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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Grisham clearly cares about the subject matter, and his book isn't badly written. The concepts aren't difficult in and of themselves, but the bulk of material provided is intimidating. Overall, Grisham is not my favorite person, but he makes a decent professor. I learned a ton.

Grisham's a great and enthusiastic lecturer. Thankfully, he wasn't monotonous or anything like that, because I'll admit that there were times that things got a little dull (all he did was read off his slides) and I might have fallen asleep or something otherwise. But overall, I thought the class was really interesting; and it wasn't that hard, either. Having a good memory obviously helps since you'll have to know a few random details (like how trehalose prevents the formation of ice crystals in fish blood) as well as molecular structures, but it's quite possible to study smart and not necessarily hard. He drops big hints by emphasizing which topics are important enough to be on the test, so really pay attention in lecture. For example, later on in the semester when we were going over enzyme kinetics, he flat out told us that there would be 20 or 25 points out of 100 on the test that would be devoted to Michaelis-Menten--we'd be given kinetics data, and we'd have to graph it (as a double reciprocal plot) to figure out what kind of inhibition was involved (among other things). But for the details, focus on ~cool facts~ like those found in text boxes of the textbook. The PSAFE project isn't bad, either. The molecular modeling software, ICM Browser Pro, isn't that unfriendly - you could figure a lot out if you just messed around with it a little - and if it really wasn't cooperating, Erna did a good job of helping us out.

Terrible professor, worse TA. Taught myself more than anything in this class as Grisham likes to read his powerpoints and book to you, which you can do yourself. Sad excuse for a fourth-year biochemistry class. Getting Landers in the Spring will show you just how bad Grisham is.

This is the big class for biochem majors. If you aren't a biochem major, I recommend taking the one semester class offered in the Biology department. It's fewer credits that will count against you. However, if you either love biochem or are really good at biochem, take this class. Grisham will try and inspire you by saying everyone is terrible. From what I've heard, he's also unapproachable during office hours. He'll grill you over the number of times you read the text before he'll let you talk to him. The protein project is the grade saver in this class (it's not unheard of to get a 100 on it), especially if you have the right TA. For studying, do the following: read the chapter before class, attend lecture, read the chapter again, making note cards for structures and outlining general concepts. Also, make sure you are comfortable with the gibbs free energy equation. That will rear its ugly head when you least expect it.

This course was brutal. Grisham wrote the book and so expects you to know everything in it with CRIPPLING AGONIZING DETAIL. The exams only have questions on maybe half the material so you have to sort of guess which things he's going to ask about. I usually guessed wrong.
I averaged about 10 hours of study per week and the week before the test i increased that to about 15 per week and still did not do well.
There is a long term project which is easy and will save your grade. Your TA's undergrads who took the class the previous semester and the edvice they give is just STUDY STUDY STUDY. If you have the time, take this course and nothing else and you might do alright.