BCHM462 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Bonnie Dixon BCHM462 Expecting a W Anonymous 10/29/2024	Dr. Dixon is an awful professor. I typically do well in all of my classes and have good study habits. I am also pretty good at chemistry, i love the subject and feel like it comes naturally to me. With all that being said, not even i was able to survive Dixons Biochem 2 class. For context, i got an A+ in biochem 1 (which by no means was an easy class btw). Dixon is somewhat nice as a person, but her class is quite literally impossible. She will cram tons and tons and tons of material into one unit and your entire grade is determined by a 50 minute, awfully written and insanely difficult exam. In order to succeed, you need to eat, sleep and breathe biochemistry. This class ruined my mental health and i had to end up dropping it in order to not crash and burn. Dixon also doesn't really care for you as a person, if the entire class is failing, she will let the entire class fail, she will not implement any higher of a curve than she has established already. This class started out as 100 people and there is now less than half of the class left. Dixon does not want you to succeed.
Myles Poulin BCHM462 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2024	Dr. Poulin is a pretty great professor. He lectures well, and uploads his slides. I would encourage you to go to lecture, as a lot of the stuff he writes on the slides would be hard to comprehend without the context provided in class. Exams were challenging but fair. Weekly quizzes made sure you were keeping up with the class. Homeworks were more theoretical, but gave you a well rounded knowledge of energy metabolsim.
Myles Poulin BCHM462 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2024	Never had to work so hard for an A before. Got exactly the grade I needed on the final for an A in the class, and it took everything out of me during finals week to study for it. The class is very interesting and Poulin is a great teacher (and very helpful if you have questions), but the material can be daunting. Might've been an easier(ish) class if I read the textbook, but it was expensive. There is a lot to learn, but if you take the 20 mins to go over your notes and the slides after each lecture (which I should've done, but didn't), then you will be fine. Also, the material repeats itself often, and there are a lot of patterns that make it all easier to remember. Basically, you'll be fine. Also, go to office hours for the homeworks, the questions can be confusing. You will need to go to class - the slides are great study material on their own, but sometimes he says stuff during class that is very good to know for the exams. He doesn't record lectures. Overall, the class was great, and Poulin was very helpful and knowledgeable. There were three midterms, the average on all of them was about a 78% (+/- 1%). Since you're probably wondering, the grade cut-offs for my semester were: 90% for an A, 86% A-, 82% B+, 79% B, 75% B-, 60% C.
Myles Poulin BCHM462 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/26/2023	This class was difficult and required A LOT of memorization. Every lecture was intense and it was very easy to get overwhelmed. Dr. Poulin does give old exams and would sometimes reuse old questions. It’s very important to understand and memorize mechanisms. It’s also important to go over small details instead of just glancing through notes generally. He doesn’t record lectures and you won’t be able to understand his slides without attending lectures. He also uses the textbook for his slides, so the textbook really helps with explanations. The curve was very generous with a C- being a 50, a B- being a 71, and an A- being an 81. Overall, the class was difficult but Dr. Poulin was very energetic and made the class more interesting. I enjoyed BCHM 2 a lot more than BCHM 1.
Bonnie Dixon BCHM462 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/20/2023	Dr. Dixon is a great lecturer and I felt like she kept me engaged in the content the entire course. I know biochemistry is not an easy subject but I thought the way Dr. Dixon presented it made it much more manageable. I will say her HWs and exams tend to be more challenging than you may expect, but her ideology is to get you to think like a scientist and be able to apply the concepts you learn in unfamiliar situations. Dr. Dixon may not be the best option for an easy A, but if you really want to understand what you're learning, I highly recommend her.
Bonnie Dixon BCHM462 Expecting a W Anonymous 12/17/2022	I will say that Dr. Dixon knows her stuff as an academic. It is clear that she knows the material well enough to be teaching it, but the way she chooses to communicate that understanding is not fit for students, even in an upper-level class. Aside from that, she is very condescending, and when the class doesn't do well on one of her exams, she blames the students for not trying hard enough and saying that the effort was "disrespectful to her profession and the material". Don't take her class if you want to do well or understand the material.
Douglas Julin BCHM462 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/20/2022	If you have to choose between Professor Julin or Professor Poulin I would go with Julin for many reasons: 1. He doesn't require you to do so many other assignments for your grade in the class like Professor Poulin had prescribed in his syllabus for the Spring 2022 semester (I originally had him but immediately switched when I saw you had to do these discussion board type things every week and show 70% effort plus HW, plus quizzes-i think- ontop of participation and exams); this semester Julin only had 5 grades he gave out 3 midterms, 1 final exam and clicker questions which if you tried you got at least 50% on them and they only help your grade really. 2. There is a significant curve and you want to make sure you are at or above the average of the class to guarantee a great grade; while Poulin didn't mention any curve in his syllabus (Julin doesn't tell you the breakdown of the grade cutoffs but I have found it never to be an issue). 3. He is nice, responsive, and detailed in his explanations of the matter/concepts and when responding to any questions. 4. He records his lectures (including the blackboard and slides he preps so you can rewatch each lecture or be sure to not miss out if you for some reason miss class). 5. He provides previous exam questions and answers for you to study (HIGHLY RECOMMEND STUDYING THESE BECAUSE YOU WILL SEE SOME SIMILAR QUESTIONS). Note: While the class was similar it was different from my experience with him in BCHM461 where we had 4 HW assignments that helped you better understand the material; but other than that it was the exact same.
Myles Poulin BCHM462 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/18/2022	Honestly Dr.Poulin is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Def top 3 in all time greatest professors I’ve had(possible even the best). Biochem 2 is probably the peak hardest class in the biochem department or at least one of the harder upper level courses. Dr.Poulin makes it SO much better and honestly if it wasn’t for him I don’t know if I would have done as well. He is extremely well versed in his subject and you can ask him almost any question and he’ll have an answer. Very approachable and extremely helpful. His teaching is really good and makes a lot of sense to me. YOU NEED TO TAKE HIM. I’m telling you will be one of the coolest and best professors you have ever had. BCHM462 can be challenging—especially if you are already taking mam phys(Bsci440) with it—I recommend taking each in separate semesters. If you have to take it, take it with Poulin I promise you will not be disappointed.
Douglas Julin BCHM462 Anonymous 09/17/2021	I had Dr. Julin for BCHM 461 and am currently in his BCHM 462 class. Fantastic lecturer. Definitely one of the best biochemistry lecturers in the department. Highly organized notes and methodical, comprehensible explanations for biochemical topics made for some of the most structured, easy to understand notes I have written in my three years so far as an undergrad. Dr. Julin is responsive to student concerns and questions and absolutely cares about our understanding of the course material. If you have the choice to take him for biochemistry, take him.
Myles Poulin BCHM462 Anonymous 05/15/2019	I absolutely adore him! He is a natural when it comes to teaching. :)
Myles Poulin BCHM462 Anonymous 12/16/2018	Wants students to learn material and clickers are for participation so they're easy points. Really nice and approachable unlike other profs.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2013	To do well in his class, need to do his old exams and understand how to answer the questions. He sometimes copy and paste stuff from his old exams, which helps a lot. The curve is also huge, which shows that this class is difficult even though his exams are similar to the past exams. I got a F on the first exam, but ended up with an A, so do not lose hope if you failed the first exam. Also this class is like Organic Chem with all the reactions that you have to memorize.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2013	Prof. Lorimer is a sweet guy. The material is dry but he tries his best to make everyone understand. But good grief his exams are difficult! It is easy to get demoralized especially if you're an average student like me. I took the class hoping he repeat the questions from old exams like others in this thread say but it simply wasn't the case at least until the final. Don't go in unprepared, you actually have to study the material, or you will get blindsided like me on the first exams. It wasn't even funny. Don't take it if you don't have to. Otherwise, I weep for those who have to.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2013	Very hard class but if you have interest in biochemistry and a decent work ethic you should have no trouble doing well! The subject matter is fascinating, if you are interested in medicine or biochem this is all information you will at some point need to master. I have a hard time understanding Dr Lorimer's poor ratings. He comprehensively, clearly, and passionately explained all the material and made many efforts for his students to review the material. He constantly made efforts to make himself available outside of class for struggling students, and made expectations crystal clear. I felt his tests were reasonable given the innate difficulty of the material, and he does provide practice material.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2013	I wanted to review Professor Lorimer months ago, but was afraid of getting ahead of myself in a potentially premature review. There's one reason why-- this is quite possibly the easiest class you will ever take, and for one simple reason. His exams are anywhere from 33% to 90%+ old exam questions stretching from 2010 to 2012. Exam questions he gives you MONTHS in advance. It almost negates the point of even having a class or looking over lecture notes, which is sort of a shame because the material is pretty interesting. Your grade is comprised of 3 exams. That's it. No homework, no projects, no quizzes. The third exam is the "final" but it's not cumulative. Exam 1 was perhaps the hardest with maybe a third of the test being comprised of old questions (and know your fundamental reactions, they'll show up a lot). Exam 2 was almost 60% reused from past exams, INCLUDING a 20 point take-home portion which was almost IDENTICAL to a previous years take home portion... which he provided answers to. Now, I'm reviewing him today. The day of the final exam. A miracle happened. Every. Single. Question. Was. Reused. That's right, among the exams he freely put up on his Biochemistry ELMS-equivalent, the exams he cited in lecture and in review sessions... there was not one single new question on the final that had not been seen previously. Sure, a few of the molecules were marginally different but the means of solving the problems never changed. I have never seen anything like this in a class before, let alone a 400 level course. It's effectively a guaranteed A provided you look over old tests. It's practically cheating. I'd almost say it WERE cheating, but he seems to almost ENCOURAGE this. At a review session, he even essentially told us that a problem on last year's exam would make a reappearance and that we should "remember how to do it." I've been told this class is hard. I was dreading taking it. At the end of the day, taking BCHM462 with Professor Lorimer was perhaps the easiest way to make it through the course and I'm thankful for that. Prof. Lorimer himself is an interesting character. He has a neat accent, a small stutter when starting certain sentences and a can of diet soda always by his side. The man seems genuinely interested in the material and generally pretty knowledgeable... he doesn't appear especially interested in the whole "teaching" part of the class. I don't think he's shown up for an exam once, opting to just send the TA in with a stack of tests instead. So... that's what it comes down to. If you want to do well in BCHM462, take it with Professor Lorimer. You may not feel like you earned your grades at the end of the day, but you'll have a much less stressful semester overall.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Anonymous 12/15/2013	One of the biggest regrets I have in college is choosing the BCHM461/462 classes to fulfill my microbiology major. The main reason: this damn class. I tried. I tried really hard. But the way he grades is so unbelievably unfair, it kills you a bit inside. I wanted to learn the material, and before each exam I thought I understood what was going on. But actually knowing the material doesn't help you take the exams. All the tests either exact copy and paste questions from his old exams, or they are new questions and are infuriatingly difficult and specific. Also, the class is just based off of the three exams, so god forbid you mess one up. The average for each of the exams was about a 60. Who knows how he is going to curve it. I hated this class, I hated hated hated it. Lorimer is so obviously lazy, only there to do research, and doesn't give a half a shit about teaching.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A+ typicalterp 05/19/2013	Very hard class. Exams that really challenge you and require you to know what's going on, at the atomic level. Review past exams!!! Study the mechanisms very well and go to class, because I thought that the readings were not too useful for doing well in the exams. Lorimer's exams are notorious and infamous, so don't feel bad if you don't do too well in the beginning. I found his accent understandable but he covers a lot of material in one class. Yes, it is like drinking out of a fire hose, as someone else mentioned. Don't take this class just for "fun", or as an elective, unless you are a biochem whiz. It is intended for majors and requires a lot of effort to do well.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2013	Dr. Lorimer's exams are 10 questions. 7 of the questions are from previous semester's exams. Learning is memorization. I went to all Lorimer's lectures as an introduction for the material. Each class on average he gives one lecture, with 60 slides on the presentation. All of the lecture slides are posted of the website for the course along with old exams. More exams are on the same website and can be found by going to the previous semesters section. If you go to class the professor will emphasize which slides he fells are important.And which are just examples. Professor Lorimer really likes to ask questions that ask you to locate specific atoms through a metabolic pathway. The atoms are tracked with isotopes. Know the 7 Fundamental Biochemical Mechanisms. It is really sad that people do not do well in this course. The only way I can explain not doing well is by not studying the old exams and understanding why the answers are as they are. He gives the questions of the exams months in advance. How can one possibly complain?
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/20/2013	I did well in this class and cannot even feel proud of it. I'm okay with professors that are a little stern with students, but Professor Lorimer is counterproductive. I do not attribute my good grades to his teaching. I attended two, maybe three lectures, outside of exams. According to his syllabus, Dr. Lorimer wants to "distinguish those students who have made the effort to master the material from..........the biochemically challenged" (directly copied and pasted, ellipses included). I don't feel distinguished or proud, because his lazy methods don't match his harsh demands. Dr. Lorimer uploads most of his old exams and their answer keys to his website as study guides. Then, he recycles his questions VERBATIM, 100% COMPLETELY WORD-FOR-WORD onto his new exams. Sometimes you can even see the old number next to the question because he copy-pasted the question as an image into the new exam. When I took the new exams, and started writing all the old answers that Dr. Lorimer had given us on his website, it FELT like cheating, except it was completely authorized by the professor, since he had PUT the answers on his website. I think most people who ended up with B's probably tried to study the lecture notes and powerpoint slides. I feel bad that they got B's, because they probably studied the material better than I did. He thinks his system distinguishes me and others as biochemically talented, and that gives him a right to treat the rest of his students poorly. I have little respect for this professor's pretentious manners, and absolutely none at all for his ineffective teaching methods.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting a B- Anonymous515 05/21/2011	He absolutely does not care about teaching this class or any students. He in fact gloated over how he was failing like 30% of his class, which considering that this is a 400 level class is completely wrong, since the majority of the students have already passed all other classes to get here. His teaching style is all over the place, he does not focus well on a subject and mostly it is just blatant memorization, which considering it is chemical structures and processes is extremely difficult. His exam key demands for you to have correct wording that he has in his slides and if you have anything other than that you get points off. In short if you have any other choice but him take that professor instead.
George Lorimer BCHM462 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/15/2011	I cannot believe that noone has negatively reviewed Professor Lorimer yet. He is blatantly purely here for research and obviously thinks student are below him. He tells you on the syllabus he plans on giving the class 60% of the class C's and below. The averages on the exams are around a 50/100. He emphasizes chemistry rather than biology for biochemistry so all you do is memorize mechanisms and have terrible flashbacks to orgo. DO NOT TAKE HIM IF YOU CAN HELP IT. Even other professors describe his teaching style as "trying to drink out of a fire hose"...literally just blasts information at you. Also has a scottish accent and you can't understand anything he says.
Douglas Julin BCHM462 Expecting an A hyeung1 03/05/2010	Dr Julin is probably one of the top lecturer in the department... He's approachable, answers your questions completely, holds review sessions, answers emails within a day, comes to class fully prepared. Even when I had an all-nighter, I can never fall asleep in his class for some reason. His exams are not that hard if you really understand the material...questions usually involves making you think about a similar enzyme or similar mechanism...he uses applications on his exams (apply what you learned in class to another system) the worst are the open ended questions because they are so ambiguous and unclear. His averages are actually pretty decent. I got 98%, 85%, 100% on his midterms.
Douglas Julin BCHM462 Anonymous 12/18/2009	I really liked Professor Julin. He's a great lecturer, really gets the point across. Makes some strange but funny (maybe only to nerds like me) jokes. His exams are difficult in that it really tests understanding of the material he teaches, but I think they're pretty fair. I bombed the first test because I didn't know what I was expecting, but pulled up at the end. Definitely put your thinking caps on in this class, if you're going in just to memorize, I don't think you'll do as well as you expect. Lots of Mechanism, some facts, and physiological applications. Loved the class really felt like it was a logical organization that integrated chem/biochem/biology. I look forward to having BCHM3 with him next semester! Oh and those of you who are reading just for this: large curve I think 45% was a C for my semester.

Bonnie Dixon
BCHM462

Expecting a W
Anonymous
10/29/2024

Dr. Dixon is an awful professor. I typically do well in all of my classes and have good study habits. I am also pretty good at chemistry, i love the subject and feel like it comes naturally to me. With all that being said, not even i was able to survive Dixons Biochem 2 class. For context, i got an A+ in biochem 1 (which by no means was an easy class btw). Dixon is somewhat nice as a person, but her class is quite literally impossible. She will cram tons and tons and tons of material into one unit and your entire grade is determined by a 50 minute, awfully written and insanely difficult exam. In order to succeed, you need to eat, sleep and breathe biochemistry. This class ruined my mental health and i had to end up dropping it in order to not crash and burn. Dixon also doesn't really care for you as a person, if the entire class is failing, she will let the entire class fail, she will not implement any higher of a curve than she has established already. This class started out as 100 people and there is now less than half of the class left. Dixon does not want you to succeed.

Myles Poulin
BCHM462

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2024

Dr. Poulin is a pretty great professor. He lectures well, and uploads his slides. I would encourage you to go to lecture, as a lot of the stuff he writes on the slides would be hard to comprehend without the context provided in class. Exams were challenging but fair. Weekly quizzes made sure you were keeping up with the class. Homeworks were more theoretical, but gave you a well rounded knowledge of energy metabolsim.

Myles Poulin
BCHM462

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2024

Never had to work so hard for an A before. Got exactly the grade I needed on the final for an A in the class, and it took everything out of me during finals week to study for it. The class is very interesting and Poulin is a great teacher (and very helpful if you have questions), but the material can be daunting. Might've been an easier(ish) class if I read the textbook, but it was expensive. There is a lot to learn, but if you take the 20 mins to go over your notes and the slides after each lecture (which I should've done, but didn't), then you will be fine. Also, the material repeats itself often, and there are a lot of patterns that make it all easier to remember. Basically, you'll be fine. Also, go to office hours for the homeworks, the questions can be confusing. You will need to go to class - the slides are great study material on their own, but sometimes he says stuff during class that is very good to know for the exams. He doesn't record lectures. Overall, the class was great, and Poulin was very helpful and knowledgeable. There were three midterms, the average on all of them was about a 78% (+/- 1%). Since you're probably wondering, the grade cut-offs for my semester were: 90% for an A, 86% A-, 82% B+, 79% B, 75% B-, 60% C.

Myles Poulin
BCHM462

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/26/2023

This class was difficult and required A LOT of memorization. Every lecture was intense and it was very easy to get overwhelmed. Dr. Poulin does give old exams and would sometimes reuse old questions. It’s very important to understand and memorize mechanisms. It’s also important to go over small details instead of just glancing through notes generally. He doesn’t record lectures and you won’t be able to understand his slides without attending lectures. He also uses the textbook for his slides, so the textbook really helps with explanations. The curve was very generous with a C- being a 50, a B- being a 71, and an A- being an 81. Overall, the class was difficult but Dr. Poulin was very energetic and made the class more interesting. I enjoyed BCHM 2 a lot more than BCHM 1.

Bonnie Dixon
BCHM462

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/20/2023

Dr. Dixon is a great lecturer and I felt like she kept me engaged in the content the entire course. I know biochemistry is not an easy subject but I thought the way Dr. Dixon presented it made it much more manageable. I will say her HWs and exams tend to be more challenging than you may expect, but her ideology is to get you to think like a scientist and be able to apply the concepts you learn in unfamiliar situations. Dr. Dixon may not be the best option for an easy A, but if you really want to understand what you're learning, I highly recommend her.

Bonnie Dixon
BCHM462

Expecting a W
Anonymous
12/17/2022

I will say that Dr. Dixon knows her stuff as an academic. It is clear that she knows the material well enough to be teaching it, but the way she chooses to communicate that understanding is not fit for students, even in an upper-level class. Aside from that, she is very condescending, and when the class doesn't do well on one of her exams, she blames the students for not trying hard enough and saying that the effort was "disrespectful to her profession and the material". Don't take her class if you want to do well or understand the material.

Douglas Julin
BCHM462

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/20/2022

If you have to choose between Professor Julin or Professor Poulin I would go with Julin for many reasons: 1. He doesn't require you to do so many other assignments for your grade in the class like Professor Poulin had prescribed in his syllabus for the Spring 2022 semester (I originally had him but immediately switched when I saw you had to do these discussion board type things every week and show 70% effort plus HW, plus quizzes-i think- ontop of participation and exams); this semester Julin only had 5 grades he gave out 3 midterms, 1 final exam and clicker questions which if you tried you got at least 50% on them and they only help your grade really. 2. There is a significant curve and you want to make sure you are at or above the average of the class to guarantee a great grade; while Poulin didn't mention any curve in his syllabus (Julin doesn't tell you the breakdown of the grade cutoffs but I have found it never to be an issue). 3. He is nice, responsive, and detailed in his explanations of the matter/concepts and when responding to any questions. 4. He records his lectures (including the blackboard and slides he preps so you can rewatch each lecture or be sure to not miss out if you for some reason miss class). 5. He provides previous exam questions and answers for you to study (HIGHLY RECOMMEND STUDYING THESE BECAUSE YOU WILL SEE SOME SIMILAR QUESTIONS). Note: While the class was similar it was different from my experience with him in BCHM461 where we had 4 HW assignments that helped you better understand the material; but other than that it was the exact same.

Myles Poulin
BCHM462

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/18/2022

Honestly Dr.Poulin is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Def top 3 in all time greatest professors I’ve had(possible even the best). Biochem 2 is probably the peak hardest class in the biochem department or at least one of the harder upper level courses. Dr.Poulin makes it SO much better and honestly if it wasn’t for him I don’t know if I would have done as well. He is extremely well versed in his subject and you can ask him almost any question and he’ll have an answer. Very approachable and extremely helpful. His teaching is really good and makes a lot of sense to me. YOU NEED TO TAKE HIM. I’m telling you will be one of the coolest and best professors you have ever had. BCHM462 can be challenging—especially if you are already taking mam phys(Bsci440) with it—I recommend taking each in separate semesters. If you have to take it, take it with Poulin I promise you will not be disappointed.

Douglas Julin
BCHM462

Anonymous
09/17/2021

I had Dr. Julin for BCHM 461 and am currently in his BCHM 462 class. Fantastic lecturer. Definitely one of the best biochemistry lecturers in the department. Highly organized notes and methodical, comprehensible explanations for biochemical topics made for some of the most structured, easy to understand notes I have written in my three years so far as an undergrad. Dr. Julin is responsive to student concerns and questions and absolutely cares about our understanding of the course material. If you have the choice to take him for biochemistry, take him.

Myles Poulin
BCHM462

Anonymous
05/15/2019

I absolutely adore him! He is a natural when it comes to teaching. :)

Myles Poulin
BCHM462

Anonymous
12/16/2018

Wants students to learn material and clickers are for participation so they're easy points. Really nice and approachable unlike other profs.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/25/2013

To do well in his class, need to do his old exams and understand how to answer the questions. He sometimes copy and paste stuff from his old exams, which helps a lot. The curve is also huge, which shows that this class is difficult even though his exams are similar to the past exams. I got a F on the first exam, but ended up with an A, so do not lose hope if you failed the first exam. Also this class is like Organic Chem with all the reactions that you have to memorize.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/22/2013

Prof. Lorimer is a sweet guy. The material is dry but he tries his best to make everyone understand. But good grief his exams are difficult! It is easy to get demoralized especially if you're an average student like me. I took the class hoping he repeat the questions from old exams like others in this thread say but it simply wasn't the case at least until the final. Don't go in unprepared, you actually have to study the material, or you will get blindsided like me on the first exams. It wasn't even funny. Don't take it if you don't have to. Otherwise, I weep for those who have to.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/21/2013

Very hard class but if you have interest in biochemistry and a decent work ethic you should have no trouble doing well! The subject matter is fascinating, if you are interested in medicine or biochem this is all information you will at some point need to master. I have a hard time understanding Dr Lorimer's poor ratings. He comprehensively, clearly, and passionately explained all the material and made many efforts for his students to review the material. He constantly made efforts to make himself available outside of class for struggling students, and made expectations crystal clear. I felt his tests were reasonable given the innate difficulty of the material, and he does provide practice material.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2013

I wanted to review Professor Lorimer months ago, but was afraid of getting ahead of myself in a potentially premature review. There's one reason why-- this is quite possibly the easiest class you will ever take, and for one simple reason. His exams are anywhere from 33% to 90%+ old exam questions stretching from 2010 to 2012. Exam questions he gives you MONTHS in advance. It almost negates the point of even having a class or looking over lecture notes, which is sort of a shame because the material is pretty interesting. Your grade is comprised of 3 exams. That's it. No homework, no projects, no quizzes. The third exam is the "final" but it's not cumulative. Exam 1 was perhaps the hardest with maybe a third of the test being comprised of old questions (and know your fundamental reactions, they'll show up a lot). Exam 2 was almost 60% reused from past exams, INCLUDING a 20 point take-home portion which was almost IDENTICAL to a previous years take home portion... which he provided answers to. Now, I'm reviewing him today. The day of the final exam. A miracle happened. Every. Single. Question. Was. Reused. That's right, among the exams he freely put up on his Biochemistry ELMS-equivalent, the exams he cited in lecture and in review sessions... there was not one single new question on the final that had not been seen previously. Sure, a few of the molecules were marginally different but the means of solving the problems never changed. I have never seen anything like this in a class before, let alone a 400 level course. It's effectively a guaranteed A provided you look over old tests. It's practically cheating. I'd almost say it WERE cheating, but he seems to almost ENCOURAGE this. At a review session, he even essentially told us that a problem on last year's exam would make a reappearance and that we should "remember how to do it." I've been told this class is hard. I was dreading taking it. At the end of the day, taking BCHM462 with Professor Lorimer was perhaps the easiest way to make it through the course and I'm thankful for that. Prof. Lorimer himself is an interesting character. He has a neat accent, a small stutter when starting certain sentences and a can of diet soda always by his side. The man seems genuinely interested in the material and generally pretty knowledgeable... he doesn't appear especially interested in the whole "teaching" part of the class. I don't think he's shown up for an exam once, opting to just send the TA in with a stack of tests instead. So... that's what it comes down to. If you want to do well in BCHM462, take it with Professor Lorimer. You may not feel like you earned your grades at the end of the day, but you'll have a much less stressful semester overall.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Anonymous
12/15/2013

One of the biggest regrets I have in college is choosing the BCHM461/462 classes to fulfill my microbiology major. The main reason: this damn class. I tried. I tried really hard. But the way he grades is so unbelievably unfair, it kills you a bit inside. I wanted to learn the material, and before each exam I thought I understood what was going on. But actually knowing the material doesn't help you take the exams. All the tests either exact copy and paste questions from his old exams, or they are new questions and are infuriatingly difficult and specific. Also, the class is just based off of the three exams, so god forbid you mess one up. The average for each of the exams was about a 60. Who knows how he is going to curve it. I hated this class, I hated hated hated it. Lorimer is so obviously lazy, only there to do research, and doesn't give a half a shit about teaching.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A+
typicalterp
05/19/2013

Very hard class. Exams that really challenge you and require you to know what's going on, at the atomic level. Review past exams!!! Study the mechanisms very well and go to class, because I thought that the readings were not too useful for doing well in the exams. Lorimer's exams are notorious and infamous, so don't feel bad if you don't do too well in the beginning. I found his accent understandable but he covers a lot of material in one class. Yes, it is like drinking out of a fire hose, as someone else mentioned. Don't take this class just for "fun", or as an elective, unless you are a biochem whiz. It is intended for majors and requires a lot of effort to do well.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2013

Dr. Lorimer's exams are 10 questions. 7 of the questions are from previous semester's exams. Learning is memorization. I went to all Lorimer's lectures as an introduction for the material. Each class on average he gives one lecture, with 60 slides on the presentation. All of the lecture slides are posted of the website for the course along with old exams. More exams are on the same website and can be found by going to the previous semesters section. If you go to class the professor will emphasize which slides he fells are important.And which are just examples. Professor Lorimer really likes to ask questions that ask you to locate specific atoms through a metabolic pathway. The atoms are tracked with isotopes. Know the 7 Fundamental Biochemical Mechanisms. It is really sad that people do not do well in this course. The only way I can explain not doing well is by not studying the old exams and understanding why the answers are as they are. He gives the questions of the exams months in advance. How can one possibly complain?

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/20/2013

I did well in this class and cannot even feel proud of it. I'm okay with professors that are a little stern with students, but Professor Lorimer is counterproductive. I do not attribute my good grades to his teaching. I attended two, maybe three lectures, outside of exams. According to his syllabus, Dr. Lorimer wants to "distinguish those students who have made the effort to master the material from..........the biochemically challenged" (directly copied and pasted, ellipses included). I don't feel distinguished or proud, because his lazy methods don't match his harsh demands. Dr. Lorimer uploads most of his old exams and their answer keys to his website as study guides. Then, he recycles his questions VERBATIM, 100% COMPLETELY WORD-FOR-WORD onto his new exams. Sometimes you can even see the old number next to the question because he copy-pasted the question as an image into the new exam. When I took the new exams, and started writing all the old answers that Dr. Lorimer had given us on his website, it FELT like cheating, except it was completely authorized by the professor, since he had PUT the answers on his website. I think most people who ended up with B's probably tried to study the lecture notes and powerpoint slides. I feel bad that they got B's, because they probably studied the material better than I did. He thinks his system distinguishes me and others as biochemically talented, and that gives him a right to treat the rest of his students poorly. I have little respect for this professor's pretentious manners, and absolutely none at all for his ineffective teaching methods.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting a B-
Anonymous515
05/21/2011

He absolutely does not care about teaching this class or any students. He in fact gloated over how he was failing like 30% of his class, which considering that this is a 400 level class is completely wrong, since the majority of the students have already passed all other classes to get here. His teaching style is all over the place, he does not focus well on a subject and mostly it is just blatant memorization, which considering it is chemical structures and processes is extremely difficult. His exam key demands for you to have correct wording that he has in his slides and if you have anything other than that you get points off. In short if you have any other choice but him take that professor instead.

George Lorimer
BCHM462

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/15/2011

I cannot believe that noone has negatively reviewed Professor Lorimer yet. He is blatantly purely here for research and obviously thinks student are below him. He tells you on the syllabus he plans on giving the class 60% of the class C's and below. The averages on the exams are around a 50/100. He emphasizes chemistry rather than biology for biochemistry so all you do is memorize mechanisms and have terrible flashbacks to orgo. DO NOT TAKE HIM IF YOU CAN HELP IT. Even other professors describe his teaching style as "trying to drink out of a fire hose"...literally just blasts information at you. Also has a scottish accent and you can't understand anything he says.

Douglas Julin
BCHM462

Expecting an A
hyeung1
03/05/2010

Dr Julin is probably one of the top lecturer in the department... He's approachable, answers your questions completely, holds review sessions, answers emails within a day, comes to class fully prepared. Even when I had an all-nighter, I can never fall asleep in his class for some reason. His exams are not that hard if you really understand the material...questions usually involves making you think about a similar enzyme or similar mechanism...he uses applications on his exams (apply what you learned in class to another system) the worst are the open ended questions because they are so ambiguous and unclear. His averages are actually pretty decent. I got 98%, 85%, 100% on his midterms.

Douglas Julin
BCHM462

Anonymous
12/18/2009

I really liked Professor Julin. He's a great lecturer, really gets the point across. Makes some strange but funny (maybe only to nerds like me) jokes. His exams are difficult in that it really tests understanding of the material he teaches, but I think they're pretty fair. I bombed the first test because I didn't know what I was expecting, but pulled up at the end. Definitely put your thinking caps on in this class, if you're going in just to memorize, I don't think you'll do as well as you expect. Lots of Mechanism, some facts, and physiological applications. Loved the class really felt like it was a logical organization that integrated chem/biochem/biology. I look forward to having BCHM3 with him next semester! Oh and those of you who are reading just for this: large curve I think 45% was a C for my semester.

Reviews for BCHM462