BIOL 4087: Basic Biochemistry

Waldrop is a great instructor for Biochem! If you must take Biochem, take with Waldrop. In his lecture, he gives many examples of medical relativeness which is great for pre-med students. He tells you what will be on the test and what will not be on the test. only 3 exams! each 50 multiple choice. he provides his lecture notes on moodle! take him

Dr. Moroney is an awesome teacher. Go to class, pay attention, and take your own notes. She gives you very specific study guides. I filled out the study guide for each exam (sometimes retrieving material from the textbook) and studied it for like 4-5 days straight. Made A's on all of the tests. Probably learned more in this class than I have in any other class at LSU.

Dr. Waldrop is a funny guy, but I did not benefit from this course. I made A's in both organics and the lab (prerequisites for the course), an A in cell bio (which has a lot of biochem), but managed to make my first C in 4087. There are 3 tests with 50 multiple choice questions (including the final). Tests 2 and 3 are cumulative yet they are weighted the same as test 1. The notes are in word documents or PDFs posted on Moodle. At the end of the semester I had somewhere around 700 pages of notes filled with clusters of pathways, structures, etc. Intimidating. I personally prefer power points because I find them easier to study from. I do not recommend waiting to study the weekend before the test. You will be stressed, unless you're really good at cramming for exams. Perks: if you prefer multiple choice to fill in the blank and short answer if you prefer to not buy a textbook (not required), the notes are what's important

Waldrop won't take any crap from his students, but he knows what he's talking about and is always available after class to answer questions or explain something again. Exams are all multiple choice, and he doesn't try to confuse you. Also, he posts all the notes up on Moodle, making it easy to listen to lecture instead of madly scribbling for two hours. One of the best teachers I've had at LSU.

Waldrop is a great teacher, and he always ties his lecture in to medicine. You don't need the textbook either. His notes are a combo of several texts, including the LSU Med School one. BUT you have to study a lot for his tests. I'm talking about studying every f*cking day. The second test is the hardest and the one that screwed me over. His tests are detailed and require that you understand all the details of said mechanisms.