week one not so great

[Tinuviel]

ok here it is...my chanting, ranting, venting, renting rave.

Does anyone else have this prob with their school? Picture this..you sign up for all the classes you need...you meticulously pick out just the right ones to fit your schedule, and if by chance you get one of the legendary wonderful professors in your school, you get really excited. Your schedule is set, you know youre gonna have a great semester because BINGO you got 3 of those great professors!

First day of class ..and what walks in? A Mary Tyler Moore look a like who speaks in riddles and monotone voices, and decides you must have wonderful "pop quizzes" and "pop labs" but wont tell you whats going to be on the tests or WHEN. GRRRRRR. I totally hate it when the school switches professors on you and doesnt notify you. One of the reasons I signed up for those classes is because of certan instructors. Sometimes I think they just dont get it.

And pop quizzes in my opinion is totally high school BS. I feel you should know what the heck, and when the heck, and who the heck is going to be telling you all the what, when, where and why the hecks! They may as well say...just read the whole dang book and memorize it entirely, because we're not gonna tell you what you need to know, or when youll need to know it. And this is for A&P 1 mind you, a course which gives you 5 points for an "A" toward your entrance into the clinical portion of your RN program.

I feel doomed!

[nearlyERRN]

Hang in there. I think you'll find if anyone else replys that we all experienced similar "first days." I'm not saying it will get better, but as long as you're dedicated, put in the study time and avoid too much confrontation, you'll do fine.

[BarbPick]

Pop quizes are given when there is lots of material and the instructor wants to make sure it is understood before it gets too late and there is nothing but failure. Very high school? You should be so lucky.

[LydiaGreen]

In Process of Human Disease I & II, we had weekly quizzes that could be on anything from the previous two weeks and that day's class (had the quizzes at the end of class). I LOVED IT!!! You had to do your weekly reading, you had to make your own little charts to remember the different hormones, what they did, where they came from, where they went, etc, etc, etc. It was a WONDERFUL way to learn. The people who didn't do the weekly work bombed the quizzes. The people who did the weekly work, did great. And, on the plus side, these quizzes helped the information STICK. To prepare for the midterm and final exams, I redid each of the quizzes. This was a wonderful way to prepare. On the plus side, these instructor put the correct answers on a website for all of us to use as review and she referenced everything. If your professor does the same, you will do as wonderfully as I did. My instructor was a great boost to my GPA, and more importantly, to my learning, and RETAINING the information. Give the professor a chance, you made find that quizzes are a plus, not a minus.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Like LydiaGreen, I also had weekly quizzes in A&P, and I considered them to be a good thing ...

One other thought - while it's nice to have great instructors who have a zest for teaching, the volume of material alone will keep you plenty busy, without worrying about the relative merits or demerits of the instructor.

Even if it's awful, it IS doable. I survived microbiology with a sadistic PhD candidate nobel-prize-winning-wannabe.

[jschut, BSN, RN]

Hang in there, you may just decide you like this person!

The pop quizzes are meant to be sure you are actually learning the material. Use your time wisely and read your books, then these pop quizzes won't be such a hassle to you!

Good Luck!

Julie :)

[sierranic]

You could always look at it this way..... Pop quizzes help give you points, so if you do well on some of the quizzes and then bomb the final.... you might even yourself out...

My advice..... go to class each day thinking there is going to be a quiz.... That way your prepared for both a quiz as well as the information that you might get tested on!!

In my A&P we took a quiz every two weeks after every two chapters, then of course we had our midterm and final... But some of the quizzes really helped with my grade... So if your worried about getting that A.... Study, Study, Study till there is no end!!!

Good luck!!

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

Yep, I agree, pop quizzes and such are a good thing! It will force you to stay caught up and do well in the class.

I've had pop quizzes for Anatomy, Chem, Physio, etc I hardly think its BS, it will help you more than anything to see if you know the material or not before the test gets there. I really think it may help you more than hurt you is all I am saying. I think it also helps the instructor see where the class is as well.

Of course, I would be a tad disgruntled as well if I thought it was one instructor but turned out to be another. This happend to me with Anatomy and another instructor walked in (and at first I had a bad impression of her), but turned out I ended up LOVING her and she was just so smart and explained things so well!

Marilyn

[M. Maldonado]

When I was in training many years back we had a professor who had a really "scary" reputation and no one wanted to be in her lectures or clinics but as luck would have it one semester I was stuck with her and guess what! She turned out to be one of the most dynamic instructors I had. She was an expert in her field which was cardiovascular and while she may have seemed hard almost to the point of perfectionism she was a wonderful person and I learned so much from her. Please don't judge a book by its cover so to speak. You never know what's hiding inside. Now I'm going back to school for an RN refresher course and I can't wait! I even like tests! I know you will do well as the semester goes on and some day will laugh at this. But hang in there. It gets better.

[SirJohnny]

Tinuviel:

- See if you can switch sections.

John Coxey

[H ynnoD]

I don't know who my speech teacher will be.But I should have the same math teacher when I go to Class this morning as I had last semester.I had a brain fart this morning and showed up for my speech class a day early.Still kicking myself in the butt:rolleyes:

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

In my A&P I and II classes, we had a quiz at the start of each class period over the readings for that day. It certainly kept me up to speed on reading, and that was a good thing for that class with the high volume of material! My professor had a really rough reputation and she WAS difficult but also very fair; one of the best professors I've had so far actually. Give it a chance, you never know... and if she is really bad, try getting help from TAs or students who have had the class before! Good luck!!!! :)