A number of requests for a BCMB30004 (Cell Signalling & Neurochem) review so I will write a short one here and maybe a full length one later on.
Negatives:
The subject timetable wasn't uploaded until like week 3. Prof Cheng (main lecturer/subject coordinator) uploads dozens of files onto the LMS, ranging from extra lectures from different scientists to molsoft (protein visualizing software) files. There is never any clear indication as to what amount of detail you are expected to know for the assessments, from the lectures (he goes into tons of detail in some) and from these extra learning materials for A/prof Cheng's part. He insists that everything is important but going through everything would take all the time in your life, so try and be smart about what you decide to leave out of revision. You also had to listen to a number of pre-recorded lectures (from previous years?) to be fully prepared for the MSTs and the exam. Many of the slides by A/prof Cheng and one or two other lecturers were chaotic and made revision much harder, which I think has been brought up in other subject reviews.
The MSTs are oddly timed at the end of week 8 and in week 11, meaning mst1, a 7.5% exam assesses 7 weeks of content in like 40 mins while MST2 only tests like 3. The saving grace was that if you knew your lectures very well (Tip: learn how to draw/explain things in a diagram) getting H1s on both was quite possible, or so I was told
For the 15% essay you get to choose from a range of topics given by each of the main lecturers. I chose Prof Cheng's, which had no clear link to the course content of Cell Signalling and Neurochemistry. The topic was interesting though.
I wasn't a fan of many of the lecturers either whose lecturing styles I thought were very uninspiring. One of the guest lecturers went into tons and tons of detail and left many things on the slides out of her explanations. Many of the lectures feel disjointed, partly because 'Cell Signalling' and 'Neurochemistry' are mostly separate concepts.
With that said there were positives as well: A lot of the things I found really interesting, like how the molecular phenotype of Alzheimer's and Parkinsons' disease, and how post-translational modifications play such a big role in disease and physiological process. Prof Cheng makes an effort every year to update his slides so you know what you learn is current. Some of the lecturers were great (Guest lecturer Dr Nandurkar and A/prof Bogoyevitch come to mind) and were passionate about their research. I found the assessments to be fair if you knew everything, although there was lots and lots of detail to know at times. The assignment (although I can only speak for Prof Cheng's topic) was marked fairly and my friends who put in the work for it got good marks. Some of the lecturers did state clearly what level of detail is expected, which were very helpful when it came to revision. Some of the tutorials was dedicated to molsoft viewing of proteins and exploring how structure affects function, which was also a really good idea to promote student engagement and understanding of the content. I think all biochem subjects should consider doing something like this.
So that's my honest review of BCMB30004, hopefully you guys find it useful