UC Berkeley Pre-Med Requirement Courses, Fall 2008
Biology 1A, General Bio
John Forte (3.8 out of 5)
MWF 8-9, 1 Pimentel
“Though it looks like his an okay teacher, he strictly uses powerpoint, and it’s somethings not all that good to use it. He has some good tangents, but his part of the class requires A LOT of memorization, too much that makes the final pretty hard, nice guy but hard final…Way too concerned with minor details. Test, and class in general, is quite hard…He managed to keep you engaged when you were watching his lectures. His section though had twice has much material as the first two, so there was a lot of memorization. His test questions were pretty detailed and nitpicky. You had to spend a lot of time memorizing.”
Biology by Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece, Investigating Biology Lab Manual (6th Edition) by Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, Judith Giles Morgan
Biology 1AL, General Bio Lab
Michael Meighan (2.6 out of 5)
M 5-630, 1 Pimentel
“Mike Meighan is a great guy who really cares for students. He gets a bad rap. If you go to his office hours, he will do anything to help you out…If you keep up with the material in the lab manual, then you will do well. It helps to have a decent lab instructor…Meighan is a miserable human being. He is a pompous, arrogant prick and his exams are way beyond what this class should be teaching, ie introductory biology…Since he runs this stupid class, he gets to put whatever on exams and on top of that, doesn’t curve. So, be prepared or you will fail…Easily the worst “professor” at Berkeley. Unfortunately, he’s unavoidable.”
Biology by Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece, Investigating Biology Lab Manual (6th Edition) by Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, Judith Giles Morgan
Biology 1B, General Bio
Mary Power (2.4 out of 5)
MWF 8-9, 2050 VLSB
“Study her slides and you’ll be fine. Beware, she has horrible grammar and attending lecture is useless. She told us about 20 times to memorize a quote and on the exam she misquoted it. Enough said…Professor Powers is very enthusiastic about her area of research is often makes connections with the course and her findings. She is very patient with her students…So incredibly easy. Lecture is pointless, however, as she tends to digress and ramble on about random experiments. If you just study the lecture notes she posts, you should easily get an A…her lectures are fairly interesting when sped up but were a jumbled mess. useless slides of “notes.” she can’t write test questions for the life of her. the only reason her test is hard is because her questions are a crazy mess of wannabe english.”
Biology with MasteringBiology™ (8th Edition) by Neil A. Campbell, Investigating Biology Lab Manual (6th Edition) by Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, Judith Giles Morgan
Chem 1A, General Chemistry
Angelina Stacy
MWF 9-10, 11-12, 1-2 and 1 Pimentel
“Professor Stacy is so adorable and my favorite out of the team. Her lectures are very clear and she goes at a steady pace. That said, lecture notes are online, as well as the lecture video, so attendance is not mandatory…She is very excited to teach and is also very clear on the concepts. If you haven’t taken AP Chem in high school, you might want to take Chem P first though…Even the professors said that the assigned readings are not mandatory at all!! Just look at the slides and go to all lectures and you will do well!!”
Student Lab Notebook: 100 Top Bound duplicate pages by Hayden-McNeil, Chemistry: The Molecular Science, Volume I, Chapters 1-12 (with CengageNOW 2-Semester Printed Access Card) by John W. Moore, Conrad L. Stanitski, and Peter C. Jurs (Hardcover – Feb 6, 2007), Chemistry: The Molecular Science, Volume II, Chapters 12-22 by John W. Moore, Conrad L. Stanitski, and Peter C. Jurs, i>clicker: Radio Frequency Classroom Response System by iclicker, and other stuff
Chemistry 3A/3AL, Chemical Structure and Reactivity
Steven Pedersen (4.4 out of 5)
TuTh 8-930 & W 5-6, 1 Pimentel
“Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention as well as I should have, but 3A&B with Pedersen was one of the greatest classes I’ve ever taken even though I bombed a few of his tests. Take the time to do all the problem sets, and you’ll actually learn the material and like the class in spite of yourself… Of the ochem professors, pederson is the best hands down. His tests aren’t that easy, but if you do his problem sets and ask about the harder ones in office hours, you’ll be fine… He was very clear in his lectures and pretty entertaining. He’s very straight forward so do not worry about him side tracking about his mom or something.”
Organic Chemistry: Structure and Function by K. Peter C. Vollhardt, Organic Chemistry, Study Guide/Solutions Manual, ACS Model Kit & Guide by K. Peter C. Vollhardt, American Chemical Society, and Neil E. Schore
Chemistry 3B, Chemical Structure and Reactivity
K. Peter Vollhardt (2.9 out of 5)
“Pretty easy professor. The only reason I think people may do badly is because of his 60-point NMR questions. As long as you know your NMR, and have done his previous practice tests, the class is pretty chill…HE’S HARD! He wrote the book, of course he thinks everything is important! Look at previous midterms/finals when studying for exams the layouts and contexts are usually the same… Arrogant in office hours.. He also drives a freakin ferrari…The final had a page of problems that were the same as the ones on the practice exams he posted online. Good luck!”
Organic Chemistry: Structure and Function by K. Peter C. Vollhardt, Organic Chemistry, Study Guide/Solutions Manual, ACS Model Kit & Guide by K. Peter C. Vollhardt, American Chemical Society, and Neil E. Schore
Physics 8A, Introductory Physics
Joel Fajans (2.4 out of 5)
MWF 3-4, 1 Pimentel
“This class was so disorganized and confusing. I love physics, but I couldn’t stand this class. Fajans’ lectures consist of incongruent examples and demos that don’t work…Many important concepts students need to know are omitted from his lectures. Test questions were confusing and poorly worded. Even though questions are not hard, his poor-wording made me misinterpret what he was looking for…He isn’t very difficult but he sometimes says things won’t be on the midterm but then they show up anyways, so be careful…I would always go to lecture to see him mess up the demos. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, but he must have lost a bet to be teaching 8A because he looks really bored.”
Texts: Essential University Physics Volume 1 (University Physics I) by Richard Wolfson and Student Solutions Manual Volume 1 for Essential University Physics by Richard Wolfson
Bob Jacobsen (3.5 out of 5)
TuTh 11-1230, 1 Pimentel
“I’ve never had a teacher work harder. Make sure you go talk to him. Especially after class! He’ll spend as much time as you want so you understand the stuff…tests are really hard and I am not saying this because I didn’t study and/or don’t understand the material. I would overall highly recommend him for his great lectures and personality…This class was easier than Fajan’s. Jacobsen tends to focus on being “conceptual” which I gather means taking the hardest questions from class and HW and putting them on tests…Another brilliant Cal family man who CARES about his students. No curve but what does that really mean when he’s making up the scale? Oh guess what, physics at Berkeley is hard, can you believe it?”
Texts: Essential University Physics Volume 1 (University Physics I) by Richard Wolfson and Student Solutions Manual Volume 1 for Essential University Physics by Richard Wolfson
Physics 8B, Introductory Physics
Marjorie Shapiro (2.4 out of 5)
MWF 3-4, 1 LeConte
“Do not take Physics 8B with Shapiro. She’s a nice person, but she can’t explain anything clearly…she’s a nice prof who gives really generous grades, and that’s all that matters in the end… She was incredibly nice in office hours. The best part is that her lectures follow the book, so it’s ok to miss one lecture…Lectures AND tests all full of mistakes–refuses to slow down to explain when she makes mistakes–making lectures next to useless. Tests for the two sections of the class was like taking a gamble–you never know what exactly she’ll test you on.”
Texts: Essential University Physics Volume 2 by Richard Wolfson & Student Solutions Manual Volume 2 for Essential University Physics by Richard Wolfson and Eric Ayars
Michael Deweese (3.1 out of 5)
TuTh 1230-2, 1 Pimentel
“His teaching style is okay, can be a little dry at times, but he does get the concepts across. You should read the textbook and doing the homework helps too. His tests are really fair, no tricks…this guy is awesome because unlike other classes in cal if you work hard you will get an A, your hard work pays off in his course, his exams are fair, not easy but fair…He is nice, approachable & easy to talk to. If you do the HW, read the book, & attend OH, you’ll be fine…DeWeese = pure awesomeness! Very smart, nice, helpful, cares about his students and very humble! I never had a physics class before and the tests were doable!Get to have cheat sheet for each midterm and final!”
Text: Essential University Physics Volume 2 by Richard Wolfson & Student Solutions Manual Volume 2 for Essential University Physics by Richard Wolfson and Eric Ayars
Math 16A/16B (see Math section)
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