CHEM 4410

There are vibes that this class is super hard, but just focus on the concepts Grisham stresses in class and you will do just fine. Don't look at the book, the same material is presented more concisely in the slides. Nothing on the exams will be from the book that is not also in the slides or not mentioned by Grisham in class.

Finally, more so than any other class at UVA, this class is full of people who try too hard to look good in front of their peers, Grisham, and the TAs -- try not to let these students distract you. Avoid the pre-exam review sessions too (it does more harm than good).

The PSAFE project is a grade booster, but ICM Browser Pro is a pain to deal with. Save your work often and don't fall behind.

The class overall was not as difficult as everyone makes it sound. If you pay attention during lecture and read the book, it is manageable. Going to lectures is important just to see what topics he emphasizes- read the book to understand concepts. PSAFE helps too, so don't slack off on it.

Do not be fooled by Grisham's "I'm here to help" or "I want to challenge you to reach your potential" speeches. Grisham wants us to fail. Okay, probably a slight exaggeration, but this is a horrible class. Don't take it unless you have to, even then, strongly consider your options.
The breakdown:
- 3 semester tests, 1 final. Final is cumulative, despite being informed of this only 1 week before the exam. Exams are basically a rush to regurgitate the textbook word for word. Memorize the textbook. I'm not exaggerating. Every table, graph, side note, structure, mechanism - everything. And every fun side story he tells in class, every scientist friend in Denmark, every Nobel Prize winner - memorize. Do not zone out. EVERYTHING is fair game with Grisham - which I think is completely unfair, because that's not testing understanding, that's testing memorization. Averages around a 50%
- 6 pop quizzes. These will rule your life. Every Tuesday Thursday, you will be haunted by the possibility of a pop quiz. Be prepared. You won't have enough time to finish, but try to keep up on the 40-some pages per class you have to read. Averages will be around a 4/10
- PSAFE: actually a rewarding experience, at the very end. Basically, you get assigned a protein to learn the function and structure and study and model on some software. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. I say this, but you will anyway. Pulled my first complete all-nighter writing the first paper, but once that's over, you're pretty much done. GO TO OFFICE HOURS of the TA in charge. From the beginning. Each point counts.
- Reading: do it. do it often. do it multiple times. DO THE QUESTIONS IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK. Multiple times. Our second test was basically entirely book problems.

Advice:
- Stay on top of your reading. (Easier said than done)
- Study everything (this will seem overwhelming. it is.)
- Understand free energy - it will be on every test
- Know people, stories, nobel laureates
- Do the suggested book problems
- Don't procrastinate on PSAFE
- Go to office hours of PSAFE TA
- Know amino acid structures to heart
- Know -30.5kj/mol
- Know you'll never feel prepared

Everyone is way too hard on Grisham. It is a really tough class and you have to put in many, many hours a week studying. He may not be the most engaging lecturer, but he does give you the background to study and understand the details on your own. A lot of people are under the impression that the professor is supposed to teach you everything. In a 4000 level chemistry class, this isn't plausible so you will have to learn a lot of concepts on your own because there isn't time to grasp them during class time.
If you aren't a dedicated science person, I would NOT take this class. It takes a true desire to want to learn the material to do well in this class. If you aren't dedicated, you will suck in this class and get a bad grade.
I enjoyed this class a lot. Although Grisham is not as engaging as Landers, I still find him to be an effective teacher. His dry humor may be a turn-off to some and he does come across as a bit arrogant at times, but almost all science professors that I've had at UVa are at least a bit arrogant.
Don't blow-off PSAFE because it can be a real grade-helper if you do well on it. Pay attention to details on the project and don't let little details lose you valuable points. Every point counts in this class!
I made it out with a good grade in this class but worked REALLY HARD for it. You'll get the grade you work for.

Grisham's philosophy is A) He wants this class to be comparable to a med school biochem class and B) 10 hrs studying per week gets you a C. He is not kidding..... He's not the complete ass I've heard about in semesters past, in fact there were times when he was downright nice. However, the class is still ridiculous, the required hours will destroy your other classes if you're not careful. The exams are.... painful. Not impossible but it's usually just regurgitating info in the ~1 hour time limit (I think they deserve at least 2) and the grading is very much geared towards having exactly what is on the key. Don't expect a lot of timely feedback in them, this isn't orgo. There were times when he straight up told some things but had something else on the exam. I.e. it's okay to really focus on lineweaver burke OR hanes woolfe but required the later on the last exam.
The PSAFE project will save your life (you think I'm kidding, I'm not) if you do well, Julia was an angel. Go to the TAs office hours for this every week, it will boost your grade considerably.

All in all I was disappointed by the professor's inability to teach, periodic inconsistency, and periodic lack of professionalism. However, it is doable IF you keep up with the reading. I don't mean just skimming the words. I mean really understanding the info as you go along. Lastly, although it pains me to say it, most of the info you really just need to memorize before you can apply it. Concepts alone are not enough.

Grisham's class is very difficult and memory-intensive, especially since he wrote the textbook and knows every little word in it. If you accept this fact and work really hard, then it's not a bad class. He presents the material well even if he is a little awkward and laughs at his own jokes ALL the time. For tests, be prepared to know structures inside and out, know the details of every little "fun fact" box in the textbook, and write down every name he mentions in class because it can and will show up on at least the first test. PSAFE sucks but it is what it is.

Heard terrible things about both this class and Grisham, only to be pleasantly surprised. This is a very time-intensive course, so do not take it if you are not fully cognizant of that fact. However, I found that if I did the readings after class/paid attention in lecture (especially to note what he emphasized) the tests were pretty easy. Grisham was also a great guy. He really went out of his way to help students out, and it was immediately apparent that he was passionate about the material. Unlike a few classes I've taken, I think in Chem 4410 with Grisham you will get the grade you work for. I worked really hard, and I got an A. But it wasn't easy keeping up with the work!! Definitely make sure you know how to grind if you're gonna take this course. Also PSAFE sucks.

Grisham is a very nice man. He is very personable in office hours, passionate about the material, and cares for his students well-being. That being said, I do not believe he came to lecture prepared. There were constant tangents in lecture where he would discuss interesting- albeit ancillary- information. If you were 800-series chem, this class is entirely review. The textbook for this class is not good. It is incredibly expensive AND HE WROTE IT. He wrote his own poorly-ranked textbook and is hocking it to his students for $300. You can't even buy a used one because he updates it every two years. Furthermore, you (or one of your friends) needs to purchase the solutions manual because a majority of the important answers you need for end-of-chapter questions are not included. I believe this is in very poor form as a writer and exceptionally poor taste as a university professor/ employee. He pulls exam questions almost directly from end of chapter problems and many of these questions require you buy the solutions manual to see the answer. If this class was not a requirement for my major, I would drop it and/or wait until another professor took over. I talk to prof Grisham a lot and like him- but not as my professor.

Grisham is a very good lecturer - I though 80-90% of the lectures were both informative and interesting.
Tests were very hard(and surprisingly short time wise!). Requires in-depth knowledge of all the chapters you go over(and their associated practice problems), although the content of some is not tested much due to tests being so short. Don't try to guess which chapter this will be though! Most of the stuff he tests on are main concepts and example problems he mentions or does in class as clicker questions.
PSAFE was hit or miss based on the protein you were assigned. Some people had well characterized proteins and writing their report was not that hard, and others got a more difficult protein and had to be...creative to fill up the required pages. Was not graded too harshly either way.

I may be biased because I love Professor Grisham, but I thought he was an amazing teacher. I love professor who are enthusiastic about what they teach and Prof. Grisham was exactly that. He loves what he does and that is evident through his explaining of the concepts. Yes, he does read off the slides but definitely not in a boring manner. He is engaging and does emphasize what will be on the exam. He drops major hints at his office hours so I'd go to them regularly, or at least before exams. The pop quizzes do suck considering that they are pop quizzes but they don't really count for much of your grade. Plus, he gives you one free 10/10 and then only counts your highest 3 quizzes (out of 6) so they aren't terrible. His exams are fair in that all the information can be found in the slides/textbook but they are difficult regardless. If you want to do well, you should be doing the recommended practice problems (no one has time to do all of them so look through and pick the difficult ones/ ones that look like they could be potential exam questions) and going to office hours. The TAs can be really helpful so go to their office hours too. I read the textbook but found that focusing on the lecture slides and doing the practice problems were much more helpful on the exams (he covers everything from the textbook anyways). But if you decide to skip reading the textbook, you should still read the little "human biochem" boxes throughout the chapters because they could show up as an exam question or even an extra credit question. PSAFE should help your grade (my class struggled a bit because of our TA but that is not the norm). There is even an extra credit assignment at the end for PSAFE that is super easy and will bump your grade up. PSAFE can seem challenging initially but you'll quickly realize that they're relatively simple to do (again, just go to the PSAFE TA's office hours and ask for help). Overall, a much better class than the bio department's biochem (from what I hear from my friends) and a worthwhile course even if we are all taking it for our major requirement.