It seems to me that with each biochem class that I take, I fall in love with it even more.

2 quizzes
2 midterms
1 comprehensive final

For MT1, the average was 54% and MT2 was 44%.

On the first day of lecture, Professor Martinson told us all that we needed to study every day and stay on track. I took this to heart and started studying on day 1.

First, I'd like to note that I am only making averages on the exams. His exams are structured to force you to not only understand the material, it helps you to problem-solve and apply the material. That said, even though I am only making the average, I feel that I have learned a lot!

You will study everyday, and it is a tough class, but you will learn a lot!

First of all, he is a great lecturer and is very helpful during office hours. He really knows the material and can explain it very clearly and concisely. However, his exams are extremely conceptual which is not bad if you have time to think on the test. But midterms are only 50 min and his exams are always long so you don't have time to think things through. In the end you lots of silly, but costly errors. Another thing that really bugged me was the fact he always posts his lecture slides at like 3 AM (earliest is like 12 AM). Sometimes I had to stay up just to print his slides. Its hard to print in the morning when I have class right before his and I don't want to wake up my roommates by printing either. I print them and during lecture, they change again. Its soooooooo frustrating. Overall, he is a good professor, but he is also a tough professor. You might not get the grade you hoped for, but you do learn alot.

Professor Martinson was one of the best biochemistry teachers I have had at UCLA. I can always appreciate a class where having an excellent memory does not get you ahead (I have terrible short term memory) and understanding of concepts does. His lectures were very interesting and he presents the material as questions, answered by experiments, and then further investigation that led to current knowledge. His exams are fair and require taking the information learned in lecture and applying it to new situations, which I do not think is too much to ask. He makes himself very available to answer questions. As a student who has never attended office hours, I felt very comfortable attending his and asking questions. If you want an instructor who will make you think rather than regurgitate information, take this class.

One of the best professors in Biochemistry, and one of the greatest professors I've had at UCLA. His lecture style is so clear and engaging, and I appreciate the effort he makes to present such awesome lectures. I LOVED the fact that he emphasized concepts, and not mainly memorizing, which seems to be the norm in other biochemistry courses (153A and C come to mind). He does care a lot about student learning, often holding office hours after class until no one else had questions IN ADDITION to dedicating an entire lecture each week for review. Honestly, I did feel bad for him sometimes though, because some students kept asking questions that would have been obvious if they were paying attention in lecture or reading the textbook. Even still, he was polite enough to answered their questions respectfully. (If you're reading this please don't do that or else it might make him less willing to hold office hours for students in the future). His final exam was very fair, because he could've made it a lot more difficult than it turned out to be. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed 153B (mostly likely due to his teaching style) and I'm glad I listened to the reviews on Bruinwalk and took him! Take him if you can, he is honestly one of THE best lecturers I've come across at UCLA.

Professor Martinson is definitely one of the best professors in Biochemistry. His exams are all based on his lectures and if you study the material from lecture and read the book, you will do fine. He goes into great detail with his slides (which he always posts at 3am the day of class) and goes at a good pace (sometimes a little slow).

I love this professor! This class is very similar to LS3. When I took LS3, I hated the class, but I love this class. I love his ways of teaching. Even though the class was at 8 am, I would wake up and attended class on time. Time zoomed by in the class. I learned soo much. I definitely would recommend this professor to anyone. He is one of the best professors here at UCLA.

My grade: B+

Martinson is one of the best professors at UCLA.

Prior to taking Chem 153B with Martison, I had a very bad impression of biochemistry, thanks to LS3 in particular. Biochemistry was like a trudge through swamps of murky information that didn't seem to be relevant to much of anything. TATA boxes, snRNPs, and many other cellular events seemed like abstract concepts that only quirky scientists would obsess over.

Martison's class shattered my old impression of biochemistry. He presented a unique perspective: cellular reactions weren't events that occurred smoothly and orderly like some car factory, they were like a battlefield with reactions competing ferociously against each other. The concentrations of the products were like soldiers doing battle, some even getting used by an opposing reaction. It's all about thermal motion and concentrations.

Okay, so maybe I romanticized biochemistry a bit too much, but Martinson definitely knows how to make things interesting. Bear in mind that his class was at 8:00 in the morning. Normally, I have no qualms about occasionally skipping lectures during this time. However, with Martinson, I always went to his lectures.

Martinson is also very helpful. He makes himself readily available after lecture to answer questions. Also, he holds a weekly review session where he answers everyone's questions. These sessions aren't timed. He answers all questions and even waits until everyone has nothing left to ask. He even answers all the weird questions in an articulate manner.

Tests were generally difficult, mainly due to time constraints. Some of his questions are really weird so it's difficult to know what he is asking for at times. The exams are also in color, which is kind of surprising. Usually, professors like to skimp on stuff like colored ink, but Martinson doesn't because he's cool. And if you're ever stuck on a question during the exam, you can stare at the pretty colors.

To sum up everything, Martison is a god at biochemistry and you'd better take his class if you want to learn something valuable.

arguably, one of the best prof at UCLA. He is a great lecturer but midterms were SO HARD (avg 45 and 50).. you need to go to lecture in order to get an A because a lot of the stuff that he talks about is not in the book. Final was surprisingly a lot easier than midterm. I just wished the class wasn't at 8am so i would be more awake to listen to him because his lectures are interesting and he is absolutely good at teaching. would i recommend him? yes, if you really want to learn the material. If you just want to get thru 153B and get good grade, take someone else

Great Professor! Love his lectures! Midterms were so difficult with strange pictures and only 50 min. Final was much easier with familiar pictures. Definitely go to lecture every single day. His weekly review section also helps. Study hard! Learn a lot!

We had Voet and Voet as textbook and I gotta say, that textbook is very hard to read. What's good about Martinson is that during lecture, he gives out handouts that elaborates or explains what's mentioned in the textbook. That made the reading a little easier. What I liked about Martinson was that he really knew the material and made us think about different things. His exams are difficult because he looks for specific things. Basically, the concepts involved are simple but he words the questions in a confusing way to see if you really get the material. One tip: don't skip over any details that you don't think are important. Believe me, it's important because it WILL show up on the exams. Look over figures in the textbook VERY carefully and always be asking "Why?" when you read.