If you liked Hardinger for ochem, you'll probably like Tienson. She writes her own study questions and they're really helpful, and her tests are similar formats each year. She really knows her subject well and is very straightforward with her expectations. Yes it's a lot of work and memorization, but this is an upper division biochemistry class at UCLA. Sometimes learning the basics of a topic involves memorization, get over it. And she actually does a great job of explaining why things happen, so you do have to understand the fundamentals and can't just regurgitate on her exams (quizzes, yes). Don't get scared off by some of the negative reviews, but expect a walk in the park either. You will get out of this class what you put into it.

She talks fast, so I'd recommend watching the videocasts. She's always happy to answer questions or explain things in more detail, and she has a million office hours. Other people reviewing her complained that it's hard to answer her questions correctly, but if you do the practice questions you can see what kind of answers she expects. She might take some points off for small things, but she told us that a 77% in the class is usually around the cutoff for an A and she tries to make the average in the class a B. She's very blunt and doesn't sugarcoat things, but she is definitely not a bitch. She knows her subject inside and out and really wants to transmit that knowledge to her students.

She's a bitch. No feelings or whatnot. You get so annoyed of her squeaky voice.

WAY TOO MUCH MEMORIZATION! She overloads you on information and expects you to regurgitate it out every 4 weeks. She's too busy in her Office hours and does not reply to email.

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 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.

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.

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 was an amazing professor. Her lectures are very structured. Do the study question and start doing them right away because they are a lot. They resemble the questions in the exam.

Professor Tienson is one of those professors who provide the weekly study questions and make similar questions on the exam. Her lecture is quite fast so I recommend you to watch bruincast to review the whole lecture. (This class has clicker points so you can only miss 3-4 lectures in order to get a perfect score on clicker points.) There are plenty of topics discussed in this class and the worst part of this class is there are 4 lectures per week. So make sure you review the lecture everyday. If you don't, you may fail to understand her next lecture.

The test is pretty straightforward. You just have to focus on the weekly study questions and the lecture notes (if you have time). In addition, you need to memorize several biological molecules (e.g, amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, electron carriers in electron transport chain of mitochondria...). It may helpful to memorize the answers of weekly study guides because if you miss a single word or detail, you will lose some points even though your answer is correct.
Below are the statistics of 2013 spring chem 153A lecture 1.

Midterm 1 average: 72
Midterm 2 average: 70
Final average: 141

Just for a tip, it is important to get a really good score on midterm 1 because midterm 1 is much easier than midterm 2 and the final, which is comprehensive. It is extremely painful to memorize all the topics that you have covered in this class to study for the final.

Her grading scheme is generous. I think she tries to set the average as a mid B and gives ~30% of an A range. I got an A in her class, and surely, it's really hard to get an A in this class. Make sure you study diligently and do all the weekly study guides.