Anyone have an instructor that was TOO EASY?

[snow_bear]

I hear all the time about impossibly difficult instructors, but I have the opposite problem. This is my first semester back in school since earning a previous Associate's Degree in 1994. I already have the English, Math and sociology courses, so I'm left with a few psych courses and the sciences. This semester I enrolled in General Psychology and Biochemistry.

I have a high A in my psych class, but I have to stay on top of the reading/writing assignments and study for a good chunk of time before exams. It's not hard, just a lot of work.

My Biochemistry class, however, is a joke. My instructor is not teaching the content as outlined in the syllabus or the textbook. Instead, he shows us general health/biology videos from the Discovery Health channel, then doesn't bother to even discuss the videos or answer questions. Our "exams" are take home assignments which a 10 year old could do. The lowest grade is a 98%. Unbelievable.

I considered withdrawing after I realized that this instructor is not going to teach us chemistry, but was told by the dean that a "W" would look really bad on the nursing program application, that I would be placed on academic probation (with a cumulative 3.9 GPA!), and that there could be financial aid ramifications. So, I decided to stick the semester out and take a Chemistry for health majors over the summer. Otherwise, I don't feel that I will be adequately prepared for A&P in the fall or the HESI exam this winter.

It's just all so upsetting....I don't have the extra time or money to retake classes b/c the instructor wanted to make his class "fun".

Oh, the nursing students that took him for A&P I/II and Micro for the easy "A"s are flunking out left and right. He explains it that the nursing instructors make the exams more difficult than necessary. Yeah, right!

[Saysfaa]

Yes.

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "If you really want to learn something, teach it."

I teach it... to myself if no one else.

You can use the syllabus and textbook to get what concepts to cover. Assign yourself a couple of term papers. Fill in the blank or essay questions are better than multiple choice if you make your own tests (making your own is better than finding them in a test bank because then you have to sort through the concepts and vocabulary to get a good coverage of the concepts without making the test too long. Taking the test, under testing conditions is helpful also (even with a good prof, I learn more from what I get wrong and why I missed it than I do from most other methods.)

[NewSN13]

Saysfaa has great advice. I just wanted to add that I took my chemistry course after both semesters of A&P. The chemistry knowledge that was required for A&P was really basic and adequately covered in lecture and in the text.

My program doesn't have an entrance exam requirement so take this next bit with a big grain of salt but you may be able to use your text and syllabus as well as other resources to teach yourself enough about chem for the HESI. For self-teaching, try http://www.khanacademy.com. I used it a lot for chemistry to reinforce topics.

[Nung]

I had a psychology class that was really easy because he offered way too much extra credit. He offered around 15% extra credit if we took part in his other class's student's research correlation studies. On top of this he gave us an extra 30 points worth of extra credit opportunities every exam.

Despite of all the extra credit available, I still studied hard because I found the subject very interesting but at the end of the semester when I realized I was nearing 150% I slacked off and didn't complete two essay assignments that were worth 5% each.

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

My nutrition class was pretty much a joke. The teacher would review after every lecture with multiple choice questions. Those were the EXACT questions on the exams so if you recorded her lectures, you had all the exam questions and answers. lol luckily it's nothing different than what I've been learning in my other science classes so I don't feel like I've lost out on anything.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

You could always ask to audit the class next semester with a different instructor, since your grade is not an issue.

[Rakkika]

That would bug me so much. Sciences build on each other, any weak links in you're education can slow you down a lot down the road. Definitely push yourself to understand what should be the class material but if it was me I'd complain at least anonymously. That's ridiculous for a class like biochemistry.

[zbb13]

I don't think I would worry that much if it isn't A&P...to me, this is THE class we need to understand fully for nursing. The others--Chem, Bio, etc. really give you a much deeper understanding of the processes, but really aren't as necessary in the scheme of things. I would go nuts, too, if I had a Professor like this. Fortunately (??) I have had some really difficult Professors and I had to work like crazy to do well. My A&P II Professor was really not competent to teach, and I dropped him after two classes. I know it shows up on my education history, but I don't think it shows up on my transcript, thank goodness.

[caliotter3]

Well, I would certainly rather have this problem than the opposite one. I am quite capable of teaching myself what I need to know anyway. I've been doing it for years.

[Moogie]

I would make sure to note this on the end of the term evaluations for this teacher that he did not stick to the syllabus and did not meet the course objectives. I would also consider speaking to the head of the department about your concerns. Chances are, this instructor is getting great evaluations because he's "fun" and "easy" and students like his class. Education should never be sacrificed for the sake of entertainment. Someone needs to know that this guy, as entertaining as he may be, is not teaching the students what they need to know.

Hang onto the syllabus and your textbook. When you get a chance (maybe this summer if you aren't taking classes), go through the syllabus and text and study independently, using the course and chapter objectives as a guide. You're obviously intelligent and capable of learning this material and you have the self-motivation that will help you succeed. If you aren't able to do that because of time constraints, try to audit the class with a different instructor.

And avoid this guy in the future!

[snow_bear]

I've had many discussions with the department head over this as well as others. Half of the class likes him, but the rest of us are frustrated and quite frankly, ****** off because we feel that we're being cheated. For many of us, this should have been or will be our ONLY chemistry class.

The fall schedule is published, but no faculty assignments have been made yet. I forwarded my schedule to the dept. head and he said he would do the best he could to work with me so I don't get this instructor for A&P I.

I tried teaching myself the material. One of our "exams" was to go thru the syllabus and write a definition and decription about the topics he selected. The textbook is difficult to read and hard to follow, so I got myself two supplemental books on general chemistry so that I could learn and understand it better. One has worksheets and end of chapter/section tests which are very helpful. I started out doing really well, getting thru one or two chapters a day, but I got side-tracked with a psych paper and exam and didn't study the chemistry for a few weeks. Now, I feel like I'm back at square one.

I think I'm going to give it another shot. I really don't want to take another chem class and especially not over the summer.

[sanu22]

ya i agree with saysfaa