Probably one of the worst . Condescending and patronizing to undergrad students. I felt like a child in this class. Not very helpful in pre-lab lectures. Lots of self teaching.

In a few words she ruined my biochem experience, terrible. the labs could be very cool but she makes everything confusing and changes the manual a lot, most of the time last minute. Her templates make no sense. She expects a lot from us and don't teach anything. This woman does not deserves to be in BU or any teaching institutions.

Didem Vardar-Ulu is simply the worst professor at Boston University. She struggled to explain anything to the students. Her lectures were so bad, that attending them made me more confused on the material. Chem 101 is hell for any pre-med, but Vardar makes it worse. She was a month behind on her syllabus, and refused to tell us the class average.

She honestly means well but goes about it horribly. She makes papers due the same week as an exam. Her "lab manual" is changed all the time. She honestly should not be leading a laboratory section. All of the people who took the chem lab with her suffered while the bio lab were happy and dancing off in the sunset. Do yourself a favor. Take the bio.

DO NOT TAKE THE CHEM LAB. If you can you should ensure that you are in the Bio section of this lab because their work is easy and managable. This Prof makes huge assignments due the same week as an exam. You will be in lab 4 hours with no exceptions. I've even stayed a half an hour late. SO MUCH WORK. Do not take this with another heavy class.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS LAB. You will put in more time into this lab (which is only 30% of your grade) than the lecture section. This isn't teaching. IT'S TORTURE. So much work for not a lot of reward. This lab makes me sick to even think about. This is easily the most demanding a class has ever been.

I have never wanted to cry in a lab, scream, or just run out and never come back before - Vardar Ulu made that happen. She micromanages everything, constantly is shouting rather than speaking at a normal volume, and treats everyone like they're idiots. She sets students up for failure with their student projects. Take the bio lab. Seriously.

vardar-ulu is a bad professor not because she can't teach, but because she lacks compassion. her exams are ridiculously long and impossible to complete within the allotted amount of time. sp20 was completed online due to COVID-19 but her unwillingness to even adjust her schedule and teaching style in light of the circumstances is inhumane and wrong

Lots of works, and the graders are just tough (sometimes mean) on commenting your work. Classes are unorganized and run through everything fast(like paying all the tuition to teach yourself). Expecting you to go to OH to study. Rules for grading change too often and is really hard to catch up. Did not allow for judging the rule.

Most disorganized class I have taken at BU. Homework spread across four different platforms, almost required extra class time during testing block each week to understand what is going on in the course. The class is split into 3 "tracks" and the TA couldnt even tell you what was going on. Exams contained material we where told we wouldnt need.

She is the most disorganized professor I've ever seen at BU. Her class consists of so many parts that even TAs cannot even provide clear instruction. We have so many evaluations on other student's work for weekly quizzes and projects that it is meant to be 'engaging' but clearly it is nothing but annoys me every single time. Exams are hard.

She had way too many things to do. Too many different small assignments to keep track of. Three different websites we had to sign up for. Some weird projects and tracks that we had to decide. The lectures were so vague compared to the test. They were so tough. Averages were so low. She is terrible. Run.

I have never had a single class with more work and the work is extremely hard. We have online Achieve homework, weekly quizzes we then have to peer evaluate, midsemester projects, tophat homework discussion homework, exams that are insanely hard because you have to memorize every detail, etc.; it's impossible. Do not take this class with her.

At the beginning of the semester, she cited an article about "ungrading", which seemed very promising (it was a scam). She ultimately relied mostly on the test grades, ignoring all the criteria I had written for achieving a certain grade. She was also very condescending in my meetings with her. It was as if none of the other work I did mattered.

Lecture is hard to follow, not worth it most of the time. She has her whole thing about exams not mattering and that effort and progress is what matter most, but please do not get fooled as your exams are really the only thing that matters in this class as almost everything else is "optional." Extremely unclear on what you need to memorize

Biochem is already hard and stressful but the structure and organization of the class make it worse. Already stressed by the number of different learning platforms we have to use before we even learn the actual content.

Ridiculous. Extremely difficult and long exams. Tons of useless assignments that only cause more stress. Constantly pulling an all-nighter bc of this class. Made me miserable.

Worst professor at BU. Lecture slides are very unorganized and she flies through the slides during the lecture.

This class does me more harm than good. The exams are set up for you to fail. I put my life and soul into studying for this class, I go to office hours, I pay attention and take notes in lecture, and still there are things on the exams that I have never seen before and there is not nearly enough time to answer. Good luck, you'll need it.

Terrible professor who thinks giving thousands of assignments makes you learn better. It just becomes busy work and we don't learn anything. Also, she looks for hyper specific answers so be prepared to have all your answers be considered "not completely correct." Don't take this class if you don't have to.

She is so bad at explaining concepts...

The best professor at BU. Totally worth your money. You will love it here. Your time will be very well spent. She will inspire you to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry. One of the best courses I have taken at BU. You will not regret taking this course.

Can't imagine how BU thought hiring her to "teach" was a good idea.

Expect 3+ major projects* (not on syllabus), 3 exams (2 parts), 1 final, daily HW (Kritik), case studies, discussion packets, textbook HWs, supplementary materials, and more. All required, but get good exam grades or you have no chance. Multiple LONG learning journals to evaluate yourself. *2 video projects (no rubric/guidance) and website.

Know biomolecules (amino acids, carbs, nucleic acids, lipid) and metabolic pathways (glycolysis, CAC, elec transport). Know all amino acids (pKa + property), know fatty acid degredation + synthesis, nucleotide bases, non-covalent interactions, central dogma. Get a therapist too, expect gaslighting & no clarity for questions. I'm praying for you.

Take the class elsewhere. Just transfer the credit. Lectures are textbook excepts with no logical structure + inconsistencies. She constantly makes mistakes during lecture and can't answer her own questions. This class will not prepare you for your future courses/exams, unless you just self-study. Assignment requirements and deadlines not clear.

Spends 15-20 mins going over useless announcements and go on side tangents about course expectations rather than actually teaching the material. Whenever she tried to explain something, it was wrong. Would lie about what you were expected to know. You are better off never listening to her and self-learn everything and having many sleepless nights.

She is simply the most hilarious professor because it's obvious she lacks the knowledge about biochemistry, SEVERELY. Multiple times, students had to correct her during her own lecture. She copies exam questions from quizlet and grades on a golf scale. Take this class if you wish to be entertained by a comedian that attempts to teach biochemistry.

This class is a scam. Advertizes a subjective grading scheme where tests do not matter, but it's false. You must suck up to her and inflate her MASSIVE ego to get a good grade. Claims you can choose what assignments you can do to show what you learned, but you only do enough if you do everything. Also, you never know if you are doing well atm.

This class is the opposite of organized. She was all over the place in lectures. Never any clear criteria. Inconsistent with what you need to know for exams. Homework is spread across 5 different platforms. Had 2 projects that were never mentioned on the syllabus, and we were only told about a week before the due date. Stay away from this course

Thought this was an online course because I only used the online textbook to study. Vardar-ulu only made this class more confusing.

She acts as if she cares about her students and claims to make herself available to others about any issues in or out of class. Whenever someone brings up those issues, she uses them to attack her students. And if you ever even imply that her class is anything but perfect, she will send you straight to Tartarus.

She is the worst professor in a school with a stem department known for terrible professors. She has a god complex and believes her class structure is the future of education. She claims her class is stress-free, but I've regularly pulled all-nighters studying for her exams. MOST STRESSFUL CLASS EVER

You will literally struggle in all of your other classes due to how much time your spend on busywork in this class.

assignments are just busywork and take away time from your other courses and life. because there are so many projects (not on syllabus) you never find time to actually study

I just absolutely despise how I have no idea what my grade is at any point in the semester. Not a clue.

Do ALL of the work, get 100s on ALL of the exams, go to ALL of her Office Hours, do ALL of the "OPTIONAL" work, participate in ALL discussions, and MAYBE you'll get an A-.

Easily the worst class I've taken. Get ready for surprise assignments that aren't on the syllabus and to do some form of homework every single day for the class. Also don't listen to her study guide because she'll tell you that you don't need to know something then she'll put it on the test.

Worst "teacher" at BU

By far the most deranged teacher I've ever had in my 21 years of living. The homework does not stop. Her voice can grate rock. Her lectures have exactly 0 useful information. Unnecessary, over-complicated, incomprehensible grading system that took 3 lectures to explain. If I didn't need this class, I would have dropped it after the first lecture.

Worst professor I have ever had at bu. Almost dropped premed bc of this.. Even worse and more difficult than orgo and cell bio. You will only get a good grade in this class if you ace all the homeworks and exams, do all the "optional" homeworks and assignments, and attend all her office hours and tf office hours. She basically makes the curriculum

This class was the most awful experience of my life. It does not matter how much of the "optional" homework assignments you do, if she doesn't like you, you will not do well. She presents the class as flexible but it isn't. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU HAVE ANY WAY OF AVOIDING IT. I think this class genuinely messed with my psyche.

Don't. Please save yourself. Please.

only professor actively trying to sabotage you.

Stay away from this class if you can, take another biochem course. Biggest waste of my time this semester and I barely learned anything. She's a nice lady, but her lectures were painfully useless and instead she'd drop hours of busywork on everyone.

Would not recommend. Even after she made the course easier this semester, it is still incredibly challenging and took significant time out of my life. Tests are eldritch abominations that will pull content from the darkest recesses of her rushed lectures. Getting an A also depends on how much she likes you in some cases, so go to her office hours.

I am only two weeks into this course and I want to cry myself to sleep every night. I am spending 12+ hours on the required work PLUS reading the textbook and teaching myself. Please for the love of God take this class with a different professor if you can. save yourself!

I had to drop a class to keep up with this one. I don't know how to give this class time anymore, I'm already burnt out and it's only been 2 weeks.

it is impossible to keep up with the never ending assignments. if you dont keep up it is impossible to catch up and you will not understand what is happening in lecture unless you thoroughly read the textbook ahead of each class. this class is taking upwards of 20 hours of time outside of class per week. horrible for mental health.

By far the worst professor I've ever had. She assigns at least 12 hours of homework every single week and will give you a 1/3 for an assignment that took 5 hours because she thinks you didn't put enough effort. During lectures, she rambles more about how we can succeed in class rather than teach the material. 0/5 would recommend

In 21 years of my life, I have never ever encountered a teacher/professor who SPLITS exams into TWO PARTS. We take the first HALF of the exam in the morning, and the SECOND HALF in the evening. This was the most anxiety inducing class I have ever taken. This class taught me to be more grateful about my other professors, because her class is vile.

this is the worst professor i have ever had, and i truly think this is the worst professor to ever have existed. she is literally satan's mistress. if you can, avoid this class at all costs. she piles on homework after assignments on 35 different websites, making it confusing to see which assignments are due and where to find them. worst class ever

Unclear what was mandatory, you were graded based on two separate rubrics. People did so badly on the written portion of the exams that she had us do revisions where we could get full credit back and people still did badly with full internet access. So much busy work that does not prepare you for the exams.

Professors grading was extremely unclear. Overwhelming amount of material given with confusing instructions because syllabus required a certain number of points completed in each of the ~6 sections. Each section needed a certain grade minimum to achieve the grade you deserved, there was no averaging or “making up” for weak points with strengths.

She is the worst professor I have ever had. She constantly lies about what we will need to know and what we will be tested on. I always felt good about my knowledge of the course materials and could accurately explain things, but since I didn't explain it the way she wanted me to, I basically received failing grades. Just take CH421 instead.

She has no business being a professor. Pacing is insane, not just because it's a hard class but because she flies by the hardest stuff and drones on when introducing concepts. Lectures are impossible to follow. SO much busywork assigned as "quiz prep". If you're a biochem prodigy with no social life you might do well, everyone else good luck.

Everything bad you could have in a professor she's got. Bad slides, bad lecturer, lots of HW, difficult HW, time consuming HW, useless HW, bizarre tests, harsh grading, etc. Take 421/422 instead she is useless for your career. Average in the class is B+ as of mid semester, but grading is quite random and she lies on what you should know.

bad professor

DONT take this class unless you have biochem knowledge and PRISTINE mental health. This class landed me in a horrendous headspace feeling like there was absolutely nothing I could do to succeed. Quiz preps are ridiculous, difficult, and teach you nothing. She is very clear on grading criteria, but clear is no use when the entire class is drowning.

This class is an absolute nightmare. It was a required course for my major as for many other students so we had no choice but to take it. She tests on nitty gritty detail, and her test prep assignments requires a lot of work that many of us has to start in a week in advance with the help of several office hour visits. If not required, DO NOT TAKE!

Lectures were disorganized and hard to follow, and exams didn't reflect what was taught. I spent more time teaching myself than learning in class. Would not recommend for CH373 if you're looking for clarity or support. Genuinely a terrible time. Took years off of my lifespan.

Nice but cant run a class!

Professor Vardar-Ulu is a great person but a horrible teacher. Here is my advice: - watch youtube videos explaining concepts (AK lectures) - utilize the TFs - take a light courseload with this class - be prepared to do a lot of busy work Getting an A in the class isn't impossible since she curves generously, but be prepared to do a lot of work.

Nice individual, horrid professor. She does not teach well at all, lectures feel like a waste of time. There is so much HW. Too much. instead of actually studying and taking in the content you're constantly just trying to get it done on time, and its useless. She grades extremely harsh and expects you to instantly be an expert.

I had Vardar-Ulu last semester, and while she was accessible and kind in office hours and in class, her teaching was not at all what is needed to do well in her class. Her exams are often not straightforward, and she will only give credit for one specific answer. She oftentimes blames students for her errors or teaching grievances.

Nice person, but the amount of info she expects us to apply is excessive. Grading on written exams can be very subjective and doesn't always reflect how much you studied/know material bc of the wording. Lots of assignments on multiple platforms which takes lots of outside time, and often these types of questions don't even show up on the exam.

This class put me into a truly detrimental headspace where began to believe I was incapable of succeeding in any way, shape or form. She's very nice as a person, and she gave us lots of extra credit, but don't bank on that next semester because she changes the class substantially every year. I feel like I learned nothing, and got used to failing.

I disagree that the reviews are misleading. The professor is genuinely kind and wants students to succeed, but the way she teaches the content compared to the way she tests it on exams is night and day. Granted it's a hard subject, the grading harshness, specificity, and questions are significantly harder than 95% of other intro biochem courses.

She seems like a nice lady but the experience says otherwise. I have never had my mental health spiral as badly as when I was in this class. I spent 40 hours studying for the first exam just to get less than 50%. She gave no prep for how the multiple choice portion would be and acted surprised when the majority of the class failed the first quiz.