Professor
John Merriam
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Most Helpful Review
Disregard the course MCDB 297. I took Dr. Merriam as LS4. Merriam is very passionate about what he teaches and he is also very kind and friendly. He is available for help at his office hours. Although he himself is a nice professor, his lectures are another different story. His lectures are irrelevant to what the exam is on. Your only best bet is discussion sections with the TA. He goes off tangent and doesn't do many practice problems. He likes to talk about figures A LOT. Thus, his exams could be tricky because you don't know what to expect sometimes. However, he let us have 1 page of notes so I guess that made up for it. He gave us 4 midterms and took best 3. As for the final, it was cumulative. He took the problems we missed from the 4 midterms as the final plus some of the new material. And it was open note as well. Overall, I think his midterm and final were fair (All multiple choice). It wasn't so bad. He also had weekly online homework (masteringgenetics). It was a good point booster, but it didn't help in the preparing for the midterms and final. There were also weekly clinic hours and small groups which you would go over practice problems. Merriam is going to retire after this class.
Disregard the course MCDB 297. I took Dr. Merriam as LS4. Merriam is very passionate about what he teaches and he is also very kind and friendly. He is available for help at his office hours. Although he himself is a nice professor, his lectures are another different story. His lectures are irrelevant to what the exam is on. Your only best bet is discussion sections with the TA. He goes off tangent and doesn't do many practice problems. He likes to talk about figures A LOT. Thus, his exams could be tricky because you don't know what to expect sometimes. However, he let us have 1 page of notes so I guess that made up for it. He gave us 4 midterms and took best 3. As for the final, it was cumulative. He took the problems we missed from the 4 midterms as the final plus some of the new material. And it was open note as well. Overall, I think his midterm and final were fair (All multiple choice). It wasn't so bad. He also had weekly online homework (masteringgenetics). It was a good point booster, but it didn't help in the preparing for the midterms and final. There were also weekly clinic hours and small groups which you would go over practice problems. Merriam is going to retire after this class.
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Most Helpful Review
I took him for LS4. Hands down the worst professor I have had at UCLA. He does not teach what is relevant to his exams, his lectures have no slides, he just fumbles with the book and sloppy drawings on the whiteboard. His newly adopted Mastering Genetics is a huge hassle and a waste of time. I did well on his first midterm only because I was good at probability from taking 3C, but the 2nd and 3rd have been a nightmare. Do not take him. You will want to shoot yourself in the foot.
I took him for LS4. Hands down the worst professor I have had at UCLA. He does not teach what is relevant to his exams, his lectures have no slides, he just fumbles with the book and sloppy drawings on the whiteboard. His newly adopted Mastering Genetics is a huge hassle and a waste of time. I did well on his first midterm only because I was good at probability from taking 3C, but the 2nd and 3rd have been a nightmare. Do not take him. You will want to shoot yourself in the foot.
Most Helpful Review
LS4 with Merriam is like taking an online course without sufficient materials. Although I got an A in the class, many of my friends suffered because it is basically an independently taught class. Merriam, at least for me, did not go well with my studying methods, and I usually left class a little more confused than when I came in. Oh, and the only reason I bothered to go was the institution of mandatory quizzes at the beginning of almost EVERY lecture. Seriously, hold out on LS4 with Merriam and go with WHOEVER else is teaching the class. I worried neurotically about my grade until the very end of the quarter, and right now, I feel like I know absolutely no genetics...good luck!
LS4 with Merriam is like taking an online course without sufficient materials. Although I got an A in the class, many of my friends suffered because it is basically an independently taught class. Merriam, at least for me, did not go well with my studying methods, and I usually left class a little more confused than when I came in. Oh, and the only reason I bothered to go was the institution of mandatory quizzes at the beginning of almost EVERY lecture. Seriously, hold out on LS4 with Merriam and go with WHOEVER else is teaching the class. I worried neurotically about my grade until the very end of the quarter, and right now, I feel like I know absolutely no genetics...good luck!
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