Do not take her class. She has no idea how to teach a class and can't teach at all. I'm warning you now. She did not have midterms 1, 2, or 3 graded when finals are due. Meaning majority of the class had to take the final with no feedback from previous midterms. I have learned absolutely nothing from this teacher, please select a diff. teacher.

Not a good professor. She was confused on some of subjects/practice problems from the lectures. The tests were very difficult, but open-note and she allowed revisions on some (but even then the average was 64%). It took her 7 weeks to grade the first midterm, and after finals she still had 2 midterms left to grade. Very bad at responding to emails.

I took this class for a major requirement. I understood most of the content from previous work, however Professor Kersteins overcomplicates her explanations as well as has an infrequent grading schedule. Currently after the Final Exam has been submitted, only 3 things are in her grade book.

She is the worst teacher I have ever had when it comes to getting martial across. The so-called lectures were never helpful in fact I just stoped attending because my time was better spent doing other work. She tries to use active learning but on zoom that doesn't work. She also takes forever to grade. We took 4 exams and I only have a grade for 1.

If you take this class and see her as your teacher drop it. unless you like having midterms based on nothing you learned in class and over complicated so that you spend more time researching what the questions are even about. I stopped attending lectures because they were a waste of time and 25% of it was useful. Anything I learned was from ALEKS.

She is a very nice teacher that gives lots of extensions but I did not learn anything from her all my learning came from ALEKS explanations and even my TA was frustrated with the structure of the class. Grades are due today Dec 15 and she still hasn't graded half the assignments. we had a midterm part 3 on a friday and the following week a final.

This professor takes too long to grade, and you will not know your grade until she posts it on the portal, and it will be hard to dispute. She is a very nice person. Nevertheless, I did not learn anything, and her active learning was useless. Aleks was the only good thing about this course.

Shes nice, her only redeeming quality. She didnt teach well in lecture, her style isnt efficient. We had to do many unnecessary ALEKS topics. She gave 3 midterms and 1 final; all of them, minus the 1st midterm, werent graded. She literally didnt grade her midterms/final on time and gave everyone 100%s on midterm 3 bc she never graded properly

Though she is a great person, her teaching style is questionable. Her actual lecture happens after class through "voice slides", while class time is spent talking about her chem interests. The first test was 9 pages all short response, and took some 8 hours to complete. She also promised different grading that wasn't given. Don't take this class.

If you can avoid it, don't take a class with her. It's not worth the time to go to the lectures because she doesn't explain anything well, and she does voice lectures to watch after class that explain most of it. You can work on the midterm and final with others, but there's a chance they won't be graded. She is very sweet and caring.

The lectures are basically a waste of time since she posts recorded powerpoint slides to watch after class that have the relevant information. The class periods are used to do "activities" that she doesn't explain on topics that we haven't learned. It also takes forever for her to grade anything. If you can avoid taking this class with her, do it.

She takes forever to grade everything. Her midterms were excessively long and confusing challenge problems that were graded rather harshly by TAs. She assigned writing assignments that she apparently grades by herself, which means never. Lectures are pointless and consist of "group activities" to which she does not explain or provide answers.

The structure of the class is very bad. Lectures are pointless as they do not make any sense and do not match up with the tests she gives. She does not explain things well and reading takes a while. The challenge problems sets are confusing and difficult. I learned through ALEKs. She is a nice person but her teaching style is not good.

I wanted to go into this class hoping to relearn and reinforced topics that I learned in hs so that I would be well prepared for courses like ochem. None of this happened. Geri may be "nice," but in the long run none of that matters if you're a poor instructor. The "active learning mode" she tries to do is bs. Dont take her.

While she is very nice to talk to, I feel that the material provided for learning didn't really teach me at all. The interactive card sorting activities proved of no use to me, and I spent most of my time on ALEKS trying to comprehend what would be on her midterms. What I did appreciate was that her midterms were revisable. Still not a fan.

If you want to learn anything about chem you won't if you have Kerstiens. Her class is easy since they're no tests but she is horrible at structuring her class. Lecture is stupid and you'll most likely be learning through Khan Academy and ALESKS. But, the class is really easy to get an A and Prof. Kerstiens is really nice and understanding.

Waste of time and money, dont take if you actually want to be able to learn anything. Geri is a sweet person but at the end of the day that doesn't make her a good educator, class relies heavily on ALEKs and a few asssignments which take forever to be graded. Save your time and take CHEM1A with a different prof.

Does not know what she is doing. She was constantly corrected by students and TA's. The head of the chem department came in and she openly admitted she didn't know how to solve the questions she was giving us and tried to make it seem funny.Idk how we are supposed to learn from someone who can't solve their own problems.

A lovely person, but a really poor teacher. All quarter students were confused and her lectures do not follow with the Aleks work at all. She does CPS in replacement for exams but even with group work and TA help students still receive a bad average. Your grade is only based off of Aleks and CPS. I expected an A+ but the class is structured poorly.

She's very caring, flexible deadlines, etc. BUT the TA's knew more than she did and corrected her half the time. Half the class stopped attending past week 2, so do with that what you will. Takes forever grading, lectures are irrelevant, and I only learned through ALEKS. Easy to pass the class, but you won't learn from her at all.

Kerstiens is the worst teacher I've ever had. Lectures do not match the homework and her explanations make you very confused after lecture. In-class "active learning" hurts more than helps, and challenge problems are graded so strictly that the average is a failing grade. For Kersteins being a chemistry education specialist, I'm dissapointed.

Geri was the most unorganized teacher ever. Their lectures were terrible, I stopped going to class because the lectures pissed me off at how mismanaged the class is. UCSC has Geri teaching every lower division chemistry course so I must continue being in her garbage classes. She had no grasp on how her own grading system worked. Oblivious, bad.

The homework and ALEKS assignments never matched up with lectures. I also had to basically teach myself the entire year as she was very confusing and never explained things correctly. She's the absolute sweetest, but I would not want her as a professor again.

Very disappointed in the way Professor Kerstiens teaches the class. Lectures are unorganized and it seems she confuses a lot of students with the material. The material is not complicated but can definitely be prepared a lot better. My peers were not lying when they warned me about her.

Use khan academy man.

She can't teach. She constantly second guesses her own knowledge and obviously isn't educated on the subject. I HIGHLY recommend all future students study AP Chemistry on Khan Academy Units 1 & 2 before starting the class. Luckily, she hardly counts exams, but if you were expecting to actually learn chemistry from her, you're out of luck.

Horrible Lecturer, and offers no real help or practice.

Geri is the worst teacher/professor I have ever had in my entire life. There is no structure to this course and the content in the lectures has nothing to do with midterms or worksheets. Never in my life did I want to be doing ALEKS but she is so bad that I wish I had ALEKS so there was some content I understood. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS!!!!!!!!

The worst professor I have ever had by far. Her lectures hardly have any content in them, and her homework is not relevant to the material we need to know on the tests. Additionally, she takes weeks to grade midterms. No one even knows what material to study for the tests.

She is the worst professor I've ever had. She doesn't know what she's talking about and her lecture slides do not match the homework. Our midterm made no sense because we did not learn what she put on the test. Do everything you can to avoid taking her class.

She has a nervous habit of laughing which constantly makes her seem unsure No outline only quirky titles She states that her lectures should be enough but they are not You must watch the lecture to find out what concepts are being taught and then find actual explanations on your own Got As in Chem 1A and 1C but got a 60 percent on her first midterm

Geri is a darling woman and I truly wish the best for her HOWEVER she is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. The lecture material consists of mainly open ended questions and hardly syncs up with test material. She refuses criticism despite students begging for different classroom approaches and provides no text book or outside material.

Awful teacher. Aimless lectures that are just all over the place. Doesn't emphasize what concepts are important, and doesn't give practice problems to reinforce what was learned. Stopped going to lectures halfway through bc khan academy can teach the same concepts way better.

Professors Kerstiens is not a good professor. Her TAs are oftentimes more helpful or know the concepts well enough to explain them. Her lectures are very unhelpful since she seems very unorganized. Her lecture content, homework, practice sets oftentimes don't match what would be on tests. DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER. save yourself a headache :)

Geri was an awful professor. She is a nice person, but truly cannot convey simple concepts to her students. There were many instances where I questioned my own sanity while taking this course. Overall, I would say the exams are really difficult, all over the place, and it's impossible to predict what's coming next with Geri.

Prof is kind but would rather present chem in as fun and easy vs a subject that requires study and effort. Lectures were surface level with no connection to midterm/final that had actual chem questions. Prof refused to make study guides or change class structure after pleas from students. Thoroughly confused students who had studied chem before.

Absolutely Not

Lectures felt very unorganized and confusing. I heavily relied on my sections and TA to understand most concepts. Majority of my learning came from the ALEKS platform which was very helpful, but time consuming.

This professor does a very poor job of explaining basically anything. You will be learning everything through ALEKS. Don't expect to learn anything from lecture or by asking her questions. When she tries to explain something, more often then not she doesn't even finish the question. Listening to her leaves you more confused than you were before.

Professor Kerstiens is kind and very caring! I have her for both Chem 1A and Chem 1B. However, her lectures are very confusing and do not correlate to the tests. I heavily rely learning from ALEKS. And if you ask her a question, she'll most likely not finish answering or leave you more confused.

She is super kind and honestly a wonderful person...but when it comes to teaching being in her class is a struggle. Barely anyone I know attends lecture anymore because they are truly useless. She is very disorganized and with finals nearing the curb many of us are confused as to how to prepare and learn all of it on our own. do not recommend :(

she was nice but it didn't really feel like she was even my professor... khan academy and "the organic chem tutor" on youtube is. shoutout to them fr if you takin her this quarter highly recommend you check them out and study thru them or else you gonna be lost

I genuinely do not have a nice thing to say about her teaching. Grading is unclear, TAs are as confused as us, halfway through the quarter and only auto grades in canvas, writing papers in chem is a waste of time, lectures are useless. She should not be a professor. The university dropped the ball hiring her. DO NOT TAKE HER.

Week 8 and still nothing graded

The professor is a nice person but the structure of the course is bad. Majority of the class struggled gravely in the class. Not only was the professor very disorganized, but with each lecture I attended, I learned absolutely nothing new. Safe to say, attending her lectures are a waste of time, better spend your precious time on Youtube tutorials.

Terrible, terrible professor.

Geri is a nice professor, but she doesn't know how to teach a whole lecture class. By the third week of class barely anyone was showing up. Most of the homework is on Aleks so if you ask her a question on it expect her not to know how to answer it. Lectures and discussions are not mandatory.

She is really super sweet and kind but the lectures are never clear. Quarter is almost over and nothing except 2 assignments have been graded for me. Grades for ALEKS are put in automatically every night, but nothing else has been graded. Only two weeks are left until finals. TAs also do not understand the material they are teaching.

awful. just horrible.

Lectures and Homework do not match the test. She Cancels office hours more often than she has them. She doesn't fully understand the material she teaches. It took two months to grade a midterm. She is friendly, though.

She's really nice, but we had a midterm last week where most of the stuff on it were never even covered in class...Lectures are seriously useless and I even miss ALEKS cuz at least that helped prepare us. Takes forever to grade things. I should have an A+ in this class but because of her late grading, I'm at an F waiting for her to update grades.

Oh my god, finals week is literally just around the corner and still she hasn't graded a single assignment. My entire grade is just auto grades from Canvas. So many of my friends an I literally need her to input grades because without it, our grades are so low. Midterm was a wreck, no one knew anything. Hate this class so much. :(

Exams are extremely unpredictable. Going through past papers isn't enough, as the questions on midterms vary drastically. Professor is extremely unorganized. Would not recommend taking this class wither her.

I highly do not recommend taking any class with Geri. You will learn nothing, nothing will be graded unless it is automatic, and midterms are very confusing as they do not match any of the assignments or lectures given. Please wait to take any courses taught by her with another professor. Otherwise, you will be wasting time and your tuition money.

Geri is a sweet person, but is simply incapable of performing as a teacher. The class is incredibly test heavy, but her lectures lack a train of thought or structure, and her exams are real-world orientated which makes them nearly impossible to pass because of how she structures her class. Many students had no clue what we were expected to know.

I have had this professor for chem 1B and chem 1A, she is unorganized, late, confusing and overcomplicates everything. Discussion sections and Aleks are your best friends if you find yourself in her class.

just take class at cc

Literally have finals soon and still no grades inputted that are not auto grades. I'm literally at an F because she hasn't inputted any assignments while I should have a 98 percent. So beyond frustrating. There is simply no way to learn from this class. Not even section can save you. Do not take this class, seriously.

How do we even study for midterms in this class? Chem 1B has no ALEKS to fall back on, no textbook, no useful lectures, and the TAs are confused. The midterms are as shocking as a pop quiz would be. The extra time she gives us to study for her exams feels pointless. There is NO way to prepare and learn for her class or exams.

I cannot stress enough when I say that Geri is the WORST TEACHER I have ever had. I took 1A and 1B with her, both had a completely disorganized class structure. None of the material in lecture or on ALEKS corresponded to the exams. She is awful at communicating and grading on time. Geri is in the wrong profession, absolute waste of time and money.

Professor Kersteins clearly cares about chemistry and education, but fails miserably at delivering clear and helpful instruction. She skips through lectures slides far too quickly, and has an inability to communicate her vast knowledge of chemistry in laymen's terms. She essentially talks at the class with relatively incomprehensible material.

She does not know how to teach during the lectures. The only thing that helps you learn is completing the ALEKS, but even then you have to be able to teach yourself. The tests are all about application but she does not teach you how to apply the material from the ALEKS onto test material. It takes weeks for tests to get graded.

Didn't know how to teach her subject, didn't give clear reasons as to why grades were certain ways, didn't understand significant portions of Chem1B to the point she wasn't able to answer why a fork sparked in a microwave.

horrible lecturer you will have to teach yourself. her tests have nothing to do with aleks

There is so much homework, which is fine because that's how you learn the material, but it is NEVER related to that week's lecture. You will always need to watch youtube videos on how to complete the homework and lectures and the notes taken are pointless. Never grades assignments worth a very large portion of your grade until the last day.

Finals week is literally starting in two days and I have no idea what my grade is. I have no idea how this professor even has 7 "OK" reviews. She may be sweet but there is literally no point when she can't teach. I have been to every lecture and tried my absolute best in this class, but I still am struggling. DO NOT take this class. Pls take Alegra

She changed the grades at the last minute, dropping my grade from a B+ to a D. This is totally unfair to students who take the course with the expectation that their grade will remain the same. Furthermore, her lectures are essentially useless because the info she teaches does not appear on any homework or tests. Overall a horrible professor.

I am crying as I write this, because I am so stressed and confused from this class. Geri is a nice person, but the worst teacher/professor I have ever had. No one shows up to lectures. There is no way to prepare for mid terms or finals. Each ALEKS assignment takes me hours on end. Please don't take this course, it has me considering dropping out.

This class is hilarious because its a big joke. Doesn't even matter how hard you try, it all depends on knowledge you already have. Don't waste any tuition money trying to learn from Geri. For chem 1b take william scott and for chem 1a and 1c take alegra. Its something I really wish I had done.

Everybody else Is right. Took this class despite all the bad reviews thinking it couldn't be as terrible as it sounded. It was worse. Geri's lectures are incoherent and have nothing to do with the homework, which you will have to self-teach entirely. The most offensive part of this class was the midterms, which came out of nowhere. Awful teacher.

If you want to actually learn the material in chemistry, don't enroll with this professor. Very hard to follow her in lectures, she backtracks a lot and doesn't seem to know what she's talking about. The only reason I passed is because I taught myself the material through ALEKS, which also happens to take up all of your time to complete.

We weren't given grades on worksheets/midterms by our final (we couldn't use any of it to study). I followed her study guides/did everything I could, but I still felt clueless about tests; TAs were confused when we asked questions about tests and writing assignments that had nothing to do with lecture material. She is the WORST and should be fired.

kind person, but horrible teacher. never take her! All of the previous reviews that have been written are correct.

I am dead serious, do not take her class.The quarter ended last week and my grade went from a 100 all the way to a C. Had no idea my grade was so low because she never imputed any non-automatic grades. I am pissed. Never received such a low grade in my life. The first midterm was insanely difficult and it just tanked my grade. I'm boutta be feral.

This class was a joke. If you love yourself, avoid Geri's chemistry classes. She made up her own question for a midterm, answered it wrong. We didn't get our second midterm grade (taken on 3/3/23) until 5 days after her final (3/27/23). She hasn't updates lecture slides in years. It's obvious she's not confident in this topic, or teaching it.

Prof Kerstiens is very kind and will give extensions if you ask for them, but she does not know how to teach the class, her lectures are often distracted and not well put together, and she is not on top of things in terms of grading. She inputted our second midterm grades almost a week after we had taken our final. Don't take this class w Kersteins

The class ended a week ago, I'm on break trying to relax, but she still hasn't finalized grades. This class has given me so much stress and anxiety. There is jut no way to succeed on her exams...no way. Her final was open internet and still was my hardest final, harder than math. Seriously, my spring break is ruined thanks to this course.

Final exam scores were released today and holy...I seriously do not know how to win in this class. Never take this course if you want to remember what it feels like to be happy. These other reviews are all right...Geri would work better in a elementary school setting, she is sweet and kids would love her, but she is not fit to be a college prof.

Idek what i would have done differently to end up with a better grade. I seriously tried so hard to do well on her exams but there was just no way to prepare. Multiple Qs were never even spoken about in lecture/section. Its frustrating when you put so much effort in a course and nothing works. Hated this course, ruined my perfect GPA.

She has almost 100 1 star reviews for a reason. Very disorganized and doesn't know what she is doing. We still don't have the grades for one of the midterms and the final. She cannot teach for her life. Better off changing your major or something like that. Taking this class will make you reconsider your life decisions.

Geri as a person herself seems very sweet and nice, but as a professor, not helpful at all. Yes, she is forgiving and flexible in terms on ALEKS extensions and some extra credit. But her LECTURES, midterms, and final don't make sense at all even given with a cheat sheet. Nice as a person, but not helpful as a professor.

I am very upset with this professor and how her class was ran. We pay so much for these courses. On the final, we saw material we had never seen before and someone asked why this was the case and she said "I expected you guys to go beyond what we have learned in class." Also, she is currently 2 days late on submitting grades. Thanks Geri.

Awful teacher, students never knew what we were expected to know, exams are unclear and structure of the class is not well suited for exams, the final exam a group final and was open internet and my group still failed the exam, you likely won't fail the class as long as you do every other assignment, but i would not recommend her class

The class is almost entirely taught through ALEKS which is bad and is hard to time manage with. What you learn on ALEKS is not easily applicable to the tests which she does not prepare you well for. 80% of class not graded till week 9.

Don't get me wrong, she's a kind person, but a TERRIBLE teacher. You WILL be failing her class for 80% of the time simply because she won't put grades in. Lectures were a mess and didn't make any sense and it didn't even matter because even if they did, it wouldn't help you on any of the exams. Final was open everything and my group barely passed

My experience last quarter with her was horrible. Horrible explanations, the midterms are both horrible and expect to fail them because the majority of the class does. I would never take her again, although she does have a kind heart. That doesn't make up for the fact that the class is very poorly taught.

Kerstiens' teaching was so confusing I considered changing major, I now have her for 1A too and I stopped going to lectures, if you have her, just listen to crash course or something, class is useless. She second guesses herself constantly and her slides have weird arrows all over with no information.Shes nice but she shoulnt be a college professor

this is my 3rd quarter with her,,, i need financial compensation for this like,,, shes so heavily reliant on aleks, her office hours and lectures are never helpful, shes a nice lady dont get me wrong, but in terms of teaching :/// also why do we have writing assignments in /chemistry/ ??? overall, save urself the therapy and the money

we had our second midterm yesterday and i have never seen so many people collectively confused after reading the first question,, Geri noticed and she said we were overthinking it and the second question was harder. i mean she wasnt wrong about the next question being harder but we were fs not overthinking that lol anyways i think we all failed tbh

i was majoring in chem but her course made me change majors cus it was rly unstructured

Lectures were never like the test. Would always stumble over concepts always backtracked due to misspeaking. Would go on unrelated tangents losing time for lectures and would rush at the end. Get a tutor!

she literally assigns so much homework on ALEKS but they don't relate to the test questions at all. i recommend taking eroy reveles instead of her

if you want to enjoy and learn chemistry, plz avoid geri at all costs. she is jeopardizing the education of hundreds of students every quarter. her lectures lack structure and clarity. although aleks is great for a grade boost, it will not help at all with the exams.

One piece of advice: don't attend lecture if you want to want chemistry to make sense. She has a lot to say, but 90% of what she says is useless. Instead, use Aleks or other learning platforms to teach yourself (I did this through CHEM 1A and 1B). The TA's also weren't helpful (in and out of class) because they were just as lost as the students.

She was very rude and hard to communicate with.

She gives out hard homework without even teaching it. She teaches like we should already know the material. Do not take chem if she's the professor

To make sure you attend lecture she prints 600 double sided worksheets (with color). She went into class saying, "I want to approach this like you don't know anything about chemistry" and proceeds to assign 60 question worksheets on ALEKS, 80% of the work isn't even taught. Again 600 STUDENTS rely on the prof and she isn't handling this very well.

I wanted to give this professor the benefit of the doubt, but I feel confused every time I head to lecture. I feel like I learn more in the discussion sections and doing the homework (with topics she doesn't even cover) than the actual lecture. As someone who isn't confident in chem, DO NOT TAKE CHEM WITH THIS PROF it will hurt you more than help

If you ever want to experience what it feels like to go into a test, look at the questions, and not know what any of them are asking because she didn't teach you any of it then take her class. I have never been that unprepared for tests in my life and you basically have to teach yourself the whole class. Good luck.

i feel bad writing this because geri seems like a very sweet person and she has shown to be understanding, but her teaching is just not it. her lectures feel like 7th grade science and then when it comes to the tests... that's when it actually feels like college. made a front and back note sheet just to never look at it because none of it applied.

Based off of their lecturing, I don't think they know chemistry either.

Don't take this class. She doesn't even teach and is confused/yapping half the time. She never stays on topic. On top of that, she yells at 600 people for not submitting their papers to the only 2 TAs who come to her lectures. Who even makes a 600 class do worksheets? She also publically yells at you for leaving the lecture sometimes. Just don't-

She got her Ph.D. in chemistry education - not chemistry and it shows big time. She doesn't seem to know the material she's attempting to teach. I left this class knowing LESS about chemistry. Avoid her at all costs if you plan on taking any higher division chemistry courses because your foundation will not be solid enough to succeed.

Geri is quite literally the worst professor I have ever had. She does not teach you anything. Often she gets sidetracked during lectures. You spend half of the lecture working on a completely useless attendance worksheet. She tests on things she doesn't go over in class; usually, class averages on tests are around %50 or under due to this.

Unfortunately the course is new and because of this the lectures are often rushed or incomplete. Certain topics that show up heavily on tests make short appearances in lecture. When going over the data for how the class performed on midterm the average was around 36-37 points out of 65, attending office hours got you only around 3 points more...

Don't take chem with Geri. She'll talk a lot about things that have nothing to do with what will be on the midterms and then rush through or skip over what is on them. The average on the first midterm was 53% and she said it's because we didn't go to office hours though the people who did only did slightly better. Stay away from her like the plague

I understand the stress of having a 600 person class, but the low ratings are true. Her lectures are all over the place, she explains and writes very unorganized. Her class average for midterm 1 was an F, reflective of her teaching. I think midterm 2 will have a higher average not because of her, but because we students now know to teach ourselves.

All 600 of us are sitting there, waiting for her to tell us to start our second midterm, when she decides to remind us that she is ok with receiving emails from our parents with complaints, but that they should address her as "Dr." instead of "Mrs.". Such an unnecessary thing to say before an exam; way to make it all about yourself.

Dr. Kersteins appears incompetent and yet somehow is the most condescending professor I have ever had. Lecture concepts are not difficult but worksheets and homework are too easy and do not reflect exam content. TAs are somewhat useless but discussion is mandatory anyway. Prepare for a lot of self-teaching and Khan Academy. Avoid if possible.

Geri is single-handedly one of the worst teaching instructors I have ever had the unfortunate experience of enduring. Her lecture slides are impossible to take notes off of and she does not take criticism. Lectures are useless yet have mandatory worksheets you have to turn in. Be prepared to teach yourself everything and test your limits for anger.

hahahahahahahahahahhaahah

God sent Geri Kersteins to punish me for my sins

She doesn't know what she's saying. When students' ask question's she changes the topic and doesn't answer the question.

I tried my best to avoid taking another Geri class but after three quarters of waiting for a different professor to teach 1B, I decided to take 3A as the equivalency course so I could declare my major in time. Lectures are never useful, and she now gives out worksheets and has us crowd the TAs at the end of class to turn them in.

DO NOT take Geri. Her lectures were horrible and weren't even worth it, I felt like I didn't gain any kind of information from them. The only thing that kept my friends and me in the lecture hall was that her lectures were mandatory. Left knowing nothing about the BASICS of chemistry. DO NOT TAKE HER.

Geri is a good person but teaching is not for her, I highly advise you to forget most of what she says and learn on your own. Join a study group or something idk. I'm so disappointed I don't even have the words to describe how I feel.

her class was honestly super difficult and chem is already a hard subject, she clearly cares for student but is a horrible teacher and doesn't understand that students not understanding material is her fault. her TA did majority of the work for teaching students and is truly the only reason most students passed

Prepare to teach yourself chemistry. If you have to take chem, don't take it with Prof. Kerstiens. She was a very unprofessional and ineffective professor. Lectures were very poorly put together and did not cover material on the homework or exams. She often showed up late, and was difficult to communicate with outside lectures.

Her slideshows are nigh unusuable due to how they were designed to be spoken over to be understood. This is unfortunate, as her verbal explanations are bad and feel as though she has never seen the slideshows or of what she is teaching. The lecture slides jump around alot and feel disconnected. You will have to teach this class to yourself

Do not take her 0/10 would not recommend. Unless you are coming with a strong base in chem, she will set you up for failure.

Class: 3BL If you're taking Geri, it's likely that you have no other options. If you do have other options, run as fast as possible. No work graded until week 9, and even then grades were submitted two weeks after finals. Absolutely awfully disorganized. She needs to be fired or seriously demoted. Does not have the interest of students in mind.

Geri is by far the worst professor and does not deserve to teach students general chemistry. Her style of teaching is extremely disorganized, useless, and lacks an overall goal. If chemistry is a major requirement for you, I highly recommend taking the classes over summer. This increases the likelihood of you getting a way better professor!!

I'm rethinking my career choices because of her. Do not take her if you want to genuinely want or need to learn chemistry.

Skipped over important topics and went on long and unimportant side tangents. Passive aggressive towards students and hard to work with. Endless homework and hard to prepare for exams with curveball questions and irrelevant study guides. You will not learn anything but it's not a class you can skate by on.

Had her for both 3A and 3B. One of the only differences between them was the way ALEKS was set up, running on pie completion this time. That method for homework is incredibly tedious and time consuming making it incredibly easy to fall behind on. That's where learning happens though because it certainly doesn't during lecture.

Please get her fired

I had her for both Chem 1A, Chem 1B and 1BL. She is incredibly kind to those who show up to her office hours and honestly that is the best place to learn in her class. Her lecture are full of side tracking rants and does not stay on topic. Her tests were endlessly confusing, her practice tests saved me. Ask for clarification on test questions. Bad.

It took Geri 8 WEEKS after the course ended to enter my actually grade into the system. I emailed her regularly waiting for an update and hear nothing back. If you are reading this page you already know she is awful, but also understand she straight-up does not care about her students. If you can, RUN, if you can't, go to Alegra's office hours.

Definitely one of the worst professors I've ever had. In a STEM course, it's so important to have a good professor, and this was a great example. I had this professor for Chem 3A and 3B, unfortunately. She takes criticism too personally and cannot take responsibility for teaching mistakes. Please do NOT take her. You will regret it.

DO NOT TAKE HER. She refuses to acknowledge her part in her students' failing and does not take criticism well. Someone literally pointed out that her tests sucks and have a terrible average in the middle of lecture, and the entire class of about 500 students applauded at her point. Her class is too hard and she won't change it. Check her Twitter!

Teaching is hard, but even if you find teaching hard, you could just simply teach out of a textbook. There is no textbook and little structure. The lectures don't make sense. The tests are pretty tricky and full of things that weren't really covered in class. She takes a super super long time to grade too. Overall, tricky class, horrible prof.

She is terrible at teaching. Get ready to watch the organic chemistry tutor to learn every single concept she is incapable of clearly explaining. Messes up every 10 minutes then hits the class with "I swear I know chemistry!" Goofy ahhhh professor she got fired from uc berkeley for a reason.

I HATE her teaching style,especially for someone who has no prior chemistry knowledge.This is frustrating since this is supposed to be an introductory course.She is constantly trembling on her words which makes it hard to follow along,she doesn't even make her own slides! She's just as surprised to see the lecture slides as us. DONT take the class!

Geri seems like a nice person, but her teachings skills are just not there. Her lectures are very hard to follow and I would often leave feeling worse than when I came in. I feel bad that she's getting all of these bad reviews, but it's really just the truth. Her exams are very very tricky and have content not covered previously in class.

very veyr veyr very very very very bad teacher.

She never truly goes over the basic concepts of her lectures. She tends to go off on side tangents and never go back to the original concepts she speaks about. She'll introduce a topic and go on a side tangents for a good 10 minutes and always say, “we're not there yet though” and never explain the topic she introduced at first. HORRIBLE!!

Get her fired

Geri's lectures are very chaotic and absolute whack. Homework is really good practice but her lectures and her slides are so unhelpful. This is a very self-taught class. Tests review concepts that she doesn't choose to emphasize in her teaching so make sure you study EVERYTHING. Overall, I'm glad this is over!

Its not worth going to the lectures at all and if you're taking this prof get ready to teach yourself the material. She spent very little time going over topics that were worth a lot of points on exams. However, her grading is pretty fair and homework is easy, but very long and time consuming. Glad I'm finally done with her lol

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. The professor's rigid teaching style was unbearable. She marked correct answers wrong if they didn't match her incorrect methods, especially on resonance. Grading was harsh, and regrade requests were dismissed. As an international student, knowing the material better felt like a disadvantage. Avoid this class!

FIRE HER!!! Honestly did not learn a single thing in her lectures plus her handwriting is like my 4 year old sister learning to write, chicken scratch. She arrives at lectures late, and even started exams PAST the time it was scheduled. How can you be bad at teaching and not even care about the students. Definitely DO NOT take this teacher.

Genuinely the worst professor I have ever had. I feel exponentially less prepared for a STEM career after taking this class. She was late to class almost every day, and this includes days that we had major exams. She took the fact that most people failed the midterm in every class she taught as a source of pride. She also started exams late.

Geri is incompetent as an instructor. She is late or distracted due to personal or family matters. "Exams" are a joke, consisting of open-note, collaborative worksheets. People consistently copied answers, inflating grades. She did change the testing method sometime after that quarter, resulting in abhorrently low median scores. Avoid at all costs.

Bro, I didn't even have her class and she managed to mess up my chem grade. My teacher, Professor Brison (who is amazing, by the way- TAKE HER CLASS) had to make her grading harsher so that students would stop dropping out of Geri's class.

On a midterm, she deliberately left a concept out of the homework and lectures to use as a trick question. Nearly all 500 students got it wrong, AND a Google search proved her answer key incorrect (all the students were right). When confronted, her reasoning for marking the answer as wrong was: "I haven't taught that yet."

Geri was not a good professor. I really did not like her teaching style and her tests were unreasonable. Do not recommend at all!