Clarke's class seemed to do everything right for a challenging, upper-division class. She's funny and engaging even when the material can get a bit boring. This class is no joke, and I spent the majority of my time memorizing pathways. Her test policy is that the final will replace your first two midterm scores if you do better, which made getting an A in her class relatively doable. Tests were very fair, and she allowed us to bring in a cheat sheet for midterm 2 and the final. TAs this quarter were great, and the weekly quizzes were bonus points to help boost your grade. Office hours and tutorials were also a boon in order to develop your understanding. Overall, great class, interesting content, and great professor/TAs

Took biochem 153C with Prof Clarke but haven't seen my final grade yet.

1. Do all of the old final exams you can find on VOH. they go back almost ten years and she repeats questions sometimes.
2. go to class. Podcasts don't help when you're trying to learn mechanisms! You need to be able to see what she writes.
3. There are a ton of mechanisms but most of them follow some really simple patterns. It always helps to think of biochem in terms of pathways and patterns! use analogies.
Have fun! She's a really nice lady and she is really helpful in providing as much material as you need to practice.

Dr. Clarke is a good professor.

She covers a lot of mechanisms during her lectures, and sometimes, she has students go up and work on some of them (I didn't like the student part). They were fairly simple mechanisms; I took Hardinger's classes, so the mechanisms were easy to follow. Reading the book before hand (what I usually do not do) will make her lectures much easier to follow.

Her tests are pretty good. You need to memorize the basic mechanisms (not too bad if you keep drawing them over and over again, perhaps during other classes you don't like) and be able to do analogies. By analogies, I mean that you must be able to look at a given metabolite and say "This looks like a metabolite I have seen before," and then predict what would happen to it.

Dr. Clarke goes easy on the grades. I totally tanked the first midterm, getting 20 out of a 100 or something. I got into my groove and did very well on the midterm and pretty well on the final. I got an A- for the course. Yes, she takes "improvement" into consideration.

She's very enthusiastic about teaching. She always came to class with a big smile on her face (which probably guilt-tripped me into doing better after I failed my first midterm) and readily answers questions. She holds (not literally, mind you)these things called tutorials where she hands out practice problems, and students can ask questions about pretty much anything. The tutorials are useful. Go to them.

Professor Clarke was a really cool/nice lady. She gave us cereal for our first lecture. Overall, she is really enjoyable and approachable. Because it was an 8am class, it was somewhat difficult for everyone to participate. Nonetheless, Dr. Clarke remains enthusiastic!! I did below average on the first midterm, got several points above average on the second midterm, and then finally got an A in the class. This shows that Dr. Clarke grades on improvement.Write your reactions OVER AND OVER and apply them on ALL her posted practice exams. This class, no matter who teaches it, has really interesting and relevant material for whatever biology graduate school you plan on applying to. Highly recommend her/and the course especially for life science majors because it really gives you a strong background in understanding bio concepts.

Professor Clarke is one of the most wonderful and inspiring professors that I've had at UCLA thus far. She honestly really enjoys the material and is not afraid to share her passion with her students. Keys the passing the class is going to lecture everyday, doing all the past midterms and finals you can, and really taking the time to know the material. Her tests are hard and looking through the pasts midterms and finals, you might feel defeated (at least I sure did), but as long as you feel like you have a good understand of the material, the test itself should be okay as the averages are usually pretty low. I also went to all her office hours, but I felt that in retrospect, it's fine not going to them. Her office hours, you can ask questions, but if you don't she usually goes over past tests or for the heck of it, go beyond what we're expect to know for the class. In the end, I got an A in the class, so if you're just willing to put the effort in, it is possible to get an A. Also, it doesn't hurt to have an awesome TA (Letian), so if you could get him, get him!

great professor! I absolutely love her! Her tests were fair. I would definitely recommend focusing on her lectures and handouts the most for studying. Studying the book isn't really necessary although I did use it a couple of times just to clarify some of the mechanisms like cholesterol biosynthesis. Studying old midterms and finals are also helpful since she sometimes puts similar types of questions on her exams. Also, it's important to mention that since her research is in coenzyme Q, make sure you know anything related to that area since she is most likely going to test you on that. If you get the chance, get Letian as your TA because he was by far a great help and one of the best TAs I've ever had.

I would encourage you to take this class. Dr Clarke is an amazing professor...She explains everything very clearly and if you study just her notes you would be just fine in the midterm. But, don't leave everything to the last minute. Just try to study for 30 minutes to an hour and before you know it you would be great at writing down mechanisms and structures. Make sure to attend to class because all her midterms and final is from her notes. also, study for the quizes because they help and make sure to attend to discussion sections specially if your TA is Odi. He is great, explains everything clearly and is very knowledgable. I strongly recommend you to take this class with her. She is the best teacher that I have had in UCLA.