Bates is wonderful! Great professor and fair grader. Her tests are very detailed and require a lot of time to study for, but in the end, the hardwork is well worth the effort. Just know basically everything in the compendium and do all the CLAPS, go to CLAPS too! The TAs are awesome!

I had this class at 8AM everyday except for thur. It was hard to wake up, but it was well worth it. It is rare to find a teacher who provids so many resources for you to do well in this class: OH, tutoring (aap/covel), workshops, reviews. She is very invovled in every aspect of this class. She goes over what tutors should emphasize, what TA's emphasize. Yes, there is a lot to learn in this class, it is pure information overload, but none of it is too hard. As long as you review your stuff every so often, and do lots of practive test, you should have no problem getting an A in this class. Don't wait until the 2 days before the test to review for the test, because it is waaay to much stuff to cram.

Biochem is not for the faint of heart, as it will make or break you in the long run. Bates teaches an organized and approachable class for the SERIOUS student. You really have to treat this class as a religion if you want an A, yet, at the same time the material isn't hard; it's just time consuming. So if you have to take this class, I highly recommend her, but be aware you are not doing anything else this quarter. By the way, don't buy the book, as I had an A in the class and did not open it once. MEMORIZE THE COMPENDIUM! Go to CLAPS sessions and do every single practice problem you can get your hands on (try to find a TA who hands out problems, especially from old tests!).

Bates is by far the Best Lecturer I've had so far. I am in love with Biochem because of her. I felt like I learned SOO much from her class and really feel like I took away something big from that class. This was a tough class, there is ALOT of information. If you couldn't prepare for LS2 and/or Chem 14D finals 2 days (or less) beforehand, this class may show you that science is not for you. Go to CLAPS sections, and really DO the problems yourself. I cannot stress how much this helps. Don't ever look at the answer unless you did the problems as thoroughly as you could try.

She is a HORRIBLE teacher. First of all this lady talks so fast that you cannot keep up with the lecture. I had to learn everything on my own. The midterm was easy, but the final was so hard and long and contained way too much detail. She expects you to memorize everything and I thought that I would be okay with that until it came around finals time and I realized how much information we were required to know. Overall, I thought that she was the worst teacher ever. If you can, take professor Martinson because he makes you understand things and you dont have to memorize anything. He is a really good teacher and I really regret taking Bates. Just avoid taking her class if you can.

Prof Bates has both her good and bad qualities. Beginning with the positive, she is quite knowledgable about the subject and she does make her lectures interesting and fun. Moreover, she paces the material well and her compendium is more useful than the book if you have limited time to study.

Now the bad news--certain aspects of her behavior towards her students can only be described as antisocial. On several occasions she stopped lecture short when she heard people packing up "too early". Come on, unlike in first grade, college students cannot be held accoutable for the actions of their neighbors. And more than once she had unnecessarily negative responses to students asking questions that she felt were too basic in quality. In addition, Dr. Bates had a policy of not answering email questions and only having one hour a week of OH--making it very, very difficult to get questions answered. These limited periods of assistance were suppossed to be augmented by her CLAPS sessions, but in reality these tutorials were jam-packed and under-staffed and took place in a hot, unventilated room in the basement of Young Hall. Chances of getting quality help: slim at best. And the fact that CLAPS existed also meant that TAs were not required to have OHs, making it just about impossible to get assistance!

Overall, I would urge any student to take Biochem with another prof if at all possible, such as Martinson. Dr. Bates's bad qualities definitely outweigh her good ones and you are better off taking your chances with another teacher. And by the way, if you do find yourself in her class and you submit a midterm for a regrade, take her on her word about finding and "correcting" pointage errors in your favor because she will be more than happy to do so.

I realize that everyone has their own opinion, so here is mine...

Dr. Bates and the TAs are very concerned about their students, and they are always available to answer questions. However, like many other students have said, Dr. Bates expects you to memorize and understand every last detail. There is so much material in this class, so don't procrastinate. If you go into the class with this expectation, you should do well.

Personally, I wish that I had taken 153A with Prof. Martinson. I took 153L with him and he was great -- more conceptual, and didn't expect you to memorize useless details. So, it comes down to learning styles...do you prefer conceptualizing or memorizing?

This class was one of those where you feel you learn a lot, but the final kicks you hard. It was really really hard! But I felt I came out learning a lot. Professor Bates is definitely NOT like most professors because even though her tests are not easy (though she recycles test questions and that helps), she cares about how much you learn and her teaching style is not bad at all. Her compendium helps with the material, and her CLAPS are usually helpful and give more chances to ask her and the TA's questions, even if you don't do the CLAPS right there. I recommend her to other students, especially if you test well. My TA's really helped too (Jorge, Alex, and Adam)-use your TA's because she makes them work hard to help you!

Professor Bates is very organized professor. She tries to make her lectures more interesting for the students by employing skits & memorization games. Overall I would say she is a good lecturer. Study her compendium (MUST!) her exams are based mainly on her compendium which is also very well organized. ANDREA was the BEST TA!!! EXCELLENT!

IF YOU WANT TO GET an A IN THIS CLASS:

1. Do not memorize information. If you simply memorize, you cannot answer the questions on her tests.

2. Do her practice problems. They are AWESOME. They are actually more difficult than the test, so if you can do those, you can ace the test.

3. Go to her CLAPS and her office hours. If you really want your questions answered, they will be. Some people think CLAPS are usless. CLAPS sessions are what you make of them. Just get in the habit of asking questions. Dr. Bates will answer your questions and she will go the extra mile to make sure that you understand the answers.

4. Look at previous exams, and do them.

5. Forget about the textbook. Its all about her reader.

6. Don't miss her lectures. She is one of the best lecturers in UCLA.

... do all these steps and your A is guaranteed.

This class is EXTREMEMLY useful for the MCAT.