Hello fellow premeds! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile–I'm currently in the middle of the calculus class from hell, and haven't had time to go online much. In fact that's what I'm posting about today–I wondered if anyone around here had any advice about how to deal with a bad professor, which is the problem in my calc class.
I'm taking a summer multivariable class. My entire class is frustrated, so it isn't just me. It's a sophomore level class but our prof is treating it like a graduate level class. He actually claims that undergrad calculus is so obvious we shouldn't need to go over much of it. His lectures are impossible to follow, and rather than talk about the stuff that's in our textbook or listed in the course description, he goes off on bewildering tangents–and then berates us when we try to follow by asking questions. He has entire problems memorized, and when he goes through them, he'll skip maybe 5 or 10 steps at a time, so none of us understand how he got the answer. He also refuses to move aside from the chalkboard to let us see what he's written. Anyway, at least half the class dropped out during the first couple weeks. Now it's down to about 20 of us, shrinking more every day, and those of us still in the class are afraid we'll be punished with bad grades just for sticking it out.
His exams are even worse than his lectures. One day he told us that we should be able to integrate faster than him because we're younger. Today we had our second midterm, which lasted 2 hours. The were 4 questions, each with several sub-questions. One of the sub-questions involved an integral so complicated that even if I'd had the answer printed right in front of me, simply copying the letters and numbers would have taken half an hour. Almost no one finished the exam, and since we had to hurry so much we had no time to check any of our work. Our prof says that people who make mistakes in derivatives or integrals should not be in his class, period, and he won't feel bad failing them. But there is no way NOT to make mistakes when you're rushing, and writing answers in a blue book where you have to start a new page every four lines. He also puts questions on the exams that have no analogies in our book or in his lectures.
I have no idea what to do. A couple of us are thinking of complaining to the math department, but this is a huge university and I'm not too hopeful they'll want to get involved. I'm following along in the book, and feel very comfortable with that material. I've always been a good math student and I'm working harder than ever for this class. I've tried practice exams from other schools, and can do them just fine. It's just our professor–he's SUCH a jerk. I'm taking this class as an elective, and I'm really worried about getting an unfair grade.
Anyone have any ideas about what I can do? Thanks in advance–I'd really appreciate ANY advice on this!
-Andrea
You're not alone! Ash Bowen, in another thread, has informed us that he's having a similar issue w/ a chem professor. As a group, you should select a few mature representatives for the class…try to include those who have dropped already as well…and approach the Chair of the Math Dept. Be able to maturely & professionally articulate what the problems are and highlight that y'all represent the sentiments of the entire class. There is strength in numbers. A few isolated protestors might be viewed as whiners. But, an organized & artuclate group assuredly will catch their attention. If the math Chair does not act - go over his/her head to the College Master or Dean.
You are paying their salaries…in essence, that SOB works for you. If you are not satisfued with the product/service that you are given for the money your spending, take action. If ya bought something that was broken at Target you would not tolerate it. Why do so with your education?
is this a required class for a major that you are completing? if not - I'd get out -
even if so — consider taking it another time with another professor -
Lisa
(who can do simple integrals if given ALOT of time)
Thanks for the advice! Sorry for that rather long-winded original post, too. But this class is really something. In fact, it's so horrible it's almost amusing. Last week, a group of students walked out of class after the prof told them they were idiots. He didn't even turn around from the board to see that they were leaving!
Our third test was yesterday. It was insanely hard, and we didn't have nearly enough time to work on it. But it turns out I got a relatively good score on both the previous exams, so my attitude has improved quite a bit. The median scores on our tests have been 40/100. But it sounds like our prof grades very strictly on a curve. So if the median score was 20, anyone with a 20 would get at least a C. In a certain way I can see that this is fair, and anyway, I'm at least above the median. It's just really frustrating to study your butt off and then walk into a test that's way, way beyond the level of most students.
Several of us have gone in and talked to the undergrad math department director. The director sounds like he's pretty concerned. I think he might even attend one of the lectures next week to witness the situation for himself.
This will all be over August 8th. I can't wait!