Oh NO! Just got the SCOOP on my Chemistry Professor!

[Ariana214]

So I have been super nervous and super anxious about taking Chemistry next semester since I failed it last year due to some issues and not being focused. I am 150 % more focused this year than last year but the pressure of keeping my GPA has been getting to me. Last year I took Chemistry on a Saturday with a Professor who didnt speak very well English (although it wasn't horrible). I chose to take it this year on Mondays and Wednesdays because the Saturday class was alot of information packed into one class. I thought that if I took the class twice a week that I would be able to retain the information better. Well, when I registered for the class at the beginning of the month, the Professor was TBD. I just checked back again today and the professor was selected, however when I went on Ratemyprofessor.com he has HORRIBLE reviews. Things like he speaks broken english, is not computer savvy so you cannot email him, he reads off of a powerpoint and makes up his own handwritten tests. Someone also said that he misgrades the exams and sometime put things on them that were not covered in class yet ! I even saw somene say that when they asked a question his response was "dont worry youll learn later" or "Its just Alegbra!" AHHHH...

Do you think I should drop his class? I already have all this anxiety over taking chemistry and I am scared that it'll be 10x worse with a horrible Professor. The only other option available would to be to take the class with the same professor I had last year on a Saturday again. All of the other classes are full as the science classes seem to be the first ones to go in my school. NEED ADVICE !!!

[Ariana214]

Just another perspective .... Many people go to Rate My Professors solely to complain not to sing the praises of an awesome instructor. As long as we're throwing anecdotal evidence out there, I took physiology with a professor whose ratings were abysmal. Really, just horrid. Hers was the only class I could get into and she turned out to be an excellent instructor, just tough and exacting in her standards. Most of her awful reviews were from people complaining that that class was too difficult or that they thought she was mean. [/quote']

I wish mean and sarcasm were the only things in this review. i am not against a mean or sarcastic professor if they are good, but the fact that there are complaints of him not actually "teaching" and just reading off of a powerpoint scares me. How can you learn chem from a powerpoint? I feel like you really need hands on practice with the problems etc. i also worry about his madeup handwritren tests and the fact that one person said that 1 year, her whole class was not ready to take the departmental final...there are also posts on him misgrading and putting things he did not cover on the exams...yike

His name also implies that he is from the Middle East or India (which I cannot be sure) but i saw a few students raging about the language barrier as well ... So i am only imagining what affect that will also have. i just do not want to greaten my chances of doing bad in this class. Any other class that I can get through by studying independany would be fine, but Chemistry???? Ahhhh

[Marsha238612]

At rate my professor you will find many students complaining about their professors, mainly because they thought of the class, or the material being too difficult.

I once took a molecular science class whose professor was literally trashed on rate my professor website, and guess what, he was a very knowledgable professor. Yes he was strict, he expected assignments on time, didn't give extra credit, and didn't curve tests. But I learned a lot in his class.

Sometimes students don't want to be taught, they just want to "pass" the class, they don't want to be challenged, and later see the consequences of choosing "easy-going" professors.

Good luck :)

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[CDEWannaBe]

Are you kidding?? Im almost sure they didnt list his name in the beginning on purpose. How could they set us up for failure like this? I read the reviews and wanted to cry they were so bad. I am going to go to the school tomorrow after work and drop the class. I guess Ill be taking it on a Saturday again. I really need a good grade.

I am not kidding. Schools really do this. A tenured professor has a job (and paycheck) until they retire, so the school keeps giving them students. International instructors can be the toughest. We have a Chemistry teacher who has such a thick accent that he is almost impossible to understand. He gets multiple student complaints every semster. But my school insinuates the students are racist because they can't understand the man's speech. That's not racism. That's a man who shouldn't be teaching because he doesn't have the skill to communicate effectively to his students.

There may be individual comments on RateMyProfessor that are off base, but if you read the comments as a whole you will usually get a pretty accurate description of the professor and his or her teaching style.

[__patiently_waiting]

Rate my professor isn't always accurate. For me, most of my professors that I've chosen based on RMP were good, but there were a few that had a very high rating, turned out that they were the only class I did poorly in, and the ones with a very low rating, I aced with no problem at all. Sometimes I think it's based on the type of student you are. But, if there is not one good review at all, I would advise you to drop it.

[lub dub]

Just another perspective .... Many people go to Rate My Professors solely to complain, not to sing the praises of an awesome instructor. As long as we're throwing anecdotal evidence out there, I took physiology with a professor whose ratings were abysmal. Really, just horrid. Hers was the only class I could get into and she turned out to be an excellent instructor, just tough and exacting in her standards. Most of her awful reviews were from people complaining that that class was too difficult or that they thought she was mean.

^This!!!

These are the realities of the ratemyprofessor website:

-ANYONE can log on & bash a professor. You do not have to prove that you have ever taken a class taught by that professor, or that you even go to that school.

-These are all anecdotal OPINIONS from a bunch of strangers.

-For the most part, if students don't do well in a course, they will blame the professor. And now, with the internet, this ill-conceived, misguided vitriol is out there for the world to see.

Ask people who you know about professors. Don't rely on the word of strangers. Just because you read something on the internet, it doesn't mean it's true.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Look on the bright side.

You're taking the same course with the same professor, so you are already familiar with his accent.

You have your notes from last time, so you should be able to focus on filling in the gaps on the stuff you know you missed last time.

He probably also gives the same exams (lazy professors usually do) so you're ahead of the curve in studying there (this does NOT mean you shouldn't study your little butt off).

And you know what you didn't learn well last time, so you can spend some time studying supplemental materials to make it clearer to you. Go to the bookstore and get a different basic text-- it probably has the same material, but perhaps with a different slant that will work better for you as a supplement.

I suggest that you do all of the above if you don't want to have the same result.

[loriangel14, RN]

I am forever amazed at the students that blame doing poorly on the teacher.

I never listen to what others say about a teacher.I go in with a postive attitude and an open mind. i have heard so many bad things about teachers and then when i take the class i find the teacher doesn't come across as the nay sayers said.

[PurpleLover]

I am forever amazed at the students that blame doing poorly on the teacher. I never listen to what others say about a teacher.I go in with a postive attitude and an open mind. i have heard so many bad things about teachers and then when i take the class i find the teacher doesn't come across as the nay sayers said.

I am forever amazed that people really think that a professors teaching style or methods are always correct. I am even more amazed that people think all situations will work out in the end. It is a roll if the dice. There are bad professors out there, I know it from experience.

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[loriangel14, RN]

I am forever amazed that people really think that a professors teaching style or methods are always correct. I am even more amazed that people think all situations will work out in the end. It is a roll if the dice. There are bad professors out there, I know it from experience.

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True. But you also have to take some responsibility for your own learning.Some people make little effort and then blame the teacher. They want their hands held and everything spoon fed to them.You have to adjust to the style and methods of the teacher.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

True. But you also have to take some responsibility for your own learning.Some people make little effort and then blame the teacher. They want their hands held and everything spoon fed to them.You have to adjust to the style and methods of the teacher.

there is truth in what you say, but only if the person at head of the class is actually teaching at all.!

[PhillippaX50]

I post on Rate my Professor when I have strong feelings about a particular professor....good OR bad. I only post when I really love a teacher or when a teacher really sucked. I do not think that people only post bad things about a professor when they do poorly. In fact, I have posted a bad rating for a professor who's class I got an A in....I did it because she was absolutely horrible in her lectures and gave everyone an A no matter what (i.e., lazy people and hard workers got the same grades).

If I were you I would not ignore a string of bad reviews - drop the class. I used to think that people only posted on there for revenge or because they got a bad grade, so I completely ignored the 8 posts that gave my developmental psych teacher a poor rating. Live and Learn! Her class was pure misery. She would give assignments and then change the rules after you turned it in, and then refuse to explain anything (she did this to everybody). It still makes me mad just thinking about it! Not all teachers are good at what they do - plain and simple.

[token787]

You're going to drop the class and take it on a Saturday with the same professor??