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

I loved having professor Lannan so much. I was so terrified of CHEM 153A and I was reluctant on which professor to take. However, I really scored with Lannan. I loved his lectures (sometimes he scrambles around) and the way he explains things and dumbs it down makes sense. He cares so much about his students. I specifically remember him saying "I am here to be an instructor and I am not so focused on research right now, rather I want to teach you guys biochemistry". And this stuck with me throughout the quarter. His class was like a huge breath of fresh air in the chemistry department. He is a legend. Please take him.
I scored almost a perfect score on the first midterm and a low A on the second. I didn't rewatch lectures, rather I just copied down the most important things from each slide and made detailed notes on the practice midterms and homework. WATCH AK LECTURES. Especially for hemoglobin / myoglobin stuff. This is what got me such a good score on the first midterm. AK Lectures is also good for the ETC at the end of the quarter. Do not waste a bunch of time studying for the quizzes as they are all just memorization. Homeworks felt sometimes a little rushed as there was content on them that we were learning the day that it was due, but he ended up extending the due dates for most of the homework and grading on completion.
Overall, Lannan is holding the #1 position for me as the best professor at UCLA, and coming from the chemistry department that is shocking. I loved having him. He is charismatic and when he wears his Patagonia fleece you just know you're going to have a good day. If you are reading this Lannan, thank you for an amazing quarter, you are loved here at UCLA and plz don't go anywhere.

Lannan is actually a god. This is a tough class with a lot of content (4 lectures a week [BRUINCASTED] is a lot) but Lannan makes it very manageable. He is super nice and very approachable. He has many office hours and he uses Campuswire so you can get questions answered on there as well. He really displays the material in an easy way that can be understood. He is accommodating if you have an issue and he is legend. He’s also pretty funny sometimes without even trying. (records lectures, posts slides before class that contain all necessary information)
I was super scared of this class but I fell in love with it as the weeks passed. This class is a lot of work in my opinion (but so is every 153A class [probably]). The homework’s are not too easy, especially right after learning the material, and I had to utilize some office hours to get help on tough questions. But the homework’s are graded leniently (completion except 1 problem graded for accuracy) which was nice.
I love how Lannan has quizzes that are memorization based ONLY, just so you learn basic stuff like amino acids and glycolysis/TCA/ETC. THESE ARE EASY POINTS! I literally learned all the stuff for quizzes 30 minutes before (except the amino acids, that takes longer ha).
The midterms I believe are extremely fair and, yes, he does have some tough problems and requires specific wordings, but I feel like it isn’t that crazy of a thing to ask because you should be learning those “specific wordings” already. Also, he does change point values on exams if problems are too tough and if not a lot of people get the answer. He does put extra credit questions on his exams, which could include tougher questions, or more specific questions, or just drawing a meme or picture. For me, I think I studied 2-3 days before the exam, and I got A’s on each one. HINT: I think reading through all the slides right before the exam is pretty helpful.
You have to use iclicker for participation, but you can click in anywhere in the world so you don’t “have” to attend. Discussion does have attendance though, so try to get a good discussion if you can. I think you can miss some discussions and you can miss a week’s worth of class.
Although the final this quarter was no harm, I still took it as if it were normal and, once again, the test was well made and more than fair. His final tests the new material, and it is cumulative but it tests stuff that wasn’t on the first 2 midterms, so you can kind of hone your studying for the previous chapters if you remember what was not tested on already. HINT: I suggest that after each midterm you write down what was not tested on (or focused heavily on) so you can study it for the final.
Homework’s are great to use as studying resources (he uploads the answers). He also uploads learning objectives which also helps if you can answer them. Even though Lannan is great, I did use outside sources for more perspectives on certain topics. I used AK lectures on YouTube which really helped.
He also offers extra credit. 2% that includes a creative group project, LA and prof feedback, and Campuswire participation.
Overall, this class was hard, but it was extremely rewarding. Lannan has moved into my top 3 professors at UCLA. He really cares about his students and his students’ learning. I know there are other professors like Jarret who I’ve heard are easy A’s. This class might not be the “easiest”, but in terms of the difficulty of the material, Lannan teaches it super well and if you study for a little bit you can easily get an A, and you WILL learn something. By making his exams the way he has, you really learn the material, which is great for MCAT or just learning biochem for future courses. I would highly recommend this course with Lannan if he is an option!

This class broken down:
Midterm 1 200 points 20%
Midterm 2 200 points 20%
Quizzes (5 total, 1 is dropped) 100 points 10%
Homework (usually weekly) 120 points 12%
Participation (iclicker+discussion) 80 points 8%
Final 300 points 30%

Lannan definitely improved a lot in his second quarter of teaching. He got a lot of hate in the winter for his slides, but he made his own set for this quarter, and they're incredibly clear and to the point. He's a good lecturer, and you can feel how hard he works to make the class manageable. The midterms themselves were fair and very much based on his learning objectives. He was also extremely accommodating for the final, considering the TA strike situation. I would recommend taking 153a with him :)

I was not a fan of Lannan. He never took questions during class and often would skip around during lectures and emphasized that we "didn't need to know" certain content and then it would show up on the exam. The midterms were fine but the final was entirely unfair as he completely changed the format of the exam. He claimed it would be 60% new content, 40% old but it was easily 95% new content. Not to mention his grading rubric is ridiculous. You could write word for word what it says but if the grader "didn't feel it was correct" you wouldn't get the points. He is looking for very specific wording, not if you understand the overall content. He also is extremely unapproachable and discourages students from asking questions. I spoke to him once after class and he completely belittled me and spoke to me as if I was a child. I can't speak on behalf of other biochem professors but I don't think Lannan is a great choice. I think the department should look into hiring someone new cause this isn't going to work.

Lannan very clearly cares for his students and their performance in his course. He is very open to criticism when it comes to exam difficulty. This class is definitely meant to be hard, but he teaches it well. I find his exams to be fair and he even offers extra credit on some.

I am still in his biochem class. I'm retaking biochem from summer which I just didn't go to class and didn't pass. That summer version was SO simple and manageable looking back - the professor seemed like they didn't want to play with you. Just get straight to the point and take your grade. Grade was based on max 3 things - the midterm, final & zoom participation. DR. LANNAN MAKES THIS THE MOST COMPLICATED, HYPER-SPECIFIC GRADING RUBRIC I HAVE EVER SEEN. POINTS COME FROM EVERYWHERE, AND ITS BASED ON A 1000 POINT SCALE???? WHY?? HE IS A HOT YOUNG PROFESSOR WHO REALLY WANTS YOU TO LEARN BIOCHEM BUT ALL WHILE MICROMANAGING THE WAY YOU DO IT. I DON'T NEED HOMEWORK ANYMORE AND WHY DO I HAVE TO BE IN YOUR PRESENCE TO RACK UP POINTS FROM YOUR UNNECESSARILY FRACTIONED SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT. HE'S CUTE BUT HE'S DOING TOO MUCH RN. I'M PROBABLY GONNA GET A D OR C HOPEFULLY NOT F.

Lannan definitely learned from previous constructive criticism from past quarters. He is a great lecturer and is very nice and approachable. He knows how to teach the class very well. The material itself, however, is super difficult. His homeworks are reasonable and his midterms are semi reasonable. The grade breakdown goes as follows:
Midterm 1: 20%
Midterm 2: 20%
Quizzes (Memorization): 10%
Homework: 12%
Participation: 8%
Final: 30%

I like this man

I learned so much biochemistry in this class. To be honest, I went to war with a lot of students in group me trying to defend Professor Lannan because he really was a good lecturer. He was trying his hardest and it was mind boggling to me that so many people can complain when someone is doing a good job. His exams were all written response and literally half the time shot for shot with his homework assignments. He looks for KEY WORDS!! So always try to use them. All in all, I really enjoyed the subject (you will see how 7C and 14D kinda all come together). Anyways just glad theres a lot of good reviews for him, wish more people spoke up in the group me.