She seems to be the only one teaching this class, with weiss teaching it on occasion. Weiss is said to be even worse. So unfortunately, just take it. 153A is loads of memorization regardless of who you take it with.

a new professor at UCLA for biochem. She's awesome. organized lectures and study guides. the exams are pretty much based on the study guides. memorize them!!! 5 quizzes - easy! everything you need to know for the quiz are given beforehand. 2 midterms, 1 final - cumulative. OH helped a lot! and discussions and forums too. I highly recommend her.

She is a really hard and challenging professor. Curves hard (average set at B-/C+) and expects you to regurgitate approximately 600+ hardcore slides by the end of the quarter. Would recommend waiting and taking with a different professor. She has gotten harder over the past quarters due to complaints that her class was too easy. Unapproachable in OH and has no interest in your wellbeing (she teaches approximately 800 students a quarter).

The fundamentals of Biochemistry isn't that complicated, but she makes it so. If you're into straight memorizing and regurgitating, then this class is for you. But if you're into concepts and logical reasoning, then look elsewhere. No point in reading the book because she uses multiple texts. Just memorize her studyguide answers verbatim. Office hours is painful. She doesn't like to go into deeper concepts and disregards any further curiosity on the subject matter. She just wants you to learn whatever is on her studyguide.

Tienson is really fast when she talks, but I managed myself to get an A. (got above average for the 1st midterm, and did really well on the second midterm and the final). Just memorize everything she tells you to memorize, and look at the studyguide she gives you carefully. MEMORIZE EVERYTHING and you will be fine.

Good Professor but very hard. She purposely makes the exam hard and her study questions doesn't really help at all. I disagree with her grading as your answer have to be matched with her keywords from answer keys. After i view my exam solution keys, I don't even know or derive her key words in solution keys. You won't get any partial credit if you don't match her keywords and that sucks. The TAs for this class are stupid. They do not come to her lecture and hardly anyone know anything. Just be prepare when you take her. Not an easy exam I would say. The material itself is interesting and doable so is her quiz but definitely not her exam. Her exam was a BOMB

MEMORIZE LIKE NO OTHER. Her tests are all WRITTEN because she doesn't believe in multiple choice. I made the mistake on the first midterm of not memorizing her study questions... I got a D (around 3% above the average?). Luckily I learned and memorized study question answers before the 2nd midterm and managed to get a B (which was a lot higher than the average). She doesn't reveal the grade distributions for the final but I ended up with an A- in the class. HAVE HOPE because you can definitely boost your grade! Just memorize how she words her answers and practice writing out the answers... leaving out one little detail can get you -1.. and all those -1's add up :(

Oh and don't be scared by her quizzes - they're pure memorization. It is preferred that you have photographic memory. I easily got 100% on all the quizzes (but she drops the lowest one - useless.. she should just count all of them to boost grades)

She really has a nasty attitude. Don't take this class unless you really have to. She's a b**** and often makes you feel stupid for asking basic questions. Her tests are often unfair and nothing like the stupid practice questions she gives us. I hated her class, ended up getting a B. Her lectures are boring, she's horrible and doesn't explain things at a good pace. Don't understand why she's a professor here. I learned nothing and instead memorized a bunch of bs that's not going to help me because she doesn't care about you learning the material. Instead just memorizing it and matching your answers to her dumb test keys. She's a miserable human being.

To be honest, avoid taking Chem 153A with her. I want to point out a few things.

1. What every one said before was very true. I regret not taking these evaluations seriously.

2. I studied very very hard. Almost every day I dedicated 3 hours studying for it. Note: I never studied this hard for any of my science classes and I still managed A's. But this class, i only got a C+ with all these effort

3. Her attitude is a little upsetting. She makes you feel like you are an idiot regardless of what questions you asked.

4. Lecturing style is boring to be honest even though it is only 50 minutes.

5. Last word of advice: Do not take this class with her unless you absolutely have no other choice.

if you are thinking about taking biochem 153a with her. please reconsider!!!! please please take this advice seriously. i regret taking this class with her. it is not worth your time and gpa. i am an A student, but omg she made biochem 10000 times harder than it should be. my gpa suffer a lot because of this class. honestly no matter how much time and how many time you do the study guide. it is impossible to answer her questions because you dont know what she want. for the 2nd midterm, people walked out of the room pale. one girl almost fainted. omgosh. she wants you to answer questions word by word as her answer key. you tell me who can do that unless you have access to her key. deduct points for no reason i mean no reason. very hard to approach in office hour. very hard person. try to find her lecture video and pay attention to the part when people ask questions. you dont have to take my comment seriously now but you will see when you see your gpa. it is NOT worth it.