Professors suck

[brianbj46]

I'm not sure I understand your concern: Are you saying you're more concerned about the mark you earned than your failure to demonstrate competence?
.

No, i was trying to say that a test with those kind of classwide results is either:
A) representative of the fact that the proffessor did not do a good job of preparing us for the exam.
B) The exam was unreasonable

Obviously i have done poorly on exams before, and when i thought it was my fault, i just worked harder for the next exam.
That is what i will do now also, i will just study harder for the next exam. I'm not stupid, and i'm not some kind of whiner, but when the majority of the class did unreasonably poor on an exam, (especially when the class is representative of some of the hardest working, upperclassmen students) it usually is a good indication of either a poor exam, or an ineffective instructor.

 

[Jazzdogg]

No, i was trying to say that a test with those kind of classwide results is either:
A) representative of the fact that the proffessor did not do a good job of preparing us for the exam.
B) The exam was unreasonable

Obviously i have done poorly on exams before, and when i thought it was my fault, i just worked harder for the next exam.
That is what i will do now also, i will just study harder for the next exam. I'm not stupid, and i'm not some kind of whiner, but when the majority of the class did unreasonably poor on an exam, (especially when the class is representative of some of the hardest working, upperclassmen students) it usually is a good indication of either a poor exam, or an ineffective instructor.

What did you do when you didn't think your poor test results were your fault?

Your posts in this thread sound, to my ears, far more reactive than proactive. No matter how much of a failure your instructor may be, you alone are responsible for your success and failures. To claim otherwise is to disclaim reality. Carry that attitude into the real world of work and your promotions will be few and far between.

 

[Ericman197]

Post the exam questions and let TB judge the fairness

 

[Hawaii Islander]

Your in a 4th year course, and are using text books?

Guess it must be different on your side of the pond, over here there is no point in reading the text books as what we are doing is more advanced and the text books are outdated, the only way to keep close to ontop of the work is by reading journals. (we are obviously given a reading list, the vast majority of papers are ones which have been published this year or late last year, so nothing older than experiments from say 2005ish)

All of my upper division undergraduate biology courses had at least a few journal articles to read as supplements to the course. Virtually all of my graduate courses required journal reading (lots of it).


To the OP:

Almost half of my graduate courses did not have exams. The ones that did were usually comprehensive essay exams where we got to choose 6 out of 10 questions to answer.

The genetics comprehensive exam for my Masters in Microbiology had 26 essay questions (18 were two-part essays). It was closed book, no notes and filled 4 blue books!

Look into changing sections if possible or take a (W) if no other options are available. If you are stuck with this course (and professor), start a separate study group to discuss the material and grill each other to prepare for exams. Read the material at least three times and make sure you identify what the professor thinks is important.

Professors are in charge of their courses. They select materials to be used and how the classes are taught. It’s very difficult to force professors to change their teaching methods, especially after the semester has already started.

 

[brianbj46]

When i started this thread, i had just gotten my results back and was in a pretty bad mood. I felt i was dealt a load of BS and was pretty upset about it. I thought it would help to rant on TB here and thought i could get some sympathy, and some good advice about what to do next.
I did not expect all the posts trying to kick me when i'm down, however.
Some of you guys really seem to want to go out of your way to slam somebody. I'm sure i came off in the OP as a jerk because of my reaction toward my professor.
I know that all i can do is just try harder on the next exam, but this one came at a bad time for me, as it was sandwiched between two other tests that week, one earlier that same day.
Is it really too much to ask for some positive encouragement? I don't really feel that my posts deserve responses accusing me of being a freshmen, or immature, or not doing my work. Some of you have made some quick judgements and assumptions that are quite disheartening. So i guess thank you to those of you who offered good advice and encouragement.
And the rest of you can go suck a lemon.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

All of my upper division undergraduate biology courses had at least a few journal articles to read as supplements to the course. Virtually all of my graduate courses required journal reading (lots of it).

Guess it isnt that different, just a year displacement almost

Almost half of my graduate courses did not have exams. The ones that did were usually comprehensive essay exams where we got to choose 6 out of 10 questions to answer.

The genetics comprehensive exam for my Masters in Microbiology had 26 essay questions (18 were two-part essays). It was closed book, no notes and filled 4 blue books!

The undergrad bit was easy then! Our ones have been (usually) 4 essays from 8, since second year. sometimes its been 2 essays from 4 and 5 "short" answer questions from 8 (page and a half is short apparently!).

That microbio masters sounds horrific tho!


To the OP, we werent trying to kick you when your down, its just the fact that the class clearly didnt prepare for that exam, the big difference with university compared to high school, especially in the later years, is its essentially self taught, about 90% of what you learn is from what you read outside of lectures. Well, thats what its like in my course anyways

 

[Toasted]

Read the book. Go to his office. Do what you have to do. They don't have to adjust the grading scale, in fact 45% being a D is already pretty generous.

+1

 

[Hawaii Islander]

When i started this thread, i had just gotten my results back and was in a pretty bad mood. I felt i was dealt a load of BS and was pretty upset about it. I thought it would help to rant on TB here and thought i could get some sympathy, and some good advice about what to do next.
I did not expect all the posts trying to kick me when i'm down, however.
Some of you guys really seem to want to go out of your way to slam somebody. I'm sure i came off in the OP as a jerk because of my reaction toward my professor.
I know that all i can do is just try harder on the next exam, but this one came at a bad time for me, as it was sandwiched between two other tests that week, one earlier that same day.
Is it really too much to ask for some positive encouragement? I don't really feel that my posts deserve responses accusing me of being a freshmen, or immature, or not doing my work. Some of you have made some quick judgements and assumptions that are quite disheartening. So i guess thank you to those of you who offered good advice and encouragement.
And the rest of you can go suck a lemon.

I definitely understand the stress of your situation, and I do empathize. Do what you can to put this one test behind you and focus on what lies ahead. The study group bit really did help me and, I think its worth a try.

Good Luck!