Horrible Professor!

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I was curious if anyone else has dealt with this and what you did about it?

I just finished my Chem pre-req with the worst and hardest teacher. He never actually "taught" anything. Just threw a bunch of notes on the board. Things we did not learn and that were not part of our lectures, labs etc consistently showed up on our exams.

More than half of my class actually signed a petition to the Dean of Sciences at my school (and it would have been more of the class had I had enough time to talk to more people). And the only response we got was that she would discuss it with him.

It is incredibly frustrating that I studied my butt off and I had an A- the whole semester until the last two tests where more questions showed up that were not part of our curriculum, equalling an entire grade difference. I'm pretty sure I will end with a B or B+ average for the class. Which I would happily accept if it was my fault for not knowing the material.

But given that my entire class of 30 students all got the same 3 questions wrong on the last test, and we all met after our final and agreed on several questions on that test that we never saw before... that has to say more about the teacher, not us, I would think.

We've all gone to tutoring, and honestly that is the only way I have the grades I do. But there really is no way to prepare for a test that consistently has trick and new questions that were not part of the curriculum on it.

My program does accept a B, but it's the principle. Anyone ever have something like this happen to them?

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Same thing happened to me!!! In AP1! My professor threw notes on the board just like yours and half the stuff on tests/quizzes we didnt learn. Not to mention my grade suffered. Luckily you got to have a petition we didnt do anything at all & kept our mouths shut.

Sent from my iPhone using Allnurses.com

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Should have read the chapters in the book. Many professors say they don't teach out of the book and you are supposed to just follow the lectures and take notes. In my experience, this is generally half true. The book contains a lot of good material and often material that is in the book but not discussed in lecture shows up on tests.

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Ooh I can relate. The first time I took A & P, the professor was all about drawing pictures. We had to copy the same picture she would draw on the whiteboard. Test questions would be along the lines of: "Draw a nephron". There would be 10 questions like that & that would be the whole exam. We did not learn what the parts did (which we were supposed to because my school teaches it as anatomy and physiology). I did not learn a thing but many people did well in the class (because they just had to memorize the drawings) & so I could not have petitioned even if I tried. I did write a horrible review of her on ratemyprofessors.com though. And I retook the class with a better professor to get a higher grade & understand the material.

Sounds like you worked hard though & were able to teach yourself. A B is still an acceptable grade, especially for chemistry.

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Should have read the chapters in the book. Many professors say they don't teach out of the book and you are supposed to just follow the lectures and take notes. In my experience, this is generally half true. The book contains a lot of good material and often material that is in the book but not discussed in lecture shows up on tests.

Thanks for sharing... but I DID that. I also went to tutoring. I even googled things I did get wrong so I would know what it was. And sometimes even the almighty internet could not help with some of the crap he threw on tests. I'm not an idiot nor a poor student, so I don't appreciate the assumption.

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I work at a community college and some of the professors are so bad the school won't list their names on the class schedule. Be leery of any class with a teacher that is to be announced. And once a teacher has tenure it's impossible to get rid of them. My biggest frustration is that we have great part-time professors (adjunct) who have classes that instantly fill up, but if a tenured professor's class doesn't have full enrollment then they get the part-time professors students! Out of "academic integrity" our education system ends up protecting really terrible teachers.

It's good to complain to the dean and contest the grade. You may or may not be able to get it changed. In the future, I'd never take a professor without checking them out on RateMyProfessor.com. Take each rating with a grain of salt, but as a whole they usually give you a pretty accurate idea of how the professor works and if he or she will be a good fit for you.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Telemetry, ER.

I wonder if he is tenure.

I'm sure a lot of people have had a teacher like that. I had a physiology teacher that was great in lecture, he always tried to make sure everyone understood what he was teaching. When we received the test everyone was shocked because we had never seen the material before-- it was like he wrote it for a different class!! There were some questions that were never covered in lecture and were NOT in the book! I had a micro teacher that became so mad at our class she gave us the hardest test she could possibly make-- in all my many years of college I have never seen a harder test. I've had a nursing teacher that was like this too. It happens. Be happy with your B even though it is irritating, and hope you never have to deal with him again.

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I know he doesn't have tenure. He's an adjunct. He's retirement age (actually past retirement age) and teaches this one class at the community college and still does one summer class at another local college.

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Specializes in ICU.

I know exactly how you feel. I just finished my first semester of inorganic chemistry and ended up with a C!(I had an 85 all the way up to the final exam) Not only did I have have a horrible professor but she put things on the final that we did not cover at all. Besides that, there was only 400 points available for the entire semester. :sniff:

I am highly disappointed in my grade and I am thinking of talking to the dean about it.

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I had an instructor like that. I basically taught myself Micro. I started studying with a partner and by the end of the semester we had a group of 11 students that met once a week. This instructor (she was NOT a professor) "taught" with information taken, nay plagiarized, from Wikipedia. I managed an A (thank you self) and STILL complained to the dean.

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Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

That's how one of my instructors in my nursing course was this year. But, we all just taught ourselves the material through reading our textbook, extra textbooks and getting together to brainstorm over what else we could possibly teach ourselves. I made it through with an A by the skin of my teeth.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

That sucks! When you put in A effort and your transcripts don't reflect that, it's an awful feeling. That being said...

You are absolutely, irrevocably 100% responsible for your own education. If the instructor never showed up for a single day of class, it is up to you to utilize all resources to learn the material as thoroughly as possible. The textbook is one way. The internet is another. Tutors are another. Study groups rock. Most schools offer learning/answer centers with tutors who are specialized for the course. Locating former classmates who are familiar with testing format and have great advice are another. It seems you take advantage of many of these already, but when you're a few points shy of an A, take a long, hard look at yourself and ask if you truly used every last one. There is always something you could have focused more on, or an avenue you didn't explore.

Sometimes, you can learn the material precisely how the book states it, but in practical application, you aren't as sure how to exercise concepts as you think. With chemistry, this can be especially true, and oftentimes, inevitable.

I know it might be frustrating, but consider this prep for the futility of "select all" and situational applications of knowledge in nursing. Unless you've taken nclex-style tests before, I can't express how ridiculous, confusing and soul-crushing it can be to do EVERYTHING you're supposed to do and more, and still barely muster a B.

Your instructor may very well be worthy of blame. However, this line of thinking will not help you when it comes to nursing. You *HAVE* to learn new ways of learning and reinforcing information. Tests aren't designed for people to get an A...they exist for you to fight tooth and nail for a B. Your standards are high, and that is AWESOME. Don't lose that. But also understand that you will be a more successful nursing student if you adapt to the rigors of a curriculum that is completely different from "memorize/regurgitate verbatim."

Good luck to you, OP. Drive and determination are things you can't "teach" someone. You've either got it or you don't, and it appears as though you have it in spades!

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