2.4
Quality3.5
Difficulty87%
Would Retake108
Reviews87%
Would Retake
108
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
14
4
13
3
20
2
28
1
33
What Students Say
“I'm very confident that Judith would not pass her own exams”
CHEM104 - 1.0 rating“She is a decent teacher, for the first half”
CHEM109 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
41%
Textbook Required
76%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.49 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM511
4.3
(3)CHEM311
3.6
(5)104
2.8
(4)CHEM109
2.7
(47)CHEM104
2.1
(43)Difficulty by Course
CHEM103
4.0
CHEM104
3.7
CHEM109
3.5
104
3.3
CHEM221
3.0
Reviews (108)
Avoid this professor. She doesn't even know how to do a demonstration lab.
bad teacher
No Comments
Terrible
Take Moore's class at all costs!
Just plain stupid
Decent, but get Zanni if possible
She's not terrible! I think she's very straight-forward and clear about the subject material.
Seems to be the least popular of the Chem 109 professors. She puts many-a-student to sleep (if they even bother showing up to her lectures).
No Comments
Her lectures may not be the most entertaining, but if you come into the class wanting to learn something, you will.
Definately try to get Moore than Zanni than Burstyn for this class. She makes quite a few errors during lecture and she doesn't explain topics quite as clearly as the other profs imo.
boring, get ready to sleep
I don't think I have learned anything in her class. If I have open times I will always try to go to Zanni's lecture instead.
Yeah, um, unless you like being talked to like your in Kindergarten, Judith might not be the professor for you. Any number of TA's (i.e. ALL OF THEM!), probably even some students would be able to teach the class better than she would. Avoid her!
If you are going to take this class, which I wouldn't reccomend, don't take Burstyn. She just doesn't make sense half the time.
She's a decent teacher when you're not asleep, but I couldn't stay awake even on the days that I got high on cocaine right before lecture...
I can' really give a fair description considering I didn't attend class after September, but from what I saw she made little sense unless you studied the material extensively before the lecture. Definitely a boring class, boring material, boring teacher.
No Comments
I never liked chemistry. Now I hate it. Didn't learn a thing.
Didn't learn a darn thing from her. Went to Moore's lecture instead. I'd recommend Moore, he's a great Chem Prof.
She is a terrible teacher. She probably knows plenty about chemsitry but you wouldn't think that after sitting through half a year of lectures. Easy class though
Worst teacher ever. Never did examples right, left me confused every time. I stopped going after two weeks.
Assistant's experiments were cool - Judith was NOT.
She makes you do homework, tests, etc. online, which is NOT accurate. She also makes you do all the online crap before you even cover it in class. The experiments rock, and so do most of the T.A.s, so you can survive through the class. But don't expect to learn much from her, just read the book to learn.
No Comments
No Comments
Burstyn is a decent teacher. It's hard to pay attention, but all of the material is covered in the book-read that and you will be fine. Tests match up with online exams, homeworks, ect. and are definately managable. Experiments suck, TA's are decent. Overall,not that bad of a course/prof
She's a fairly good teacher. I've learned a lot and she's really easy
Makes more mistakes than an online translator...
No Comments
If you want to get chem over with in a semester rather than a year, go for it. But don't take it with Burstyn. Her lectures are well laid out but she presents them sloppily with many mistakes. Very nice lady, and has a "fantastic" grad student to teach on holidays.
She is the worst lecturer i have ever had. Her lectures have little direction and are confusing beyond belief. She makes mistakes in her explanations and calculations, she doesn't catch the mistakes until she is deep into an explanation or someone tells her. ADVISE: DON'T GO TO LECTURE, JUST READ THE BOOK AND YOU'LL BE FINE.
As a professor, not bad. She makes lots of math errors in her calculations which are incredibly frusterating. Tests are fair and everything is covered. The online homework system is atrociously flawed with everything from convuluted links to everywhere, to blatent grading errors that nobody in the dept seem to care about.
She's a pretty good chem teacher. She's not good at math and writes things down incorrectly a lot, but it's easy to notice her mistakes and fix them yourself. Tests are kindof easy since you get to choose which problems you do.
her lectures are confusing and hard to follow, and she isn't good at explaining things at all. she also lied to us about what was going to be on our final. i do NOT recommend her at all, the class is decent, but take it with anyone but her.
this class is hard if you havne't taken an advanced chemistry course / if you are taking ANY other challenging classes. Takes up too much time. The HWs are hard. Exams are harder. Fun labs till you have to answer questions. If you like chemistry, then fine take this but if you're unsure about if you like chem/ know you dont - take 103 chem
lectures were confussing, she made a lot of mistakes, good if you went to office hours, on-line homework was horrible, the systems has major problems, take her only if you like and understand chemistry
Overall, she was a good professor. She was ncie and helpful if you went to her office hours. I didn't find the course much of a challenge, but I think how easy you find it depends on your previous experience with chemistry.
She is a very good prof, but most people hate her because the material is VERY hard. She goes kind of fast and sometimes makes mistakes, but she is funny about it. Most my friends who had other profs had harder exams, but hers were still not easy. I got an A, but I studied alot. Don't depend on having a good TA, most Chem TA's don't speak english.
what. the. hell.
She makes a lot of mistakes in class, one day, she spent at least 15 minutes correcting herself. She is a decent teacher, for the first half. Then when you get into more advanced topics, she falls off with mistakes and confuses herself. Wouldnt recommend or not recommend her. Just in any 109 class, be prepared to work. Its not easy.
I took this as a junior, but felt that I really didnt have any edge. Labs are tough, homeworks are medium, and exams are fairly easy with enough studying. Class was generously curved. This was her first semester teaching 311, so there were some bumps, but future classes will be better I am sure.
The class is a 5 credit class, so it is a lot of work. Don't wait until the last minute to start the HW. I didn't think she was awful, but I also took AP Chem in HS, so I would go back to my old notes if I was confused; I don't know how well I would've done if I hadn't taken AP since the pace is pretty fast. Don't have lab at 7:45 am... it sucks.
She is a nice lady and she does an amazing job in simplifying the course by skipping all the really hard-core material. Her exams are very similar to the practice exams given. You must study very hard for the course and ATTEND EVERY LECTURE because material is hard core and it's almost impossible to learn the material on your own.
Judith is great at helping students understand the material will stop class whenever to answer questions. She makes mistakes here and there but not distracting. Her tests are very similar to practice exams and an A is by no means unreasonable.
Sure Burstyn knows her stuff, but she isn't good at communicating it, didn't define expectations really well, and often didn't know what was happening in the class. A lot of the time, I felt like the course was evaluating how well one takes a class, and not how well one knows the material.
She cannot do simple math on the board. She goes on tangents about all the "useful applications" that we won't be tested on. Her powerpoints are useless and as a result you have to sift through her ramblings and math errors to figure out what you need to know. Also boring. Only redeeming quality is her tests let you choose what questions to answer
She has no idea what she is doing. Makes mistakes on at least half the problems she does. Her lectures aren't worth your time going to.
I thought I would be fine in this class as I aced 103 with no problem and I thought I could zone her out, but the amount of mistakes she makes on the board and her treating the lecture like a group of 4th graders really make me dislike this professor.
Not only does she get way behind in her material, but she has made SOOO many computation errors that people are starting to stand up and walk out of her lectures.
She is awful. Do not take chem with her unless it's an absolute must.She doesn't know what she's doing. Half of her lectures are her explaining a mistake she made from the previous lecture.
I promised myself to make one unit going to get lectures, and thats how long I lasted. She wastes lecture time going over repetitive problems that take longer than they should since she makes mistakes. On top of it she teach completely out of order and probably confuses more people. If you read the book and go to discussion you'll be good.
She is very unorganized and makes an insane amount of computation errors. She calls these errors "typos" but you can't make typos on a chalkboard. Take any measures you can to choose a different chem 104 prof.
I have never had such a horrible professor.
She is actually the worst professor I have ever had. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN.
Awful. That's really all there is to say
Recommend waiting a semester to get a different professor if she is your only option. Spends half of lecture time correcting mistakes she makes with her slides/examples.
Bad teacher makes several mistakes throughout class and makes up excuses of why she is wrong. Kinda looks like Edna from The Incredibles. Makes me hate the word convergence. Didn't write any of her own exams and didn't teach some of what was on them.
Worst professor I've ever had. She made errors on almost every problem she did in class, and much of the time in lecture/discussion was spent on correcting her errors. There is no consistency in how she teaches or grades. I also know many people who skipped her lecture to go to Barry's lecture instead. Avoid her at all costs.
Even her practice exams have computation errors. Come on, Judith.
Horrible professor. Mistakes everywhere. I think I may have lost at least half a letter grade because of her.
She makes so many mistakes it is so frustrating. She refuses to follow many important concepts in the books which the TA's tell us to not to listen to her. She sends wrong answer keys and she doesn't even know how to calculate her own problems she gives us. Thus, the class gets far behind because she is tries to figure out where she went wrong. UGH
I'm very confident that Judith would not pass her own exams.
By far the worst professor I've ever had. TA started each section by correcting the many mistakes she made in lecture. She doesn't know the material well at all and constantly makes mistakes. Refuses to curve class despite the fact most of the students are struggling due to her horrible teaching. Did 30% better on exams after I stopped goingtoclass
This was the WORST prof. I ever had. She made mistakes daily, awful Time management. Never learned a thing and even TAs didnt attend her lecture. Homework was never taught what was in class, Exams were super hard. She admitted not know what a curve is. She talks to us like I'm a 1st grader. Just completely awful, I suggest you avoid her at ALL COST
Professor Burstyn often makes mistakes during lecture, emails, practice exams, and answer keys.
Professor Burstyn was the worst professor I have ever had. She tries to teach the class, but makes multiple mistakes in the process. In all honesty, she probably would not have passed her own class. Avoid this professor at all costs.
If you have Judith as a professor, you're in for a bad time.
Do not take Judith as a professor. She makes so many mistakes that you cannot trust anything that she does or says. She cannot even get the answers right on her own practice exams. Then she blames her mistakes on the class for not correcting her, or says that she is too close to the board to do the problems.Do yourself a favor, don't take her class
Utterly horrid teaching style. Learned very little in lecture and had to teach myself the material as well as pay extra attention to the TA. If you take Burstyn as a professor, you're gonna have a bad time
Burstyn is a horrible professor. Lecture is pointless most days; discussion is much more helpful. She makes too many mistakes to ever know if what she is saying is trustworthy. Take chem with a different professor if possible.
Horrible professor. Doesn't teach anything important in lecture and the tests are ridiculously hard and contain material not on the exam.
She's a great professor and is incredibly organized and helpful.
She takes a large amount of time being confused and having the class explain what she did wrong in problems. Her lectures are extremely dry with her reading off her power point and always losing something at the front of the class. She is condescending and not for giving of misunderstandings and mistakes. The work load is high, avoid at all cost!
Everyone is too hard on her. Yeah she messes up a lot in class and frankly isn't that great at chemistry compared to other professors in the department. That being said she has some of the highest average exam scores in the department and is a VERY reasonable grader. The people who complain about her all the time probably just suck at chemistry.
She is the best chemistry professor I've ever had. Midterms are consistent with materials taught in class, and she does very helpful examples on the board and makes sure we understand them. She's great
She's a decent professor but can get sidetracked very easily to the point where you don't know what material is important and what material is "filler" material. Lectures are long and sometimes pretty confusing on what you actually need to know, which makes the class hard to study for. Also, she mumbles sometimes. Overall, decent but not the best.
Judith is, for lack of a better word, horrible. She should not be teaching a class at the college level, or any level for that matter. She is clearly smart, as one can see from her achievements, but anyone who has taken a class with her will tell you that she cannot effectively convey her knowledge of any material
She is redundant on everything she explains. An example, "I added water to the solution so now the sand is wet. The sand is now wet because I added water therefore the sand is wet." Like what the hell? why?... She messes up lessons and there's hidden grading scales within the tests. NO CURVE until the end.
Burstyn was a fine professor in my mind. The lectures are quite clear and outlined on powerpoint slides that are posted online. She takes feedback from the class to improve the quality. Her tests are somewhat inconsistent but not too difficult for the most part. A large portion of the class receives an A. Would recommend.
Judith is a very nice smart woman, unfortunately she doesn't do a good job of highlighting what needs to be done to pass the class. Tests have material that was never covered in lecture and she tries to curve to a b- or c. I don't hate her, she's just very oddly quirky.
Despite what everyone ones, Professor Burstyn is by far one of the best Professors I have ever had. She really cares about all of her students. Some of her lectures are kind of boring, and the test questions can be hard, but she prepares you well enough if you do her worksheets, and attend discussions. I would recommend her to anyone.
She isn't the best lecturer, but she makes up for it with easier tests.
Judith is always willing to help and accommodate when I was able to meet. But the tests are hard, and random. Her tests are set up in 3 different categories and the mastery (the section worth the most points) never applies to what we learned. She also gets off topic a lot in lecture.
It seems many people don't like her simply because her class is difficult. Overall, the material is difficult, but she does a good job of explaining, and her grading policies are reasonable.
She's a decent lecturer, but her lectures are on the slower end. she teaches essentially the same material as the book so lecture isn't required
A quirky Professor that cares about the class. She makes lectures interesting with lots of demonstrations. The class is a lot of work and the tests can be difficult but overall a good class.
Nice lady. Amazing class. Would take her chemistry next semester.
The class itself is quite a lot of work but nothing impossible. Ol' Judith knows how to make it a lively lecture and is enthusiastic to teach. She make mistakes on her work on the board practically every lecture but you can recognize them and correct her and she will be appreciative. JB only gets a bad rep because of the difficulty of the course.
Some of her lectures got very boring, but she did a good job of covering the material we needed to know. She provides lots of prep materials for the exams and was clear about objectives and grading. Overall, the class wasn't too hard, but it did help a lot to read the text and take good notes.
Lecture is dull, aside from the occasional demonstration. Discussion sections are pathetically easy, and neglecting to go is throwing away free points. She covers the exact same material from the book, so if you didn't understand it very well, lecture is a good review. Exams are fair, with very forgiving regrading policy.
Prof. Burstyn was pretty good. She did a very good job covering everything, and the tests were not easy, but very fair. The lectures were engaging, only problem was sometimes board was hard to read. I never used the textbook. The homework was very manageable - I'd say easy. She really is way too into Chem311 though. It became a running joke.
Taken as a whole, Prof. Burstyn runs an excellent Chem 109 course. Her lectures, while dry at times, are very informational. Definitely don't skip too many of those. Her tests are hard, but with decent study habits it is definitely possible to get an A.
Hated her... Then liked her... then hated her... then liked her.... She's cool though and I realize that she wants nothing but the best for her students. That's why you should take her class Probably the next head of chemistry department if we are being honest here.
I had a lot of reading to do during her class followed by weekly writing assignments. I invested more work that should had been required for a 1-credit class. She was pretty lenient on the grades though.
Dr. Burstyn was something. She was fairly clear with lectures, but she is the least tech saavy person I have ever seen. Every lecture we somehow had a tech issue that broke the flow of the lecture. Also, there would be random stray tophats. The exams were slightly easier than 103, but keep in mind the curriculum of 104 is TOUGH.
Chem 104 is hard, but if you pay attention in lecture and GO TO discussion, you'll be fine. Professor Burstyn isn't the most tech-savvy, but she is super helpful during office hours. She wants her students to do well and assignments are graded fairly and exams are hard, but not impossible. Just stay on top of your work and study.
I have no idea how her reviews average to a 2.5. Chem311 was TOUGH and super busy, but Prof Burstyn was quite literally a legend. She is probably the most caring professor I have had. Sure, she struggles sometimes to get her point scross, but she will not hesitate to explain everything in detail in office hours. Would recommend her for sure.
Judith was a good professor, however, she would take longer than other professors to cover topics, resulting in the class falling behind. She explains things well, and in depth with applicable practice problems during lecture. She wishes the grading could be harsher than required for the chemistry department, which showed at times through exam q's.
Professor Burstyn seemed like a pretty nice and caring professor but was not the best at teaching her content. Oftentimes her lectures were confusing as she would experience technological problems in almost every lecture and would contradict herself heavily when confused by a problem she was working through. Exams were tough but not unreasonable.
We were always behind in lectures. This came from her taking forever to explain things and made quizzes more difficult sometimes. I understand going in-depth on harder topics but often she would go on and on about the easiest topics which made her have to rush through harder topics. Also, I did not find her office hours helpful for the same thing.
It's chemistry so it's going to be hard but Professor Burstyn doesn't necessarily make it any easier. Lectures were pretty bad as she's not great with technology and would often make mistakes or not make any sense during practice problems. Going to discussion was much more helpful, especially if you have a good TA.
Judith was an amazing chem 104 professor. Her lectures weren't the most exciting but they were easy to understand. She is super helpful in office hours and genuinely wants you to succeed. She is my favorite professor I've had at Madison.
Prof B was a great teacher! I will agree, she was a little bit behind in technology, but it was nothing that hindered lectures or understanding. Lectures are easy to understand and very clear. Very sweet, funny, and super entertaining as well. Her test averages were usually the highest across lectures. She's great! My roommate and I loved her.
I had Prof. Burstyn last semester in the spring but just got to rating her now. I didn't love 104 but the lectures were helpful and I managed. I got pretty sick with mono right before the last midterm and she excused me from the whole thing and was very understanding, which I deeply appreciated. She was also very helpful in her office hours.
CHEM104 can be challenging, but Professor Burstyn is helpful during office hours. Use Unstuck AI along with the textbook to stay on top of the material. Exams are tough but fair, just keep up with the work.
I loved her as a chem 104 professor, she was super helpful in office hours and wanted you to suceeed! She's the best!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
41%
Textbook Required
76%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.49 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM511
4.3
(3)CHEM311
3.6
(5)104
2.8
(4)CHEM109
2.7
(47)CHEM104
2.1
(43)Difficulty by Course
CHEM103
4.0
CHEM104
3.7
CHEM109
3.5
104
3.3
CHEM221
3.0