2.3
Quality4.3
Difficulty20%
Would Retake85
Reviews20%
Would Retake
85
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
85 total ratings5
10
4
11
3
9
2
23
1
32
What Students Say
“His test and quizzes are unreal”
CHEM115 - 3.0 rating“Berger is the worst professor I have ever dealt with”
CHM115 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
12%
Textbook Required
20%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.69 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM113
4.0
(1)RELS201
4.0
(1)CHEM116
3.7
(3)CHM116
3.7
(3)CHEM115116
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
CHEM111
5.0
CHEM108
5.0
CHM111
4.5
CHEM115116
4.5
CHEM115
4.4
Reviews (84)
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He has high expectations, but is *extremely* fair and helpful. The previous rating is bogus. Dr. Berger helps students to figure out answers. Unfortunately, some students just want answers without having to think. And by the way, he earned the degree so it's proper to address him as Doctor!
If you know what you are doing and want to pay to teach yourself...take this class. All he did was read off his power point presentations.
Don't take this any of his classes!! He doesn't teach anything & he has hard tests. When ppl ask questions he embarasses them infront of the whole class. My class's 1st test average was 60% and our 2nd was 53%-he gave no curve- until teacher eval. and he said he would replace the lowest test score w/ your grade from the final, which was very hard.
Uses very complicated means of illustrating simple concepts. He does not teach the class, but reads from a powerpoint at a very fast pace. He sold his own lecture notes in the bookstore, which pretty much consists of sentences taken right out of the text, and restated in a more complicated manner. One of the worst professors I have had at IPFW.
Like the previous comment, Dr. Berger does in fact have very high expectations. He doesn't have the time to stop and answer questions during lecture, so majority of class is lost all the time, and you do have to teach yourself alot of the material.
The worst teacher I've ever had. Reads a powerpoint to you and expects you understand. He is willing to answer questions but makes you feel stupid when you ask anything. All tests are impossible and class averages are a joke. He curves at the end to make his class averages look better.
i agree with the other comments. i never asked a question in class because i didn't want to be embarrased. he makes you feel stupid if you interrupt his "power point presentation". i had to teach myself and barely passed with a c
This guy will make you feel like a moron no matter what you ask. Tests are VERY difficult and make up your grade. No need to go to lecture as he literally just reads a powerpoint that is free online. You are your own teacher in here. I suggest taking Provi Mayo instead.
Very hard to get an A.
basically what everybody else has said ... just reads a powerpoint and doesnt really like interuptions
I like Doctor Berger. He knows what he is talking about and gives informed answers to any question. I will say that he is not much of a people person though.
Dr. Berger is generally a nice guy. You just really need to give him a chance. Gen. Chem. is not the most interesting class no matter what. Just pay attention in class. He will help you, you just need to have intelligent questions. Tests can be hard, but there is always SI. I would recommend him for 115 or 116
It is obvious that Dr. Berger knows what he is talking about. However, his tests are ridiculous. His tests were made up of trick questions, and I couldn't pass one to save my life.
Dr. Berger is bland, confusing, and condescending. He reads straight from a powerpoint and questions are usually answered with, "You really don't know that? That's the easiest thing in the world." His tests are difficult and he is forced to curve heavily (15%-20% up) to pass half of his students. NOT recommended for 100 level classes.
He doesn't offer help very readily, when he is sought out for help, he makes you feel like an idiot. He is very knowledgeable but doesn't really break down his explanations. He assumes you just know after he shows you a picture. If you don't read and comprehend well all on your own, don't sign up for his classes. I had little understanding after.
Dr.Berger is the worst professor I have ever dealt with. He doesn't seem to care about the students in the class. He may ask if anyone has any questions but you can't ask a question with out being put down. Also you barely have any test and when you do it's over 5 chapters or so. If you wan't a class that's easy to learn take a different professor!
If you haven't had chemistry in awhile, this class is not recommended and so is the instructor. He expected for you to come to class and have the same knowledge as he is. His exams are time consuming and you only have 75 mins to do it, overall this courses would be better with another prof. who cares about their students.
His lectures are EXTREMELY boring, he basically just reads straight off the power point. His tests cover A LOT chapters and are tricky because even though it's multiple choice almost all have the choice of "none of the above" Unless you have high school chem fresh in your head I suggest taking the class below this.
Dr. Berger's class is very hard. However, he is also very fair. He tells you up front what he wants, he is a fair grader, and he gives you a second chance to prove yourself by replacing the final grade with the lowest test score. If you go to office hours, he will help you. Lectures are from powerpoint. Be prepared to work very hard.
not helpful and very hard
He is very smart and can teach very well. But he is extremely hard and doesn't really care if people fail or do bad on exams. He is eager to help someone understand. This class has over 600 homework problems, be prepared, not even half are multiple choice. All due at the same time.
Dr. Berger is straightforward and does not suffer fools gladly. If you take his class seriously, he will be your best friend. If you have a bad attitude toward the class, then you reap what you sow. He is extremely fair when it comes to grading. You will have to work!
Good luck. Seriously, I am pretty sure I failed both of the exams during the course of the class. Luckily, I did well on the final, which replaced one of my test grades. His class is painful to sit through, but he knows the material. The quizzes/exams are some of the hardest things I have ever taken so make sure you do well in the lab portion.
He pretty much just reads from a power point. The lectures are pretty useless, you learn more from reading the book and doing the online homework. He curves the test scores for the final grade, so I ended up with a higher grade than I expected
His test and quizzes are unreal. They are so hard. His lectures are pointless and boring. He just reads off the power points. He makes this already boring subject even more boring. He knows what he is talking about it but the test are what screw you. Plus for each chapter given there is about 70 homework problems to do which are all math problems.
Very Knowledgable Professor! He really knows alot about the subject! Has problems talking down on an undergrad level sometimes. as long as you come to class and pay attention and take notes its easy. Homework is time consuming but you have the entire semester to do them . Helped to make the national exam seem very easy!
Chemistry isn't very interesting or easy for a lot of people, but Berger's always excited to teach it. He lets you know upfront what he expects, and explains concepts in great detail. Pretty humorous; had the class laughing quite often. Didn't talk down to people when they asked questions. Don't take his class if you're expecting an easy A.
Berger is a good teacher if you can keep up. I found myself having to choose between taking notes and actually digesting what was being said. Although all you have to do is ask a question and he will help and go more in depth. take advantage of office hours .
Very Intelligent and nice guy, but grades too harsh and offers no E.C. so your grade will be what ever your average test score is. Don't forget about the freakin awesome standardize test final..... If you're not twitching, you will.
I WILL NOT ever take a course taught by Dr. Berger again. His lectures are straight off of the slideshow that is uploaded. Your grade is based on Tests that are primarily T/F questions and some of the most confusing Questions. Exams are based off of "anything in the chapters" and did not provide any idea whatsoever on what would be on the exam.
His offers no insight when giving his lectures, he reads straight from the powerpoints. Often is inadequate in answering student questions. Not to mention he only holds two exams and a final son making points back is very difficult. Also what kind of person makes exams 2/3 true/false?!
He memorized the PowerPoint word for word and that's what he teaches. Also very difficult tests and quizzes that are mostly true or false.
Be prepared to read the textbook and develop your understanding of chemistry completely from it. Lecture heavy, the quizzes and tests are sure to throw you off. 'Teaches' directly from powerpoint slides, simply regurgitates the information displayed on them. To his credit, he is knowledgable and will attempt to answer questions raised in lectures.
His lectures were made by someone else and he seemed like he didn't pre-read them. He encourages questions, but he would shame you for it. I wouldn't recommend him if you aren't an expert at chem. I'm in honors and I barely passed. To make himself look better, he adds lots of points onto grades. He seems to care about his pay more than teaching us.
Lecture heavy but the final had nothing to do with what he taught. Better off reading the book, going to lab and not wasting time on the lectures. The study guide is $23+ from another school, buy it, learn it, and just use your book. Pointless to go to class, avoid if possible
Basically just reads the slides out loud in class. I know chemistry isn't interesting, but he doesn't even try to make it bearable.
Don't miss his classes for any reason because he'll let you skip the final if you're passing and you've never missed a class (you get one excused absence, but that needs paperwork to prove). He's a nice guy, a bit stern, but you'll get a lot out of his lectures if you pay attention and do the work. Just keep up with his assignments and you're fine.
Explains and teaches very well.
Great teacher!!
Berge acts like everyone in his class took Honors Chem their senior year. He expects the class to be a review and doesn't "teach" anything. He reads off a powerpoint presentation that is pulled straight from the book (that you won't use). His midterm is 50 t/f questions. Save yourself some stress acne and register early to get Dr. Columbia.
Presents powerpoints all of the lecture.
Nice guy. Helpful when you step up and ask the right questions but if you've been out of the chemistry world for a while you're gonna be lost. He kind of goes off onto tangents and then will say "but we won't get into that in this basic class". Reads straight from power points. DO the online homework. Keep up with it and ask questions about it
Dr. Berger is very smart and knows the material, but you can tell he hates teaching the entry level chemistry class. He just reads off the slides that you can access out of class. He is great at answering tough questions. If reading is your thing, then just read the book and slides and skip class. His tests are VERY difficult. Do homework early.
Doesn't actually teach the material, just reads everything straight from the power points that he posts online for you.
Too much material in a short period of time. Also has no leniency in grading, at all.
Dr. Burger gives bs quizzes over content he doesn't teach.
Rewords his own quizzes, more fail than pass his class, and difficult to take notes when someone doesnt allow you to read the slides
Would not take again
He just reads off the slides that are already posted online. Goes over multiple slides (60+) in one lecture. Very difficult to pass if you haven't taken chemistry in the past year. Throws a ton of information at you and expects you to know all slides for tests/quizzes because he doesn't narrow anything down.
Horrible. I am usually a straight A's and high B's student and I was constantly worrying if I was even going to pass this class. He posts NONE of the grades online except the midterms. Very test heavy. I studied 40+ hours every week and failed every single quiz. Your best bet is to practice problems on your own and buy the final study guide online.
The online homework takes forever to do, mostly because you have to teach yourself the material. I studied for a quiz by doing the online homework for 3 hours the night before, and failed the quiz anyways. He will give formulas for some quizzes or midterms, but will suddenly not do that on the final. The things said about slides are true too.
Basically, you have to take the initiative to learn anything. You will not have success without working outside of lecture. Visiting him during office hours and watching online videos over the topics at question will help immensely. You will fail if you do not go to class. Homework & previous quizzes are the best ways to study for his exams.
My classmates walked into his office for help. He helped them out but they started having a personal conversation with him, it summed down to that he "hates teaching entry-level chemistry". HIGHLY RECOMMEND do NOT take him OR Columbia.
This is the worst class I've ever had. He does not prepare you for exams or quizzes. You will need to teach yourself. He also seems more interested in hearing himself talk than in teaching.
The expectation for this class is to learn EVERYTHING on your own outside of lecture. I'm pretty sure I learned more in lab than I did in lecture with Berger. It is obvious he does not like teaching entry level Chemistry and has 0 mercy with grading. Basically, if you are taking ANY other hard classes, you are going to struggle passing this class.
He reads straight from the powerpoint, won't get a whole lot of extra info during the lecture. His tests and homework are extremely hard.. He does not give a whole lot of info on what will be on tests. Lot of info to learn and understand. If you ask ?s, he won't just give you the answer. He REALLY wants you to understand the material.
Save yourself the mid-semester tears and breakdowns, and DON'T sign up for Dr. Berger's class. Your grade is based on little work, so good luck trying to bring it up. He doesn't teach anything, just reads Powerpoints all day.
It's correct that Dr. Berger read off his slides. There is a huge amount of online homework, do it EARLY instead of waiting until the last minute to do them. Show up in lectures and ask qs. Ask qs and he will help, he can't help if you don't ask. Also, ask someone already took the class with him and ask for help. Old quizzes are extremely helpful.
The professor is funny, but the lectures can get boring. Plus, there is a massive amount of information for an exam, and when studying you had to pick and choose what you studied carefully. For online homework my class had around 800 questions for all semester, so DO THEM EARLY! He sort of curved our grades for the final because of the difficulty.
Reads from PowerPoints. Basically teach yourself. Only 2 test and 1 final. Too much information on each test and cumulative Final. There are many homework question so DO NOT GET BEHIND! Pray to the heavens that you can choose a different professor. He wants to help but does a poor job of explaining anything.
Dr. Berger has been the worst professor that I have had so far. There is no reason to go to his lectures because he teaches nothing new. His lectures also contain little to no examples that help with the homework/quizzes/exams. This class has caused me so much stress over the semester. Skip the breakdowns and avoid this class.
Amazing teacher! Ask questions and be diligent and you'll do well! Remember that his exams are just all the quizzes put together! Study the quizzes!!! Dr Berger is a really nice guy if you get to know him and you strive for excellence
8 quizzes, 3 exams, 10 percent of grade is homework. That's all you are graded by. No study guides given. He expects you to know every single thing on his power points. Lectures are boring, just reading off a power point. Posts lectures online, so no need for attendance. Textbook not needed but you will need a Smartwork5 key for homework problems.
Make sure to do the homework early its the only way you will learn, you dont learn much from his lectures at all and for the exams just study the quizzes and make sure review every quiz after youre done.
Terrible at giving lectures, tests are all multiple choice which may sound great but it basically just means that you can't get partial credit, lab grade might save you if you do well, textbook is unecessary but you need it to access the online homework will have to take chemistry again next semester sadly
Do not miss his lectures, and ask questions when you do not understand something. Berger wants to help his students, but when he doesn't know what topics his students do not get then he cannot help them. For studying for his exams, review all of his quizzes. It's possible to make the grades, but you need to put in the work.
Reads off the powerpoints this was my second time taking this class and its the reason I'm switching schools. The chemistry department expects you to learn everything on you own he's a cool dude but DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS take COLUMBIA INSTEAD. if you cant get Columbia then skip it till you can trust me. Remember this, they don;t care about you.
I had him for CHM115 lecture only. He's better in my mind than a lot of reviews say he is. He brings some humor into the lecture. He mostly goes off what's on the slides but adds additional information. The lectures are very information dense. Tests are easy, majority true/false. He is knowledgeable and wants students to succeed
I took this class the last semester with Dr. Berger. he won't care about the students even if they're willing to put the time to actually understand the subject. He will be giving you 140+ pages of power point slides and you are expected to fully understand them in your own. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HIM YOU WILL REGERT IT
It's easy to get lost and bored in his lectures. If you have him, it's best to go over the lectures before class because he doesn't present new information as NEW information. He just brings it up slightly instead of highlighting it and expressing, "this is something new". Each lecture is a bit all over the place. He is, however, very competent.
Not a bad person, but not very good at teaching, so don't take Berger if you aren't good at self study and/or can't get a good lab instructor to make up for it. If you have to take him anyways make good use of the tutoring center. The exams are difficult, so do the best you can on labs, homework, and quizzes to make up for it.
Dr. Berger isn't the best teacher, but getting a good grade is possible. Taking labs seriously is crucial for easy points. Attend tutoring for lab help. Don't procrastinate on Smartwork, it's a lot but not too hard. Quizzes are tough, but similar to exams. Reading the book isn't helpful. Write down in-class problems, very similar to weekly quizzes
I only passed this class because of my lab grade. He is not a good lecturer. I used youtube to learn everything. His in class examples were helpful for the quizzes but he hardly did any. You have to pay to do the online homework and the homework takes so long to do. I honestly feel like I did not learn anything from his lectures.
I am very thankful to have passed this class. The mentality quickly became to do whatever it took to pass. The main problem I had was the organization of the lecture information. Chemistry was not my forte so if you struggle, I would search for a different lecturer.
Honestly worst professor I've had. He is good at chemistry, but shoud NOT be a teacher. He does not fully explain topics, literally lies about grading curves, condecending, all the things that make the learning expereince hell. I agree with the other comments and if you can, don't take berger.
Dr. Berger explains the material well and it was interesting for me. He encourages participation but it ended up being the same 2 or 3 people that would talk. I went to his office hours for additional questions and he was happy to explain them. The tests are curved and most of the questions on quizzes are almost identical to those in class.
Lecture slides are literally just the textbook pages word for word in powerpoint form; renders reading the textbook useless. Lecture is so boring that it becomes difficult to pay attention to. Has to curve everything so high or else everybody would fail. I had a 49% in the class pre-curve, ended w 76%. Safe to say I learned nothing from this class.
To old to be teaching
If you have the option to take CHM115 with any other professor DO IT. Dr. Berger is more ready for retirement than he is for teaching his lectures. Expect to teach yourself chemistry, as he plainly reads from the slides with no elaboration. Lecture attendance is not required, exams are all multiple choice with questions framed from the quizzes.
Go to class if you want to do well. But, lecture is so boring and he gives barely any preparation for the exams so good luck. Get prepared to study. He also has the worst homework system where you have to buy the homework ($40) which doesn't even include the textbook ($90). If you only buy the homework, you can't even answer some of the questions.
I was worried taking Berger because of his bad reviews but he honestly was not that bad at least for General Chemistry 115. His lectures were sometimes boring but he tried to be funny and involve class participation. There is a lot of homework online but definitely manageable. The exams are based on the quizzes and final is curved.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
12%
Textbook Required
20%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.69 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEM113
4.0
(1)RELS201
4.0
(1)CHEM116
3.7
(3)CHM116
3.7
(3)CHEM115116
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
CHEM111
5.0
CHEM108
5.0
CHM111
4.5
CHEM115116
4.5
CHEM115
4.4