In brief:
This class is a HEADACHE, but Nakamoto is NOT the sadist some of these other reviews make her out to be. She is a nice woman and a decent lecturer who wants her students to succeed. That said, the course is still profoundly unorganized.

Some positives:
- Lectures are now Bruincasted. This was not known to us until week ten since Nakamoto was afraid that people would not show up to class.
- The TAs this quarter were great.
- Midterms are VERY easy. You can definitely get away with only studying the night before.
- Nakamoto brings baked goods to the journal club presentations.

... and some negatives:
- Lab reports suck omega ass. I pulled an all-nighter for both reports and did not get above a 75%.
- Zero grades were inputted into Bruin learn.
- No digital versions of ANY course materials are made available to students.
- You MUST use a physical iClicker for attendance.
- The equipment in the lab rooms is old and shit.

My advice:
- Start lab reports early. I did not do this.
- When you get your score back for the first report, discuss the feedback you received with your TAs; It is important to know what your individuals TA's expectations are. They cannot divulge the rubric, but they will likely give you some helpful tips.
- Make sure you understand the journal club papers for both fielding questions during your presentation and for MT2. TAKE NOTES while your peers are presenting on sections that you did not cover.
- If you end up doing worse than you'd hoped on an assignment, try not to sweat it. The averages on all major assignments (i.e., lab reports) tend to be low, and there are a good amount of opportunities to recoup points.
- Dispute any grading decision you don't agree with. Nakamoto is generous with giving points back.

Sooo I took this professor during session A this summer, and overall, this was not easy. She says on the very first day not to take the summer course, so that's a clue right there...but I had to stay b/c it fit my schedule and nothing else. I commute to school on the bus everyday, and while I was taking this class I worked 20 hours a week at night, so after 4pm Monday-Friday, I could NOT study anything. BUT, I did end up getting an A in the class. So there is hope! I went to lecture every day, and yes her writing on the compendium overhead is kind of annoying but not too horrible, kinda just wasted a few minutes every day, I went to a couple different TA sections during the week, and multiple CLAPS sessions. I didn't buy a textbook, and I memorized the entire compendium...no joke -.- not fun...I wrote and rewrote allllll of the pictures and notes in the compendium, so that when the final was coming, I didn't have to look at the compendium to study, I just used my own notes. Definitely do all of the CLAPS and hw questions, even the ones not assigned, and bring questions to discussions, they help A LOT. The midterms were straight up memorization, so memorize everything :/ but the final was random. I did not end up leaving early, and I almost cried when I came out of the room. I had left some parts blank, and I thought I was gonna get a C...I started to get nervous during the final and began just writing whatever I could remember without thinking into much detail b/c I didn't have enough time, and thank God the memorizing worked and I wrote out everything like a reflex. There were some naming of molecules that came out of the blue, but I had to use knowledge from the chem20/30 series info to help me on those...So again, midterms are memorization (very doable) and final is more conceptual. I never asked her questions so I don't know whether or not she was easy to get a hold of...but pretty much I had to study every day till 4pm, did notes, rewrote notes, memorized EVERYTHING, and came out with a solid A...and it was the summer...Just focus (which I know is hard to do with this kind of class) but you gotta just pump yourself for the class. I also studied with 2 good friends and we studied together every day, sometimes next to each other in the library, but having a solid study group is very helpful. To summarize again, memorize the compendium, have really good and thorough notes, go to multiple discussions and CLAPS sessions, go to class every day, and FOCUS. It was kind of hard for me to focus during the summer b/c a lot of my friends were out having parties, touring abroad and such, and it was easy to just give up, but if I can do it, anyone else can. Trust me. My brain isn't exactly wired to be a genius, I'm not, and I was kind of jealous of the kids in discussions that got everything right away, but you have to work hard. It's not an easy class, but you can still get an A. :] Good luck!

nakamoto's 153A class was wayyy too intense. i took this course during the summer (session A of summer 2009) and had to drop the other class i was taking since this class took up so much time. the midterms were somewhat difficult but the majority of the points were the free response sections which were not that hard as long as you studied the workbook and attended CLAPS sessions. the final was absolutely ridiculous. saw material that i have never seen before such as the biochemistry of e.coli metabolism...
i dont know how other 153A classes are but nakamoto takes biochemistry to a whole new level.

selling both the course reader and problem book for $55. Those two are the must-have in her class. Newsest edition. Call/text me ********** or email me at *************

Selling the Spring 2015 course reader/lab manual for $10.

I had heard about this class and that it was hard, so I came in expecting the worst. To be honest, nakamoto isn't hard at all, and almost everything was review. This class covers basic macromolecules (proteins, lipids, carbs, no nucleic acids really) and the metabolic pathways that use them (glycolysis, citric acid cycle, and the ETC). If you took the 14 series, brushing up on chemical equilibria, free energy, and basic electrochem should help a lot. Most of the stuff in the class really builds up on itself. You do need to memorize things, but if you focus on conceptual understanding and the big picture you should be good to go. If you want to do yourself a favor memorize these: 20 amino acids (w/ structure) and each step in glycolysis and the CAC. Get the lehninger book from the library, Bate's compedium is basically a simplified Lehninger with extras here and there. Got sick during the week before finals studied maybe 1 day for the final, no review of old stuff, still got an A =). key is to retain info you learned from the first 2/3 of the class, instead of cramming it all just before the midterm

As far as I could understand, what wasn't from Dr. Bates's course reader wasn't taught in class, and what was taught in class was read and paraphrased from the course reader. Your logical conclusion will become that Stacie Nakamoto is as effective as the course reader. I really don't remember learning anything in lectures. She's one of those teachers that thinks that talking about the material is the same thing as actually teaching it.
The format of the class is extremely easy though. What kind of upper division class gives memorization quizzes worth so much of the final grade percentage??? Anyway, Nakamoto tries to negate this as much as she can it seems by making the final discontinuously challenging. You won't be prepared for it because you'll have figured by that point that the class is very easy (given the quizzes, easy midterms, and overly simplistic lectures).

My personal bent against Nakamoto stems from the fact that one of the TAs had deducted NINE POINTS from a quiz because I had made an obvious error and drew a stable pentavalent carbon (even though it was gone in the next step of the reaction and I had shown a hydrogen being removed in the previous step). I asked Nakamoto about this grading decision, since it was obviously an error and didn't indicate a lack of undertstanding.
She refused. 9 points is half of the 20 points between an A and an A-, which is what I got, probably by about 9 points.

I am selling lab reports and exams that earned me an A. Contact me at ************* for more details.

153A Textbook for sale

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry (6th E) (Looseleaf)

Email me: ************* and I'll let you bargain for a fair price :D

This teacher does not care about student's learning. She is snobbish and acts very haughty. Her midterms were really easy but her final was a killer...People cried after the exam was over.

She doesn't make the textbook mandatory and most of her lectures were from the compendium. She reads off her slides and it's easy to fall asleep in the class. Listen to her lectures if you can't fall asleep. It works better than melatonin.

Avoid if you can. Especially if you're a premed and don't want your GPA screwed.

She keeps her past exams top secret so you can't find any practice ones online/around.

I really hope she changes her teaching tactics because it seems like she enjoys students' sad faces.

Believe me, I used to like Chemistry.