Unavoidable bad teachers?

[DrOMG]

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I am have to take orgo 2 this fall in order to study for the MCAT in spring. Problem is there is only ONE orgo 2 class being taught this fall at my university and the teacher has HORRIFIC reviews on RMP and MyEdu. I mention his name and other students have literally begged me not to take his class.This has me DREADING this fall but I have no other option. I'm literally $hitting my pants at the thought of this class.

Question is... have you ever dreaded a class? Was it really as bad as you thought it was going to be?

 

[plumhill]

I feel like if you get through college WITHOUT having a horrible professor, something is amiss. Look into why the professor is bad...are they simply unclear? Are they harsh graders? These are things that CAN be worked around. Chances are, at least SOMEONE has gotten a good grade with this professor, and material can be self-taught (yes, even o-chem). For the classes that I took where I had no choice but to have a horrible professor, it usually wasn't AS bad as people said, but I did have a couple classes where it was rough. You just have to work through it.

 

[armybound]

things won't always be optimal in your life. learn to work through difficult situations.

 

[NickNaylor]

things won't always be optimal in your life. learn to work through difficult situations.

Exactly - welcome to the real world OP. Unfortunately not everything is fair. Learn to succeed in the face of adversity.

 

[Neurosis]

i don't think you're going to get much sympathy on this forum. the people who comprise it are overachieving, near-perfect students. Even if they do get a poor teacher they either work around it and get A's, or they are oblivious to the professor's shortcomings and get A's. Either way, they're going to get A's.

 

[DrOMG]

I know I'm going to have to work through it, and I have already accepted that it's going to suck but such is life. Just wanted to know other peoples experiences.

He is one of those teacher who is very condescending; and if you ask him a question for clarification he gives you the 'are you THAT effing stupid?' attitude. Everyone has commented on how his exams are nothing like what he teaches in class so no matter how prepared you are, you are going in blind.

EDIT: OMG SDN'ers, calm down lol. Before you start, I am NOT looking for sympathy or for someone to think of a way for me to get around it! I am just looking to see other peoples experiences (as said above)

 

[Cinclus]

i don't think you're going to get much sympathy on this forum. the people who comprise it are overachieving, near-perfect students. Even if they do get a poor teacher they either work around it and get A's, or they are oblivious to the professor's shortcomings and get A's. Either way, they're going to get A's.

You just gotta get this attitude, OP. I suffered through several unbearably bad profs (one would even occasionally test on stuff that wasn't in Powerpoints, nor in the textbook, nor was it mentioned in class). You may lose lots of sleep and spend lots of time figuring out how to succeed in the course, but it can be done.

 

[NightGod]

I heard many similar things about my Physics professor this last year. Having taken the class, it seemed to stem from the fact that he didn't spoon feed the info and expected us to learn concepts as opposed to memorizing a series of formulae that could be regurgitated on a test. Why? Because he knew none of us taking a trig-based class were going on to be Physicists and having a firm grasp of the concepts would serve us all far better in our future careers than memorizing ke=1/2mv^2. Personally, I dove into his style of teaching and it ended up being one of the best classes I've yet had.

In short, listen to warnings, especially if you have a choice about which teacher to take, but if you're stuck with only one choice, don't go in with too set of a bias, you never know when things might work out for you.

 

[gettheleadout]

Could you not just take Organic II in the Spring during your MCAT studying, OP? Unless you already have classes planned that you absolutely have to take that semester, that would solve your problem and you would be finishing the course right as you come up on an early May MCAT.

 

[Big N Tasty]

Yeah, OP..I've been able to get the good professors for the most part (early registration for the honors program) but everybody gets the rough ones. I'm sure we've all been through it. Just gotta put in the effort and plow right through it. Good luck OP!