Reviews of professor Benjamin Brand

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Herr Brand really cares about his students personally and academically. His grading can be marginally harsh at times, but there are plenty of opportunities to make up for anything missed. He makes me excited to go to class and learn, and his office hours are very helpful when you want to go over grammar, especially because of how in depth he goes.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Brand is a pretty great professor and I enjoyed my time in his class, but you have to read and take notes during lecture and participate during recitation to end with a reasonable grade. We have two required short papers and they are really short. The quizzes and tests are also not in class so they can be taken at convenient timings.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
If you are beginning to schedule right now and considering taking this class for a gen-ed DONT. He grades harshly despite 95% of the class taking it as a gen-ed. I don't even mind the readings but the tophat questions (that are 25% of the grade) are worded weirdly and most times confusing, and honestly half the time half the class gets the wrong.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
This class was disappointing. I was so excited when I enrolled for a genEd. Very unorganized and you're graded every class based on how much you speak in class discussion. He had timing issues and changed the syllabus 3+ times. He did not give any helpful feedback. It was my first time with him and I hope he seriously improves for future students.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Unnecessary amount of reading for both lecture and recitation. Taken way to seriously for a gen ed. Had two papers that were graded so harshly. If he led your recitation it was impossible to get an A, speaking three times and writing stuff down wasn't even enough. He is funny and seems like a good guy but ridiculous class.