Hello all:

Caveat: this evaluation is biased. I was going to write my "true" feelings about this professor, but I decided to not let my emotions and feelings get too much in the way of influencing your opinion of Professor Kim. With that said, I do have an opinion and feel passionate about this evaluation because I hope to become a teacher myself. THUS, the evaluation of a professor goes far beyond the syllabus and how his course is organized and what is on the test... far beyond biochemistry. I would say my experience in Biochemistry 153L topped the worst experience ("educational" experience) of my entire academic life. As a student, we may forget that college is so much more about grades and subject matters. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a teachers. I had such a phenomenal professor who completely changed my life (obviously not Professor Kim) so I know the importance of great professors. I was surprised to see many fairly good evaluations of Professor Kim as a teacher, but I guess there are 'different strokes for different folks'. In my personal opinion, I think he lacks many qualities and characteristics of a good teacher. If there is another professor whom you can take this course from, I would suggest shopping around. Your educational experience and 'feelings' DO MATTER, and I hope the future bruins' experience in Biochemistry 153A and 153L will be that much better! It is POSSIBLE to both challenge the students as well as have it be a great experience/pleasure to have taken the course. I hope the biochemistry department gets a better reputation than it currently has amongst the students and draws more students to such a fascinating field! :)

Kim's actually not a bad guy; he's very helpful and was really nice whenever I had a question. Lectures are still lectures, so they can be a bit boring but he does a pretty good job throwing in some funny stories. Do not fall asleep; he calls you out for it. And do go to lecture, since many of the things which show up on the extra credit quiz are revealed there. Lectures are recorded, so if you miss one or part of one, don't sweat it. Labs are very fair, and can be borderline fun depending on your TA/lab partners. The lab practical is okay, but you should definitely write a protocol beforehand. And they fortunately got rid of the monster 30-40 page lab report at the end, replacing it with a simple 2 page (double spaced) summary of what steps you did in lab to get your data (pretty straightforward). Don't freak out about this class, it is time consuming as any lab class would be. But it's a lot more fair overall, and a lot less busy work than others.

I am going to give a fair assessment of this course and Dr. Kim: In regards to the structure of the class, all lectures are organized in a concise and easy to follow manner. He has all the lectures printed in the course reader so you don't have to worry about forgetting to print the lectures. Additionally the lectures are conveniently recorded on the web so you can watch them at your leisure. With that noted, it's critical you go to every lecture if possible and take down clear and concise notes. Also, make sure you listen to his little "personal" stories because they will pop up in the extra credit quiz (those points are added in after the curve so they truly are "extra"). Plus he makes a killer Indian impression.

Quizzes: Some of the quizzes occured consecutive weeks of each other. There are four quizzes and one of them is dropped. They are graded out of 40 points and the average used to be around ~20 for the quizzes. If you are aiming for an 'A' in the class shoot for scores above 30. They are mostly procedural things you are going to do in lab. They tend to be calculation heavy. Just so you know, I scored above average on ALL of my quizzes and I prepared them by looking over the quizzes he has in his course reader, understanding how they were solved. Additionally what did help me was that my quizzes were on Tuesdays which was a day before my actual lab. So make sure you write your procedure before you do the quiz because it will help substantially in your thinking because you can put down your answer in a clear and methodically type of way.

Lab Practical: Nothing to be stressed about. It's approx. 20-25% of your total grade. Write your procedure down and you will do fine. People cry and moan about how long it is...it really isn't. The lab period lasts about 4 hours. You can do this exam in 2 hours if you work diligently (if you are super fast you can get out in maybe a little over one hour...but that's if you are on the ball). If you are worried about the exam take solace in the fact that the class average is about 85% out of the 160 pts. So a lot of people score above 38/40 pts on the four sections. Just stay focused and these points are for easy grabs.

The two exams: The average in my class for both of the exams was between 50-55 out of 100 pts (if you have been astute so far in my description of the class so far...the average on the quizzes and exams are about 50% of the total points...even if you felt that the quiz/exam was easy ...LOL). To do well on these exams, you should practice the questions at the end of the lab manual, listen to every lecture, and make sure you know what you are doing. The exams are HEAVILY conceptually driven with a very light emphasis on calculations. Understand what you are doing and why you are doing. If you can trace every step in your mind's eye of the particular lab and why it was done and what the potential problems are with the step, you are on your way to be successful. Don't study 1-2 nights before for these exams or you WILL fail.

The lab itself: Master the enzyme and protein assay. Know it feel it and understand it. They both are simple. The first 3 labs are mostly introductory labs (there are only 8 labs total). The last 5 labs are dedicated to LDH. The LDH labs aren't hard per say...just very lengthy in the sheer number of assays you have to perform. Find an efficient group and work with them. If you have morons in your group I hope you do not have any evening plans.

Pre Labs and Post labs: Super easy. Just look at the manual and write it in your own words. The post lab is very easy he tells you how to do the calculations. Besides there are only like...maybe 4-5 post labs in the total class because the LDH lab report is considered the mother of all lab reports. Just do these guys...they will help you study for the quizzes and exams.

LDH Report: First of all, don't do this report 1-2 nights before it's due...you are an idiot if you plan to do so. This report will take you over 20 hours to do easily (that is sitting on the computer typing, analyzing and building your graphs). Don't cheat on this report. My report was easily over 80 pages. Before you crap your pants, there is only about (I am not joking) 8-9 pages of typing. Double Spaced. 12 point font. 1-inch margin. If you find that as a daunting task, just give up and drop out of UCLA. Chances are that you are a pre-med anyways and I wouldn't want a lazy doctor.

With all done and said...seriously...this class is not that hard. Stay on top (being on top is always the best) of the work.

Professor Kim is a great instructor--contrary to what some before me have said, he gets the ideas across well and even gives out old tests and quizzes in the reader. This is the most I've ever learned from any other class and I enjoyed the class the whole quarter. Prof. Kim is also pretty damn funny and his forearms are damn massive.

Dr. Kim is an awesome professor, but his lectures always seems a bit rushed. I liked the lab manual a lot, but the course reader can be scattered at times. Overall, I get the feeling that he really cares about his student's learning. =) Great class!

Prof. Kim is knowledgeable however he lacks to impart that knowledge upon his students. He simply barks facts out during class in a pompous I know it all fashion and complains when students don't meet his standards.

At first I thought that Dr. Kim seemed like a great guy but I've come to change my mind about that one. He appears to be approachable and kind in lecture but if you have to talk to him outside of class forget about it. I had to talk to him on one occasion about questions I had on a lab practical and instead of explanations of what I did wrong, I was told that he was concerned about my inability to read directions (I got an A on the practical without the points in question). He agreed to my face to return to me points but then later changed his mind without any explanation. Very frustrating. Asides from this, the midterms are very hard (averages are pretty low). However, Dr. Kim does make the material a little easier to understand through anecdotes and stories in class, and attending lecture is essential for a good grade.

Dr. Kim was really not that hard. His lectures are straightforward but at the end he rushed through the material. I took it in summer session so there was something to do every night, but I slacked off a lot and ended up with a B+. He's very nice in office hours and helpful. The exams are hard but it's okay because the averages are like 30/100. On the second midterm, I had no idea what I was doing plus you get only one hour, so I didn't have time to think about the ones I didn't get.. but I ended up doing fairly well compared to the average.. evn though after the exam I felt like punching a wall. So even though the class seems hard, the curve is really generous. Just do well in your labs--don't make mistakes so you can save a LOT of time.

I don't think this class is as horrid as everyone makes it seem. Yes, it is a lot of tedious work, and yes, the quizzes and midterms are pretty hard. But depending on how everyone does on the lab practical, the mean is usually~B- range. I got an average of ~28/40 on the quizzes and did above average on the midterms, and I came away with an A. So even though it seems like you're doing real crappy on the quizzes no matter how much you study for them, just study for the midterms (like do the year's worth of old exams and do all the problems in the lab manual), do well on the lab practical, and put in a good amount of effort for your final paper (which took me about 3 full days).

This is in response to the post below mine. Ok, just to clarify a few things:

1. Dr. Kim is an amazing professor. Point blank. There's no question about it. I've learned tons from this class, including things that will serve me well in my career.

2. Contrary to what the previous post states, Dr. Kim is one of the MOST organized professors I've ever had. The course reader goes almost perfectly with how he lectures. Hmm...maybe this person is just upset because they didn't do well in the class...just a thought...anyway, all of the grading is done by the TAs. So the amount of time it takes to get papers back is COMPLETELY up to your TA, not Prof. Kim. Plus, during the summer session, the TAs are constantly getting things turned into them, so they're overwhelmed from day 1.

3. Dr. Kim is very patient and he is not rude. He actually has a very good sense of humor and he's one of the most approachable professors I've ever had. But he has no patience, however, for people who waste his time or other student's time. Also his wife just had a baby so of course he has a million things on his mind. AND he's teaching chem 153B for the first time ever during session C, so he had to learn lectures for that class while teaching 153L during session A! Can you blame him?

4. He gives every student an equal amount of time to work on their post labs, so some people have to turn them in on weekends. Is that so bad? Isn't that fair?

5. No we're not screwed because we have to take 153L with Prof. Kim. He's an amazing teacher who makes us work hard and learn a lot. I mean, heaven forbid we actually work hard and LEARN something at UCLA!

6. Dr. Kim did not design the course so don't blame him for the way it's set up. If you take it during the summer and if it\355s going too fast, well maybe you should have taken it some other time. Yeah it's time consuming, but if you're not cut out for it, then find a different major because this class isn't for the weak.

Now, I've completely refuted everything that the post below this has stated and I stand strong to everything I said, so now you can be the judge: is 153L "stupid" or the author of the post below?