Instructor Vs. Teaching Self

[UPSPOSI6]

So I'm halfway through the semester. Taking the pre-reqs, and I've noticed that the students who make As in the class essentially rely on the book and teaching themself.

Class avg for Biology is about 57%. Is this normal?

My school is a major state school that is known primarily for research. The professors and instructors really suck at teaching which begs 2 questions.

#1 Last semester there was only 2 As out of 90 students for college Biology course. Is this normal?

#2 Do you guys teach yourself or rely on the professor?

Thanks

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[Tired Pigeon]

Some professors are better than others, but getting into the habit of teaching yourself the material will help you a lot in the long run.

Averages in the 50's in a science class are not out of line at a major research school. My chem classes consistently had averages in the 50's and 60's, and in physics some exams were down in the 30's. However, grading was curved, so it wasn't a big deal.

If averages are 50 and there's no curve, more than half the class would be failing -- this would reflect poorly on the professor and would no doubt be addressed by the department chair.

 

[Nasem]

Let me tell you something about "self teaching"

I am your typical non-traditional pre-dental student. I finished my undergrad with a double major BS degree in computer science and Math. My undergrad gpa was 3.01 (crappy). Right now the ONLY shot I have to make it to dental schools is if I rock, and I mean ROCK my science classes inside out.... How do you accomplish this? You depend about 40% of your learning on the professor and the rest (60%) is ALL self teaching.

Right now, I am working as a software developer (40-50 hrs a week) and attending MSU (General Chem I along with lab). Our first 2 exams we had, the class averages were 61% and 53%. What did I get on both exams? 97% and 90%. How did I do that? SELF TEACHING EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER THAT THE TESTS HIT.... If I didn't do that, I would have been one of the 60 and 50percents.

and guess what, this comming summer, I'll have 4 months off from school, do you know what I started to do? I went a head and bought the organic chem book that my university uses and the biology book. I am going to self teach my self Orgo I (first 13 chapters of the book) and study the hell out of the biology book in my 4 months out of school

 

[Captain Fantastic]

The real value of a college degree is learning how to learn. The professors are there to guide you through the material. They provide a framework. If you get a good professor they can help demystify the material and make it easier to digest, but the burden of education is on your shoulders. The trick is to know yourself and understanding the ways you learn best (flash cards, practice problems, etc.). Then it's simply a matter of putting your methods to work for you.

In life there are no professors. Use the opportunity of this "guided" learning to develop self-teaching skills.

 

[Quix]

Some professors are better than others, but getting into the habit of teaching yourself the material will help you a lot in the long run.

Averages in the 50's in a science class are not out of line at a major research school. My chem classes consistently had averages in the 50's and 60's, and in physics some exams were down in the 30's. However, grading was curved, so it wasn't a big deal.

If averages are 50 and there's no curve, more than half the class would be failing -- this would reflect poorly on the professor and would no doubt be addressed by the department chair.

QFT. This is the way it was at Pitt.

 

[montessori2md]

I think professors who don't teach suck way less than the professors who are out to get you Oh how happy I'll be when this semester is over! I have the MOST evil useless prof this term -at least she's not my boss, I'm not stuck with her for long. She's one of those lazy teachers who doesn't want to tell you anything about exams, because she hasn't bothered to think about them or write them, and she regularly throws people out of lecture because they were more than 5 minutes late, and assigns sections of each chapter as "self-study" (aka, don't feel like covering this in lecture). At our first exam, she made us sit for 20 minutes (no studying/notes/books) before she would pass out the exam, for no apparent reason.

I went to a large state university, but I was an honors student, and we had our own (if still huge) prereqs, and I actually thought the teaching was pretty good, and I don't think I worked all that hard.

In my current post bac undergrad situation (excepting the above lunatic), I've been really impressed by all the resources available (free tutor, computerized homework you can do at home, online practice exams, and then of course google). Some of my instructors give us so much info, and potential for fixing your mistakes (dropping your lowest exam), that it seems like you'd have to try to fail. But then, the class averages are usually in the 50s, so, guess not.

I have to say, if your questions are multiple choice, and you're sitting there working a problem where you could forget a - sign or an exponent or something, it's not that hard to screw up 30% of your grade. To me, that's why averages are so awful, not so much the complexity of the topics (though after my exam on electromagnetism today....maybe not )

 

[NonTradMed]

I do horrible with self teaching. I have no self discipline and I'm not all that smart as far as science concepts go, so I rely on professors. Others may not.

The key isn't to 'go to class' or 'not to go to class', it's finding what works for you and doing that even if you hate getting up in the morning for class or having to read the textbook instead.

In college, I went to all the classes and I can't imagine passing most of my courses if I didn't. I guess part of the reason is that we didn't teach from a book so there would be stuff in the lecture that wasnt' covered by the books, or things stressed in lecture that would be glossed over in the book. Also, back in the days of my undergrad (5+ years back!), there were no powerpoint slides or online audio lectures so no makeups if you miss a class.

In med school, you can do a lot more self teaching b/c the notes are available to you as are the audio lectures. But I go to class anyway b/c with my learning style, it saves me time to go to class and follow the professor. Others find it easier to just go through the notes, go through the audio lecture on high speed. People learn differently. I tried to skip classes but I just ended up getting behind. Find out your learning style and use that to your advantage.