a week, though it did require a lot more in-depth critical thinking and there were a lot of questions on the exam.(87 questions) So be prepared to spend a good amount of time answering and revising your responses.

Bad.

This is one of the hardest mcdb classes you need to take. Prof Rigeur wasn't that great tbh. She would read off the notes in her slides and she wouldn't upload her notes at all, so the slides were pretty much useless. Nikki was my TA and she was pretty terrible, vey disorganized. The weekly quizzes were okay, not too terrible. The class was mostly just a mess after the midterm exam. The midterm was hard to understand and we were in a timecrunch to finish it within the time limit. So, the TAs and prof rigeur had the brilliant idea to make the final open for 3 days. EXCEPT THE FINAL TOOK ALL 3 DAYS to complete. it was long, questions were worded terribly, and overall just unnecessarily long. It was so long that they didn't end up grading it properly and I think they gave everyone an A on it (not complaining abt that, but why make us do something if you won't even grade it????). The weekly homeworks sucked, and Nikki was such an uneccesarily harsh grader for all the small things.

Prof rigeur did give some generous extra credit, like adding 4-5% to your midterm grade as long as you fill out a survey. That was pretty much the only nice thing about this class.

Overall, this class sucks. You need to take it though for the major, so you might as well suck it up and prepare to get punched in the gut for 10 weeks straight if you are taking this class with rigeur.