<p>So my first week of college has ended and I'm very worried about my physics class. The professor just rambles on the entire time and doesn't teach at all !!!! Whats worse is that he expects a lot out of us and students told me that his tests are impossible. Hes the only physics professor that teaches the class at my school so I'm stuck with him. Any advice for me or other students who are in the same situation. I know these people shouldn't even teach but what could you do ? Physics is a pre med class so it's very important that I do well. If you were ever in the same situation, what did you do and did you get a good grade?</p>
<p>Have you read the assigned reading? More than once? He’s not going to “teach you the book” but probably will assume you read it and understood it and his lectures will build on that content.</p>
<p>If you’re on top of the reading and still can’t follow the lecture, go to his office hours. Keep doing that until you do get it. </p>
<p>And good luck!</p>
<p>I am going into a class that has been renowned for its failure rate (stats: in a class of 30, only one person gets 90+ and averages is usually 45% - 50%).</p>
<p>My strategy is to devote every energy to that course and try to befriend people in the class to study and leech answers for homework.</p>
<p>I have two thoughts.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What does ratemyprofessor say? If you can get through the tests using the readings, that may be a solution. I’ve had classes where I didn’t even attend the lecture because it was useless and the book was more helpful. There should be specific tips on how to succeed in that class… perhaps study groups and tutoring?</p></li>
<li><p>I am a year into my career now post-college, and I can tell you the most valuable thing I learned from college was how to learn from a horrible teacher. When you start in the workforce it won’t be someone with teaching credentials showing you how to do your first job. The guy that trained me was borderline illiterate and to this day is doing his job WRONG WRONG WRONG, and he was the only person I could learn from and I had to learn how to do it right. Thankfully, I’d had a lot of practice at that.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, in conclusion, figure out if the situation is workable. Find out what strategies work for this specific class-- ask around. If it’s not workable, I’d drop and see if there’s anything else you can do-- maybe you can take the course over the summer elsewhere? If it is workable but just is more difficult, then I think that’s a valuable experience even if it sucks at the moment.</p>
<p>Try. Hard. That’s really all the advice I can give you. Read. Do the work. Study. I’ve had my share of professors that do no real teaching, and I’ve conquered all of them thus far.</p>
<p>However, I’m in a similar (but slightly different) situation at the moment. My Intro Finance professor is renown for being a great teacher…and the hardest one at the business school. You’ll definitely learn a lot in her class…whilst maintaining a lovely borderline failing grade. Out of a class of about 40, the average is a D. Considering I’m obsessive about keeping my GPA where it is, I am completely paranoid now (and will be for the rest of the semester).</p>
<p>Assuming that the material does correlate with the textbook, put extra effort into understanding the book. Read the textbook before the lecture, instead of afterwards. Even with a good prof, I found I learned math and science material better through the textbook. </p>
<p>You might also look at online lectures for the equivalent course. Some colleges are putting their lectures online for free, such as U.C. Berkeley: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?annotation_id=annotation_409617&feature=iv&p=095393D5B42B2266&src_vid=43OkE7gez9A[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?annotation_id=annotation_409617&feature=iv&p=095393D5B42B2266&src_vid=43OkE7gez9A</a></p>
<p>There also is a set of easy to understand youtube videos on various academic subjects.</p>
<p>Do you know if other professors teach this class during different semesters? It seems odd to me that there’s only one professor offering such a major science class. Ask somebody in the department if you would get a different professor if you waited and took the class next semester. Don’t “suffer through” anything unless you absolutely have to. </p>
<p>If there really are no other class options, test the water a bit. Try hard, really make that class a priority, and maybe you’ll do fine. If things get really difficult, maybe get help from an outside resource. Some colleges/universities have learning centers that regularly help students with learning challenges/disabilities but allow any student to come in and ask for help if they’re struggling.</p>
<p>My accounting professor is terrible. She just sits on her desk the whole time, using excel. The first accounting class, it was another woman covering for my actual teacher and she was great, really fun teacher. Then the recent accounting class we got our actual teacher and omg…It like night and day, the difference between their teaching styles. I then got home and looked at ratemyprofessor, and I was not alone. The first woman who was covering for my actual teacher, is nearly rated a full 5.0, and had nothing but pages of nice comments, I found out she’s actually the head of the accounting dept. My actual teacher has a 2.something and the comments, let’s just say they weren’t very nice. Judging from the comments, looks like sitting on her desk, using excel for the whole day for all of her classes, is actually her teaching style. She does not move from there at all. What i’m going to do is just go to accounting tutoring with a combination of self-teaching. Throughout the class, I just thought to myself, “I can’t believe she gets paid to do this”.</p>
<p>Columbia09:
If you want to succeed in this course, the answer is obvious and simple. Buckle down and work really hard. Go for as much extra help as you can find or need to.</p>
<p>Since you’re on the pre-med track, the quicker you learn to deal with road bumps like this, the better you’ll be.</p>