Professor
Arnold Berk
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Most Helpful Review
He only taught the last 1/3 of the course when I took him. I never went to his lecture so I don't even know how he looks or sounds like, but the material he chose to go over was interesting. However, there are a lot of grammatical and spelling errors in his reader. His test questions on the final was surprisingly easy (I heard that he did that because of student complaints from last year). If you memorize all the material in the online powerpoint slides and the reader, and fairly know what is going on, you will get most of the points.
He only taught the last 1/3 of the course when I took him. I never went to his lecture so I don't even know how he looks or sounds like, but the material he chose to go over was interesting. However, there are a lot of grammatical and spelling errors in his reader. His test questions on the final was surprisingly easy (I heard that he did that because of student complaints from last year). If you memorize all the material in the online powerpoint slides and the reader, and fairly know what is going on, you will get most of the points.
Most Helpful Review
Dr. Berk's lectures were terribly boring, but after two weeks or so you learn that you don't really have to go to them. He gives you the mid-term and final questions ahead of time. You cover four chapters that he wrote in Molecular Cell Biology. The chapters are really interesting and the way some things were figured out where fascinating. He seemed like a very nice guy and very approachable, even though I never went to his office hours. Basically, if you do the reading and answer the questions ahead of time, you should have no problem doing well in this class, even if the class is not really curved.
Dr. Berk's lectures were terribly boring, but after two weeks or so you learn that you don't really have to go to them. He gives you the mid-term and final questions ahead of time. You cover four chapters that he wrote in Molecular Cell Biology. The chapters are really interesting and the way some things were figured out where fascinating. He seemed like a very nice guy and very approachable, even though I never went to his office hours. Basically, if you do the reading and answer the questions ahead of time, you should have no problem doing well in this class, even if the class is not really curved.
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Most Helpful Review
I took Dr Berk's class in 1987. These young people here don't know what they're talking about - He is detail oriented because the topic is detailed. He conveys a fascination for science and that comes out in the details. What you should be doing is writing down and memorizing everything he says because the guy is a Microbiology God. Things I learned in his class still ring true to this day, 26 years later. When I took his class, you had to take notes or die- there was no internet per se. So, I don't feel sorry for students who have all the slides and notes posted for them in advance of every lecture.
I took Dr Berk's class in 1987. These young people here don't know what they're talking about - He is detail oriented because the topic is detailed. He conveys a fascination for science and that comes out in the details. What you should be doing is writing down and memorizing everything he says because the guy is a Microbiology God. Things I learned in his class still ring true to this day, 26 years later. When I took his class, you had to take notes or die- there was no internet per se. So, I don't feel sorry for students who have all the slides and notes posted for them in advance of every lecture.
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