MIMG 132 with Berk and Black is still a great class. This quarter there were 29 possible essay questions for the midterm (3 chosen) and 29 more for the final (4 from final set, 2 from midterm set). As long as you dont procrastinate and prepare your answers this class is fun and easy and you learn a lot about nuclear biology.

Professor Black has the more monotone voice of the two but his slides are better and he delivers the concepts clearly, so he is easy to follow as long as you dont fall asleep (I certainly did a few times). Overall, very approachable and helpful.

132 is a class I was dreading, but ended up enjoying quite a bit. Granted, I took it during the lockdown which meant open note exams. Professor Black had critical thinking questions on his exam questions, while Prof. Berk had random memorization and “check all that apply” questions. I think that summarizes the two instructors well; Prof. Black is there to make sure you understand cool, important concepts about nuclear cell biology while Prof. Berk wants more memorization. I preferred the content from Prof. Black.

The pre-recorded lectures helped quite a bit. I studied by doing all of the reading, taking notes, and then watching lectures. We had reading quizzes which were pretty chill and made sure you stayed on top of the reading (total around 400 double spaced pages for the quarter). You gotta study everyday. Make sure you listen to important concepts in lecture, especially for Dr. Black. This is how I got a top 10% score on the midterm and almost a perfect quiz score. I would also study the study guide questions that the give; those will likely be more relevant in non-online quarters.

Overall, while the examinations and reading can be tedious, the content of this class is necessary to understand molecular biology in depth. I can’t say I had as detailed an understanding of protein structure, transcriptional regulation, translational regulation, genome organization, and cell cycle before this class.

Dr. Black and Dr. Berk are both very knowledgable and helpful professors. It was an honor to be taught by them. This class was very informative and i've learned so much in such little time. The lectures can get a little monotonous and hard to keep up with, but they're podcasted.

Go to office hours!! Ask questions and they will gladly explain. No reason not to know any of the answers because they will give it to you. Don't slack on doing the questions before the midterm and final. And definitely get all points possible on the quizzes because those are easy points.

Yes, the tests are difficult, require a lot of studying, and the TAs are often tough graders. But you get such a sense of accomplishment when you finish this class.

Black is like.. socially awkward. Going to his office hours always made me feel weird because he would answer your questions in this really vague, cryptic way (because he really wanted you to be able to find the answer yourself) and if you ever tried to crack a joke or be lighthearted he would be super awkward about it and make you question your existence.
As far as teaching, he stutters a lot, he is pretty boring, the material isn't very exciting... I just stopped going to class and ended up just reading the textbook. I wrote a more detailed review of the class under Berk's review (I'm assuming they'll be teaching it together for awhile). Overall I would not take this class again if given the option, but I will say that the material learned is incredibly useful, especially if you're working in a lab. I learned a lot but I hated it the whole way through. Better teachers would have helped with this class.

I like Black because he's concerned about student learning which to me is the most important quality about a good professor. I don't know what he's like for LS3 but 132 is a piece of cake. I put in the effort and got an A+. Answers to midterms and finals are given to you before-hand. The key is to answer the questions as you learn the material throughout the quarter, that way you won't be cramming a bunch of material last minute. Make sure you study for quizzes because they add up in points.