Bercovici, Daniel A.  

DAN THE MAN! Dr. Bercovici was an outstanding and excellent professor. The best lab instructor I have had in any of my chemistry labs. He was always helpful in lab when conducting experiments and assistance was needed. He ran his class in an organized, safe, and prompt manner. Dan thoroughly went over the lab techniques that are crucial to the organic chemistry series and the labs. He also was extremely helpful in his office hours when assisting in answering questions on challenging lab reports that pushed the student to critically think about the experiments conducted and to also be well prepared for the next labs. His class is not easy and required ALOT of work before hand (about 1-3 hours of prelab and lab reports) and there were weekly quizzes. Overall, he is a super rad dude and is great to get to know.

I had Dr. B for O. Chem lab, but I wish he was a lecturer too! He was always willing to answer questions both having to do with procedure for the labs and content related questions. Additionally, it was clear that he truly loves chemistry and loves teaching students about it. He is willing to go the extra mile to make sure that you have a good experience in lab. If possible, definitely try to get Dr. B for lab! (As a side not, he has a super high poly ratings and he didn’t even realize he had a poly ratings page until this quarter lol)

I have never felt compelled to write an evaluation before, but Dr. B is an exceptional teacher. He is knowledgeable beyond belief about Organic Chemistry and he is well experienced in many lab practices. He is kind, funny, and relate-able. He truly cares about the success of his students and is extremely helpful in office hours. He is patient with many questions, and he does the "I'll ask you a question back" thing but in a non-condescending way that actually leads you to the right answer. He is energetic and always ready for the lab day ahead, making every student enjoy OCHEM lab too, even if they really don't. I highly recommend taking Dr. B, as you will not only LEARN a WHOLE LOT, but you will be able to apply what you are learning in lecture to what you do in lab. It's not tedious work, but in fact a fun way to study up close the reactions you are learning. He teaches you how to write chem lab reports and his quizzes are fair to those who put in the work. I've learned a great deal about how to write in my "scientific voice" by working through the lab reports as he had instructed. I wish I could have Dr. B for every single chemistry lab I take. Take him, take him, take him!!

Dr. B is really cool but this lab was SO much work. I literally killed myself just to get a B. And it wasn't necessarily the difficulty level, it was the sheer amount of work for a one unit lab, very unreasonable. At the same time, Dr. B is really nice and I always felt prepared for the labs.

Easily the best ochem lab instructor I have taken thus far! He is extremely helpful in lab and does a great job explaining concepts. With that said, Dr. B does treat this as more of a class than other instructors and grades significantly harder. Whereas getting an A in other lab sections usually just requires that you do all of the work decently, Dr. B's lab sections will require a little more effort. Regardless, I would highly recommend taking Dr. B!!

To be honest, I'm a complete idiot when it comes to chemistry. However, Dan is really an awesome professor. He explained everything clearly, and when I didn't understand something, I went to his office hours, which are EXTREMELY helpful. He genuinely cares about his students success and really wants us to succeed. He's relatively young too, so he relates to us pretty well and it's cool striking up random conversations with him lol. Overall, Dan is great and would definitely recommend him.

Dan was one of the best professors I've had at Cal Poly. I went into OChem thinking the class was going to be impossible, especially having struggled so much in Gen Chem, but Dan made the class very passable. He is always listening to students and more than willing to help. He gave out really study guides before midterms and the final and even held review sessions. That saying the class was still difficult and a lot of work needs to be put in but Dan makes it easier on you. If you ever have the opportunity to take Dan then you should.

Dan is the MAN! Seriously the best professor I've had at Cal Poly. Made OChem enjoyable and is really knowledgeable. More than willing to help you with any concepts you're struggling with. Really helpful in office hours and holds extra review sessions before exams. Definitely recommend taking him!

Taking O Chem as a freshman, I was a little nervous. Dan made the class enjoyable and really interesting! This has been my favorite class at poly. He was clear at presenting the material and really broke it down during lecture. His tests were fair, there was a lot of material and you have to study, but his tests were manageable if you paid attention in class and know the stuff he tells you. Would highly recommend this professor!!

His tests are very reasonable and the practice exam is SO HELPFUL, quizzes sometimes have a lot of material on something you barely remember going over in class but then you know that'll be on the exam. Only critique is when lecturing he will give super important rules of understanding the mechanism or whatever SO CASUALLY YOU DONT REALIZE ITS IMPORTANT. Not that i'm not listening in lecture. I am. I just catch the super important stuff while I am writing down the other things he's writing and realize WOW i wish he wrote that on the board too or WOW that is super useful to know!! why didn't he make that more clear/say so in the first place!!? Happy guy you can tell he loves chemistry!

This is my first and ONLY review I'll ever give on a Cal Poly professor. I can hands down say Dr. B was one of the best professors I've had at Cal Poly. I came into his OChem class after failing Gen chem TWICE. I struggled tremendously in General Chemistry and always heard the horrifying stories about OChem. Needless to say, I was scared shitless coming into this class. I forgot everything I ever learned in Gen Chem and Ochem but right away though Dr. B lets you know there's hope. He presents the material so clearly and exactly like how you will be tested/quizzed. However, I'm not saying he's an easy A. You can NOT slack off in this class, since DAY 1 pay attention and take good notes. If you copy his notes exactly how he has them on the board, and you write and listen for the major points he talks about you will be fine. This is the only class in my college career that I did not miss one single day because everything is important! One concept will build on another and you will see all concepts presented in week 2 or 3 also in stuff for week 8 or 9, so make sure you attend and keep reviewing. Sign up for the workshops! They definitely help especially because Dr. B works with the student leading the workshop so you see and work on a lot of similar stuff that will be on the quizzes and midterms. Take advantage of the old midterms, quizzes and finals he posts up for you to review, they will come in clutch. DR. B lets you know all this, just trust and listen to him and you will be okay. O Chem is a subject you can't just memorize in one sitting, PRACTICE PRACTICE AND PRACTICE. I didn't have Dr. B as my lab instructor and I wish I would have. My lab was different and varied from Dr. B's but I'm just Dr. B is just as great in lab. With that being said, Dr. B tells you and gives you every piece of information you need to do well in his class, take it, embrace it and breathe! O Chem can actually be kind of fun and the problems can seem like little puzzles you need to figure out. 100% RECOMMENDED if you can take. I have heard plenty of horror stories about OChem with other professors, and as you can see these reviews do not lie.

The thing about Ochem is that its mostly on you. Daniel Bercovici is an incredibly intelligent person and does a great job explaining concepts one on one. However, in order to fully understand the huge load of material you have to put in the practice. Overall, this guy is awesome and I am very lucky to have him as a teacher.

Dan is an exceptional professor. When it comes to O-Chem lab it's far too easy to encounter professors who are much too harsh and make the class overly stressful, or are much too soft and have you leave a quarter of lab feeling like you've learned nothing. He's a great professor in the sense that he's approachable, fair, and overall extremely knowledgable. Dr. B. is really willing to give help where a student is looking for help. This doesn't mean you have to go to his office hours to get face time with him, because for a lot of students, attending office hours is difficult. In class, you can ask for one on one clarification as much as you want and actually feel like you're taking away from the answers he gives you. He gauges for your understanding without being condescending, which isn't that common in chemistry classrooms. This is extremely helpful, because he makes it easy for even the shyest students to feel comfortable asking for help. You come out of his labs feeling like you've actually learned something and feeling like there's a sense of mutual respect between the students and professor. I could go on forever, but overall, I highly recommend Dan and if you can take him, you should.

Dr. B is by far the best ochem lab instructor I have ever had. I had all different lab instructors for each quarter, and Dan wins the best by a landslide. He is so passionate and easy to talk to. He doesn't make you feel dumb when you ask him questions, and he's super nice. The lab quizzes are very fair. He is a harsh grader when it comes to lab reports, so I suggest going to his office hours for help to get a good grade. I HIGHLY recommend taking Dan!

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.