Chem 153a with Villa

<p>How is this class in terms of difficulty? Is it a crazy curve like 5% a's?</p>

<p>hahahahahahaha :rolleyes:</p>

<p>thanks for the reply.</p>

<p>also how is she as a teacher? good practice for the mcat or not?</p>

<p>

see above reply.</p>

<p>I need to get into LS 3 so I don't have to take this godforsaken class with her.</p>

<p>lol, villa is NOT hard. Seriously, i took 153a with her last quarter, and it was a lot of work (as is expected for this class), but the midterm/final were NOT too hard and she gave out 45 A/A-'s and over a hundred B's. To get an A/A- you needed above a 85% and to get a B/B- you needed above a 60%. The class had around 200 students. </p>

<p>Word of caution: As much as you're inclined to procrastinate till the weekend before the midterm/final to study, you will DIE. This is what happened to a few of my procrastinator friends for the final.</p>

<p>Another word of caution: it may seem easy during the first 7 weeks of class. Not too much memorization aside from carbs, amino acids, lipids. Not too much organic mechanisms. Everything looks fine. Now in week 8,9, and 10, you will feel the true wrath of this class as you go through the four dreaded metabolic pathways that turn glucose into carbon dioxide. It will be OVERWHELMING. So prepare. If you "know" everything, she doesn't throw curveballs on the exams so you'll do well.</p>

<p>Hope this helps</p>

<p>i took it last quarter too, and i got a B (i was expecting a C, but hey im not complaining).</p>

<p>i hear from my friends she got harder this quarter, mostly because she is writing the quizzes now instead of the TAs like my quarter.</p>

<p>and its not really so much memorization, but more concepts. i mean, you do have to know the structures and stuff in order to get the concepts, but she doesnt really make you regurgitate structures on exams.</p>

<p>as a professor, i dont think she has really gotten it down yet. (her first time teaching was fall quarter). a lot of times she just reads off her slides without further explanation (plus a lot of her slides are pretty vague IMO), and when people asked questions in class she generally didnt have an answer but she'll "look it up and let you know". shes also very moody...one day she will be joking and cheery, but others she will be very PO'ed and b-itchy.</p>

<p>I'm taking it spring too... I hope she didn't get too much harder</p>

<p>Is it usually a problem to take 153L long after taking 153A? I plan to take 153L a year after it</p>

<p>ditto everything VTECaddict said, however villa's probably EASIER (not better) than the previous professor who used to teach this class (bates).</p>

<p>Ookla: Everyone who isn't a biochem major usually takes 153L in their senior year, so it's no big deal</p>

<p>at least its not as competitive as ls hopefully</p>

<p>definitely more material than LS but yes, there should be less competition</p>

<p>for 153L, do we use the same carbon-copy notebooks as for 14CL? </p>

<p>I just bought a new notebook because my old one ran out so I might sell this one</p>

<p>Bruinboy, you and me both took her last quarter. Unfortunately that was her first quarter teaching and so you can't make any generalizations from that for future quarters.</p>

<p>With that being said, after talking to friends taking her this quarter, she's apparently gone insane. Doesn't look like it's going to be any better next quarter either..</p>

<p>yeah, i definitely made a good call taking her in her first quarter. my TA was awesome too, which i have to admit was who i learned most of my biochem from.</p>

<p>uh oh.. sounds pretty bad.</p>

<p>well, thank god i got it over with last quarter....</p>

<p>lol. I wonder if she still does the fill-in-the-blank PPTs or chalk talks.</p>

<p>Ookla, you don't need a notebook for 153L.</p>

<p>hahaha my friend said that Villa is really hot or something. now i'm excited</p>

<p>Well don't forget it's in the context of a female scientist. ;)</p>