Took chem 1A in the fall quarter and it was an easy A. However things are total different in chem 1B. The courses are much harder but Bernt even would not like to give us the solution and open the review to our average-60 exams. He is not willing to reply emails to us. Top 20 is A- but it is hard. DO NOT take it as a GE and avoid him if you can.
These tests were crazy hard, I did all my aleks, took notes on the entire 2 chapters, did all the book problems, and did the practice test and barely got an above average score. oh by the way, the class average is failing, the only thing that helps is the curve. 1A w/ Bernt was okay, don't do 1B w/ him though.
1A was chill as long as you took high school chem, didn't learn much from Bernt and was banking off of what I learned over 2 years ago, Aleks was probably the most helpful in teaching, do the book problems, I made the mistake of not doing them. Test get harder and harder, or I got dumber and dumber, one of the 2.
NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. This man does not even release an answer key for tests. Tests are RIDICULOUSLY hard and we are not even allowed to see what we got wrong or how our grade was calculated. He assigns like 100 practice problems that are NOTHING like the exams. DOES NOT REPLY TO EMAILS. It's week 7 and he still hasn't finished grading Exam 1.
Messy lectures, inaccessible, ridiculous questions on exams. Doesn't teach to what is on exams. You will struggle if you don't master every concept referenced. Homework is excessive and irrelvant to what is on tests
Obviously, his lectures don't go in-depth and are unrelated to exams. You must work on book problems before exams. His notes are messy and difficult to understand. Always include odd questions in exams.
Dr. Bernt is a very interesting guy. But overall, this course is difficult for students who didnt learn in AP Chemistry. The lecture is easy but the exams and hws are harder. Students can get their scores from the best two of the three exams. Grades are determined by rank. The top 20% is an A or A-. However, he doesnt like to reply to emails.
He's a nice dude and very caring, cares about his student's success. Still, I wish he went more in-depth during lectures. Also, some of the topics felt a bit rushed. Midterms were alright, finals were hard, do ALEKS. I would give 3/5, but since the class was online, I'll cut some slack.
Wanted to leave this review because he has been very understanding during these extreme circumstances and I really appreciated it. Even through an online format, you can tell he cares about your success. He is also really responsive which is great.
Lectures don't go in-depth so I recommend reading the textbooks and doing the practice problems which helps a lot. He's really understanding and caring too. Just took my final but my wifi went down so I lost half my answers, but I emailed him and he replied fast and said to send my work so he could manually input them himself. Really nice guy
Zheng for asynchronous class was top of things just as he would for a class that is synchronous. His learning plan is extremely clear and tells you exactly what to do. He understands people has hard times and gives off a leeway to them on due dates. Extremely easy A if you read the material provided and do his projects.
He really tries with lecturing and he can make you laugh. He is sweet and gave everyone candy for Halloween. Talk to him during office hours because his explanations are much clearer. Definitely read the textbook! Helps to read before lecture, but after is good too. Do all the book problems, they are more similar to his tests than the practice test
I've heard prof Benrt hardly give A+. I did very well on both midterms and quizzes but still only have an A. The exams are not hard at all as long as you do the practice tests twice and have a good understanding of the lecture materials.
He taketh he giveth; our year we had 1 super hard midterm and 2 super easy midterm and exam. Perhaps he is gravitating towards easy exams compared to past years. Won't complain though. tbh just read his lectures and his textbook. The homework should be enough practice for building up speed in solving the test problems.
Took Chem 1A with him last quarter. The midterms were tricky but the final was easy, which really helps because it replaces your lowest midterm. Reading the textbook isnt necessary if you go to lectures (book problems tho are a must). Great professor overall. However, dont take it as GE (like I did) because this class is a lot of work
Went over subjects a bit too fast, learned the majority of the material on my own. Midterms and final are multiple choice and the final was easier than the midterms (got an 85% on final without much studying, got an 82% avg on midterms with a lot more studying)
By far one of my favorite professors I've ever taken at UCSB. Really made me love chemistry again. Great lecturer and gives out fair test. That being said, the content can be tricky. But he does his best to make sure you understand it. He's very approachable in office hours too. Take him if you can!!
He's honestly a really nice and caring guy. He does go through lectures quickly and you have to do a lot of work on your own, but that can be said with any chemistry class. He does give partial credit on some quizzes and exams, but he also has "none of the above" as an answer choice for every question, which makes questions a little more difficult.
Professor Bernt taught the lessons as if we knew everything that was going on. He gave us info to prepare for the lecture, but if we didn't understand that then we were screwed. ALEKS is worth very little, but doing it does help you understand concepts. The class was extremely difficult, and Bernt didn't do much to help us pass.
DO NOT TAKE. Failed Chem 1A after taking him but studied so much for this class. Goes so fast and honestly all over the place. Went with Joseph for chem 1A and passed with an A (wonder why)
This is Bernts first year of teaching honor class. He teaches regular contents in lecture, but his tests are way harder than the regular just because we are honor students. Homework is 20% of the grade, but doing homework is not helpful for preparing for tests.
He is terrible. So much homework and quizzes make you hard to catch up. Unhelpful lectures.
i honestly just went to class for clicker points. lectures move fast plus he assumes you know everything. his tests are all multiple choice but dont get your hopes up cause they're difficult. lectures weren't clear so it just made it harder to understand the concepts. uhh good luck
Prof Bernt is always willing to answer any questions you have and puts in a lot of effort in his lectures. His test questions are tricky esp. if you didn't take ap chem but aleks is worth 20% and scores are replaced for tests so it isn't hard to get an A if you put in the effort to do book problems/practice tests. Definitely recommend for Chem 1A.
