Y'all- okay let me tell you about this class. I would not take this class again, even though I got an A. I felt like the tests were a measure of how well you copy down every exact word Gober was saying during class, and not truly testing your conceptual understanding of something. If you actually do take this class, God help you lol. I don't know how I pulled an A in this class, but a lot of it had to do with me watching the lecture double speed morning of the test, and copying down every exact word he was saying. I felt like grading was really unfair. There were answers where my friends would get points, and I wouldn't, even if I regrade requested. Make sure you use your regrade requests, because on the first midterm, I got it up by 8 points, and that could've easily been the difference in my grade. As for the MCAT, it wasn't that helpful because I was more preoccupied with not missing one word Gober said, as compared to actually learning and applying the content. As for Gober himself, he is funny and such, but ehhh, I don't really like his style of teaching. Overall, wouldn't take again!

Absolutely the worst out of the worst Professor I have ever taken in college. Lectures are disorganized, Professor is very inconsistent with his teaching method, and literally test us on another level expecting us to know the phrases that he likes word by word. Don’t be judge by his grade distribution, it’s not accurate. Very unpleasant experience ever.

Took in Fall 2020. He should retire soon in my opinion. Unclear, disorganized, unreasonable , worst Professor ever. I have never felt so lost and helpless in a class ever, that’s how bad this professor is. He purposely made the exams more difficult than before because we were “online” given the COVID situation.

He's definitely "funny" and I was sure he was going to get on my nerves, but he was actually hilarious and made the lectures really engaging. All the lectures were recorded (covid) so participation didn't really matter, but it was super important to take very detailed notes on what he goes over in lecture. No textbook or extra assignments, just 2 midterms and a final with a bit of extra credit. He's a fair grader, just make sure to put lots of info into your test answers.

I will not sugar coat things and pretend like this class was a breeze, but that is just how biochem is. Even though most people were struggling throughout the quarter, it is mainly because of the content of the class, not the professor. Professor Gober was great! He is a funny and charismatic guy who is constantly making jokes in class in order to keep us engaged. I found that attending lecture live was super helpful for the first 6 weeks of class. Taking notes during lectures for these weeks was manageable. If I missed any information, I would just rewatch the recording later in the night. Additionally, we had so many biochem geniuses in the class answering very good questions and clarifying very confusing topics. Honestly, the chat and in-class community helped a ton in the beginning of the quarter. However, once we started metabolism, this class got scary. Again, none of this is Gober's fault. There was just a TON of content to cover in just three weeks. At this point, I stopped attending the live lectures and began to just watch the recording after. Gober likes to use slides with many pictures and very few words. As a result, it is VERY important to take note of the things he is TALKING about. This is where the recordings came in handy. I could just pause things when there was information overload, take my time to catch up, and get back to continuing the lecture. My experience with the TAs was also positive. They are there to help you! They all provided super good reviews of the week's content. We also weren't restricted to the discussion we enrolled in. We could attend any discussion led by any TA each week. This flexibility was super helpful and it also gives you the opportunity to basically have multiple review sessions of the material with multiple TAs each week! Also, the textbook was my lifesaver for this class. It did a great job of clarifying the stuff that went over my head in lecture! My biggest pieces of advice for anybody planning to take this class is to just pay close attention to what Gober says during lecture and to be very specific and concise on the exams. Unfortunately, the tests were unforgiving if you were too vague. There are always keywords that the TAs are looking for when grading; you could explain the concept very well, but if you missed the keyword, you automatically lose points.
I know this all might be scary, but this class is doable if you work really hard! I just want to share the advice and info I wish I had before starting this class back in October.

Super chill guy, I loved taking this class with him. Normally I am not a big fan of biological science courses, but I found this class to be super engaging, even with the online lecture format. Gober lectures using slides, and writes down important notes on the slides. His lectures don't go super in depth, but they cover pretty much all the important points you need to know for his exams. I also found that reading the suggested textbook was pretty helpful when studying for exams.
Also another thing that makes this man the GOAT, he literally will tell you exactly what topics each question on the exam tests on the Friday before the exam. This means you get a question by question study guide for free on every exam. He also made the final no-harm in light of the events happening towards the end of the spring quarter. The exams themselves are pretty reasonable (he did make the final very hard because it was no-harm). They aren't hard conceptually, but the grading can be somewhat nitpicky. Make sure to include the key terms they want. If you don't include the specific key terms they're looking for in your answer, you'll get marked off even if you technically answered correctly and explained the topic.
Lastly, this class is super light on the workload. No homework, no quizzes. Just two midterms and a final. I found that just attending lectures and then studying before each test was sufficient to do well, so you don't really have to put much work into this class other than studying for the midterms and final.
Overall, I think Gober is the man to take 153A with. He makes the class about as easy as it gets.

Professor James Gober is one of those professors who tries to hard too be funny (he's really not). His lectures are alright I guess.

Despite that, I HIGHLY recommend for everyone to take this class, especially over Tienson. I took this class my spring quarter, and my roommate took this Tienson's class while I was in Gober. The difference in the amount of work and content we need to know between the two is quite big. Tienson is much harder, due to the fact that there are weekly quizzes, worksheets that need to be completed to understand the material, and hard tests. Because of the extra material they need to learn and the weekly quizzes, students in Tienson tend to understand the material better, simply because they have to put more work into the class.

Gober's class is based on the following: 2 midterms, 1 final, and a 10 point extra credit, along with a 4 point extra credit question on the final. There are no weekly quizzes to keep you in "check." Most of the worksheets are busy work that don't need to be completed, espeically after the 2nd midterm (the first few worksheets should be completed tho). I swear, literally every single question on Gober's exams were drawn either from his old midterms (check out the bruin test bank), or pulled from his worksheets, with a question or 2 that Gober made up himself. Best part? For his review session, he will pull the midterm out in front of you, and read off the questions you need to know. As long as you frantically write everything down, look for the answers on chegg or course hero or the class worksheets, you're pretty much set. Going over his slides are also a must.

Between Tiensons and Gober: if you're taking a lot of classes this quarter and want the easier class go with Gober. If you want to work hard, be responsible for learning more content, and have a bit of a grade threshold (from the weekly quizzes), go with Tienson. I would recommend Gober, simply, because he is the easier professor.

Anyone who is complaining about Fall 2020 probably thought Gober was an easy A but forget that he's teaching biochemistry. While he is one of the easier professors, this class is not an easy A ESPECIALLY during the pandemic. It's biochemistry, it's what is expected. Gober himself is a great professor and allowed us to drop Midterm II due to grade discrepancies if we chose to do so. He is also really funny and keeps you engaged during class as much as he can because honestly, biochemistry is tough and it's easy to disengage when you're lost. I honestly loved his lectures and didn't mind rewatching them because of his little jokes here and there. Some of the other reviews by my peers were a bit rude and disrespectful, so I am here to leave a positive review! Alexa and Chris were my main TAs I went to and were amazing! I recommend going to their discussions or just watching the recordings.

The only issue I had with the class is that he made the midterms a bit more difficult due to it being open notes. However, we were only allotted a certain amount of time so there was no point in it being open note since there is no time to look at notes, therefore I would think there would be no need to make the class more difficult than an in-person course. The way to perform well on these exams is to not fall behind. Attend live lectures and mark in your slides where you missed stuff. Rewatch it later at night when he posts the recording, and TYPE your notes. Typing your notes saved me on exams because whenever I forgot something really small, I found what I was looking for more efficiently than flipping through papers. Write down every phrase he mentions and try to do it word for word because they are particular on key terms. There is a fat curve for midterms!

Take 153A with Gober!! His lectures were engaging and he made zoom lectures less painful. His exams are hard, mostly because the grading is super strict (need to have super specific wording) but he does go over the topic of each question before the exam.

I don't remember ever going to class and not laughing my ass off. He is the funniest professor I've ever had and this helped me a lot in focusing during lectures. I learned a lot of cool stuff by Dr. Gober. He doesn't just go over the standardized lessons, he also talks about applications of biochemistry which was so cool. I truly enjoyed his class to the point where I looked forward to the next lecture. For me, reading the textbook helped but I know that for some of my peers, it wasn't so helpful so try it out and see for yourself. Discussions were wack, not gonna lie. Some TAs would present incorrect information so I was better off rewatching lectures than going to discussions. Also, the practice exams that the TAs gave were irrelevant to the class exams so don't waste your time on them. Office hours were lit. Dr. Gober is down to earth and does his best in making biochemistry as less evil as possible. What a guy. Take him!!