I had no AP Chem experience, and my high school honors chem course was honestly a joke compared to the stuff we have to do for this class (we basically just mixed chemicals and did fun experiments). Having very little background in this stuff, I began losing track of the material so early on that I was behind on everything for the whole quarter. It was difficult for me to conceptualize such abstract topics like quantum stuff, I just didn't fully understand anything for the most part. Because of this, I thought midterms were gonna be bad each time I took them, but it turns out that as long as you write stuff down you're bound to get partial credit... I got mid-high 70s for each midterm. I got a C overall, probably because I studied almost nothing for the final (big mistake), luckily a passing grade though. Christian is a great teacher, I'm sure, as the other students seem to love him so much (and he's the only choice other than Baugh), but I just don't understand nor enjoy the subject.

Beren is the best teacher I have ever had. I may have not done well in this class, but that's my own fault. He does everything he can possibly to do make class easier for his students. He pretty much does all of the homework during office hours, so always go. And the tests are mostly problems we have already seen (and sometimes one hard one).

I literally didn't show up to a single lecture. I know some people just say that to sound edgy but like really I did not go to class a single time. The fact that I still got a B shows a lot about how easy this class is.

So I really don't have a lot to say about his lecturing because I never watched and only watched the occasional bruincast but his homework and lecture notes are honestly enough to understand the material for the exams, which aren't that difficult. Focus on those and I think you're golden.

2 midterms 25% each, homework 10%, final 40%. Pretty standard.

He also "requires" Kudu for $25 but I didn't buy it. He never emailed me telling me to buy it either. You should prob buy it though, I'm a horrible example.

I wouldn't call this class an "easy A" because some concepts definitely require some studying and his tests aren't brain dead easy (also not mind fuckingly hard), but with enough work and time dedicated to it you'll definitely be in a good spot to get a good grade.

Beren was a great guy and a great guy. For this class, I highly recommend you stay on top of the work, and make sure you don't fall behind. There are problem sets assigned weekly, and these tend to be pretty hard. My advice is to start these pretty early in the week, when they are first assigned. Then, as you work through these problems, go to his office hours and get help on the ones you don't understand. These problem sets are extremely important, as most of the problems on the midterm are different variations on the problem sets. Also, even though the lectures are bruincasted, and there is no way to track class attendance, I recommend going to each and every lecture. This will ensure you don't fall behind in the class, and will help you understand the material more. Overall, the class is really cool, though it might get tricky at times, especially during the stuff on quantum. However, Beren is a great guy who tries his absolute hardest to help students understand the material. I did not do so hot in this class, but I take sole responsibility for that.

Beren is a wonderful professor, definitely take him for 20B or 20A. I had him for both classes and he was always quite clear in his lectures and he has an abundance of office hours to help students on problems they don't understand. The second midterm tends to be harder than the first so watch out for that but overall his tests aren't especially difficult and he curves the class average to a B+.

I had Beren for 20A and signed up for 20B in a heartbeat when I found out he was going to teach it in the winter. Beren does a good job introducing concepts. Essentially, he tries not to speed up his lectures and takes the time to explain things out instead of making assumptions on what people learned in the past.

Beren has informative lectures, but they do get boring at times when he starts deriving equations that aren't going to be tested. He had two midterms with were each worth 25% of the total grade. Best way to prepare for them and to do well in the class is to go to discussion. Both Jesus and Claire were amazing TA's who clarified many of the subtleties I didn't understand in 20B. Discussion sections clarified things Beren didn't emphasize or go over yet, so I felt more prepared going into the next lecture. Plus, the worksheets are really helpful for studying for exams.

Beren's office hours can get packed and the reality is that he can only cover so much in a short amount of time, so it's best to take advantage of TA office hours as well. On his midterms and finals, Beren likes to use problems similar to those on the homework and discussion worksheets, but likes to test the smaller details and he really likes to see what assumptions we can and cannot make about a problem. Best way to prepare for this on exams is by doing all the homework and discussion worksheets and asking TA's on any confusing parts. I never put in much effort for the homework the first time around since its only graded for completion, but I re-did all of them before the midterms and final and asked the TA's on any questions I had.

Also, just a heads up, his lectures are recorded but the camera never focuses on the right board when he's talking.

Tests r similar to homework. But it’s not curved and scores r the big part of ur final grade, so u can’t get an A if u r not careful enough

I would recommend taking 20B with Beren, especially if your only other option is Baugh. Honestly, his lectures weren't always super easy to follow, partly because he writes on the board in a semi-disorganized way, but they were still worth going to. However, they are bruincast. Office hours were extremely helpful, I would definitely recommend going to those as well. His tests were pretty difficult in my opinion, but if you go to enough office hours you will kind of know what he wants you to do. I just thought that often it wasn't clear what concepts could be applied where, and his tests were always more difficult than the basic things he did in class. He always found some confusing twist to add, which I personally thought wasn't always super fair. The averages for the midterms were a low B and a high C, but I think people usually do well on the final. Also he is literally the sweetest man on the planet and I've never met a teacher more willing to help his students. He is really patient and concerned with everybody understanding the material, and if you are at risk for failing he will have a private meeting with you and do everything he can to help you pass. This world needs more men like Christian.

I took Beren for 20A and when I saw that I had to choose between him and Baugh, I chose Beren without a second thought. I did better in 20B than 20A, although I believe that the exams for 20B were a little bit harder. The two midterms (I opted out of the final) each had at least one question that threw most people off (at that point it comes to if you're on fire that particular day for whether you answer that question correctly), but you will be able to answer the majority of the questions with confidence if you went to every lecture and studied the problem sets/whatever supplemental information he posts. The problem sets are fairly helpful for what will be tested and are not graded for correctness, so there is not as much stress workload wise. I would say Beren teaches you the fundamentals fairly well, but is not as rigorous as other professors (but if your other choice is Baugh, choose Beren). Overall I really did enjoy Beren's class and would certainly recommend him to a friend.

P.S. For reference, I watched 90% of lectures through Bruincast and attended less than half of discussions (not mandatory but pretty helpful). I also never looked at the textbook, whatever Beren posts on the main ccle page is good enough to study and get a good grade (although the textbook won't hurt obviously).

Beren is a legend. Super helpful and down-to-earth, and really loves teaching his students. And this is coming from someone who normally hates chemistry.