Sometimes I wonder if teachers want you to fail

[pyropig]

So today I had my A+P test on muscle contraction (action potentials etc.) I end up with a B, which Im quite unhappy about. My best friend who has been doing muscle contraction research for 2 years and just presented his research at the Biophysical mechano-chemistry (think I got that right)convention in Boston, got a B (he just got accepted to med school, took the course for the anatomy part of it). This was such a craptastic test, the teacher (who requires us to call him doctor but has no phd doctorate or anything, just a masters in marine biology and deep sea organisms) wanted to fail us, I swear. The test was not on material, which I know inside and out, all the questions were based on tricks and wordplay. It's crazy, Im trying to get into med school, and this d-bag gets almost everyone B's on the test because of "tricks and wordplays", I friggin hate this guy.

/end rant *thank you for reading*

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[JaggerPlate]

So today I had my A+P test on muscle contraction (action potentials etc.) I end up with a B, which Im quite unhappy about. My best friend who has been doing muscle contraction research for 2 years and just presented his research at the Biophysical mechano-chemistry (think I got that right)convention in Boston, got a B (he just got accepted to med school, took the course for the anatomy part of it). This was such a craptastic test, the teacher (who requires us to call him doctor but has no phd doctorate or anything, just a masters in marine biology and deep sea organisms) wanted to fail us, I swear. The test was not on material, which I know inside and out, all the questions were based on tricks and wordplay. It's crazy, Im trying to get into med school, and this d-bag gets almost everyone B's on the test because of "tricks and wordplays", I friggin hate this guy.

/end rant *thank you for reading*

He makes you call him doctor although he has a doctorate in nothing?? WOW, that kinda speaks wonders to his ego right there. I usually don't side with students who complain about stuff like this, because normally its whinny people who just didn't do good enough ... but the guy does sound to be a little full of himself. It will probably work itself out in the end. If a 'B' turned out to be a very good grade on it, then you'll probably be fine. I've had teachers swear they weren't going to curve, everyone did crappy, and surprise ... they curve. Good luck.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

So today I had my A+P test on muscle contraction (action potentials etc.) I end up with a B, which Im quite unhappy about. My best friend who has been doing muscle contraction research for 2 years and just presented his research at the Biophysical mechano-chemistry (think I got that right)convention in Boston, got a B (he just got accepted to med school, took the course for the anatomy part of it). This was such a craptastic test, the teacher (who requires us to call him doctor but has no phd doctorate or anything, just a masters in marine biology and deep sea organisms) wanted to fail us, I swear. The test was not on material, which I know inside and out, all the questions were based on tricks and wordplay. It's crazy, Im trying to get into med school, and this d-bag gets almost everyone B's on the test because of "tricks and wordplays", I friggin hate this guy.

/end rant *thank you for reading*

Uh, you better get used to this kind of thing.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Uh, you better get used to this kind of thing.

From a guy with an MS in 'ocean studies' who insists on being called a doctor though??? Everyone struggling with a challenging test from a good professor is one thing. Doing bad because the guy has something to prove to the world is something different in my opinion.

 

[pyropig]

From a guy with an MS in 'ocean studies' who insists on being called a doctor though??? Everyone struggling with a challenging test from a good professor is one thing. Doing bad because the guy has something to prove to the world is something different in my opinion.

Which is really a major point of my disgust with him, this is his second semester teaching, he got put on probation for failing, yes failing, the big F bomb, 80% of the class. Point 2 of my disgust, last test 4 people and myself made separate appointments to go see him, to go over what we missed on the test, he didn't show up to a single one of his appointments, and doesn't show up to his scheduled office hours. He's a real piece of work.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

He makes you call him doctor although he has a doctorate in nothing?? WOW, that kinda speaks wonders to his ego right there. I usually don't side with students who complain about stuff like this, because normally its whinny people who just didn't do good enough ... but the guy does sound to be a little full of himself. It will probably work itself out in the end. If a 'B' turned out to be a very good grade on it, then you'll probably be fine. I've had teachers swear they weren't going to curve, everyone did crappy, and surprise ... they curve. Good luck.

I swear some classes have a sort of "silent curve" whereby the prof swears there was no curving but, indeed, there was. Heck, there are some classes I've gotten As in where I'm not quite sure how it happened other than the prof seemed to take a liking to me. If you were indeed near the top of the class in terms of performance you could very well end up being ok in the end.

And as for the wider issue, OP, yes some profs are indeed harsh and bitter and some of them probably do want to fail a substantial portion of their classes. Some of these profs love testing on pointless minutiae, and getting good grades in their classes often has very little to do with having a broad understanding of the subject at large. The kicker, of course, is that you still have to do well in these classes to become a doc. Getting the grades you need in classes like these often involves figuring out the prof's game: what is he testing on? Is his info coming from the book or his lectures? Does he value students that come to ask him about the material, or does he despise them? Can you get a better feel for his word games on test questions by looking at past years' exams?

Also, often the "nuclear option" in these situations is to go speak to the department chair about the guy. This is especially effective when the instructor is untenured and thus vulnerable to negative criticism by senior members of his/her department.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Which is really a major point of my disgust with him, this is his second semester teaching, he got put on probation for failing, yes failing, the big F bomb, 80% of the class. Point 2 of my disgust, last test 4 people and myself made separate appointments to go see him, to go over what we missed on the test, he didn't show up to a single one of his appointments, and doesn't show up to his scheduled office hours. He's a real piece of work.

Ehh ... I'm hesitant to say this (because once again I hate whiney people who can't just work hard - but this guy sounds like a joke), but this sounds like the guy won't be around long and maybe you could talk to someone above his head.

 

[pyropig]

Ehh ... I'm hesitant to say this (because once again I hate whiney people who can't just work hard - but this guy sounds like a joke), but this sounds like the guy won't be around long and maybe you could talk to someone above his head.

I already have an appointment with the Dean of the College of Science. I have the email correspondence for our meeting he never showed up to printed out (Im working on getting the other peoples emails as well), his lecture slides with over a dozen critical errors and rampant minor errors. I also managed to get my hands on a copy of the tests from a disgruntled TA of his (obviously quite the popular prof. excuse me, I mean doctor), Im hoping to put forth a good case against him.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Wow, what an *****. I feel for you man. It really sucks that you gotta go through this, but I guess if you want to look at it even the slightest bit as half full, it's good to get a feel for some of the stupid **** that you will eventually have to put up with later on in life. The part with the "call me Dr. even thought I have a Masters" part really is an lol. This guy sounds like he wanted to be a physician, couldnt make the cut and becomes bitter, goes and tries for a phD to get that Dr. status, doesn't make that cut and then seeks to transfer that bitterness towards his students. I hope this guy gets released.

 

[binko]

I had a professor last year (not at OU) who told everyone on the first day of class that if they were having trouble or needed to come to him for help for any reason... that they should drop the class. He went on to explain that he liked it when people drop early because then he has fewer exams to grade.

This is especially insane considering he didn't even grade the exams, the TA's did.

I thought he must be joking so I remained in the class. Needless to say, learning was difficult and I didn't do great. So I went to see him during office hours. Before I could finish a sentence he accused me of begging for grades and then told me maybe I'm just not smart enough for the subject and should change my career plans.

So, it's true. Some professors actually do want you to fail. If this is the case, just drop. If it's too late to drop, then just do the bare minimum so you can concentrate on other classes where you actually have a chance. I believe the AACOMAS views retakes as such: they only factor the second round's grade into your GPA, even though they see that you took the class before.

If asked about it in interviews, I just plan to say the professor deliberately created an environment hostile to learning and leave it at that.

My biggest mistake was trying to succeed when the odds were rigged because I could have done better in my other classes that quarter. You can retake one bad class, but you can't retake a whole bad quarter.

 

[binko]

Uh, you better get used to this kind of thing.

I deduce from your name that you went to Ohio State? Yeah, if you're there you better get used to it. I learned a little too late that it doesn't have to be that bad though.

 

[DOquestions]

So today I had my A+P test on muscle contraction (action potentials etc.) I end up with a B, which Im quite unhappy about. My best friend who has been doing muscle contraction research for 2 years and just presented his research at the Biophysical mechano-chemistry (think I got that right)convention in Boston, got a B (he just got accepted to med school, took the course for the anatomy part of it). This was such a craptastic test, the teacher (who requires us to call him doctor but has no phd doctorate or anything, just a masters in marine biology and deep sea organisms) wanted to fail us, I swear. The test was not on material, which I know inside and out, all the questions were based on tricks and wordplay. It's crazy, Im trying to get into med school, and this d-bag gets almost everyone B's on the test because of "tricks and wordplays", I friggin hate this guy.

/end rant *thank you for reading*

I had two professors like this. One professor would give a couple of off the ball questions on exams and the other professor would never give you full credit on an exam essay question if you were not her favorite. I knew this happen with the second professor that I just mentioned so I memorized an essay question (the answer) that I knew was going to be on the exam and I wrote down exactly what the textbook said and I got two points taken off. So after the semester was done I sent a photocopy of the exam question and my answer along with the textbook answer and I sent to the Dean of the department. I was told the professor got put on probation.

 

[DOquestions]

Some professors do this stupid stuff because it is the only way they can be in control of things. There is a huge difference between a tough professor and professors who have personal agendas.

 

[singinfifi]

You will ALWAYS run into teachers like this...For instance:

We have a girl in our M1 class whose a PhD in immunology....The highest grade on our immuno test was a 92 I believe (I, having never had immuno before, took my 80 and ran thankyouverymuch)...

I feel your pain.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I deduce from your name that you went to Ohio State? Yeah, if you're there you better get used to it. I learned a little too late that it doesn't have to be that bad though.

Yeah, I did. I wouldn't ever change that, but there are some professors I would love to assassinate.

They were however, actual PhDs.

 

[211519]

Weird...because I had a really similar issue with the Orgo adjunct at my college.

He would never keep office hours, felt like questions were implications that he was inept, would NEVER explain anything after he said it once, some tests had problems that created molecules that don't exist in this universe, and I swear he wanted us to fail.

Same deal with the attitude issues too.

We (the whole class minus about 3 people) took it to the Department Head and then the Provost, filed official complaints, etc. No one did anything.

When the real professor came back for Orgo II, we were screwed.

Good luck dealing with that mess, OP. It's ridiculous, IMO.

 

[slim78]

Every semester in undergrad I checked ratemyprofessors.com when registering. I feel this helped me avoid a lot of these situations.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Every semester in undergrad I checked ratemyprofessors.com when registering. I feel this helped me avoid a lot of these situations.

I try to use things like this ... but sometimes when you need classes, there isn't much choice. Plus, I feel those sites are biased. The ones I look at it seems like the only people who post are the ones who did really bad and are trying to vent/blame everyone else for their poor grade, or the people who did really well. You never get the B people commenting.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Every semester in undergrad I checked ratemyprofessors.com when registering. I feel this helped me avoid a lot of these situations.

Indeed, I check rate my professor as well. Also, my school hands out evaluations of profs and TA's and lecturers and such at the end of the quarter. They're ranked on things such as grading methods, their knowledge of material and the contribution to the class. It's an amazing tool.

 

[binko]

Yeah, I did. I wouldn't ever change that, but there are some professors I would love to assassinate.

They were however, actual PhDs.

Yeah the ones who were jerks to me had accomplished some pretty awesome stuff in their research. They just hated teaching.

 

[DOquestions]

I try to use things like this ... but sometimes when you need classes, there isn't much choice. Plus, I feel those sites are biased. The ones I look at it seems like the only people who post are the ones who did really bad and are trying to vent/blame everyone else for their poor grade, or the people who did really well. You never get the B people commenting.

I have a review of every professor I had in college. I was point blank in every single review. Here is an example:

Zoology class: "She will put words in your mouth. Only uses pictures in PowerPoint slides. If she doesn't like you, she will never give you full points on an short answer question on an exam. When she became tenured she changed the course material. All you do in the Zoology class is learn parts of animals..that is all you will get out of the class."

Course grade: B+

Immunology, pathology, biochemistry, and embryology professor: "The best professor in the biology department. He is flat out the best. Study his handouts and read the textbook (understand the material) and you shouldn't ever get lower then an A grade. He is willing to answer any question. He knows what is important and what isn't. You don't waste your time on pointless topics. Respect him and he will respect you back.

Course grades:

Immuno: A
Pathology: A
Biochemistry: A
Embryology: B+