2.9
Quality3.7
Difficulty51%
Would Retake86
Reviews51%
Would Retake
86
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
12
4
16
3
25
2
16
1
17
What Students Say
“i honestly just went to class for clicker points”
CHEM1A - 3.0 rating“He is smart but he can't lecture for nothing”
CHEM1A - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
64%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.61 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM221
5.0
(1)CHEM173A
5.0
(1)173A
5.0
(1)CHEM1C
4.0
(3)CHEM1A
3.2
(33)Difficulty by Course
CHEM2B
5.0
CHEM173A
4.0
173A
4.0
CHEM1A
3.9
CHEM1B
3.8
Reviews (86)
The book is hella important since this guys lectures are boring. He is smart but he can't lecture for nothing. Make sure you really read the book and do aleks because that's what'll give you a good grade in the class. He does curve grades at the end though. GO TO LECTURE! A part of your grade is iClicker and it'll replace your lowest quiz score.
Even though Professor Bernts lectures were a bit boring, he was a very caring guy. He answered every question I had and looks for feedback from students. He bases most of his exams on Professor Prices so as long as you study those exams and book problems you will be fine.
BEST PROF EVER!! Hes so fun and helpful in the lab & hes super nice. Would take again any chance I have
If you ever get to take him for Chem 1A DO IT!! He makes Aleks 20% of your grade! This helps immensely in the overall end grade. Hes very responsive and helps out with as much as he can.
Aleks are 20% of your grade, guarantee pass if you try
Prof. Bernt's lectures are not very helpful, which was made even more clear to me after attending lectures of other professors. The tests are very very difficult; he writes the multiple choice answers to reflect small errors in computation. I tried to attend office hours and he seemed disinterested in helping me while surfing on his computer.
honestly I would just go to lecture for the clicker points. his lectures are not clear at all as he goes through lectures really fast and assumes everyone knows what's going on. went to visit him during office hours and seemed disinterested and not willing to help much with my grade or any questions I had. good luck if you have him lol
Very tough exams! Know how to do every type of problem frontwards and backwards! Other than that he is a really down to Earth professor and really has a passion for chemistry. Hes friendly and will answer any questions you may have
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.
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
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.
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)
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.
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.
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!!
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)
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
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 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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dont let these reviews scare you. Ive taken the chem series with Price, Bernt, then Joseph in that order. Bernt was my favorite. His lectures actually went over some of the more tricky problems. Do the book problems throughout the reading, as he pulls some for his test questions. His office hours were practically empty, so take advantage of 1:1.
Bernt is the best gen chem teacher out there. I had kunkel for 1A and 1C and got a better grade and understood the material better with Bernt. His teaching style is great, he explains materials and hard problems, and exams are exactly like the book problems. Straightforward class and he uploads all his lecture slides.
I have no idea why Bernt gets so much hate. I took Sylvester's Chem 1A and barely got a C. Bernts class was way easier. His lectures gave examples of problems closely related to what is on the tests. He gave worked out book problem examples. He gave us more time on exams with less questions. And he let us take the exams any time of the day we want
Took this course in Fall 2020. Professor Bernts PowerPoints are clear and straightforward but his handwriting is terrible. One thing excellent about him is that he prepares summary notes for his students during the end of the course. Super helpful. 3 exams in total, very exam-based course. No section. Get ready to be stuck on Aleks for hours.
Professor Bernt is honestly a really good teacher. His lectures were short and informational and fit really well with the textbook. While he was a little distant cause of asynchronous class, he was super approachable in OH. Definitely in my top 3 chemistry professors at UCSB
Bernt is a cool guy & does his job well. Aleks as the hw system was the department's decision and not his, but it's a demanding and dreadful aspect of the class. It's actually counter productive. If aleks material looked anything like exam questions, and if the hours spent on it each week were spent studying exam content, we'd be way better off.
Professor Bernt has been my favorite chem professor so far, he is very concise in his lectures and the exams have been very fair. Taking him for fall has been amazing, he is very charismatic and loves his dog Hilda also he gave us candy on Halloween. Do aleks, book probs, practice exams, CLAS and go to class!!!! You can get an A :)
Prof Bernt had grad students run the labs. Each lab had very extensive homework assignments before and afterwards. Attendance was mandatory and you could only miss 1 and still receive partial credit, even with emergencies. Only took this course bc it was required for my major but I would suggest you avoid at all costs.
The lab is run by TA's who also grade all of your lab reports. The professor tells the TA's to grade harshly on the reports and they are very specific with the criteria on the lab reports. It is difficult to get a good grade, especially if your TA is one of the tougher graders. There is also a lot of work for a 2 unit course.
Not sure why everyone's rating is so harsh. Yes, the labs and quizzes are challenging but they are graded by very clear criteria. Attendance to the weekly lab is absolutely essential to your success but that is true across all lab courses. The final was pretty easy and was based off all of the weekly quizzes. If you work diligently you can get an A
For gen chem. labs, the TA's run the entire class so overall my TA was the best. I think the labs were pretty straight-forward and manageable as long as you know what your doing. The lab reports are easy because the professor gives you a rubric which literally states word by word what you must include. The final was also easy!
In my experience, it was difficult to contact professor Bernt. He would not respond to emails I sent him regarding the course. Other than that, I think that the course is fair, the final is easy and the quizzes do a good job of making sure you remember material from lecture. There were also only 5 lab reports which helped cut down the work load.
Biggest issue with Bernt is he never responds to emails!! It's very frustrating when you have a question and your TA tells you to email Bernt about it and you never get a response back ://
doesn't respond to emails. not sure why he gets credit for teaching this class because all he does is post petra's lab content every week.
Im not sure what this man even looks like, he has never shown his face ever. I was only commiicating with the TA. Man only responds to emails and makes the quizs. Literally Yang 2.0.
I took Chem ab with bernt and c with joseph. Bernt really helped me learn the content, I responded well to his teching style. The curves were also VERY good; he was not afraid to challenge us. I definitely recommend bernt, I liked him better than joseph by a bit.
Never seen this man's face. You have to watch video lectures (of another professor) before each lab and the reports and pre-labs take up a lot of time. TA's run all the labs and they grade very harshly (I got points docked because my report was too long?). Sometimes the weekly quizzes include material we haven't even learned yet.
You need to buy the lab manual and notebook from the UCEN which are expensive. Even though everything is submitted online they insist you take all your notes on carbon copy paper from the specific notebook.
This class series should be at least 3.5 units. Not only do the lab manual/lectures alone not prepare you adequately for the quizzes, but Dr. Bernt doesn't seem to do anything besides post material from past years. I have only seen his face in the weekly emails that he sends at inconvenient times, and if you email him, he simply will not respond.
Never ever rely on Bernt to answer your emails. Never have met or seen this man ever. In the midst of the TA strike and you have to do everything on your own. Quizzes are a bit stressful but somewhat manageable. Lab reports are okay if you follow the rubric thoroughly, they do take quite a lot of time.TA's pretty much run the whole class.
Pretty sure this man does not exist. Never seen him. No-one I know who took this class has ever seen him. Sent him 8 emails this quarter, he didn't answer any of them. I don't even think my TA has ever met him.
He's exhausted. It's as simple as that. Most professors are, but he's the most burnt out prof. I've yet to meet and it makes sense because he spreads himself so thin between teaching at ucsb and sbcc. So he's not too devoted to a single class. As long as you attend lectures, do the book problems and make sure you understand them, you'll do great.
Don't even know this man, the TA's ran the labs. Bernt NEVER replied to emails. He would send announcements super late. Prime TA strike, he was the worst at communicating. However, quizzes weren't terrible, lab reports were a pain but just follow the rubric, and the final was easy, not sure if it's because it was online (I didn't even use notes)
I have never seen Professor Bernt in my life and I am on my second quarter of having him as a professor. The TA's are the real teachers of this class, but they're generally pretty good. You absolutely cannot skip even one class, and lab reports, pre labs, and quizzes take up a lot of time. This definitely should be worth more than two units.
hate this class....so much work for what? measly 2 credits....also the quizzes are excessive: 5 question quiz every week...get one wrong ur down 10 pts already...whats the point?
I'm one of the few people who have actually seen him as I went to his office hours. Super nice guy who is very helpful and even gives you a snack for coming. Labs are whatever, unless you watch the videos you will be lost. Grading basically depends on how much of a tweaker your TA is. Go to a TA's office ours to discuss the lab and get answers.
The class itself was a lot of work but very doable. However, grading criteria is not clear for any assignment. A group of students can work together on it being lab partners, and one will do significantly worse for no clear reason. The final was very difficult in comparison to the practice. The Professor does not respond to emails either.
the class itself was easy but the final was horrible it was nothing like the practice tests or the class. apparently last year everyone got A's and so the prof was told to make his final harder so it was an actual joke this year. final grade isnt out yet but ive had an A all quarter and it may go down to a B if there isnt a curve
No one knows who this professor is. Emailed the professor about 8 times as well as my TA, not a single response. Errors on my due dates, grades, no response. Now I am losing points for their mistakes. The final was ridiculously hard. Some TA's give grades that are very unfair, whereas others grade way easier, putting others at an advantage.
The labs are easy enough as long as you watch the videos and leave enough time to complete the prelab assignments. However, the final exam was extremely hard and the study guide did not prepare us at all for the test. The lab manual will mark questions wrong on lab reports even though the answer is correct. Professor does not respond to emails.
Im not sure if it was always like this, but submitting assignments was incredibly difficult and confusing. Perhaps its because the school changed to using Canvas. The class is incredibly unorganized online and I pulled my hair out trying to figure out where to post my work. It doesn't make any sense.
Work was just extensive, you have to do it together or you cant complete it. Then, when you do complete it, you spend hours out trying to figure out where to submit it. Then, when you submit it, you realize during break u submitted to only 1/2 programs so none of your discussions are graded. Then, you email the professor and they ghost you! Fun!
I've never ever seen this prof, since the lab is taught by the TAs, so I'm just rating the class. The class honestly isn't super hard, as long as you take time trying to understand the concepts. The submissions are a little tricky. Try to build up the most points during the quarter so you can tank the final, bc it's super difficult for no reason.
The class itself is not too difficult, but there is a LOT of homework, especially for a 2 unit course. I didn't have a lot of trouble submitting assignments like others did, but I will say that sometimes I had more work for CHEM1AL than CHEM1A. TAs don't really give feedback on assignments, which is annoying, but manageable.
Your experience completely depends on your lab partner and TA. Some TAs grade harder than others. I got lucky with my TA (Rose Mary) and I had a good lab partner. The lab was easy, but the exam was a curveball. Study every. quiz. question. Don't trust the lab review they give you, it is much easier than the exam. Go over lab reports and pre labs.
the actual class is pretty easy if you put in the work, but he makes the final RIDICULOUSLY hard for no reason, then gives little to no curve.
Chem 1CL overall was really challenging, and the labs have much more confusing processes than A and B. But it's honestly just about which TA you end up with. My TA was chill and explained concepts very well. The final, like the previous two labs, was incredibly hard. My advice is try to go into the final with an A+, so you can tank the bad grade.
Your experience is heavily dependent on your TA as they handle all the grading. Labflow (the website you use) is pretty horrendous and often incorrectly marks things wrong so watch out for that. The final is also always unnecessarily difficult so don't underestimate it. Most of this class feels like busy work, but it is pretty easy to succeed.
They were unresponsive to emails, took an unreasonably long time to resolve a grading issue, and only addressed the emails after I threatened to escalate it to the chem department. But even then, he still didn't do anything. For Pre-Bio 1st YEAR majors, he genuinely caused unnecessary stress for a 2 credit class.
I'm not using this to review the professor, but more-so the TAs. As of writing this review, it is Week 10 of the quarter, and I have not gotten a single grade back for any of my reports. I find it extremely frustrating that there is little to no feedback within this class, and considering how much LabFlow already automatically grades, its lazy too.
Bernt is nice and knowledgeable about the material, but he never replies to emails and stopped sending weekly announcements 2 weeks into the quarter. He doesn't have review exams posted, so I recommend doing book problems and doing Sylvester's review exams to get practice with questions in that format.
This class would be easier with a section to review material in, as no review material is given prior to finals week aside from lists of recommended textbook questions. That being said, recommended textbook questions accurately reflect exams, and lectures are informative, concise, and engaging. Unfortunately, Bernt does not reply to emails.
He NEVER answers his emails. I have emailed him several times this quarter and he never emailed me back. It's so aggravating because sometimes I really needed him to answer and he never did. Also, I had a 79.87% in the class and he did not bump it up to a B-.
he gave us a midterm on the day we got back from break. monday. 8am
Do not take if you have no prior college level or equivalent knowledge of chem. No, high school chem doesn't help you. Be ready to spend hours on Aleks every week and a few more on book problems that are way harder than he teaches. He doesn't explain much in his lectures EVER and grades based off ranking. This class made me question my major...
Super friendly and funny, explains things well in lectures, gives practice tests that help prepare well for exams. ALEKS homework kind of sucks but that's for any chem
Lectures are clear and concise, but I found that the weekly ALEKS hw was more helpful to me. You get 3 midterms, all of which are harder than the practice exams he provides. Be prepared to study a lot even if you think you're ready.
Prof Bernt is an awesome lecturer, but his way of prepping you for exams is providing one practice test which is not comparable to the midterms. This class has more midterms than other chem classes and we get less prep. He also is not providing us with a practice final so studying is basically a free for all most of the time. ALEKS was no help.
Class is difficult especially without AP experience. Lecture moves fast and there is a lot to keep up with. You will have to teach yourself some of the topics outside of class. WATCH THE VIDEOS HE POSTS to recap lecture. Other than difficulty, Bernt is a nice and personable guy and his dogs are cute.
As someone who didn't take AP chem and only took chem sophomore year of high school this class was VERY challenging. The lectures were extremely fast and without having good prior chem knowledge they were very confusing. I spent 10+ hours a week studying for this class and still only got a C. The ALEKS was a lot and truly wasn't helpful exam prep.
Professor Bernt was not as bad as others made him seem. However, unless you're naturally gifted at chem you will not pass without self-studying. Trust you'll be fine, just go to the lib, do your Aleks, join CLAS (emphasis on this), and attend lectures! It's hard but manageable!!
lectures are very fast paced so be ready to learn content on your own. aleks isn't very helpful so don't spend too much time on that, the book problems he suggests are much more beneficial to practice.
Lectures were clear and chronological. Would go over practice problems after explaining a concept which was very helpful. The ALEKS was a lot, and not always helpful, but every chem had it so it wasn't unique to this prof. Prof posted lecture videos and slides at the beginning so if you missed or were confused you had excellent resources.
It's evident that he is passionate about what he teaches and that he cares for his students. But I found his lectures to be fast paced and the test content were topics you had to learn on your own. His exams were harder than the practice exams he provided,
He cares about the subject, but doesn't care about students. He made jokes about how he purposefully gave us a midterm the MONDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING and told us to make sure we don't enjoy our break bc of the test. He never responds to emails, and I had a family emergency so I was unable to get any help for a midterm bc of this. Don't take him.
Weekly ALEKs is definitely a time sink, but the course material is really interesting. I found every class added something valuable. His demonstrations are EPIC. His tests are definitely pretty grueling, and the grading is ranked which is weird because you don't know your solid grade till the end, but he does make success possible and reasonable.
My advice is to start studying now because your going to be teaching yourself most of it. Comes off as a nice guy, but not a good teacher. Lectures and textbook problems don't reflect exam material. Does not prepare you whatsoever for how difficult his tests are. Had 3 midterms & final??? Said a 65.99 would curve to a B, etc, did not happen.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
64%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.61 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM221
5.0
(1)CHEM173A
5.0
(1)173A
5.0
(1)CHEM1C
4.0
(3)CHEM1A
3.2
(33)Difficulty by Course
CHEM2B
5.0
CHEM173A
4.0
173A
4.0
CHEM1A
3.9
CHEM1B
3.8