BIOL 5010

You should know what you're getting into with this class.
First, DO NOT take this class if you did not get a stellar grade in organic chemistry and cell bio. Those two classes will determine how quickly you can pick up this material.
Secondly, read the book after every lecture, memorize as you go. Not worth it to memorize right before the exam.
Garrett was sometimes not at his office hours. His lectures were straight from the book - likely because he wrote the book! Lot of material jammed into every lecture though.
Schaffer taught a few lectures. My only problem with her was that it seemed like she had no confidence! People in the class were a bit rude, too because I think they realized this but Schaffer definitely was more interested in teaching the lectures than Garrett. By that alone Schaffer made lectures really interesting and worth listening to.
All Magda was in charge of was PSAFE, which was not a problem to do.
If you want an idea of how much material was in this class - we were done with about 800 to 900 pages of a really difficult to read book by the end of the semester.
Good luck!

This class is really hard. But PSAFE is there to help you out. It's easy and worth the same as a test grade.

Good luck if you decide to take it. You'll need it.

Mindnumbingly difficult, and as a course, likely to be more exhausting than the rest of your semester combined. With that said, an A is well within reach given the appropriate sacrifice of blood, sweat, and tears. Study all of the materials given. Never assume that a slide is unimportant or out of place. Take good notes and listen carefully to what he emphasizes. Professor Garrett's exams are very fair, so if you have an adequate grasp of the material, it is very possible to do well. The exam averages typically hovered around mid-60s, and was curved up to a high B-/low B. Aim to score about 10-15 points above the average on each exam if you are gunning for that elusive A. Good luck and godspeed.

The hardest thing about the course is the sheer amount of information you're expected to retain. The material is actually pretty interesting once you get past the "basic" stuff and Garrett/Schafer are good professors. However, they expect a lot out of their students. I'll try and give you an idea of what I'm talking about. We covered 27 chapters throughout the semester skipping maybe 1. That's about 950 pages. So that's about 6 chapters (250 pages) of very difficult material on each test. That's not even including the stuff they put on slides that isn't in the book. And each test is about 8 questions. So really you only get evaluated on a very small amount of the material you spend weeks memorizing.
Going to class is a good idea but you really should skim the chapters beforehand if you want to have a chance of understanding half of what they say. The text is worth getting but don't read everything in it, that's pointless. Go through the slides and read the relevant sections. If it's not on the slides it won't be on the test. The sample tests are very similar to the actual tests the Garrett gives but almost nothing like the ones Shafer gives.
All in all it's not impossible to get an A. You just have to put in the work. Cramming that much info the night before is just impossible.

This class isn't difficult in the sense that the information is hard to understand (with certain exceptions), it's difficult in the sense that you have to know ~6+ chapters of information for every test. In terms of powerpoints, it's about 10 lecture presentations each with 40 slides, and no slide is irrelevant to the test. Definitely do not expect to be able to cram the night before the test and do well. Give yourself at least a week. Outlining the lectures and copying important figures is a great way to memorize/learn.
The tests usually aren't extremely difficult or nit picky, but you do need to know a lot of information to do well. There are questions that are strictly from memorization, and other that expect you to apply what you have memorized. The sample questions given before each test are a much better representation of what you can expect to be asked on the test rather than the assigned book problems.
The assigned book problems aren't actually graded and if you never go to Wednesday discussion reviews, you probably will never have to deal with them, unless you want/need the practice. I found it helpful to at least look at the answer key for the assigned questions.
Speaking of Wednesday discussions, don't put off PSAFE till the last minute either. It's a semester long project that is worth the same percentage of grade as one test. The exercises that are due throughout the semester, if done right, can be used at the end to pretty much just make the whole project. Spend some quality time on this project and it's a great grade booster.
Chem biochem may move slower (they covered 15 chapters while we covered 27), but they are expected to know the material to a degree that is pretty ridiculous. Their tests are harder and more nit picky (from what friends have told me). While I would have liked to move through metabolism (the interesting stuff) a bit slower, I don't know if the semester from hell with Grisham would be worth it. So pick your poison, less information with Grisham's tests, or more information with Schafer/Garrett's tests.

If you aren't comfortable memorizing a ton of information at once(like me), I don't recommend taking this course. It's a lot like Orgo in that there's a lot of sheer memorization of reactions involved and not so much application of concepts (like Physics), so if you felt comfortable in Orgo and Cell Bio, this will probably work out pretty well for you. If not, perhaps consider taking it fourth year, when you're already in the midst of applying to med schools (if you're pre-med, that is). I'm not sure how it will be now that Garrett has retired, because he was certainly the better lecturer of the two, and his tests were more straightforward and fair (in my opinion). Instead of testing for arbitrary details, he usually tested more for understanding of the overarching concepts, while Schafer expected us to know more of the nit-picky details of every reaction. Keep in mind that you'll be covering a whole year's worth of Biochemistry in one semester, so it moves ridiculously quickly while each test covers 5 to 8 chapters in one go, and those chapters are not short or easy. However, it does give you a good overview of everything you might possibly need to know about Biochemistry, and since all of Biology builds off of it, it's somewhat useful to know.