do not take 153a with Lannan if you can afford to...no matter how much effort I put in I do not do well on his exams and as others have said you get points off for having the right answer (I circled the right aa on MT 1 and didn't get points for it lmao). it's really discouraging to know that your professor doesn't care about any feedback we have or decides to dump extra material on us 2 days before our midterm. what sucks too is that we aren't given any resources or practice questions other than a study guide that doesn't reflect his exams and questions written by the TAs (god bless them). honestly, lannan has the potential to be a great professor, and it's a shame that most of us are struggling so much right now. i personally know several people who have dropped the course because they couldn't take it anymore, so the reviews we're leaving are accurate. don't know how this class can be redeemable at this point imo

Prof Lannan has been my favorite chemistry professor so far. His lectures are very clear, he answers questions patiently, he posts learning objectives which are genuinely helpful to study for the exams, and he gives practice exams that are very similar to the real exams. Professor Lannan's exams are tough, but very fair. He doesn't use trick questions to try and mess with you. Many of the questions on his exams are almost identical to the practice exams. He posts learning objectives for every week of class, which point to the exact things he wants you to learn from that week. He writes the exact concepts he wants you to be able to explain, the things he wants you to calculate, and etc. If you take notes based on these for every week, his exams are completely doable. Take notes on the learning objectives, do the practice exams, and you should ace his exams. He's often funny in lecture and gives extra credit opportunities.

I am 100% taking one of Lannan's classes if the opportunity arises again. It's clear that Lannan has greatly improved since he started teaching at UCLA and I could see him being one of the top professors in the chem/biochem department. Don't listen to the older reviews!

best professor ever. everything in this class makes perfect sense, he dumbs it down for you and elaborates extremely eloquently. anyone who says hes bad prof is either salty because they got a bad grade or his teaching style didnt resonate with them. so its important to find the right study method for you to get a good grade in this class. i remember being flustered the first 3 weeks , then everything made perfect sense once he started teaching about enzymes in week 4/5 and his teaching style/exam style became extremely comprehensible/transparent to me. In order to ace the course, watch the lecture and study the material the day of or after lecture is taught. the best form of studying for this class would be to write notes down during the lecture, take a moment to make sure you have everything understood, then memorize that material super well. when test day is approaching, go through ur notes make sure you have everything memorized, and also align your knowledge with the study guide. he does in fact ask stuff from the study guide and everything from the study guide is from the lecture essentially. Fair warning there are a few concepts in the study guide that you think he wouldnt ask, thats exactly what he will ask so learn it. his explanations were so articulate, im so thankful to have taken the class with him i learned so much. and i would do it again! his exams are legit carbon copy of his lectures, THERE ARE NO APPLICATION BASED PROBLEMS, its so freaking easy. people usually get marked down points bc they didnt elaborate or state their answer with the wording he prefers. this is biochem, its a shit of material, a lot of memorization, so logically you have to really go off on all the questions on the exams. even if you dont think hes asking you to elaborate that much, he is. a lot of the students i know that recieved a poor grade in the class did not provide a sufficient answer on the exam then proceeded to blame him. memorize and then write so much on the exam that youve run out of space and/or your hand starts to cramp. that is the key to this class. his exams are not difficult, in fact they are easy if you are willing to put in the work for this course the right way. he gives a shit ton of extra credit including the final project and random fun questions on the exam. if i can do this course all over again, i would without hesitation, enjoyed the material and his teaching style so much!

I had Lannan the first quarter teaching at ucla, he was very fair. Lannan never tested material on the midterm/final that wasn't covered throughly in lecture. Highly recommend, his OH were also super helpful

Enjoyed this class a lot. Lannan is an amazing lecturer--he's very engaging and his slides are super clear, so you can always review them later alongside the recorded lectures. The grading structure gives you room to make up for lower grades if you didn't do as well in one particular category, which was helpful. We had short in-class quizzes every two weeks or so which were easy points as long as you memorized the content sheet (lowest score dropped). There were also weekly homework sets, but if you worked on it throughout the week, went to OH, or asked questions/reviewed responses on Campuswire you were fine. Campuswire was super helpful to have in this course as you could earn extra credit through it but also ask questions any time and expect someone to respond with an hour or so (including LAs and the professor). Lannan also used a chat room on Campuswire for quick annoucements (and to send photos of his cat LOL) which also helped because I don't always receive Canvas notifications immediately.

As for his exams (two midterms and a final), I though they were very fair. There were no trick questions, and the teaching team offered a lot of partial credit which was nice. My tip would be to make a study guide or flashcard deck based on the learning objectives. Make sure you set aside time leading up to an exam to draw diagrams and mechanisms as those should be easy points on exams if you have them memorized.

Overall, I would definitely recommend him to anyone interested in 153A or needs to take the class. I wouldn't take 153A again because of the content LOL, but I would love to class with Lannan again. Like I said before, he's a very engaging lecturer who knows how to help students stay on top of material effectively so they are prepared for the exams.

Awesome prof. He knows his stuff, he was prepared, and he had a good sense of humor. Overall, content is not difficult, it's just a lot. Exams were fair and often very similar to the practice material. EC was offered.

Would highly recommend!

I had fears going into this class because of the reviews and the course material itself, but I was pleasantly surprised by the end of the quarter how doable this class is. Lectures were recorded, but participation was graded using iClickers. You were allowed to skip a certain number of lectures and discussions sections, and you also had the opportunity to make up participation so I'd say this system was overall fair. Lannan isn't the best at managing his time during lectures, and for having such short lectures, there was a lot of material to go over. Having recorded lectures was essential to my grade and I rewatched every lecture as part of my studying. There were also quizzes, which mostly involved memorization, and for this quarter the lowest quiz was dropped. Exams were fair, and the professor was very willing to hear everyone out if any of the questions felt unfair or ambiguous. Discussion worksheets were graded mostly on completion, with a few being graded for accuracy. There was also an extra credit group project that I found very fun and 100% worth doing. Nonetheless, this class was difficult. If you want to do well, you have to put in the work. Like a crazy amount.

If you see a review saying that you have to stay in and not party in order to get an A in this class, don't take it too seriously. I went out to parties the weekend before both midterms and got an A on both midterms (very slay moment). Lannan is super sweet and funny in the socially awkward, nerdy type of way and he's an awesome professor. There's extra credit from Campuswire, an end of the quarter project, and feedback surveys from him. The best thing to use for studying for exams is the review exams that he posts.

I read previous reviews before taking this class with Lannan and it deterred me from enrolling in the class. However, I switched into his class during week 2 and it was one of the smartest decisions I have made. The breakdown of the class was 70% of your grade was exams (20% per midterm with 2 midterms and a 30% final) the other 30% was comprised of participation via clickers and discussion attendance (8%) as well as homework (12%) which is partially graded for correctness and quizzes which are brute memorization (10%)

Professor Lannan is a very good lecturer, and is very clear with what he wants you to understand. He will literally say "I am going to test you on this either on the midterm or the final" or he will say "This is important information I want you to know". He also provides you with learning objectives which in my opinion were very comprehensive study guides. He is very passionate about his teaching and really wants students to understand class material. A lot of people complained about the grading of his exams because he was looking for pretty specific answers. However, every biochem class is a buzzword class, and there are certain words that you have to know. He was a little bit more relaxed this quarter as far as buzzwords go, but specific answers were still required. All of the "buzzwords" that you are required to know are given on his slides or he says them in class. All fo the details you are required to know are given on the slides and detailed in the learning objectives. If you are someone who takes hand written notes on paper I recommend you print the slides out. He does read from the slides a lot but he also adds extra information that you will need to know. His practice exams are exactly like the exam he will give you as far as question structure, so you will know what to expect when taking the exam. There is a lot of content in this class. The first midterm does not cover as much as the 2nd midterm or the final, but it is still a lot of information. I would recommend having a study group that goes over the learning objectives and fill them out thoroughly. The class is very detailed and he tests on details, so I would also recommend studying at least a week in advance. The textbook is useless do not waste your money. He will tell you everything that you are required to know.

Lastly, professor Lannan is very understanding and willing to help if you just ask. He opened up extra office hours due to the TA strike, and attended review sessions to make up for the TA's absences. He is also very willing to answer questions after class.

Overall he is one of the better stem professors I have had. This class is not easy, but it is manageable and receiving an A is doable if you are willing to put in the effort.

This review will get as accurate as possible so ignore the others:
First off, Professor Lannan's material is understandable if you truly study the content. I found myself watching his lectures at home 2-3 times until I understood them. To get the A you want, there is no going out to a party, you have to stay in your room and put in the hours as I did. Study everything he goes over, study the slides, study the practice midterms he gives, study the LA-given study guides AND USE CAMPUSWIRE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND CONCEPTS BY ASKING QUESTION LEFT AND RIGHT. People will answer you in minutes during the day trust me. This helped me a lot because when I was stuck on something, all I did was ask campus wire and people helped in minutes. Next, he will give a lot of extra credit but don't rely on it for your grade. The final is cumulative but our class got lucky by becoming a no-harm final, but do not rely on that bc it was under a certain circumstance that we got that luxury. Join Zoom office hours, and if you cant, rewatch the zoom recordings. Go to office hours and do the most to understand all the class concepts. He is very nit-picky on exams and will mark down points left and right so write down everything about the question it asks for and don't leave out a word bc that could make or break half a point. Bc of my unhealthy study times, I did great in the class but this is college, you have one shot in these 4 years to create a strong backbone of your college career so study as u should and do not go out if your friends beg you to come out with them. This is a class that you will get an A in if you truly put in the work, not just few hours of study a day, your life is chem 153A if you take it with Lannan. But overall, he is approachable, just lags on emails. Although this was a long review and sounded harsh, if you know yourself and your study habits, decide if you should take this class.
HW, Participation, and Discussions were 30% together
Midterms together were 40%
Final was 30%