Professor Berthet brought an extrordinary passion to microbiology but the class had so many flaws that made me despise the class. She will blaze through lectures and will try to finish as quick as possible if she realizes she is running out of time. Though she emphasizes that you must read the textbook, it isn't necessary as all the content on exams are on the slides. She hosted office hours directly after her class. You can only receive your SAQ for exams back and you will need to put an unnecessary amount of effort to just find out what you got incorrect on your MCQ portion. The exams are 30 MCQ with 4 SAQ while the final is 50 MCQ with 5 SAQ w/ a notes sheet. This class is doable, but receiving feedback on exams was my biggest frustration in this course similar to lower division courses. I would pre-read the slides before lecture, to account for her speed and reference the learning objectives as a resource to have a cumulative representation of exam content.
I did not enjoy this class.

Professor Berthet is honestly one of the best professors I've had at UCLA. She is extremely engaging, approachable, and understanding of her students. She does her best to explain concepts and answer questions during class so that everyone understands, and after our first midterm feedback, she was also clear about what she does and doesn't want us to know. I think the class agreed as a whole that her exams were generally fair. She tests on information from her slides and not the textbook, though I would definitely recommend reading the textbook chapters for a thorough understanding of the concepts, especially to prepare for exam questions that ask you to apply knowledge. Exams consisted of majority multiple choice questions with ~3 free response questions. There were two weekly homework assignments, one from the textbook (you will need to buy/borrow the textbook for these questions) and one on Canvas. I would say the workload is definitely manageable as long as you are consistently going to class and not playing catch up. The homework is graded based on effort instead of correctness so I would highly recommend doing all of them since they're basically free points. Discussion attendance is mandatory and around week 5 we were required to do a group presentation in discussion. Professor Berthet may offer extra credit based on how the class does as a whole, but it wasn't guaranteed. She generally wants an average of 70-75% for every exam. Overall, I would say as long as you do the bare minimum of going to class + turning in all assignments, you will be able to understand all the concepts. If you understand the concepts and can spend a week or so memorizing them before the exams, an A is doable. Professor Berthet wants the best for us and always offers extra office hours or one-on-one meetings if you need more help, so don't be afraid to ask!

Professor Berthet has amazing energy and tenacity to teach. It is clear that she wants all students to succeed, and I can feel that every time I walk into lecture. My qualms have so much more to do with how the course is set up rather than the instructor. The course is meant to have us memorize and cram information in our brains rather than approach from an application stand point. Professor Berthet tries very hard to integrate an applicational component, but it is just pushed aside to make room for memorizing topics. The only other critique would be the way slides are prepared. It is often too much text or colors become confusing. I appreciate very much to have an instructor who cares, but information is still taught in a forgettable way.