2.5
Quality3.3
Difficulty31%
Would Retake83
Reviews31%
Would Retake
83
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
11
4
16
3
10
2
25
1
21
What Students Say
“Bro went on a tangent about anime mid class once that was funny I guess”
IR271 - 2.0 rating“I really enjoyed taking a class with Professor Berger”
IR250 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
93%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.17 avg changeRatings by Course
POIR579
5.0
(1)IR789
5.0
(1)IR570
4.0
(1)IRPO271
4.0
(1)IR549
3.7
(3)Difficulty by Course
POIR579
4.0
IRPO271
4.0
IR270
4.0
IR101
4.0
IR374
3.8
Reviews (83)
Great lecturer and very interesting... but, don't take this class if you don't want to work.
Very bright, an expert in his field. He's a fun person and always has a good anecdote. He gets off track sometimes but realizes it before long and always has a plan to follow for each lecture. He assigns a lot of reading but it's not necessary to do all of it.
It is a grad level course so the workload is a bit heavy. One term paper and two exams. The exams are not that hard cause he will give you a highly detailed study guide. The professor is considerate, humorous and understanding. Great course with a great professor!!
this class is horrible. he discusses absolutely nothing in class, only to demand extensive knowledge of material he pulls from out of the air for the tests.
Don't take the class... it seems easy at first but he pulls out stuff out of thin air.. he does give a review sheet with terms and paper topics but if you didn't over analyize the readings it's really hard since he doesn't discuss anything that is relevent to the actually test.
Worst professor EVER. Lectures are completly irrelevant and so are the readings. He does give out a review sheet, which is the only saving grace. He takes attendance EVERY day so you have to sit through his diatribes. Completely unhelpful outside of class as well.
Dunno what the rest of these posts are talking about... I thought lectures were concise and the tests were straightforward. Despite the low course number, it really helps to have taken IR350/349 beforehand since there's a lot of history that's breezed over in the course. Prof. tends to speak too softly, though.
i hated this class. berger is pompous and belittles students. he does have alot of knowledge, but thats not the way to teach and get students excited.
Prof. Berger is brilliant. He can ramble sometimes, but his lectures are fascinating, and he can talk about just about anything. Reading is heavy, but you learn so much its scary. Highly reccomended.
He's super scatterbrained and rambles a lot. He also assigns readings from books that he didn't assign and expects us to go read the one copy that's on reserve in the library. His grading is also a bit arbitrary.
i dont know what ur talkin about!! berger is the****, the only reason he grades hard is b/c he just knows too much not to see thru the ****.his notes are exactly what his papers are on, he emails w/ help. he does ramble a little, he does assign alot of reading, but if you pay attention in class u dont need 2 read.study guides are AMAZING
While Berger can ramble a bit and his reading list is ridiculous (and difficult to get a hold of), I thought his class was a breeze. You don't really have to do any of the reading as long as you can quote a line or two from a book. Plus, his test guides tell you EVERYTHING. I didn't even participate - he never even knew my name - and I did great.
Hilarious, entertaining while teaching and not teaching. Definitely knows his stuff. Writes on black/white boards, nothing on computer, which is great for me because he doesn't go too fast then. Really nice and understanding!!!! Very fair grader. Very interesting class. Was really hard for me but I would definitely take another class with him.
professor berger - interesting - fun - intelligent however if you are new to IR this may not be for you - a challenging professor - i did well in class and got a good grade - a great human being
While his lectures are definitely interesting, Berger can also come across as arrogant (i.e. references to his brother-in-law working for Goldman Sachs, his harvard days, etc.) Please, we could all do without the gratuitous information. I was dissapointed to find his arrogance transcends his lectures to his interactions with students. Unhelpful.
Know his stuff, but is very very boring. Tests are very hard and he doesnt discuss half of what is on the test. Don't take this class with Berger. He doesn't really know how to teach, pretty crappy teacher....stinks
Arrogant. He is not helpful and when he actually answers questions outside of class, he will act like you are below him and that you are taking up his time. Tests are hard, but he curves 'em. Cannot use technology, powerpoint breaks down every day and refuses to wear the mic the right way so you can't hear him.
very confusing, talks about random stuff that has nothing to do with what's on the exam. if you don't read the book you'll get a zero
Pompous. DBag. That said, smart guy, shouldn't be teaching intro classes. Read the book, easy A, if not, fail. Last curve was originally 24 points; he didn't seem to see that as self-reflective. Has better things to do as if we were wasting his time. Very unprofessional tests, musta made them 5 mins before the test, indicative of overall attitude.
There are few professors that seem less in touch with reality than this guy. The textbooks and lectures rarely matched up and ALL of the information is testable. His tests are unprofessional, and he would do better to teach higher level classes on Korea (his background). He was knowledgeable, but not down to earth enough to teach IR to freshmen.
OK, so he wasn't the best lecturer. And the class was hard. But, keep in mind, a class like IR 271 was created for majors. It is bound to be a little tough. There was a lot of reading, too. Don't look at this class if you're not an IR person.
No Comments
Nice man and an overall good professor, although He can be hard to hear, and rambles on a bit. If you like politics and world events u will like him... tests are easy enough and he curves big time.
No Comments
What can you say? It's a large lecture = boring... especially at 8 am. Brilliant man, but needs to learn to live in the 21st century (can't even work PowerPoint!). I heard from a friend that outside of class he is pretty full of himself. I'm just glad it's over...
Berger is a bit arrogant, he rambles a lot during lecture, and went on tangets from tangets.
i dropped my major (IR) because of him.
if you have to take this class, take it with another professor. More than half the class slept through the lecture. The other half surfed the net
do NOT take this class with him
great professor, clearly knows his subject. i don't know what all the other comments were talking about- he's challenging but not unreasonable. Former comments said he should have stuck to teaching his background: korea... person clearly didnt go to class his background is germany and japan.. overall a good class, but not one for slackers
great professor, clearly knows his subject. i don't know what all the other comments were talking about- he's challenging but not unreasonable. Former comments said he should have stuck to teaching his background: korea... person clearly didnt go to class his background is germany and japan.. overall a good class, but not one for slackers
Horrible professor. I took 271 with him and it was the worst intro by far. He is incomprehensible. I recommend you take any intro other than this one
Berger loves to repeat the entire lecture he did last class for the first half hour of class. He focusses too much on graphs, which no one cares about and are not tested. This class is rediculous. He likes to blame the fact that we are behind on the fact that we are using a new book (which is not why why are behind at all). The man is incompetent.
This guy is the worst professor I've ever had. His tests aren't bad at all, once you cut through the wording. He literally wants you to fail. Everyone in the class smashed the first test he gave, so the next class he was pouting and promptly wrote the next one in an obscure dialect of legalese. Avoid this guy. He sucks.
Fall 2008: first exam avg was an 87, second exam avg was a 67 (so he gave a 14 point curve). I would never take this class if I could choose again. His lectures are all over the place, it is impossible to keep up b/c he will put up a graph and focus on that rather than on what the slides at hand.His exams are all trick-questions.Take it with Corgan
His lectures are incomprehensible. He babbles endlessly and changes the slides so often you can't even finish the notes. The tests really are full of trick questions with multiple correct answers, and if you bring it up with the TFs, they'll say "Just pick the MOST correct answer." Seriously, take this class with Corgan.
Alright. His lectures are a little dull. But if you go into the class having done the reading, and actually get a chance to listen to what he adlibs (not just the stuff on the slideshow), he's a really interesting guy, and he knows what he's talking about. Early class, but go if you can because getting behind doesn't help you for the tests
Exactly what I expected from reading the other comments. Dull class, just need to get through it as a retirement. HE discourage me in any way, true IR students will tough it out.
he is boring, his tests are tricky, he doesn't lead us in the right way. i am changing major because of him
Professor Berger's class is poorly timed (at 8 A.M.) because everyone is so tired that his voice puts everyone to sleep. Not that it would matter, given that he goes on tangents anyway. At least the tests were easy. (It should be noted that the discussion sections for this class were interesting, and totally worth taking the class for.)
If you're looking for nap time go to this class. TA's were really nice though.
Berger is not meant to teach a large lecture. He's clearly not good at keeping attention with a big group, and he encourages no participation. His tests were designed to be difficult, not test your knowledge. That being said, if you read the books you should be fine on your own.
This class was a waste of time. He just read off the slides during lecture which aren't worth going to. The first exam was too easy and the second was too hard...he doesn't seem to know how to make an exam that actually measures how much you know! Don't take this unless it's a requirement. 3/4 of it is history and the last 1/4 is IR.
obviously ir 271 is required for the majority of cas students. but please, please, PLEASE take it with corgan. this guy made me change m major he was that bad. just don't do it.
Very easy to fall asleep in class. Attendance not mandatory. Makes an interesting subject (IR) very boring. First test was a piece of cake, second one was much harder. Take Corgan
Berger is a really nice guy and always responded to my emails and questions very promptly. You can tell he knows what he is talking about. His lecture would be far more interesting if it were not 8 am. 3 tests and 1 final.. not easy but not hard.
Even though Berger is a knowledgable person about International Relations but he's so boring. He tries to incorporate class participation into his discussions but it basically turns into lecture. He gave study guides for the tests so if you do those you can make decent grade.
The syllabus states that participation is required, but it was basically a small lecture class. He tends to wander off topic a lot, but if you take good notes his exams will be fine. There are two exams and one long paper, as well as a lot of somewhat dry reading! It is a good class, but make sure you really like the subject before taking it!
I had Professor Berger years ago for IR789. I've noticed that a number of the negative comments for his teaching style come from lower-level (i.e., not Grad-level) classes. Professor Berger is an excellent, knowledgeable, and helpful (if slightly scatterbrained) professor. Any "wanderings" in his lectures are actually more, useful, information!
He is very nice and knowledgeble.
He is very nice and knowledble.
He is great if you actually like to learn because he teaches materials to the very deep. Maybe he's not for you if you are not willing to actually learn but just fulfilling your requirement.
Great knowledgeable professor. Work is hard and the exams are hard. Most of everything is not based upon lecture, rather readings.
Interesting class, but he's a bit unorganised and unclear in his lectures
Had to take this class for my major, so I took a 3.5 hour summer class with him, he went beyond the schedule time EVERY class which was very frustrating, gave us a study guide with terms not gone over in the textbooks or during one of his long lectures.
I am writing an honors thesis under him too. Does not show up to office hours, does not respond to emails, does not show up to class on time. Very unorganized, often forgets notes. Regularly goes off on tangents. Class is loathsome.
As long as you do and study the pre-exam study sheet then you can get an A. Doesn't respond to emails at all and is one of the most flaky Professor you'll ever meet. Class is entertaining but honestly everything you need to know is on the slides.
Berger is a great professor. He really knows what he's talking about and is a real professional in his field. Very cultured guy and is always available for a chat. He gives great feedback. He does expect a lot out of students though. Really tough exams and assignments, but you should be good if you attended lectures regularly and did the readings.
He's a nice professor, but he rambles a lot. He also provides a lot of background information that I honestly thought was unnecessary, but I still enjoyed learning it. He does *not* respond to emails, so if you have questions, ask them in or immediately before/after class! Participation is important to him, so try to say something once each class.
Not sure why his score is so low. Yes, he didn't give feedback, took forever grading, & sometimes name-drops, but IR250 was the first class I actually was excited to go to! There's a lot of readings (you don't need to do it to pass shh), but his review sheets are really helpful! He graded really fairly & gives lots of slides to review material.
He is a good teacher but he tends to just rant in class and the essay questions are just on a random topic he talked about.
Berger clearly knows a lot about IR but his ability to convey his knowledge in a concise and engaging way falls flat. His lectures and slides are painfully boring. The readings are only useful for the exams because in class, he rarely engages directly with the readings. Also rants and gets off topic. Overall, would not take a class with him again.
Prof. Berger is great! He is a true expert on IR and security studies. Lectures are informative. Readings can be really beneficial if you are interested in IR. Exams are easy since study guides are provided beforehand. The term paper is nice to write about your own area of interest while giving a boost to your grade. Grading is generous as well.
Berger's lecture are incredibly boring and drag on with material that isn't tested. His grading rubrics are incredibly unclear and his own TA's have expressed anger with his teaching and grading practices. If this isnt a required class avoid him at all costs.
His lectures are very boring. A lot of material and he does not explain it clearly. Plus, you cannot hear him unless you sit in the first 3 rows. He does not use a microphone.
During the midterm, he incorrectly entered the question type and all class lost their essay credit. The other time, midterm was postponed because he could not access it. Lectures are very boring and very quiet, can't hear him. Would never take him again. Absolutely horrible.
Berger is an amazing professor. His lectures are funny and relate to the textbook perfectly. His exams are very fair and you get a study sheet with all the questions on it before each test.
Professor Berger is so knowledgeable about International Relations. His lectures are very informative and he is hilarious. He always has a not-so-quick side story to add color to the discussion. Sometimes the lectures can be boring, and he gets very sidetracked. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the class and came out of it more knowledgeable about IR.
Yes, he is an old fashioned lecturer, but he gives out study guides with all the test information, and the exams are extremely straight forward. If you do the bare minimum, you will do well. Compared to other old fashioned professors, he is the best, because he actually acknowledges that we are of a different generation. TFs are amazing as well.
Berger comes to class late and unprepared. None of his thinking or texts are original - and he frequently assigns his own readings. This professor also has an extremely flawed, almost neoconservative grasp of foreign policy. Ex: the Israeli Occupation of Palestine. He frequently makes derogatory comments about Arabs, BLM protestors, etc.
Rambles on in lectures and does not know how to keep a class that large engaged. We also had to pay this money for the website he uses that we can't even access feedback to, have been faulty on our exams, and doesn't even have our grades on there for us to see.
Interesting knowledgeable guy. Lectures could get boring at times but he would always say funny things to liven it up. Really not as bad as people say, TFs are really nice and helpful and make up for his lack of understanding on how to use Tophat. Exams are easy but take forever to get back. Textbook is useless.
There is a textbook but it absolutely unnecessary. The lectures are also completely irrelevant to the material on the two midterms and final exam. The exams aren't at all hard they just require much review outside of the lecture hall. The TF's are really amazing and help a lot but it's not worth taking the class. He is funny guy but that's it.
In my honest opinion, I would never take Berger again. His lectures are all over the place and half the stuff he talks about in class never shows up on the exam. You're only graded by the midterm, paper, and final but he gives out review sheets that have all the exam information so you don't even need to do the numerous readings or show up to class
He clearly knows a lot about IR, but cannot articulate it. He essentially would just come to class, flex that he can speak some Japanese and that he knows professors at MIT, and then leave without teaching anything. He was not accessible outside of class, his exams were dumb and ambiguous, and he made his TAs do all the work.
I feel like I took the class with only the TAs. He goes on long, unrelated to the content rants about his personal life/experience which takes up massive chunks of time. Huge issues with technology as well. He has experience, no doubt about it, but he's better suited to an analytical office or government job, not teaching.
I hated this class so much I dropped two weeks in. Would never take a class with him again. Speaks super quietly and barely even talked about security (ie. the point of the class). Flexes that he speaks Japanese for no reason and then talks about random stuff. Hardest 75 minutes of my life. DO NOT TAKE.
He seems like a nice guy, but never gives you your grades back, just submits your final grades with no explanation. Paper was worth 50% of the grade, if it is not perfect he'll take points off for no real reason. Tests were based on terms that were either never mentioned or he may have mentioned it in one of his rants.
Most boring/pointless lectures of my life. He rarely discussed IR but went on rants about his friends or irrelevant skills. The exams were always a technology disaster and we had to pay to report our attendance. Exams were not difficult but required that you teach yourself everything because none of it was talked about in class.
Goes in rants about people he knows all the time instead of talking about IR, technological disasters were normal occurrences, rarely talks about the material in lectures, but still easy because the exams were essentially just glorified vocab tests.
Bro went on a tangent about anime mid class once that was funny I guess
I really enjoyed taking a class with Professor Berger. His lectures were very informative and interesting. I personally did the readings and it helped me a lot on the exams because I was able to bring in information from them and had more to write about. I suggest starting the term paper ahead of time because it's 50% of your final grade.
Not very good
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
93%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.17 avg changeRatings by Course
POIR579
5.0
(1)IR789
5.0
(1)IR570
4.0
(1)IRPO271
4.0
(1)IR549
3.7
(3)Difficulty by Course
POIR579
4.0
IRPO271
4.0
IR270
4.0
IR101
4.0
IR374
3.8