Mark Becker

School: Lewis & Clark College
Department: Psychology
Location: Portland, OR
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Easiness
Rating Comment
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Pros: Very engaging speaker
Curves exam scores a TON and gives lofty extra credit (sometimes for free)
Laid back -- gave me THREE ANSWERS on the final exam when I asked questions!
Cons: Class occasionally gets boring since it's an 80-minute lecture
If I could have Becker for the rest of my psychology classes, I wouldn't hesitate. The guy is awesome, he gives extra credit if you do extra HPR experiments and curves the exams very generously, which aren't even that difficult if you study the slides and pay attention.
I'm not making this up: on the final exam I asked him about three of the questions that were vague to me and instead of explaining them, he literally TOLD ME what the answers were. I'm not kidding. For one of the questions I even had the right answer crossed out (which he saw) so he just said, "Hey D is actually the right answer so put that." I really just don't think he cares.
Becker is awesome!!
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Pros: Class was very easy. Offers HPR extra credit and curves each exam by a lot. I went to every single class and did well on every exam. I only needed to get a 55% on the final to get a 4.0 because of all the extra credit and curves.
Cons: Gets behind easily and lectures slides aren't very organized.
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Pros: Cool information
Cons: Sometimes the cool stuff gets boring.
Becker's class isn't too hard. I recommend coming to the class because he explains the material well.
The class overall isn't bad or hard. It's mostly understanding the concept and memorizing the studies. Most of his exams are concept comprehension and "Do you know what happened in this study? or what did this study prove?" Multiple choice and he curves the grades at the end. 6 points extra credit. It's a fine class.
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Pros: Curved exams
Extra Credit offered
Cons: Content dry
Exams are somewhat difficult
I enjoyed having Becker as a professor. The content of the class can be boring, but I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you go to class. That is when he goes into detail and explains things the best. If you go to lecture and actually pay attention, take good notes, and study hard, you will do good on the exams. I found the book to be no help at all. He tells you in the beginning that exams will be off what he finds most interesting so attending every class you can will be a benefit. I got a 3.5, but put in some work; it was not easy. Overall, he is a good professor and helped explain things well. His powerpoint notes will only get you so far, so I would definitely attend class. He really enjoys what he talks about in his lectures and really tries to make things more interesting.
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Such an interesting and fun class! Becker is one of my favorite profs at MSU by far.
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Dr. Becker is a great lecturer and covers a fair amount of material. He is always available for help and while the subject can be boring at times (especially the first two units of three), he puts in a lot of effort to make it interesting! The third unit is very intriguing. His exams are pretty well written, but regardless, he curves a lot so you don't have to worry as much. AND he offers extra credit via HPR so that can raise your grade about 6 percentage points. Awesome class! I recommend taking it with him!
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Pros: No homework except for studying, extra credit offered, & powerpoints are posted online after every lecture.
Cons: He goes through the slides fairly fast and you don't understand what's on the slides if you don't go to class. The tests were sometimes tricky, but not too terrible.
Professor Becker was overall a good teacher. I didn't find myself too interested in the subject until the last unit of class, but that's not his fault. He tried using examples from real life to help you understand and the demos were pretty interesting. Going to HPR experiments was a bit of a drag, but all the experiments were easy. I'd recommend taking this course with him - he really cared about whether you learned the material or not!
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Pros: He is a really good professor and explains things well with examples and sometimes videos on his powerpoints. The exams are not too difficult if you study and you can find the powerpoints online.
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Pros: funny
curves exams a lot
good lecturer
very smart
notes online
Cons: complicated material
hard exams
I absolutely love becker!! I think he is the best professor I have had at MSU. He is extremely intelligent and is able to teach the material in a way that you can understand. The class material can be really difficult at times, you just need to pay attention. If you want to do well you have to go to class! It is easy to get lost but he puts notes online that you can look at later. The exams can be hard if you didn't pay attention, but he questions come right from the notes. I had to put in a lot of effort but you can get a 4.0 if you try.
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Pros: He's a great professor, especially since the topic of cognitive psychology can be a little dry , especially explaining all of the ways the brain works, the eyes and the transmitters .
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Pros: Helpful
Funny
Cons: Boring Material
He curved the final exam pretty substantially which really helped out. There was never any homework, just a few 10 point quizzes (which were ridiculously easy) and the exams (which were pretty difficult). Even though the information isn't that interesting, I think he did a good job of making it as exciting as possible. Just do what he says to do, go to lecture, go to office hours, and study and you'll be good to go.
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Pros: Knows the class is boring so he tries his hardest to make it interesting
he is very accommodating
Cons: The class is boring but not the professor
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Pros: Intelligent, informed, clever, organized, able and willing to answer any and all questions on the topic clearly and helpfully
Cons: course material varies from specific & physiological first half to abstract and theoretical second half of term, so it's unlikely a single student will enjoy both halves
Exceptionally well prepared lectures, exams are based primarily on direct lecture material so be prepared to attend each session. Becker is a gifted instructor and knows the material inside out. Especially strong at teaching conceptual material and applications to real life experiences. Exams are average difficulty. The student count is high, Becker curves the scores, and extra credit is easily earned. Therefore, there is a very good chance one can get a good grade.
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Pros: no attendance
lecture slides online
easy going guy
Cons: tests are kinda hard
mandatory HPR worth 5%
2 midterms and one cumulative final. He curves very very well, and genuinely wants you to understand. His class would have been hard with any other professor but he makes it interesting and bearable. there is no attendance and you can totally 4.0 this class just by studying the lecture notes. you can get 6% added to your final exam by doing HR. overall, a good experience.. if you had to take this class do it with this guy hes great
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Pros: He definitely knows what he's talking about and will always explain things more in depth.
Cons: Sometimes the material was dry and hard to understand, even with his explanations.
You have to complete online CogLabs in order to do well on the CogLab quizzes. There's only three CogLab quizzes, each 10 multiple choice questions.
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Becker is a really good professor. I'll admit the content of the class can be difficult and a little dry at times, but Becker did his best to make the material interesting and explain it so everyone understood. He also really cares about his students doing well. I did poorly on the first exam, but Becker took the time to go over my exam and explain to me how I could do better on the next exams. He was even willing to arrange a time to meet since I couldn't make it to his office hours. He is definitely a really understanding professor. I ended up with a 3.5 in the class despite the first exam. I'd highly recommend taking PSY 200 with Becker.
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Definitely a class you want to take with him if its required for your major or as an elective. I thought the subject was very interesting except for the fact that his voice somehow made me sleepy, so I didn't payed well attention to his lecture. Even when I did, I felt like it was just straightforward from his powerpoint which he uploads on his website. Do make sure to READ THE BOOK since he will put some questions that will come straight from the book, but overall his curves is so awesome. I think I would have ended up with a 3.5 but the curve bumped me to 4.0 so I would recommend this class.
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Good, honest professor. When he says something will be on an exam it is. Took what would've been a boring class and made it enjoyable with cool in class demos and applications to real life scenarios.
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Nice guy, even though the lectures were boring at times. He is really good at answering questions. The tests can be tough, but he adds a pretty generous curve. Above average, but not spectacular.
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Becker really knew a lot about Cognitive Psychology, and answered almost every question that was tossed at him. I thought his tests were a little bit harder than most tests you get in a Psych class, but it’s a challenge that can easily be overcome. He apparently thinks we are incompetent at writing papers because he spends like half the class period the day before its due talking about it, but they really are very easy. All in all, he really increased my understanding of Cognitive Psych, and although his lectures sometimes were dry, most of the time they were really fun and interesting.

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