Not a fan of this professor. Granted, this is a difficult course but, in my opinion, she's not really supportive of her students. Lectures were frankly poor, consisting of her hurriedly reading off the slides frequently ending class ~20 minutes early. Discussion sections were mandatory and involved completing worksheets that were way too long and way too difficult to complete in the allotted time. These discussion work sheets also had content not yet covered in class, as the time of discussion sections vary throughout the week. My TA would often complain that the professor was uncommunicative and vague regarding the type of content and questions that was going to be on exams and quizzes.

Grading was extremely slow, although the curves were extremely generous for the exams. The exams themselves were extremely difficult and the practice material she provided was extremely difficult and mostly unhelpful as it wasn't really reflective of the exam.

By the end of the quarter, only ~25 people were attending lectures (out of 250+ enrolled students). I and other people I knew taught ourselves through online lectures (shout out Andrey K on youtube!) as the lectures and textbook were to jargony to be helpful.

I never went to office hours (which might have been a mistake) but her lecturing style and the way she answered questions during class didn't have me super confident in asking her for help. My TA was dope though.

The only reason I did well in this course was through sleepless nights, youtube lectures, insane exam curves, and frankly, divine intervention. It's possible to get a good grade in this course, but its pretty hard.

PROS:
+recorded lectures
+good curves

CONS:
-poor lecturer
-insanely tests and quizzes
-poor study guides, practice problems, and worksheets
-poor communication about expectations for quizzes and exams
-discussion sections largely unhelpful (can be mitigated by a good TA)

Ellis was by no means a GREAT professor and I hesitate to say she was a good one, but she taught me what I needed to know and you can't ask for much more than that. She was extremely accommodating, always hosted extra office hours, willing to answer questions and adjust grades/curves to help the class succeed.
Grading Scheme: 2 Midterms (100 points), 3 Quizzes (30 points each, 1 in-person, 2 take-home), Final (170 points), Discussion (1 point extra credit for each week attended), Problem Sets (not graded, weekly)
Lectures: Ellis's greatest criticism is her lecturing; she speaks very slowly, stumbles over her words, sometimes doubles back and says information incorrectly, and has a stutter. While in the moment it was very frustrating to handle, I've come to learn that it wasn't all bad. It seems as though the CHEM department only has 2 main 153A lecturers, Ellis and Lannan. When compared to Lannan, peers told me that he spoke TOO FAST and would constantly be behind on content, which resulted in their class playing catch up. Where Ellis excelled (which still doesn't make sense to me) is that her slow pace allowed the material to be absorbed better and stick to a good paced schedule which didn't feel too fast. Don't get me wrong, there is still a TON of material in 153A, but if you were on the fence between Lannan and Ellis, I'd by far recommend Ellis. All biochem profs use the same slides here, and honestly they aren't too helpful. Lastly, Ellis does record lectures so I recommend just watching them online at 1.5x or 2x speed to save you the hassle.
Quizzes: In Spring 2023, Ellis had the first quiz during week 2 in your discussion, and the last 2 take-home quizzes in week 6 and week 9. The in-person quiz was on amino acids, and was difficult because it was around 6 pages for 50 minutes. It benefitted me to be in a Friday discussion because of this. Because of the difficulty, it was curved. The two take-home quizzes she allowed us to work with others and have it open-note, but because of this they were not curved. Biggest tip to succeed on quizzes (if still take-home) is to check with friends!
Midterms: Ellis's midterms were difficult because of the length as well as them being dense with content. Luckily, they were during a 2 hour period in-person, but they were undeniably long and she found a way to intensively test every topic she taught. To do good on these, I recommend being able to understand the big picture but also use flashcards to memorize and solidify those small details, as she loved to ask questions about the details. Luckily, she curved both midterms GENEROUSLY and is also a reason I recommend her over Lannan. If I remember correctly, she would curve 70s up to a 90!
Final: Same deal as the midterm, only that the curve was even more generous. This doesn't mean don't study! Biggest tip for this was to really focus on the post-midterm 2 content as it was super high yield.
Challenges/tips: Ellis's biggest challenge during Spring was not being supported enough by the department/TA staff, resulting in insanely slow grading. Don't expect to know how you performed on the previous midterm or quiz until the week of the next one tbh. As such, I always recommend doing your absolute best, as your grade is always in limbo. Don't read the book, I think going to lecture is plenty. Use Quizlet! Running through her learning objectives every week and making flashcards is the best way to study. In the later parts of the class covering glycolysis, TCA and electron transport chain, I highly recommend watching AK Lectures for the heavy chemistry, as this part of the class goes FAST and the slides do not help AT ALL in understanding that content. If you have a bad TA, switch out of the section or at least find a time with a better one that is more helpful.