Professor

Christian Beren

AD
4.4
Overall Ratings
Based on 73 Users
Easiness 3.7 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.8 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.2 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.7 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (73)

3 of 6
3 of 6
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Jan. 4, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+

Getting to take Chem 20A with Beren was a stroke of luck as I initially ended up with a notoriously bad professor (y'all know who) but miraculously somehow got Beren. I personally really enjoyed his class, even with it's rather difficult subject matter, and am pretty positive it has to do with having Beren as a teacher. Because this was his first time teaching the class there were some bumps in the road, but overall I think he did a good job. The first midterm and final were fair with the second midterm being a good amount more difficult. The homework for the most part is way more difficult than the tests so don't stress too much if you can't solve them since they're pretty confusing and are graded based on effort not accuracy. I ended up turning in a couple hws late due to forgetting to give them to my TA and still got full credit. If you ever have any questions, definitely go to his office hours as I ended going around once a week (3 times during finals week) and it was immensely helpful for any confusions I had (although plan on coming with your questions ready). Also definitely go to discussion as you learn a lot of the applicable skills to tests and hws during that time. I was pretty bummed about my grade since I actually really enjoyed the course and its subject. By no means is a B+ a bad grade, but it was a little disappointing after getting a 97% on the first midterm and an ok score on the second one to not get my goal score in the class, but it was my mistake since I personally thought the final was very fair but wound up with a C on it which tanked my grade. Overall would highly recommend taking Beren for Chem 20A.

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Jan. 4, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B

Beren tries very hard to help students. I am not sure if it is because this is his first time teaching 20A, but his lectures and homework did a horrible job of preparing students for the exams. Lectures were very boring and he struggled to explain the material during lectures, resulting in long tedious and boring lectures where many students had many questions.

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Jan. 6, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+

Christian is a really great professor and I think he cares a lot about his students. To be fair, this was his first time teaching 20A so he was kind of writing the class as he went along which showed in his preparedness with slides and textbook readings. He made the homework really hard so that we would go to office hours, but I think if you know a bit about chemistry and use google, you can do it on your own. I found the discussion sheets the most helpful part of the out of class work because they were a really good way of reviewing the material he gave in lecture. I highly recommend attending his lectures because there is a lot of really good information that is incredibly helpful on the homework.
I found the first midterm to be quite easy, but with the second midterm he touched on topics that we barely saw in class so be careful of that. The final exam was also quite difficult but it was doable with a good amount of studying.
Overall, I would recommend taking Beren over the other professors after reading the reviews on their pages.

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Jan. 6, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A

The material is very quantum heavy and can get confusing if you get lost in the math but Beren does a great job of explaining most of the material. Having a good TA (shout out to Jesus) definitely helps out a lot. Although the worksheets are difficult at times they are key to getting a good grade on the exams so I would recommend spending time to understand all the questions and ask for help if you need it.

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Jan. 23, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+

This material of this class is very easy. Be prepared to be curved down. You need to study a lot to get an A. His homework is worded unnecessarily poorly in an attempt to get you to come into office hours. That said, he holds a lot of office hours and is otherwise really helpful if you come in. One of the nicest professors here.

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Jan. 28, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: C-

Best professor for my first quarter here at UCLA. He was really engaging in lecture and always did a good job of explaining the material. The midterms and final were a reflection of the problems he would give for homework. Honestly, I don't know why I got a C-, cause he was that good. At the end of the day, if you need to take 20A, take it with Beren.

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Feb. 18, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+

Beren is the best. He's a really good teacher and if you don't get it in lecture go to his office hours which are very helpful. What really stands out is how organized he is. All of his lectures are well structured and thorough and he makes the (also very organized) notes available to you online. The homework is helpful and so are the discussion problems because they reflect the midterms well. I highly recommend taking Beren if you can.

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March 11, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B

Beren is a definitely a super cool guy and a good teacher, but his tests can be a bit tricky. The most frustrating thing I remember was that the problem sets he assigns for homework are nothing like the test. Definitely need to go to office hours if you want to understand what he's going to test you on. He makes the tests much much harder than the homework and the discussion worksheets in order to get a variety of test scores.

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March 13, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A

Overall a very good class, definitely a lot easier than 20A. Beren's discussion worksheets and homework sets are very similar to the exams. I understood everything well enough and did not need to go into office hours once the entire quarter, but if you're stuck on something then I definitely recommend going. Beren is a great teacher and will do his best to help you understand.

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March 13, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A

Beren is fantastic and makes an otherwise difficult class very doable. Weekly problem sets are a light workload. Midterms are generally the same kind of question as psets and worksheets, but slightly harder. He doesn't require you to memorize formulas or constants (although you need to understand when/how to use them).

I took this class in my senior year as an engineering major who hadn't done chem in a while and came in worried I would be very behind everyone else. I found that the class was very manageable and does not require extensive knowledge from 20A other than some basics (Beren even provides review material for you if needed). 10/10 would recommend for this class

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CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+
Jan. 4, 2020

Getting to take Chem 20A with Beren was a stroke of luck as I initially ended up with a notoriously bad professor (y'all know who) but miraculously somehow got Beren. I personally really enjoyed his class, even with it's rather difficult subject matter, and am pretty positive it has to do with having Beren as a teacher. Because this was his first time teaching the class there were some bumps in the road, but overall I think he did a good job. The first midterm and final were fair with the second midterm being a good amount more difficult. The homework for the most part is way more difficult than the tests so don't stress too much if you can't solve them since they're pretty confusing and are graded based on effort not accuracy. I ended up turning in a couple hws late due to forgetting to give them to my TA and still got full credit. If you ever have any questions, definitely go to his office hours as I ended going around once a week (3 times during finals week) and it was immensely helpful for any confusions I had (although plan on coming with your questions ready). Also definitely go to discussion as you learn a lot of the applicable skills to tests and hws during that time. I was pretty bummed about my grade since I actually really enjoyed the course and its subject. By no means is a B+ a bad grade, but it was a little disappointing after getting a 97% on the first midterm and an ok score on the second one to not get my goal score in the class, but it was my mistake since I personally thought the final was very fair but wound up with a C on it which tanked my grade. Overall would highly recommend taking Beren for Chem 20A.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B
Jan. 4, 2020

Beren tries very hard to help students. I am not sure if it is because this is his first time teaching 20A, but his lectures and homework did a horrible job of preparing students for the exams. Lectures were very boring and he struggled to explain the material during lectures, resulting in long tedious and boring lectures where many students had many questions.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+
Jan. 6, 2020

Christian is a really great professor and I think he cares a lot about his students. To be fair, this was his first time teaching 20A so he was kind of writing the class as he went along which showed in his preparedness with slides and textbook readings. He made the homework really hard so that we would go to office hours, but I think if you know a bit about chemistry and use google, you can do it on your own. I found the discussion sheets the most helpful part of the out of class work because they were a really good way of reviewing the material he gave in lecture. I highly recommend attending his lectures because there is a lot of really good information that is incredibly helpful on the homework.
I found the first midterm to be quite easy, but with the second midterm he touched on topics that we barely saw in class so be careful of that. The final exam was also quite difficult but it was doable with a good amount of studying.
Overall, I would recommend taking Beren over the other professors after reading the reviews on their pages.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A
Jan. 6, 2020

The material is very quantum heavy and can get confusing if you get lost in the math but Beren does a great job of explaining most of the material. Having a good TA (shout out to Jesus) definitely helps out a lot. Although the worksheets are difficult at times they are key to getting a good grade on the exams so I would recommend spending time to understand all the questions and ask for help if you need it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+
Jan. 23, 2020

This material of this class is very easy. Be prepared to be curved down. You need to study a lot to get an A. His homework is worded unnecessarily poorly in an attempt to get you to come into office hours. That said, he holds a lot of office hours and is otherwise really helpful if you come in. One of the nicest professors here.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: C-
Jan. 28, 2020

Best professor for my first quarter here at UCLA. He was really engaging in lecture and always did a good job of explaining the material. The midterms and final were a reflection of the problems he would give for homework. Honestly, I don't know why I got a C-, cause he was that good. At the end of the day, if you need to take 20A, take it with Beren.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+
Feb. 18, 2020

Beren is the best. He's a really good teacher and if you don't get it in lecture go to his office hours which are very helpful. What really stands out is how organized he is. All of his lectures are well structured and thorough and he makes the (also very organized) notes available to you online. The homework is helpful and so are the discussion problems because they reflect the midterms well. I highly recommend taking Beren if you can.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20A
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B
March 11, 2020

Beren is a definitely a super cool guy and a good teacher, but his tests can be a bit tricky. The most frustrating thing I remember was that the problem sets he assigns for homework are nothing like the test. Definitely need to go to office hours if you want to understand what he's going to test you on. He makes the tests much much harder than the homework and the discussion worksheets in order to get a variety of test scores.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20B
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 13, 2020

Overall a very good class, definitely a lot easier than 20A. Beren's discussion worksheets and homework sets are very similar to the exams. I understood everything well enough and did not need to go into office hours once the entire quarter, but if you're stuck on something then I definitely recommend going. Beren is a great teacher and will do his best to help you understand.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CHEM 20B
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 13, 2020

Beren is fantastic and makes an otherwise difficult class very doable. Weekly problem sets are a light workload. Midterms are generally the same kind of question as psets and worksheets, but slightly harder. He doesn't require you to memorize formulas or constants (although you need to understand when/how to use them).

I took this class in my senior year as an engineering major who hadn't done chem in a while and came in worried I would be very behind everyone else. I found that the class was very manageable and does not require extensive knowledge from 20A other than some basics (Beren even provides review material for you if needed). 10/10 would recommend for this class

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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