Read the textbook and you'll be fine. I feel that she based it mainly on the textbook. To be honest I didn't really pay attention in lecture, but I got an A from just studying the textbook.

I just had Professor Johnson for LS3 Fall Quarter 2014.

I came into this class expecting it to be extremely hard, so I wasn't too surprised. It's not a terrible class, but just SO much memorization and comprehension of difficult concepts.

The first thing you should know about Johnson is that she DOES NOT CURVE. At all. She grades on a completely straight scale, which I found a little surprising, considering the difficulty of the course.

The average for the first midterm was a 78%.
The average for the second midterm was a 76%.
The average for the final exam was a 70%.

The thing that REALLY saves your grade in this class was her clicker questions, homework, and participation in discussion sections.

For her clicker questions, I recommend sitting near smart friends. Sorry, but it's the truth. Her questions are pretty tricky sometimes and they're graded for accuracy, not for participating. So you actually have to get the questions RIGHT to receive credit for them. So don't be afraid to ask around or use your laptop to look up the right answer, it'll help you out. If you ask around or sit near smart friends, it's not too difficult to get a 100% on your clicker questions for the quarter. And it's important to get that 100% because clicker questions are worth about 11% of your final grade in the class!

For her homework, she uses MasteringBiology, an online system that assigns multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions. I personally thought the MasteringBio was pretty difficult. I did it with my friends and also utilized the internet quite a bit, so I was actually able to get a 100% in that category too. Definitely use whatever resources you can! It's not timed, but you do get marked down for every time you answer incorrectly, so check with friends and be certain before you click submit. It's not too difficult if you utilize resources and take it seriously. It ended up being worth about 13% of your grade in the class!

For participation, you literally get 100% credit for just showing up to your discussion section. So show up! And that's worth 8% of your grade, kind of a lot!

For my specific case, I got 100% in the clicker, discussion, and homework categories. My scores on the midterms were 74% and 78% and my score on the final was a 74%. My strategy for the exams was to just rewatch every single lecture for that section. That's all I did, and I got decent scores (slightly above class average). My final grade in the class: B.

My recommendations:
- rewatch all lectures before exams
- do ANY extra credit or optional credit that is offered (she'll sometimes look at optional work if a student is on the border between two grades)
- take clicker questions seriously
- take homework assignments seriously
- show up to discussion sections

It might seem kind of intimidating to take LS3 uncurved, but it really isn't terrible. Her general rule of thumb is that whatever grades you average on the midterms and final, you'll get about one entire grade higher if you do well on the clickers, homework, and discussion. So if you average a C in your midterms and final, you can get a B in the class. Or if you average a D in your midterms and final, you can get a C in the class.

Not a bad professor. I feel like I learned a lot and I'm happy with my grade, considering how difficult the class is!

Best of luck!

Yes, she was difficult, but that shouldn't stop you from taking this class. She is fantastic at elucidating difficult concepts, and you'll gain a mastery of this class like no other. I highly recommend taking this class!

Okay. To start this review, I must say something. I don't normally write reviews for professors. With that said, I am absolutely in love with Dr. Johnson, and I am excited to write a humble review for this amazing professor. She was THE MOST amazing professor that I've ever had the pleasure of learning under at UCLA, and every day in class was an enlightening, enthralling experience. Having not taken AP biology in high school, I was a bit worried coming into the class, thinking that I was underprepared. Indeed, the first few weeks were a struggle, especially when doing the clicker questions. However, you'll see why she's such an effective lecturer in about the 3rd or 4th week. All the nuanced points she made in earlier lectures cycle back, and all the concepts that you thought were meaningless detail are breathed life. That protein whose name seems really obscure and unimportant? You'll actually learn ALL about the structure and function about that protein, while also learning about the chemical pathways and interactions it has within the body! No small figure in a lecture slide is "meaningless"- in fact, EVERYTHING comes back to a full circle, and the topics are arranged in a brilliant way that makes one really appreciate the scope of Dr. Johnson's ingenuity and brilliance in pedagogy. Dr. Johnson is very engaging, and also very, very kind. Going to class everyday was like going on an adventure, and just like any good adventure, make sure to prepare well!

I remember one of my favorite lectures from this quarter, which was her lecture on DNA replication. When the topic first came up in LS2, I was utterly confused and lost. I didn't know what the difference was between a chromosome and a chromatid, and there was no real intuition behind the processes that allowed our DNA to replicate. I knew all about the semi-conservative model, but WHY is it that way, and WHAT about molecular interactions make it that way? Dr. Johnson's lectures answers ALL of these questions, and quite deviant from other lecturers, she actually chooses to teach about RNA transcription and protein translation before DNA replication, which was an ABSOLUTELY brilliant choice- learning about these topics first made DNA synthesis not only intuitive, but VERY simple. These topics cycle in such a way that makes these very, very difficult topics (topics that people struggle with all the time in the MCAT) so simple and intuitive. I wished that she would teach more classes, and I think you can tell by this post how appreciative I am of her class. Thank you professor Johnson, and happy holidays!

Professor Johnson is an absolutely incredible lecturer. Like the person mentioned below, you'll feel completely lost in the beginning. That's okay. It won't hurt you for the midterm, and go to her office hours for any concepts that require clarification. Dr. Johnson is incredibly kind and caring, and wants you to succeed- she even found a way to give us a discount on the key for Mastering Biology, which is awesome since many professors just want you to buy textbooks for no reason. Trust me, if she could find a different way to get the textbooks for free, she would do it for you. Again, professor Johnson is absolutely incredible and I recommend the class to anyone. It was difficult, yes, but totally worthwhile. Take her class!

This was a challenging class, but it was completely worth it. About 3 people got A+s in the class, but still- the class was absolutely amazing. She is an amazing lecturer, and you WILL feel lost in the beginning. Push through to the middle of the course, and you'll see why people are exalting Professor Johnson for her brilliance. I loved this class, and would take it again in a heartbeat. Amazing class.

I had the pleasure and privilege of taking Professor Johnson Fall 2014, and I have to say that she was the most incredible professor that I have had the pleasure of learning under at UCLA, or anywhere for that matter. She is absolutely brilliant in her lecturing style, and she ties in all the concepts incredibly perfectly- never once during lecture was I not dazzled by the sheer knowledge she was bestowing upon me. I was absolutely enthralled and excited during each and every lecture. If you value your education, I highly suggest that you take her class! I wished that she would win a teaching award for all her hard work in helping her students as well.

I just took her class this Winter 2014. I thought she was okay. Her clicker questions were pretty tricky and difficult to answer if you don't have a lot of smart friends in the class. They were based on correctness, not participation. She also doesn't allow for any missed clicker days so you better have friends to click for you if you're going to miss a day.

The 2 midterms and final were pretty much like the practice midterms she posted online (aka the previous year's midterms). There weren't really any surprises and the tests were based off her lecture slides (I never bought or read the book).

Discussions are mandatory and there's a worksheet you work on each week but it's graded based on participation. My TA didn't teach at all but honestly I didn't go to discussion to learn...

Her weekly CCLE quizzes. NOW THESE WERE HARD. wow. Call up all of your smart friends and google like crazy to figure out the answers... I think this was the hardest part of the class AND not even that helpful because the questions were SO different from her exam questions.

MasteringBiology was pretty basic stuff.. Not too difficult but it doesn't help to have friends to work on it with. (you can google most of the answers).

Overall the class isn't that bad. I rarely paid attention in class and crammed in all the podcasts the day before the midterms but still got A's. I don't think she curves but our averages were pretty high. I ended up with an A in the class thanks to the little bit of extra credit she offers. Good luck everyone!

I am not a huge fan of Johnson. I thought she was a pretty terrible lecturer, as she broke up concepts in really awkward ways that didn't make sense. She seems nice enough, though. She grades with a bell curve so the top 20% get A's, etc. Honestly, the way I got through this class was with my peer learning facilitator (Jeffrey) and my TA (Melody Pai). They were so great, and they were the ones who literally taught me everything. The two midterms we had weren't too bad, but the when I was taking my final all I could think was "What the actual fuck is this?" She got really ambitious in her questions for that godawful final, getting all hypothetical and experimental on us. However, the material learned is really interesting and I ended up with an A- in the class. She's alright.

Okay, based on just coming out of her LS 3 class, she is a decent professor. She's not amazing and engaging, but she's definitely not bad either. Her lectures are all on powerpoint, and you are only responsible with what she goes over on the slides in class, not what is in the textbook. Oh and don't buy the textbook. It was a waste of money, I barely touched it. Honestly, if you don't understand a concept, the internet is way more helpful. There's tons of video modules that explain things better on sites like McGraw Hill.
Her lectures are boring, yes this is true. Every class she goes over a new slideshow. But they're manageable. And she's a nice person, so if you don't understand something in lecture, just raise your hand and ask her. Tons of people did that this past quarter. Her office hours definitely helped too. Just about every lecture I would walk out of class with retaining less than half of what she covered, since she went kind of fast. But thank goodness for for bruincast. Rewatching ALL the videocasted lectures helped SO much with understanding everything she was saying and taking good notes.
If you're like me and think that this class has a lot material, then study consistently for it throughout the whole quarter. This class is manageable as long as you give it the time it deserves, which is a good amount of time. I think LS 3 is harder than LS 2 because unlike LS 2, which is pretty much straight up memorization, in LS 3 there a lot of concepts having to do with experiments that you need to grasp, because on the exams she'll ask you things that you may have not seen before but you'll be able to answer them if you understand the concepts behind the class. But there is still a lot of material that is straight up memorization from the lecture slides.
Johnson's curve is more generous than I thought. I did well on the first midterm, got a little below average on the second midterm, and did well on the final, and ended up with an A+. After I calculated my raw score, I barely had a 90%, so go figure.
My advice would be to treat this class like it's really hard, and you'll do fine.
Overall, I'd say Johnson is very nice and helpful, but fairly boring in lecture. Make sure you get a good TA that can explain things well, or switch into a discussion that has a good TA. Discussion is mandatory so you might as well go to one that is actually helpful. Also, you should sign up for PLF at Covel, it keeps you on top of things.
As others have said, this class is manageable, but put a good amount of time into it.