Her exams were very difficult. There was a lot of reading to do before class in addition to homework assignments. It was hard to keep up. Very few questions on exams so it was hard to do well.

Avoid avoid avoid! She is literally awful, very inexperienced, exams are unfair & poorly worded. She grades unfairly & is very NOT understanding. The exams are nothing to what she teaches in class. Taking this class with her was like she wanted us to fail. She put all the obstacles that she possibly could in the way so we would fail. NOT LENIENT!!!

Honestly I am in shock that the BMB major at umass puts such an important class in her hands. I think that she is more concerned about making her class difficult than about her students understanding of the material. Worst professor I have ever had hard stop. If anything students should be petitioning for her removal from teaching this class.

She is combative when you ask questions. Her exams are difficult with very few questions. The class is an upper-level biochem class so I expected it to be difficult but she takes it to a new level.

I had Danai for both 423 and 276. She is the least receptive professor I have ever had, and is incredibly combative if you express frustration with her teaching style. She is unclear about assignments and refuses to answer questions. Exams are very poorly worded. She also often makes contradictory statements and then refuses to clear them up.

I don't know why Umass still has her around when she obviously do not know how to teach. She cares more about making her exam hard and difficult to follow than actually get the student to understand the material.

Exam questions are designed to be hard and do not fully capture the scope of lectures. Problem sets are also designed to lower points. Points will be deducted from your answer when the question doesn't even ask to specify which part.

Yes, she knows her material, BUT Professor Danai lectures at the speed of light, problem sets are so vague that they harm your grade as opposed to helping it, exams are difficult, homework is unforgiving (3 tries per question and it doesn't tell you where you got something wrong so you can fix it). She makes it as difficult as possible to do well.

I understand the material really well but the exams are made to be difficult. Barely enough time is given to complete them and the questions are heavily worded. Problem sets seem to hurt your grade more than help it, points are taken off for things she didnt even specify in the question. Try to avoid taking a class with her.

Professor Danai has been easily the WORST professor I've ever had at UMass. Biochem is a hard major and 423 is a hard course, but her class was not only hard it was miserable. She knows her stuff really well to give her credit. That said, she is passive aggressive, combative, unhelpful and gets angry and defensive if you ask her questions.

Not understanding at all, so if you mess up a question on an exam (- instead of +) shell just say oh well theres too many students. Doesnt seem to be sympathetic towards students in any way, doesnt give useful feedback on exams/through email, actually makes exams incredibly hard and so unlike practice exams, oh and lecture is dense. Run away.

I hated this class with a passion. She was so inaccessible and it was so hard to get her to meet with you one on one. It was like I was trying to make an appointment with president. Lectures are background information to the reading (and the hard stuff in the reading is not taught in class). Even if you put in the work, get ready to not do well.

Laura Danai was hands down the worst teacher I have had. At points, I thought she wanted me to fail her class. The only time that she even started to allow office hours was after people had complained to our advisors and she was essentially forced into it. She has no sense of care for her students and would rather see us work our asses off and fail

This was the hardest class I've taken at UMass. She was almost never available and didn't really listen to students feedback, instead, she became very defensive. She gives a lot of work and the exams are extremely hard. I learned more about my stress than biochem this semester.

I also tried to keep an open mind when it came to this class, but I clearly understand why Danai has the ratings she has. Exams are set up for you to fail. One full multiple choice question wrong on the final left me with a 93 grade. This is a great grade, and I am happy with it, but imagine getting a few questions wrong? Totally unfair grading.

Exhausted every way to approach this class. From readings, SIs, to hw practice. The exams ask difficult questions which seem impossible to complete within the time given. Same with the quizzes which are worth a lot. Problem sets are graded with an agenda to lower your class grade. She talks at the speed of light. Take notes on every word. Goodluck

Professor Danai does not care about her students, plain and simple. She grades certain assignments with ZERO leniency. It feels like an intentional attempt to lower grades. In an online setting it's difficult to seem human, but it's very difficult when you don't try to. I know nothing about her, she could be a robot for all I know.

Professor Danai made 423 so much more difficult than it needed to be. My friends and I followed her course objectives, read the textbook, and rewatched our lectures, but our grades were still not good. Danai is not approachable nor is she accomodating. I had to use a medical school textbook to study in order to do decently. Skip her if you can!!

Summary of class with Danai: I made a 50+ page study guide for our (non-cumulative) final, using a medical school textbook (because our textbook wasn't detailed enough for what she asked on the exams), and studied hard. I got an 80 on the final, and that was by far my highest exam grade in the class. Lesson learned: do not take her class.

Where to start. First and foremost, I got an A-... However, this was due to 20+ hours a week dedicated to solely this class. I got an A- in spite of this professor, not because of this professor. I'm fairly certain that she doesn't understand the material herself. Please give this class to a deserving grad student who would actually try.

Hardest class I ever taken at umass. Cried everyday, it's like this class spawned from hell. Just get ready to pray. The exams are almost impossible, she's never available. The quizzes and problem sets are extremely challenging. This course is required for biochem majors, and she is the only professor that teaches it.. So good luck, you'll need it.

Worst class ever! She prides herself in making that class hard but has no clue. She's still figuring things out it seems. She's inaccessible, only half an hour of virtual-recorded office hours(heard there was none before). Everyone I meet hates this class. Do yourself a favor and don't take this class! It's not good for your mental health! AVOIDDD!

oh my god she truly is the worst professor at umass. her class is incredibly difficult. it's nearly impossible in every aspect. she makes mistakes in lecturing, and confuses mostly everyone. you could fully understand the lecture material before an exam and then fail the test. I got entirely straight A's before this class, not anymore. 0/10

This is literally the worse class Ive ever taken. She rushes through lectures, hides behind teams instead of actually being available and prides herself on giving evil exams. Will teach new material the day before an exam and expect you to know it. I hope after this semester the school does something about this because this is not okay

Professor Danai makes an easier class impossible. She insists on using Microsoft Teams instead of the standard Moodle, making assignments, etc. harder to find. She consistently makes errors talking about the course material in lecture, leading to many, many corrections. It is my opinion that she is not qualified to teach high level biology. Avoid.

Mean, bad, worst professor ever. Exams are so difficult, tough grader for assignments, no extra credit at all.

This class honestly made me regret majoring in Biochemistry. It was way harder than it needed to be and Professor Danai was so unaccommodating .

She is completely disconnected from students. Writes exam questions that are impossible to understand, relies heavily on the textbook, and doesn't scale anything. A huge part of the grade is quizzes, which you are NOT given enough time for, and challenge problem sets that are intentionally difficult but graded for correctness. Avoid if possible!

Pick a God and pray to it because there's really no other way to pass. She says things that are just straight-up wrong during lectures, is unavailable after class, refuses to use Moodle, and writes the most far-fetched exam questions. My overall GPA is 3.906 and I'm getting a C/C- in this class. I genuinely dont understand how she is still employed

Professor Danai is not caring nor supportive of her students. Many students were doing poorly in the class and she was not accommodating at all to help them improve their grades. She does not feel like a real person and is not readily available or will try to interact with her students. Her exams were all over the place in terms of difficulty.

Danai is a great lecturer, her lecture are easy to follow and understand. She is very informative and organized when it comes to teaching. Best class in term of teaching and always love to come to class. Why a 1? I come to exam knowing all the material, but she test on some material that she never go over in class. She is rude and inaccessible.

The lectures are good, I think she's nice as she gave me extensions due to personal problems. Her exams were just way too hard

This class dominated my entire semester. The structure of this class is so unforgiving. You have to diligently do the readings. I'm all for feeling challenged in a course, but if you design the exams to trick students, don't make them also worth 60% of our grade. I never saw her bad side, but that's because I only spoke to her like 4-5 times. Skip!

Worst teacher I ever had. The professor who teaches it this semester is absolutely more caring and better at teaching.

Danai is the embodiment of a no-good, selfish, horrible professor who deserves to get review bombed as she is an aggressive monster and bully who has a huge ego, clearly thinks she’s better than her students, and is notorious for her inability to take criticism. Get this poor excuse of a person terminated from UMass.

The worst professor I have had at this school. If possible avoid at all costs.

This lady is NOT a human being. Laura Danai has a reputation for her nasty communication with students, inability to accept constructive feedback, and preventing students from learning by lambasting those who ask valid questions. Apart from that, she's unreasonable, close-minded, and mean, and it was a disappointment to take her biochem class.

The fact that Laura Danai claps back at students who voice constructive feedback on how she can fix her classes and destroys the sanity of students through her inability to write a reasonable exam serves as evidence that Laura Danai is the worst biochemistry professor of all time.

I want to preface this by saying that I got an A but with an immense amount of work. NOT WORTH IT. All the good reviews are other professors or TAs that were forced to write good things about her. There was no SI, few office hours, very difficult and poorly worded exams, and lack of overall communication. Upper lvl class, we r all smart, bad class!

Do NOT take any class with Laura Danai! She was incredibly lazy, disorganized and mean, and she clearly hated most of her students. Her inflexibility and lack of respect towards students with ruined sleep patterns also created an environment unsuitable for learning.

Probably the most unfair and evil professor at UMass. Leverages poor grades as an excuse to gaslight students. If you take a class with Laura Danai, don't expect to learn anything but rather expect to file reasonable complaints on her lack of empathy, hostile communication, and dangerous handling of a mandatory course for biochemistry majors.

Absolutely avoid this professor at all cost if you value your mental health

This isn't a weed-out class, it's a drop-out class. This was the hardest required class of the major. You have to work unproportionately hard only to get tricked on the exams (worth 60%). You're allowed a cheat sheet but no amount of information you put on it will save you. Nobody got an A; some of the smartest people I've ever met got C's in this.

Laura Danai is a blemish on an otherwise great biochemistry program. She takes pride in making her exams as unfair as possible, asking questions meant to trick students and covering topics that were never covered in lectures or in homework. She has no respect for her students and is condescending and hostile to students who ask questions.

My first C letter grade ever in uni. Her exam question writing is atrocious with only 18 questions per exam. Otherwise a great lecturer but sets incredibly high expectations for her students. Incredibly frustrated, don't take this class unless you absolute need this class

Class feels like a mass of confused people, except for the 10 people who somehow know everything because they are all friends with the TA's, who tell them what is on the tests, and share their notes/cheat sheets from prior semesters.

Inaccessible, uncompromising, and a terrible communicator. This is a professor that does NOT want you to succeed, and the class is treated like a freshman year weed-out class. Test questions are borderline sadistic, and your grade is your grade. Despite her imprecise language on exam questions, she accepts no disputes, and offers no extra credit.

This woman is useless. USELESS I tell you. I learned better when I stopped going to her lectures and just taught myself the material. She's also not a nice person, very condescending and passive aggressive. The material in this class isn't that hard but she makes every effort to burn you out from it.

Wow, this class has been a doozy. I wake up every morning and ask myself "is college really for me?" and the answer is "hell no" after almost completing this class. I do not typically bash professors, but Danai makes an effort to ensure students struggle and the difficulty of her exams 100% reflect that.

Hardest BMB class ever taken. The material is a lot & you do need to put in work, but I feel that Danai makes this so much more difficult. Her exams RARELY match any practice that is done, and her wording on exams always seemed deliberate to trip students up. Interesting material, but exams, and her way of explaining material make it unbearable.

She said we did a good job when the average on the exams were a C- across the class... Her exam questions are insane and borderline sadistic. Problem sets are graded so harshly, and it's extremely frustrating when I'd spend about 4-5 hours on them. Quizzes were really hard and heavily time constrained. This is coming from a straight A student.