Dr. Ma is interested in his student's successful learning. He will challenge you and force you to learn in ways you may never have been exposed to in a lecture setting, but if you put in the mental effort to follow the material, it is manageable. Go to lecture, and pay attention to the types of questions he focuses on.

Professor Ma was one of the best biology professors I have had at UCSB. He cares about his students and wants them to succeed. He emphasizes correlating similar concepts vs memorization which is nice. Go to every lecture! No iclicker but very important because he emphasizes the important topics. Exams were tough and requires you to apply concepts

Prof. Ma really engages you to the material and encouraged us to apply and connect concepts during the lectures and into the exams instead of purely memorizing. That said, the latter is still very important and hence makes 103 a very challenging class. The drawback is that your entire grade essentially rests on only a single midterm and the final.

Professor Ma is an amazing lecturer, and his teaching style is honestly a game changer. I got more out of his class than out of any other class I've taken since being in college. Grade is based almost entirely on midterm and final. Midterm was easy, but the final ruined my life. I would still recommend his class, teachers like this are rare.

Horrible, please avoid his class at all cost. He is a poor lecturer

Dr. Ma is a charming guy, and obviously loves what he is doing. MCDB 103 is just an incredibly difficult class, and will require a lot of your time and discipline if you plan to do well. I never showed up to lecture and let myself get behind in lecture watching, and I regret that. However, someone with more discipline than me could def succeed.

You need to understand each process in great detail because the midterm and ESPECIALLY the final are filled with material applying questions. This is a class you need to dedicate hours of your week studying for and study groups will help your grade. Midterm was easy imo, final was very difficult.

Dr. Ma is an extremely difficult professor-- there is no way to sugarcoat it. This course requires deep understandings of many different concepts in order to do somewhat well. Class average for the final was a 40% to put it into perspective. The "good" news is that if you are willingly to REALLY put in the work for an A, you have a decent shot.

Not a chill class whatsoever. The lectures cover the big picture of concepts while the midterm and final test on applying extremely small details to concepts not ever directly discussed. Almost no resources as far as practice problems. Exams are nothing like anything discussed in class. Take this class if you like being frustrated

Everyone saying this class is dense isnt lying. It was one and half hours reading off the slides with very little extra commentary. Class is comprised of one midterm and a final that tests how well you can memorize small details instead of knowledge of concepts. Class average was a 60, theres no winning, would definitely avoid.

Prof. Ma is a very caring professor. He wants you to succeed and is always trying to get you to think about the material in a deeper way. My problem was that the tests were always so much more difficult than the homework he assigned. This class ruined my straight A's lol. Never really used the textbook unless it was for clarification.

Dense class. Some people who took biochem before did well without even using textbook because of overlapping topics. I hadnt so it was a loooooot harder. Key to class is being able to understand how every detail works in a connected system. Memorizing basic definitions is useless for exams. Average on midterm was highish so he made final impossible

Dr. Ma is a really good Bio professor. The material in this class is pretty dense and sometimes hard to understand but Dr. Ma does an amazing job of explaining and simplifying things. If you listen to his lectures and take good notes, you won't need the textbook. Tests are pretty difficult but they contain no surprises - the material is what's said

Go to class, take notes, and keep up with the assignments and study until you understand things

This class covers a lot of detailed content so keeping up with the material on a weekly basis is a must. Ma is always willing to answer questions after class and in office hours. Midterm and final were very difficult but practice exams are posted so you know what to expect beforehand.

He doesnt test on what he teaches and the class averages are extremely low for both midterm and final. Also the course is curved on a B -/ C curve. Avoid this one if you can

nice guy, very hard class but curve saves you. I recommend recording lectures to make sure you can really grasp concepts and understand what he is saying. Must memorize and truly understand everything and then apply knowledge.

Exams were pretty hard and the average was about 59% on both the midterm and the final.

Ma is the most outstanding professor I've had in my 4 years at UCSB. His knowledge, charisma, and ability to effectively present large complex ideas makes this so. Read the book- Ma's lecture slides complement the book very well, but don't include small details. Exams test your knowledge well. Live and breath the correlative learning!

Teaches pretty well and seems helpful. He can be a bit boring at times though. His tests are extremely difficult. He tries to make you critically think by asking you questions that require you to really understand the concepts, though he practices some of these questions with you in class. There is also quite alot to memorize.

This class is hard because on top of the mountain of memorization you have to decipher Professor Ma's notes. That makes learning everything take a lot longer and makes it much more confusing to figure out. The textbook isn't much help either, it's unnecessarily dense and contains way more information than we cover.

One of the most intelligent professors I have had. Forces you to critically think and apply knowledge to answer questions. Tests are hard and require you to understand and think correlatively. Very approachable and wants you to succeed. Would definitely take a class with him again

Professor Ma is brilliant. This is a difficult course, but he is concise and has a uniquely admirable way of thinking and encouraging his students to think. Tests are difficult; must have a solid understanding of concepts to do well. Thick accent, so listen carefully. Take the honors section.

Very enthusiastic/passionate teacher. Read the text and pay thorough attention in lecture, some exams had questions only discussed in lecture. Some exam questions are confusing, do not be afraid to address/contest them. She does not curve her test. Lab exams are practicals. Tough class, be prepared to study and know the material thoroughly.