CHEM 4410

Grisham is an excellent lecturer but terrible test writer. Be prepared to do every problem in the back of the book comfortably if you want to get a good grade in the class. It is quite an engaging class and if you can figure out what things you need to memorize from him or the TAs you will do fine.

Course: informative course, but only in the sense that most of the learning is self-motivated. Reading the textbook and going through the powerpoint slides are helpful for the sake of knowledge. The lectures are tangential. Grisham is a good speaker, but he's just reading off the slides. >95% chance you'll fall behind the syllabus throughout the semester and have to either skip intended chapters or cram them all in for superficial learning near the end of the semester. Tests are ridiculous: does not test material directly, but makes you apply the knowledge in roundabout ways. Aka this is the scenario for a lot of students: you study a lot, do a bunch of practice problems, and know the material forward and backward but still test badly. Success mostly depends on your critical thinking abilities and test taking skills (or even luck tbh), which probably were already set before you entered this course or generally out of your control in the few months you're enrolled in this course. You'll definitely learn if you do the work, but your grade might not reflect that. Don't freak out, there's still a curve in the end (upward trend helps).
Professor: as a person, possibly the worst tenured professor at UVA, and I truly truly promise I'm not exaggerating. I know this from personal experiences that I won't delve into. Tldr this man ruined my mental health and I had to get counseling--not his course, but him.. so that's saying something, and I'm too scared to this day to report it. I didn't believe it when people from previous years said he seemed nice at first, but is actually rude, untruthful, and egotistical, but this is exactly the case. He makes himself out to be a nice guy who knows a lot about biochemistry (the biochemistry part I cannot dispute), but in reality he's extremely misogynistic (he has a powerpoint slide titled "When NO means YES" for something about nitric oxide as some cruel joke), racist, a liar, judgmental, and demeaning to students and those who work for him and around him. He gets a kick when you compliment him or ask him to talk about himself (unrelated to biochemistry), and he certainly picks favorites (which does affect your grade) based on who gives him the most ego padding. Anyway, I'm writing this to say _be careful_. Take the course to learn and use your TAs (course and PSAFE) as resources, and then move on. Let your learning define your experience and let that be it. Try to stay away from Grisham.

On the syllabus Grisham explicitly says you will need to devote 9 hours a week to this class for a B. For every exam in this class I essentially neglected all of my other classes for about a week before the exam to study. Average on the first exam was 51%. Take from that what you will. I somehow managed an above-average grade in this course so my advice is:
-Grisham recommends to "draw every structure/mechanism/etc in the book" when you take notes. Be smart with your time! Focus on the ones he highlights in lecture and if you're not sure, email him or go to office hours.
-He drops a million hints about what will be on every exam. Keep track and know those subjects incredibly well.
-Memorize the amino acids early bc it will help you a lot.
-Do the practice problems he recommends for every chapter. You will fail every exam if you only study the content in the chapters and don't do the questions.
-Do PSAFE early in the week. They will schedule exams and huge PSAFE projects within 24 hours of each other & it's cruel.

Grisham says this class is great to prep for MCAT...I'm not pre-med so I can't really speak for that. He curves generously at the end & if you're worried about your grade after an exam, he would love to talk to you over email or in person. Genuinely nice guy but killer course.

If you take this class, be prepared for your life to revolve around biochemistry for an entire semester. Grisham is pretty clear about his expectations for the class (the syllabus says, "Three hours of study out of class per course credit per week will be likely to earn you a C for this course"). Do not take that lightly. There are three exams in the semester, each one averages 50-60% (but don't let that scare you because there is a big curve at the end).
For the exams, you do pretty much have to know the textbook inside and out, but most important are the practice problems at the end of the chapter. There were always a few questions on the exams that made you kind of just stare blankly at the screen if you didn't memorize the textbook, but the good portion of the exam was manageable. In lecture, Grisham will be pretty clear about what will be on the exams, so make sure to do the problems he mentions multiple times and engrain anything he mentions will be on the exam into your brain. If you don't do the practice problems over and over, don't expect to be on average for the exams.
In regards to PSAFE, I never procrastinated on the assignments and it saved my mental well-being. One of the PSAFE assignments was quite literally due a few hours after one of our exams. I personally thought the PSAFE was kind of fun and an interesting aspect of the class (as well as a major grade saver - it's 20% of your grade and if you put in the effort, you'll get an A on it). But when the TA tells you not to do it last minute, do not do it last minute.
Grisham loves to mention how much his class prepares you for the MCAT, and after taking it, my practice test scores did rise by several points, so even if his class is kicking your butt, just know that it really will help you in the long run.
Overall, Grisham truly loves teaching and wants all his students to succeed. For anyone who gets imposter syndrome in their stem classes like I do, I rarely felt that in this class and felt like I truly belonged to be there. But you do get out of it what you put into it.

This is the best professor, I've ever had! He is so gracious and understanding. He will help you pass so long as you want to pass. Do not skip class and stay on top of your notes. Go to office hours and ask for help when you don't understand and I ensure you will at least get a B in the class.

Before starting this course, I had heard so many terrifying things about this course. However, after taking this course I realized that it was really what you put into it and how you study. 1.) Focus on re-watching the recorded lectures over reading the chapters. In watching the recorded lectures again, highlight what he mentions will be on the exam and know the material like the back of your hand because it will show up on the exam either futures exams or the current one. Also memorize what he tells you to memorize. It saves time on the exam and comes in handy. 2.) Practice the homework questions. This is particularly helpful as many of the questions on the exam are like the homework (particularly the ones he emphasizes). 3.) Focus your studying on human conditions/diseases mentioned in the pptx and the textbook because those will show up again. Also don't focus on the exam grade. Trust the process and the curve :) Good luck!

If you are taking this class make sure you make this class your priority. You have to be on the top of reading because you never know when you come across a pop quiz. Read the text book thoroughly and understand each figure in the textbook. Most of the times, Grisham will tell you what you have to know for the exam and make sure you write it down and practice that stuff again and again. Go to his office hours because he gives clues about the questions on the exam. Give this class 20+ hours a week, go to the TA's because they are very helpful. Never procrastinate on PSAFE because PSAFE is money. Do above averages on all of the exams and get a good grade on PSAFE and you will end up with an A because the curve in the end is very BIG.

I was very nervous coming into this course based on the wide variety of reviews for Grisham, but tbh it was not nearly as bad as people made it out to be. Grisham is an excellent and entertaining lecturer. The quizzes were pop quizzes but were relatively easy if you kept up with the reading (which I only did about 60% of the time). The exams were difficult but mirrored practice problems and quiz problems. PSAFE was fun, easy, and your biggest grade saver imo. My exam average was a 35/100 and quizzes a 5/10, but I got a 100 in PSAFE. Admittedly, I spent way less time on this class than orgo but still, I ended with a B.

Everyone on here has basically covered everything, but I'll leave you with what I wish I knew before going into this course:
-This course is bad, but like not as bad as you think it will be... I think??? That being said, if you are prehealth take CHEM 4450 or BIOL 3030 to satisfy the biochemistry requirement instead because this class requires a lot more work and time.
-Pick your poison and stick with it, so either read the textbook or memorize the lecture slides, don't do both it wastes time you could spend studying and doing practice problems (I did slides).
-The exams are a race against time because of the number of topics he tests on so knowing everything well and practicing will definitely give you more time and will get you a score above the average.
-Grisham is an absolute sweetheart!!! I get really intimidated talking to professors, but Professor Grisham is very kind and he will answer any and all questions that he can get to at office hours so don't be afraid to speak up.
-psafe depends entirely on the TAs preferences, so make sure to go to their office hours and show them your work.
Overall I did at least 10 points above average on each exam but got a pretty poor score on psafe and I still managed to get an A. YOU GOT THIS!!!

I really enjoyed this class with Professor Grisham! This course is all about the four types of biomolecules (carbs, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids) and enzyme kinetics. I learned a lot of really useful information, and Grisham's little stories are really fun. He's a really sweet old man and his lectures are sometimes a bit tough to get through b/c they're 75 minutes, but usually enjoyable. Highly highly recommend going to OH as much as you can - getting him to know you will help you out and he drops strong hints about exam questions often. He also explains how to do some of the peptide sequencing and titration problems in a way that makes them easy to understand.

There are three exams and no final, but a project about a protein you get assigned at the beginning of the semester. You work on this PSAFE project all semester, and it sucks, but go to the PSAFE TA's office hours and you'll probably be fine. It's a great grade boost and it's easy to get 95-100 on it to make up your exam grades. The three exams are non-cumulative and typically involve a lot of memorization plus some problems about titrations/peptide sequencing, or bioenergetics. Bioenergetics is important and tricky, so do a lot of practice with this before exams. In addition, Anki will be your friend in this course; use his lecture notes and slides to make flashcards and drill them like crazy. Learn all the structures that he tells you to memorize and you'll be fine on the exam. I learned structures, how to do the various types of problems, and drilled flashcards and consistently scored 20-30% above the average on the exams (avg is usually in the 60s). There will be random questions about stuff you won't know during the exam but they're only a couple points so don't stress about them. Also, make study group - it'll save your ass.

Overall, great but tough class, sweet professor, reasonable if you study well. PSAFE sucks but it's a grade boost. Good luck!