CHEM 4420

People either love Landers or hate him. While he is a good teacher, eventually you'll see through his "cool" demeanor and his arrogance will shine through. The good thing is you don't ever need to read (or even buy) the textbook, but if you aren't prepared to memorize nearly every detail on his slides, this class will kick your ass. It probably will anyway. The tests are some of the hardest tests I've ever taken at UVa simply because of the unbelievable amount you have to know. The good thing is though that you really don't have to think much during the tests, you just have to regurgitate what you've memorized.

I disagree with the reviewer below, He is the most down to earth professor I've met in Chem. Proof that he is nice: 1. He has 2 kids going here- he gets us. 2. He buys a meal for students at semester's end who win his guessing game 3. He bought us donuts for last class 4. He is Canadian- everyone knows Canadians are nice. But for real- He's just incredibly busy, he is constantly flying to conferences, Finland, South Korea, managing his humongous research group , dealing with us obnoxious prehealth kids. The man is so busy that he actually has his own office manager

Lots of memorization. Study a little bit every day! Honestly the workload is not bad if you spread it out. Ideally look through each powerpoint 5-6 times in the days prior the exam. Read every word. The first couple times will take a while- but the 5th time you will be blazing through. Don't neglect structures; it matters, especially for the first test. Know what is high yield- all the vitamins for sure. But I think on one powerpoint there were several structures of uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation. I memorized one, and the exam asked me to draw one. Never asked to draw structure for quizzes- only exams. He likes to give choices on low-yield structures. He is also not big on mechanisms but same thing, I would memorize 1-2, but not all of them. Metabolic pathways, I would memorize these cold. Structure of intermediates and enzyme names. Draw them out. He will pick a few pathways and ask you to draw specific portions. It sucks because you can't really predict but there you go.

Also if you have time, record lectures from the beginning! This is actually super helpful for the quizzes because I noticed that he would only quiz on things that he actually touched on in previous lectures. It takes a bit of time but I promise you will be perfectly prepared for quizzes. Also it is a bit helpful for exams, he loves to harp on certain themes, and you can simply regurgitate the answer as he presents it in lecture; you will lose less points

Also if you can, try and take Cell bio with this class. So much overlap.

Landers is the goat. Best professor at uva.

I'm a biology major and i thought I'd do terribly in this class but he teaches very well. You don't need to be a chem guru to take it because a lot of the material is very logical. To do well, go to class, record lectures, and transcribe. For tests, it's straight up regurgitating material so it'll take some time.. Not a good class to cram for! Also memorize all pathways.

As a non-chemistry major, this class definitely did not require more work than I put into orgo. Landers is a fantastic professor, he even offered multiple exam dates throughout the semester for people with conflicting schedules! Be sure to record his lectures, since he emphasizes what you need to know for the exams and he talks fast. There are a maximum of 10 pop quizzes given through the semester and he keeps the highest 6 grades. I would try to review every lecture before class, to know enzyme names and key facts, but don't worry about any structures or diagramming pathways on the quizzes. For the exams, MEMORIZE THE METABOLIC PATHWAYS! All the enzymes, intermediates' structures, and important facts about each steps are vital. Outline all of the powerpoints and make note of what he stressed during class, then throw it all down on the exams and you should be fine, since everything on the powerpoints are fair game. Really, memorization is the key to doing well in this class.

Landers is entertaining but I found that he was not the best at presenting information clearly(mostly because his slides are disorganized and its sometimes not clear as to what he wants you to take away from a slide). The exams aren't too difficult, mostly just memorizing what you see on the slides. However about 20-30% of each exam is total bullshit, like memorizing weights of the 12 components of a proton pump or remembering the specific layout of certain diagrams. I think lander's first language was probably not English (he is from Canada) because his test questions are often unclear with confused grammar and vague wording. However, there is always a generous point readjustment after each test, so it kinda works out. For some reason he doesn't use Grisham's text book even though his lectures follow it closely for the most part(but that might be a good thing because Grisham loves going into wayyy too much detail in his book). I found it easier than first semseter of biochemistry, but much more frustrating because of how the tests were.
Download all the slides when he posts them and study them!

Landers is..... okay. He is a very engaging lecturer (something I find key in a class). However, his slides are not that great and you really gotta pay attention during class or when you go back to review his slides it will not give you enough information. I wish he would put it on the notes section of the ppt or just put in the ppts. I say this because all of his exams were directly from the ppt or you could make inferences based on the slides. Honestly, there is no other way around the material then memorizing it, so don't get too mad at him for making it that way. He may seem intimidating during lecture but really do go visit his office hours and make sure you come ready with questions because he is obviously a busy man and you shouldn't waste his or your time being silent. A nice man if you go visit him and talk with him personally. Very understanding of students positions.

Tips:
memorize the slides
don't cram youll die
go to his OH
do well on the quizzes
he will curve the class do not stress do your best

My biggest regret in this class is not studying every week for the pop quizzes in class. I went to every class expecting no quiz... don't be like me. Expect a quiz ever class and study every night to avoid the crazy cramming. I thought the exams were very fair. I would study for about 4 days for the exams (truly all day) and did well on them, though it would have been a lot less stressful if I had spread it out. I also always studied in a group when possible which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Landers will encourage this too, but I cannot stress how helpful it was. This class was definitely difficult and required a lot of memorization, and I am not a strong memorizer so I was scared but it turned out going well for me! Landers is awesome. I never missed a lecture, even if we knew there was no quiz, because the way he explained thing in lecture really helped me to understand things. The content of this course is also super interesting! Difficult, yes, but if you're pre-med you'll probably find it very interesting, especially since Professor Landers makes it very human body-oriented. I thought Professor Landers was very funny in class and I enjoyed learning cool things in his little mental breaks. They helped break up the monotony of a 75 minute class and were just interesting! Overall, very interesting, very helpful for the MCAT, and I would highly recommend taking this class if you need biochemistry, but be ready to put in work for sure!

Professor Landers is a fantastic professor! He is super engaging and makes the content really fun to learn. We had a guest lecturer one day and that's when I realized how boring this class could've been if we didn't have Landers. I thought CHEM 4420 was easier than 4410 just because the exams are very very straight forward. The quizzes are a piece of cake compared to Grisham's quizzes. Just look over the PPT and memorize some facts and you'll do fine on them. It is a lot of information to memorize for the exams but it's not terrible. If you're bad at memorizing, start studying early but if you're good at memorization, it won't take you too long to study. He even offers multiple exam dates which I thought was really nice of him. He's also really nice when you go talk to him in person and he's passionate about what he teaches. If you're deciding between the bio biochem and this course, I'd recommend taking this class!

This class seems a lot worse than it actually is! Grades are based off of two midterms and a final, as well as a number of pop quizzes during lectures (we had 8 quizzes this semester). The exams are not easy, but they are entirely based off of Professor Landers's lectures and Powerpoints. If you know these inside and out, the exams are very doable. The difficult aspect is that there's just so much information in his presentations. I highly recommend recording lectures and using them to study for the exams. The Powerpoints are missing some of the important information, so you can't really study off of them alone. Also, try to know/memorize EVERYTHING in the Powerpoints (unless Professor Landers has specifically marked it as "FYI"- aka you don't need to know it). He sometimes puts the most random details on the exams, and it's worth it to get those few extra points. Also, check your returned exams to make sure they were scored correctly. Professor Landers offers test corrections, and it's not unheard of for the graders to make a mistake. The pop quizzes are honestly kind of annoying, but they aren't worth too much of your grade, and several of the scores are dropped. Try to study for the pop quizzes before EVERY class, particularly at the end of the semester. For most of the semester, pop quizzes were given every 3 classes, but towards the end, there were suddenly quizzes given on consecutive class periods, which I did not expect. Despite the material for this class seeming difficult and lengthy, the grading scale and curves are VERY generous, particularly for a STEM course. Don't be fazed by the proportion of people getting 96-100 on every exam. Just do your best, and you will do fine in this class--it is not an intense weed-out course. Professor Landers is definitely a "fun" professor. He's a witty guy, and his little jokes and mental breaks during lectures really help make the class more interesting. In lecture, he can come off as a tiny bit arrogant, but he's actually quite understanding and helpful in office hours. He's very busy though and does not have a ton of time for students. I think this class would benefit from additional TAs and TA office hours! Overall, put in the time to study for exams and pop quizzes, take advantage of test corrections, and don't stress about this course. You will learn a lot!

This class is pretty tough, about the same as CHEM 4410 with Grisham. The class is entirely composed of three exams, two midterms and a non-cumulative final. Metabolism simply sucks to learn, almost made me reconsider being pre-med, but the genetics/DNA stuff we do after is pretty interesting. Landers is a clearly knowledgable guy, and he's quite an entertaining lecturer. He's kind of a dick, but you just need to take his snarky responses with a grain of salt; if you ignore them and don't take him too seriously, he's funny and entertaining. He's passionate about biochem and the talk he gave at the last lecture about his own research was super cool.

First midterm for us was multiple choice because we started the semester online. Second midterm was 12 pages of basically free response - kind of a brutal exam. Learn his slides like the back of your hand, and Anki will be your friend. Make flashcards, drill them like crazy, learn structures/pathways, and you'll probably be fine. Don't underestimate how much information you need to learn and memorize for the exam, though. Not an easy class, but relatively rewarding and interesting after you finish metabolism. It's totally doable though, if you stay somewhat on top of it by reviewing with a study group every week or so and grind for a couple days before the exam, you'll be fine. He curves and drops the grading brackets so getting an A- to an A is not terribly difficult. Best of luck! #tCFSpring2022