Morin Leisk is the nicest, most caring , and enthusiastic professor you will get for chemistry. If you value the character and personality of the professor, you will not be disappointed. She has that early enthusiasm that is seen in new professors.

As for the lecture and materials, I feel that there was too much info and all of the different topics lacked cohesion. But maybe this is just the nature of the course and this will be the same regardless of the professor you take. I don't like her lecture style. She writes on the projector on printed out power point slides. I wish that she would just post the slides with the notes on them because I really prefer to pay attention during lecture and not be so focused on writing notes.

And now...for her exams. You know how Napoleon got a bit too ambitious when he decided to invade Russia? Well yea.. She says that she designs her test so that student's can get a C- just by putting the crappiest answers possible. Let's just say that I wouldn't even qualify as crap based on her criteria. The exam was way too long for 50 minutes!

Overall I recommend her. I believe that she will only improve as a professor and considering that your alternative is Tienson, I think it would be wise to take Morin Leisk for 153A.

My ONLY issue with this professor is that she sometimes has difficulty gauging the progress and retention of her students. For example, she gave a quiz that was intended to be "free points." She said that she wanted to use this quiz to help our grades. Well, the average of that quiz was about a 78. Not quite the easy points that it was intended to be. Since she is a new professor she deserves a pass, but I actually don't attribute this fault to her being a new professor. I think it's because she is really enthusiastic about the material so she will often get ahead of herself. Keep in mind that this is pretty much my only negative about her. Aside from this, she was fantastic. Definitely take her for 153A. No doubt. I was able to see my friend's study guide for glycolysis. He is in Tienson's lecture. It seems that Tienson goes into excessive details, the type of details that you probably forget a a few days after taking the exam. Just take Morin Leisk and know that no matter how overwhelming the course material is, it could be a lot worse if you have Tienson.

This is the first professor I have ever written a review for on bruinwalk because she has been THE BEST PROFESSOR EVER. This was her first year teaching and you could tell that she put teaching above everything else, considering she always had 1.5 hrs of office hours every day after class ( 4 days a week). Also, discussions were optional so I never attended because I found that the TAs presented extra material that was unnecessary. My advise is to attend leisk's office hours regularly because she expands on course ideas which helps a lot during exams when you have to think flexibly.

Her two midterm exams were the type that the top students could finish, while others would not. I myself am a fast worker so I found no difficulty in actually finishing the test. However, there was no time to check answers so a lot of points were missed due to careless mistakes from working so fast. The curve is generous though and acts a lot in your favor.

For course material wise, I have heard that Tienson's material is a lot worse. Leisk's material, I believe, was not that difficult to understand. During lecture, she would always print out handouts for everyone (the nicest thing in the world!) and she would write along with everyone else, so this was very useful, because you could actually think about the material while she was presenting it.

Overall, taking professor Leisk was the best choice of my undergraduate career and her passion for biochemistry and teaching is amazing and I hope she does not lose it the next time she teaches. By all means, take 153A with her! She makes one of the hardest classes a great experience.