Horrible Chemistry Teacher...

MistyDawnRN06, BSN, RN · May 15, 2005

The way I see it, you have three options:

1. Get out of the class. Don't stress yourself and fight a losing battle over a teacher that you can't do anything about. It will be more beneficial for you in the long run if you have a good base knowledge of chemistry than struggling through the class and not getting it. You'll just be miserable, mad at yourself, and be disapointed.

2. If you don't want to drop, get a tutor. I'm sure you can find tutors for every price range and level of knowlege. When I did my bachelors, the college offered tutors in every subject. Tutors are worth their weight in gold because you get one-on-one help and you can go over things until it clicks. Don't let pride get in your way of asking for help. We all need a boost at one time or another.

3. Talk to the professor. Tell him the problem you're having. See if he has extra time to go over questions with you or if he has any suggestions to enhance your learning experience. Unless he's an all-around jerk, he'll have at least a litte advice. If the guy is a super-twit, go to his department head!!

Is there a different school that you could enroll in to take a different class? For example, where I live, we have both a university and a community college. The community college offered open admission, so you could take a summer class and transfer the credits to the university.

If none of these options appeal to you, just get through the first test and see how you do. If it's terrible, drop it. If you do well, stay in! If you stay in, just make up your mind to not let this guy upset you.

Well, that's my :twocents: . I hope things go okay for you!

P.S. Just remember that it's not the end of the world if you have to wait a year. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Call it fate, or cosmic direction, or whatever. . .

If found out the hard way that school isn't always easy and rosy. With advanced degrees, you're going to be challenged, and it'll be a surprise when you're not getting straight A's. Just remember that we're all in the same boat. We all did really well school-wise preparing for nursing school, or we wouldn't be qualified applicants. But also remember that we're not geniuses, and that we all find something that doesn't come so easily. Get help when you need it. Don't be afraid to ask for help. And don't be afraid of professors - remember, you're paying their salary!!!

Hodge · May 15, 2005

Welcome to academia. While great teachers in college are nice to have, you will always run into some that are not - this is a given. A couple years ago I was taking a multivariable calculus class and it was 2 weeks into the semester when we finally discovered that the prof. was saying F(X). I would use this opportunity to learn to deal with a bad prof. and not drop the course. Yes, you might have to put a lot more effort into the class but you will probably learn more. Check and see if your college has a tutoring center for chemistry. You WILL run into this situation again in your college career and next time dropping the course might set you back more than a year.

Jo Dirt · May 15, 2005

I am generally an A student, but I found it miraculous when I made a B in chemistry. I hated every minute of it. Thank goodness the teacher was merciful and really wanted to help the students. If you have a talk with the teacher about your concerns you may be surprised how eager he is to help you succeed. If it is a Gen. Chemistry I class they are (usually) more easy going, because they realize that most of the students are there to fulfill a requirement and are not in there to pursue a degree as a chemist. I would imagine the classes after that would start to get tougher.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · May 15, 2005

Sounds way too familiar! I found a wonderful chem teacher after I failed it once (actually I gave up!) who couldn't teach himself to get out of a paper bag! The new teacher was wonderful, all the students were drop outs from the other teachers class and knew to take it slow and make it fun! Oh he was so great! He made it easy :).

The nursing made incrediably easy series of books has a chemistry book that is awesome...check it out!~ Those books saved my hide! Easy, to the point, and fun!

drdan · May 15, 2005

If your talking about introduction to Chemistry, I can give you my professors website where he posts his powerpoint presentations and it might help if you go through them. Just PM me for the site and I'll have it for you by then if you want it.

December716 · May 15, 2005

My Chemistry teacher has only been teaching for a year. He just graduated. He likes to make his tests extremely hard. He goes out of his way to make class difficult. I talked to him about it one day and he seemed to take pleasure in it. He also teaches everything in a very complicated way. The only way I can explain it is he teaches like we're chemists, just like he is, when we're not. Most of us have never had any chemistry prior to this.

I have ended up being tutored by other Chemistry teachers at the school. Find their office hours and drop by. I have also started a study group. I'm doing VERY well in the class. I had a 4.0 up until he failed one of my lab reports because of a stupid Excel graph. Grr.

I put a lot of effort and time into understanding the concept, and I spend a lot of time teaching this stuff to the people in my class that need help. It actually helps me learn at the same time.

Getting a good grade with a lousy teacher CAN be done! I have also found using resources on the internet to be helpful. Find tutorial sites for the problem areas. Some of them are aimed at high school Chemistry, but those are some of the best at explaining it in easy to understand ways!

Good luck!

lunakat · May 15, 2005

I had a similar experience with my chemistry teacher. He taught way above our heads (this was an intro class). He was really nice but I just don't think he could teach us the level of the class we were in; he was just weird like that. I also needed it to get into the program and pretty much made A's in all my pre-reqs too. I hated every minute of class but I wasn't going to give up. I bought the "chemistry for dummies" book and got a tutor (who hardley spoke English, poor Korean exchange student). There were many times that I stomped out of class in anger because I didn't understand what the teacher was talking about and the teacher didn't understand why I wasn't understanding. Needless to say I passed the class with a C, which I was so proud of because by the time finals came there were only 4 people in the class. I still got into the program and will be starting my 3rd semester in the fall. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet. In my case there were no other chemistry teachers so I had no choice. If you can, find another teacher, if not, get books surf the net and find a tutor....