Like the previous reviewer, I also took Chem14C with Lannan in fall quarter. Since it was his very first time teaching, Lannan was understandably not the best lecturer. He sometimes second-guessed himself, which in turn confused all of us. Fortunately, he tried his best to hold as many office hours and exam review sessions as he could, which helped me personally.

As far as exams go, my experience was definitely a rollercoaster. First midterm was fair (not too easy not too difficult) and mostly straightforward concepts. Even though I thought I had done well, I got a B due to small errors that add up. But things got worse on the second midterm, which I got a low C on. For most people, 50 minutes was NOT enough time, considering the sheer number of tricky problem-solving based questions on that test. Luckily, Lannan curved everyone up by 6% because he felt bad about the time crunch (he even admitted that he would've given us more time, except there was another class after us that needed the lecture hall). I think Lannan took our experiences from the midterm to give us a reasonable final; I had ample time to finish, which in turn reflected in my grade (100%). Of course, I had to be extremely comprehensive in my studying and brush up on all concepts to get a full score, but there was little pressure.

Ultimately, the extra credit was my saving grace. Lannan added 2.5% to our grade if we attended 5/10 (correction to the 8/10 the previous reviewer stated) of the discussion sections, which I think is very generous. He added another 2.5% if we did a group video project or an individual writeup. If he hadn't offered the EC, I wouldn't have gotten an A.

This quarter, Lannan was new, so there is definitely organizational work that can be done, but I don’t think there were too many faults with his content/teaching. Lannan very explicitly laid out what would need to be done to get an A at the beginning of the quarter which I think he stuck to. He offers a large amount of extra credit (2.5%) that people can get pretty easily; for our quarter, he offered a group project that was the majority of the EC contribution, but also had campuswire participation and end of course reviews factor into the extra credit.

Homework is simple, and answers can be found directly in the slides. He rarely ever makes you extrapolate beyond or theorize in homework, so if you pay attention, the homework is straightforward.

Quizzes are extremely fair. He gives notices of when quizzes will be and what material is quizzed. Most of the time it involves memorizing things like amino acids (names, drawing structures) or enzymes (names, recognizing structures). That being said, biochem is a memorization-heavy class, but that’s inherent to the class and if you don’t spend enough time with the content you may find it harder.

Exams were pretty fair. The average for the first (online) midterm was ~75, which he said he would curve, and for the second midterm it was high 80s or low 90s. Lannan tends to use specific keywords and many of the questions are all-or-nothing, so you need to be familiar with much of the exam-content. Only the final is cumulative, so midterm 2 was only from weeks 4-7, which was nice. The final was a bit trickier than the other exams, but I would say all the exams were about equal in difficulty.

Lannan is definitely not my favorite professor, but he’s not bad and he makes it extremely easy to get an A if you study the right material (if you do his study guides, the content directly correlates to the exams) and spend the proper amount of time for the class (I spent maybe ~2-4 hours per week total outside of lecture on homework, quizzes, and anything else, and more time during exam season).

The hate Lannan received this quarter was so unwarranted. I rarely write reviews for professors but felt the need to, because I actually really enjoyed his class. If you read one review on here I want it to be this one.

Homework: Very fair, for each homework (one every week roughly) there will be one question that is graded on accuracy. Unless you're writing bullshit down you will get your points in this category. Homeworks right before the exam are graded on completion.

Quizzes: Again, extremely fair. Purely based on memorization (names of certain structures or systems) so if you didn't get the points that's on you. If there's a grading error you can get them corrected. The grading was a bit slow for quizzes but it doesn't really matter since the content of the quiz is literally memorization, so you basically know what score you got right after. They're quick and easy points.

Exams: Everybody shits on the exams but again, they are VERY FAIR. In fact I've had some of the best exam experiences in this course. i KNOW that how much I study will be reflected in my exam grade, because there are no curveballs or surprises. Compared to countless other classes I've taken where the exam would have diagrams/structures I've never seen, curveballs, trick questions, Lannan's exams were a godsend. Though he didn't provide a practice exam, it was never an issue personally because he made a study guide. People complain that Lannan sent out the study guide late (which I could see as being frustrating), but his study guides are literally just everything on the slides. I feel like if you review the slides any student could produce his study guides bullet for bullet without him releasing it. I would say like half of the exam questions were altered versions of questions in the homework, so make sure when you're studying that you go through all of them. After the first exam you'll be able to predict what kinds of questions you'll have. Truly straightforward exams with sufficient time. People complain but the exam averages were always good/high.

Lectures: Whether or not you like his lectures comes down to your learning style. Again I know he gets a lot of shit in this aspect, but personally his slides were extremely easy to understand for me, was 100% reflective of the material tested. Also it's important to note that he was thrown into this position last minute, I assume he had to make the slides and material as we went, which caused some slip ups during lecture (which he always corrected first thing in the next lecture). It is unfair to compare him to professors who have used the same slides for years and years. I'm confident that the next time he teaches this course it'll be a lot smoother because he already has the material.

Extra Credit: Has 2% extra credit that you can get by during course evals, participating on campuswire, and doing a project at the end of the quarter. Pretty good imo. They haven't graded the project yet so I can't say anything about how they're graded but I think it's nice to have extra credit in a course.

Valid Criticisms:
- Exam grading had lots of errors, but I genuinely think that this is more of the TAs' faults than the professor. The reason I say this is because while the majority of the class had reaally dumb grading mistakes (literally having the right answer but having points deducted, writing the synonym for a word in ur explanation but getting points off for not using a specific word), my TA's grading was pretty fair. I guess some of the other TA's didn't really read ppl's explanations fully or something. The only time the grading felt strange for me was for the first midterm, but the professor addressed those exam questions and gave back points for them. So I think the grading stuff is mainly the TAs' faults but I understand faulting Lannan for not reviewing the exam grading thoroughly.

- I heard in the groupme that he was a little unaccommodating regarding taking quizzes online (the rule is that you must be there in person for all exams). Most likely if you can't make it to an exam or quiz the points will be put towards the final or something. Never affected me but if this is something that matters to you just keep it in mind

In general I really enjoyed this course. I was nervous for it coming into it but found that a lot of the material connected to stuff I learned in AP Bio (ofc more in depth but). I'm not saying it is not a hard course, because it is. You will have to study a lot, but that's the nature of biochem and not exclusive to Lannan. I genuinely feel that my grade reflects the amount of work I put in, which I can't say about many other classes.

I have never previously written a review on Bruinwalk, but after seeing the harassment and complaints Lannan has received throughout the entire quarter and especially towards the end, I feel compelled to write this to hopefully give a more objective review on him.

By far the biggest complaint by most students seems to be the difficulty of the exams. However, I found them all to be extremely straightforward as Lannan provides study guides outlining the concepts you are expected to know. Admittedly, his lectures at the beginning of the quarter were a bit disorganized (although definitely not to an intolerable degree), but improved significantly as the weeks went on. In addition, the homework assignments were designed particularly well in my opinion because they focused on key concepts. From what I have heard from others, the content tested in the course is also similar in difficulty to other professors who have taught this class in the past. Thus, in my opinion, students complaining about difficult exams only have themselves to blame⁠—Lannan definitely provided all the necessary resources to succeed on his exams.

Undoubtedly, the majority of the students in the class are pre-med and I'm baffled as to how they plan on getting through medical school if they can't even handle memorization at the level here and can only cope by single-handedly ruining the promising career of a budding professor through ridiculously exaggerated course/instructor evaluations.

The other major complaint is his spotty consistency and accuracy with grading, which is a valid point. Although I personally never had any major issues with this, it seems like Lannan generally is able to correct grading errors in the end. However, for some mysterious reason, many students decide to channel their inner-Karen and demand instantaneous corrections to any errors in grading for a class with over 700 students between the two lectures as they complain into the endless echo chamber that is GroupMe at 3 am.

Overall, the only negative of this class for me was dealing with other students, who had unrealistic expectations for both what a biochemistry class is like and the capacity of a new professor. If Lannan ever has the opportunity to teach again (which I hope he does even with the bashing he is getting this quarter), as long as you enter with the willingness to learn and are not tainted by the negativity of the mob mentality of pre-med students, you will have an enjoyable time.

Lannan is extremely disorganized and as the reviews stated below, is one of the worst experiences I have had at UCLA. Even when your answer is right, you will get marked off for not explicitly regurgitating exact terminology from his slides. He is extremely disorganized and unapproachable, please avoid him at all costs! I currently have an A in this class, but it has been hell.

The class was really difficult. He would give the study guides about 3 days before the exams and he graded them so harshly that you have to have specific words in your answers to get the points. This class would be good if your taking it by itself since it’s a lot of work. Homework and quizzes were pretty manageable and he does offer 2% extra credit. But I would not take this class again since his lecture slides does have a lot of mistakes on them and the exams were graded wrongly.

Lannan is a great professor. You could tell that he actually cared about us and he was great at accommodating us. He literally has multiple office hours a week and the week before the exam he had at least five office hours. He is actually really funny and relatable once you get to know him, and once you get used to his style of teaching his class is very straightforward. Tests were fair imo, and the quizzes are very straightforward - just memorization. There are no discussion worksheets, and most of the homework were graded on completion. Please take him if you can! This class made me want to change my major. I loved it so much and I was shedding tears once it was over.

Lannan was an amazing Biochem professor. Biochemistry is a tough subject and the professors are not known to be that good. Lannan is the exception, and he's pretty new so he'll only improve each quarter. Here's a breakdown of his class:

- Participation through iClicker and Discussion (6%), Quizzes (10%), Weekly Homework Assignments (14%), 2 midterms (20% each), Final (30%)
- He uses Bruincast and you don't have to be in the lecture hall to do iClicker
- Discussions are very helpful. They go over homework problems, so you're basically doing part of your homework there.
- Quizzes are strict memorization and pretty easy. There are 5 over the course of the quarter. You can drop your lowest quiz
- Weekly homework assignments are tedious, but easy. They're great preparation for the actual test questions and he only grades like 2 or 3 questions on correctness. The rest he gives full credit for as long as you submit it.
- Midterms are NOT during class time, but rather at night. You're given an hour and a half, but you can probably finish within the hour. He gives a couple extra credit points on each test, too!
- Overall, as long as you keep up in lecture and do some basic memorization, this class will be easy. Lannan is very helpful and responsive.

He also gives 0.25% grade boost for doing LA and Professor feedback forms.
He has a 1.25% Extra Credit group project in week 10, too, where you use your biochem knowledge to create your own organism.
Would definitely recommend him to take your Biochem requirement.

This class is hard. That is undeniable. However, I would say he has made a lot of improvement since the course he taught last winter. Though the exams are difficult, there are no curveballs thrown when it comes to questions; all of the information is on the slides or was mentioned during lecture. If there is something that the students felt was unfair, then he takes that into consideration when grading. This is a class that you have to be 100% all in for because it is a lot of information (4 lectures a week). That being said, he helps out a LOT wherever he can. He offered a ton of extra office hours and had a lot of leniency during the TA strike. He offers a good amount of extra credit as well. Of course, that doesn't mean everyone will get an A. The effort you put in will show in the end.

As a person overall, he is amazing. You can tell he is someone who cares about the students and cares about getting people the best grades possible. My schedule this quarter was rough and it was also my first one since I am a transfer so I didn't have a lot to look forward to. If I am being honest, the only thing I looked forward to was this class. It was the only class where I didn't have a grudge against my professor and where I actually liked the material being taught. I nearly wanted to change my major but I realized that the only reason I would consider biochemistry is if he taught the other courses. He is super relatable as a person and quickly became one of my favorite professors. Definitely take him.

I would not take this class with him again

On the Thursday of week 10, he not only did not post the final study guide, but also sent out the last homework at about 9:00 pm. Why?
Remember to write exactly the same words from his slides and homework answers, otherwise you will not get the point in the midterms and the final.
He said it was his first time teaching this course, so it took him lots of hours to gather the information and made the slides, so his lectures are a little bit disorganized. Guess what, it is also my first time taking this class, and that was definitely not a good experience to me.
Also, tons of homework. The first several homework were like 9-page short, no, long answer, questions. He would ask you to draw the whole mechanism of RNase and chymotrypsin. Very good! Moreover, he is like "You don't have to remember everything in the mechanism, but if we give you one step, you should be able to predict the next step." How is that not memorizing all the mechanisms?

我上这节课的唯一原因是一开始153A是一开始study list上显示这节课是Deborah Jarrett教 我听说她教的不错，所以选了这个课 谁知道真正开学之前换成了Ryan Lannan

事儿很多 不会选他的别的课了