The class is much easier than it is as taught by tienson - there's a lot less material to cover and overall the tests are a lot simpler. that being said, gober's teaching style is disorganized and there are times where he'll contradict himself. Given that there really aren't any other resources for the class other than Gober himself, if his teaching style does not work for you, this class will be unpleasant regardless of how you end up doing

This class was honestly one of the greatest experiences of my UCLA career. Professor Gober is extremely engaging and funny and makes lectures enjoyable to attend. He presents the material in an easy-to-consume way and is very generous when grading.

The whole class is based off of two midterms and a final; both midterms were 100 points and the final was 200 points.. He will tell you what will be on each exam ahead of time for you to study, but some people still found a way to do poorly on the exam; how this happens, I have no idea. He claimed that an 80% would be regarded as a B/B+ and he gave 15 points of potential extra credit (the class is out of 400). The tests are very fair and there is plenty of time to finish them.

Be careful after the second midterm as the content suddenly becomes a lot more difficult and there is a lot more to study. Aside from that, the class was extremely easy and it is very enjoyable to attend. And remember to always start your day with a hot cup of Subway coffee (tm)

Nice guy. Easy to stay awake in his lecture. Sponsored by Jack in the box (advertises the bacon ultimate cheeseburger). Material is wayyyyy less than Tienson (summer). Cool guy but never replies to your emails.

153A Textbook for sale

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry (6th E) (Looseleaf)

Email me: ************* and I'll let you bargain for a fair price :D

Hello everyone,
I am taking chem 153A with gober in summer 2013.
If you have any of his old midterms i will buy them from you.
If you are interested please email: *************
Thank you

Just want to add to the previous comment.

Don't buy the book unless you really want to read it on your own interest, because the book just complicates things, I just read the book once for about 2 pages and it doesn't help at all, just study the lecture notes and EVERYTHING he says in lecture is fair game.

He said that he hasn't taught 153A in 15 years @_@

1)
He is a quite a humorous guy, he makes jokes all the time...he explains thing quite clearly (the class is quite straightforward anyway, everything's self-explanatory)

2)
Midterm 1: not terribly hard but that's because the material at the beginning was easy....

My grade: 51/50 (w/ extra credit)
Avg: 36/50

Midterm 2:Harder than first one, one of the questions was not discussed in class and I've no idea why the F did he include that, I got 0 point (like many others)

My grade: 38/50
Avg: 31/50

Final: This gotta be the hardest, not only it covers RIDICULOUS amount of material, there were almost all conceptual problems (memorizing the pathways, structures and mechanism was a pain in the ass), you really need a rather deep understanding of the material in order to do them....but doable

And the good thing is that he told us what each question was about the day before final, it made life so much easier :)

Grade: no idea

Final Grade: A+

Conclusion: although rote memorization may not guarantee a good grade, you should take your time to memorize the pathway for glycolysis and TCA cycle well before the final, one day will NOT suffice (unless you have photographic memory -_-)