I read previous reviews before taking this class with Lannan and it deterred me from enrolling in the class. However, I switched into his class during week 2 and it was one of the smartest decisions I have made. The breakdown of the class was 70% of your grade was exams (20% per midterm with 2 midterms and a 30% final) the other 30% was comprised of participation via clickers and discussion attendance (8%) as well as homework (12%) which is partially graded for correctness and quizzes which are brute memorization (10%)

Professor Lannan is a very good lecturer, and is very clear with what he wants you to understand. He will literally say "I am going to test you on this either on the midterm or the final" or he will say "This is important information I want you to know". He also provides you with learning objectives which in my opinion were very comprehensive study guides. He is very passionate about his teaching and really wants students to understand class material. A lot of people complained about the grading of his exams because he was looking for pretty specific answers. However, every biochem class is a buzzword class, and there are certain words that you have to know. He was a little bit more relaxed this quarter as far as buzzwords go, but specific answers were still required. All of the "buzzwords" that you are required to know are given on his slides or he says them in class. All fo the details you are required to know are given on the slides and detailed in the learning objectives. If you are someone who takes hand written notes on paper I recommend you print the slides out. He does read from the slides a lot but he also adds extra information that you will need to know. His practice exams are exactly like the exam he will give you as far as question structure, so you will know what to expect when taking the exam. There is a lot of content in this class. The first midterm does not cover as much as the 2nd midterm or the final, but it is still a lot of information. I would recommend having a study group that goes over the learning objectives and fill them out thoroughly. The class is very detailed and he tests on details, so I would also recommend studying at least a week in advance. The textbook is useless do not waste your money. He will tell you everything that you are required to know.

Lastly, professor Lannan is very understanding and willing to help if you just ask. He opened up extra office hours due to the TA strike, and attended review sessions to make up for the TA's absences. He is also very willing to answer questions after class.

Overall he is one of the better stem professors I have had. This class is not easy, but it is manageable and receiving an A is doable if you are willing to put in the effort.

This review will get as accurate as possible so ignore the others:
First off, Professor Lannan's material is understandable if you truly study the content. I found myself watching his lectures at home 2-3 times until I understood them. To get the A you want, there is no going out to a party, you have to stay in your room and put in the hours as I did. Study everything he goes over, study the slides, study the practice midterms he gives, study the LA-given study guides AND USE CAMPUSWIRE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND CONCEPTS BY ASKING QUESTION LEFT AND RIGHT. People will answer you in minutes during the day trust me. This helped me a lot because when I was stuck on something, all I did was ask campus wire and people helped in minutes. Next, he will give a lot of extra credit but don't rely on it for your grade. The final is cumulative but our class got lucky by becoming a no-harm final, but do not rely on that bc it was under a certain circumstance that we got that luxury. Join Zoom office hours, and if you cant, rewatch the zoom recordings. Go to office hours and do the most to understand all the class concepts. He is very nit-picky on exams and will mark down points left and right so write down everything about the question it asks for and don't leave out a word bc that could make or break half a point. Bc of my unhealthy study times, I did great in the class but this is college, you have one shot in these 4 years to create a strong backbone of your college career so study as u should and do not go out if your friends beg you to come out with them. This is a class that you will get an A in if you truly put in the work, not just few hours of study a day, your life is chem 153A if you take it with Lannan. But overall, he is approachable, just lags on emails. Although this was a long review and sounded harsh, if you know yourself and your study habits, decide if you should take this class.
HW, Participation, and Discussions were 30% together
Midterms together were 40%
Final was 30%

A lot of these reviews on BruinWalk are on the opposite sides of the spectrum. But in my opinion, I thought he was a really good prof. In the beginning it was definitely rough but it was his first time teaching this course so I'd cut him some slack. He did a whole 180 around the midpoint of the quarter and his lectures became much more engaging and had a lot less mistakes than the beginning. Some issues is that the slides sometimes had mistakes and that we would go overtime really often. I was in lecture 2 so I think the complaints that lecture 1 had about him is definitely fair. Hope he gets to keep teaching this class in the future since he shown a lot of improvements in his teaching style!

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 :)

Professor Lannan is a good lecturer and is pretty decent at explaining conceptual stuff; however, I felt that his class needed much more clarification and had many areas for improvement. The class is incredibly fast-paced, and he doesn't slow down, making it difficult to keep up. He talks during lectures as if you already know everything, often just gliding over some concepts and then making the most difficult questions out of them for the midterm. His office hours were useful at first, but they became useless after the first four weeks. He has ADHD, so he's always saying, anyways, you guys know this, while no one knows what he's talking about. He also talks so fast, which adds to the confusion. The exams are brutal, and your wrists and hands will hurt after each midterm. He is a harsh grader, and there are a lot of mistakes while grading the exams. Unfortunately, he is not open to improvement and seems to think everyone is in love with him, while in reality, almost everyone dislikes him. He has no sense of awareness about this.

The TAs are also poor graders, and the regrade request process is absolutely unfair. He deducts points from you if he receives too many requests because he can't review them all. Well, nobody forced him to implement the regrade request system. Additionally, he doesn't accept requests for 0.5 points, which is problematic if there are multiple grading mistakes on these smaller questions. He is an awful grader, extremely non-responsive, and rude towards students. He is very mean in emails and tries everything to single you out, often insinuating that you are trying to cheat in the class. I really hated this class. It gave me so much anxiety, and I am a chemistry major, so I have been through the hardest chemistry classes at UCLA. Another major issue is that he sets you up for competition against other students and has clearly stated this many times on CampusWire. While it's understood that eventually, you're evaluated against others, this is not something that should be explicitly stated in class for 800+ students. Each class should be structured in a way that you're being valued based on your own knowledge at least.

I think other professors, such as Gober, should be brought back to teach biochemistry rather than Lannan. While Lannan has some strengths as a lecturer, there are significant issues with his teaching approach, grading policies, and overall attitude that need to be addressed.

Awesome prof. He knows his stuff, he was prepared, and he had a good sense of humor. Overall, content is not difficult, it's just a lot. Exams were fair and often very similar to the practice material. EC was offered.

Would highly recommend!