worst class ever

[kas baby]

vent. you have been warned.

ugh! not for me! I find myself loathing the class a little more every time I sit down to study or do homework for it. I wish I could say I enjoy it and I''m doing extremely well....

I feel like physics will be that brick wall I have to face on my way to get to grad school.

It drives me nuts! 10 credits for a class everyone I''ve talked to hates? 10 credits for a class that will have very little application? I realize that physics is one of those incredibly important fields, describing motion and why things happen and all that, but why must I be required to take it? I deeply appreciate those who find interest in the field, but again, why do I have to take it???? why???? I''ll be incredibly lucky if these two semesters of physics doesn''t kill my GPA.

It''s incredibly frustrating when this is the only class I''m doing bad in. Most of my free time is devoted to trying to get ahead in the class, but obviously with a class average of 47%, its not working for anyone

anyone else have that class that they just cringe at the mention of it?

 

[charbie]

i felt that way about my 2 pathology classes in college. they were horrible, and the professor was the most monotone man i''ve ever met.

it didn''t help that all he did was read slides and from the book...word for word. umm, hello?? we can read. obviously. TEACH US WHAT THE WORDS MEAN!

i thought it had no application to my life since i had no plans on doing anything really "medical." and guess what? i probably should have paid WAY more attention in that class. i work in the healthcare field now, and would sound way more intelligent when talking with my docs.

 

[LGK]

Any other teachers you can get in the subject? Is the teacher part of the issue, or is it just that physics is gonna be torturous no matter what? I feel for you; I know all the higher math- algebra on up- I had to take was a Huge Waste of Time in the long run, for my life anyway.

Oddly, the very best and most memorable physics class I took was one at the art college I graduated from. Physics for Art Majors, they called it. The school guaranteed up front that you would not have to do any math beyond maybe adding/subtracting occasionally. I remember rolling my eyes at the fact that the school automatically assumed all of us art majors were math-tards, but it turned out to be incredibly cool and fascinating. It was all real-life, concrete applications of physics, and because of how directly applicable the information was, a lot has stuck with me over the years when, say, chemistry or geometry is totally gone.

I did have a few horrific teachers in college, but the agony was all in the teaching style rather than the subject. I do recall one history teacher made everyone buy his text he'd published himself- oh god, what was it called? It was something with a ghastly title... the beginning of it was "Lifting our Hearts" with a subtitle about western civilization. It was about $200 too, and it seemed like such a scam- nothing like requiring the students to buy your own book

And it was just an awful textbook too, of course. I had much better, more advanced, history classes in highschool.

Another guy had a PhD in the psychology of playing games, and instead of English (which was what the class was *supposed to be*) he taught that, and boy, there was nothing more dry and deadly boring than the hundreds of pages per week of reading he assigned on that subject. The humanities teachers at the aforementioned art college definitely left a bit to be desired...

Good luck. Sometimes there's no escape from those few wretched classes you have to slog through. My husband struggled horribly with his foreign language requirement (he just doesn't learn languages easily) and I actually ended up taking it with him, to help. We ended up studying for hours on end in the evenings trying to get him through it. Painful!

 

[luckystar112]

The worst class I''ve taken so far was an Anatomy and Physiology class online. Lots of labeling on the tests, based on pictures of the models in his lab. UGH.

Right now, the class I''m dreading is Crime Evidence and Procedure, which is odd because I typically love reading about Supreme Court cases. This professor needs to get a clue, big time. No one has scored above a 70 on any of the tests he''s given yet. Instead of admitting that his tests are ridiculously hard, he told us we can bring up our grade by writing a paper. No thanks! I hate professors like that...it''s like okay buddy, obviously there is something wrong here when people with GPAs that are 3.5 and above are failing your class.

 

[cindygenit]

Physics is the bane of my existence. However, it seems to be the foundation for a lot of classes that I took when i was at university. Good luck, there is always a few classes that you just loathe and have no applications in real life or in your future job for that matter.

 

[charbie]

Date: 11/10/2009 11:31:21 PM
Author: luckystar112
The worst class I''ve taken so far was an Anatomy and Physiology class online. Lots of labeling on the tests, based on pictures of the models in his lab. UGH.

Right now, the class I''m dreading is Crime Evidence and Procedure, which is odd because I typically love reading about Supreme Court cases. This professor needs to get a clue, big time. No one has scored above a 70 on any of the tests he''s given yet. Instead of admitting that his tests are ridiculously hard, he told us we can bring up our grade by writing a paper. No thanks! I hate professors like that...it''s like okay buddy, obviously there is something wrong here when people with GPAs that are 3.5 and above are failing your class.

you want to know whats worse than that??? Physiology, Winter Quarter (in snowy Ohio), 20 minute walk from my apartment, at...get this...7:18am, M-Thursday.

I wanted to die.

 

[4ever]

I HATED physics. HATE HATE HATE. But then I did have a horrible teacher. Before horrible teacher I was ok at physics, passed everything and was semi-interested.

 

[kenny]

I LOVED physics!

 

[kas baby]

ok. so it''s not just me!! Our physics department is generally weak. There are at least three new professors all teaching the same course (General physics) its a 200 level class, but worth 5 credits each semester so you can''t drop it if you want to stay full time. Now, the people taking this sequence are mostly pre-professional students. It''s not like these are people who don''t put in the work, or just expect to get good grades- these people know how to work hard. It''s just not paying off. The hw he assigns is totally bogus, it''s zero help when preparing for an exam. It''s so frustrating when you''re acing everything else. I have med schools to think about- what is this going to do to my science GPA and my chances for getting in?

ugh.

Charbie: I hear ya on the monotone-does-not-explain-anything-prof. I''m not paying you to read my textbook to me! lol

LGK: I wish I had an awesome and applicable physics class

luckystar: that''s how I''m feeling for this class. our last exam average was a 47%!!! Get out! that should give you a clue but apparently not.

cindygenit: thanks

just trying to stay afloat with my 78%

Charbie: 7:18am!!! omg, I would die. I had 8am organic chem last year- talk about torture!

4ever: at first I thought, well, there''s nothing that could be worse than organic chem. Well congratulations physics, you just won the spot! I went to him with questions about a hw problem about five times- each time I asked him about it he told me something different!! wth.

this class has made me feel like my brain fell out

ugh.

 

[cindygenit]

Haha i LOVED organic chem, and all things chem except for the 3 hr labs

chem is the best. i guess that''s why i''m a chem eng.

 

[kas baby]

Kenny and Cindygenit lol, to each his own! personally, I''m sooooo glad there are people out there who love doing the things I despise, job security I guess, lol.

organic wasn''t bad. I really enjoyed the class and was very good in lab- my exam scores sucked though. C+ both semesters-ugh, I wanted to die. But the class was super interesting and I would always find myself looking at labels and ingredients and thinking ''hey I know that chemical!'' or ''I can draw that!'' just simple things, lol. I was ok in Gen chem, could have done better, but I guess I was lazy freshman year. I''m fantastic in biochem though. I guess that rounds me out right? lol. thought about getting a chem minor, but analytical and the four hour lab just didn''t appeal to me.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My husband's bachelors is in Physics! lol

He loved almost all of his classes.

 

[vc10um]

Two words: Differential. Equations.

**shivers**

 

[kas baby]

MC: I glad somebody loves it!!

vc10um: I don''t even want to go there. I only have to take the trig and algebra based course, so in most cases we assume that mass is concentrated as a point particle. No calc for me! It just makes me even more ticked off about it because really this shouldn''t be so difficult. It should be like any normal class with a normal grade distribution. We do have about three smarty pants who throw of the curve, but most everyone is at a C or below

 

[ksinger]

Date: 11/11/2009 1:13:38 AM
Author: vc10um
Two words: Differential. Equations.

**shivers**

NO! You used the wrong terminology. It''s DIFFICULT Equations. Please get it right.

Yeah, had to drop that one once, and re-take it with a different teacher. Made all the difference. But not enough to make we want to take one more math or math-based class after that. And the thought of physical chemistry (which was looming) struck terror into my heart.

The semester that drove me from the engineering college was the one that had the second calc-based physics class, FORTRAN, DiffE, Chemical Processes, AND Statics and Strengths of Materials. I didn''t see a WORD that entire semester. I was completely mathed out and overwhelmed. I figured if I was that unhappy with my degree choice at that point, I was going to be miserable later in life too. I changed majors. Probably didn''t make the best choice there either, but leaving Chem E, that was the right choice, yes.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Hehe, I'm a big nerd. I enjoyed physics so much I tutored it in college

I will take physics over chemistry any day!

And I know it feels like you'll never use it, but if you end up going to medical school, you'll see it again. It comes up again in cardiology, pulmonary, anatomy, etc. You use it to understand muscle movement, blood flow, various pressures in the body, etc. And if you decide to go into radiology, you have to take a physics exam to get licensed! So I can't say it was an entirely useless class if you go into medicine!

You know what class I never use and HATED? Organic chemistry. Personally I think they should replace it with Statistics and Computer Science for the premed curriculum

 

[AdiS]

Date: 11/11/2009 1:13:38 AM
Author: vc10um
Two words: Differential. Equations.

**shivers**

Oh Lord, that''s the only thing in the world that has ever managed to make me feel like a complete idiot. I hated it with passion.

 

[elrohwen]

I felt that way about Organic Chemistry. Now, I''m a chemical engineer, so I enjoy chemistry and science, but that class was awful. No partial credit, so you could get a molecule 95% correct and miss one atom and it was totally wrong. I am just not a fan of any class where you can''t get credit for being almost totally correct. It also involved far more memorization than understanding, which bothers me. Oh, and the professor would try to be funny by pretending to drink vodka (not sure how this related to class) when it was clearly a beaker of water

 

[Bia]

Nothing is worse than STAT

NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Haven]

I''ll take ANY class over work any day of the week!

 

[kas baby]

omg. ugh. I had to take a physics break

ksinger, lol, difficult equations. This is why I stopped at pre-calc.

MTG, I''ve tried getting a tutor but they are all booked

we have seen a little bit of it in biochem with the enzyme assays, but really I felt our prof did an excellent job explaining it to where I didn''t have to have any physics background. Hopefully I don''t totally mess up the things to come

planning on going to osteopathic med school for either manipulative or family practice (I think, lol

)
organic kicked my butt. but our prof was cool so that made up for it

Adis, I hate being in those kind of classes, thus, this thread, lol

elrohwen, did you have to take the ACS exam in orgo? we did. I almost gave up, but I had made a pact with another student that I wouldn''t turn in my test before him and he stayed through the whole thing so I wouldn''t leave
p.s. you had a strange prof

Bia, my roommate and you would get along great with that sentiment. I could see it being a really difficult class, luckily I had a prof the spoon fed us

Haven, sometimes I really do love being in class and studying for exams, heck I even have fun taking some of my exams. But when physics takes over most of my free time and I totally feel like an idiot who should just drop out... yeah, not good. worst class ever.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 11/11/2009 10:53:54 AM
Author: AdiS

Date: 11/11/2009 1:13:38 AM

Author: vc10um

Two words: Differential. Equations.


**shivers**

Oh Lord, that''s the only thing in the world that has ever managed to make me feel like a complete idiot. I hated it with passion.

You think THAT''S bad??? Thanks to poor advice from my advisor, after performing quite poorly, but still passing, DiffEq, I had to take a Biomedical Engineering course (my major) that was based on...get this:

PARTIAL. DIFFERENTIAL. EQUATIONS.

AKA...worse than the "normal" stuff.

Good thing we had take-home tests...

 

[swingirl]

Date: 11/11/2009 12:33:46 AM
Author: MC
My husband's bachelors is in Physics! lol

He loved almost all of his classes.

My daughter is taking physics. Please, tell me some careers that you can do with a physics major because the only thing I can think of is teaching and that is not for her.

And she enjoys the subject but has had some very hard classes where no one is getting it and the teacher isn't helping.

 

[AdiS]

Date: 11/11/2009 12:20:53 PM
Author: vc10um

Date: 11/11/2009 10:53:54 AM
Author: AdiS

Date: 11/11/2009 1:13:38 AM

Author: vc10um

Two words: Differential. Equations.


**shivers**

Oh Lord, that''s the only thing in the world that has ever managed to make me feel like a complete idiot. I hated it with passion.

You think THAT''S bad??? Thanks to poor advice from my advisor, after performing quite poorly, but still passing, DiffEq, I had to take a Biomedical Engineering course (my major) that was based on...get this:

PARTIAL. DIFFERENTIAL. EQUATIONS.

AKA...worse than the ''normal'' stuff.

Good thing we had take-home tests...

lol, some advice that was, huh? My head hurts just thinking about it...

 

[IloveAsschers13]

Date: 11/10/2009 11:41:58 PM
Author: charbie

Date: 11/10/2009 11:31:21 PM

Author: luckystar112

The worst class I've taken so far was an Anatomy and Physiology class online. Lots of labeling on the tests, based on pictures of the models in his lab. UGH.


Right now, the class I'm dreading is Crime Evidence and Procedure, which is odd because I typically love reading about Supreme Court cases. This professor needs to get a clue, big time. No one has scored above a 70 on any of the tests he's given yet. Instead of admitting that his tests are ridiculously hard, he told us we can bring up our grade by writing a paper. No thanks! I hate professors like that...it's like okay buddy, obviously there is something wrong here when people with GPAs that are 3.5 and above are failing your class.

you want to know whats worse than that??? Physiology, Winter Quarter (in snowy Ohio), 20 minute walk from my apartment, at...get this...7:18am, M-Thursday.


I wanted to die.

I feel you... I go to MSU. Enough said. My closest class from my APT is 40 minutes, but I am a speed walker and it takes me like 25 min. Doesn't help there is a MASSIVE hill to ride my bike up. ETA: State's earliest classes start at 8, which still SUCKS

My worst class is LINGUISTICS. Shoot me! There is no prerequisite for my linguistics class, LIN 401 (which is senior level) and he expects us to have a background in it. NOPE. He said the other day, "No asking questions unless it's before class, class is not for asking questions." UM then we are just supposed to sit there, lost?

My other worst class was basic chemistry. Which wouldn't be bad... if my teacher taught what was on the test. I studied for a week before the test, every day, and I got a %17. Someone explain how that's even possible.

But I am LOVING my German class right now, so it balances out!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Oh no I am sorry Kas! I think the worst class for me during undergrad was one of my international relations classes that should have been a good class, but the Professor was kind of off and the whole class was based on formal logic (I guess the math kind of that makes sense) yet he didn''t just come out and tell us this, so the non-math-minded students (including me) spent every exam and paper trying to figure out exactly what he wanted with no luck.

 

[Haven]

I LOVED linguistics! I often wish I had become a philologist. I loved physics too, but hated chemistry. Physics just made much more sense to me, and chem lab was always so LOOOOONG!

Isn''t it interesting how different our interests are?

swingirl--Your daughter can become an astrophysicist, she could work in a sky lab and study black holes. What could be cooler than that? I have a friend whose father is an astrophysics prof at Northwestern, he is a very cool man. Just ask him about string theory and there goes your night--there''s too much to talk about!

 

[yssie]

Date: 11/11/2009 10:01:17 AM
Author: ksinger

Date: 11/11/2009 1:13:38 AM
Author: vc10um
Two words: Differential. Equations.

**shivers**

NO! You used the wrong terminology. It''s DIFFICULT Equations. Please get it right.

Yeah, had to drop that one once, and re-take it with a different teacher. Made all the difference. But not enough to make we want to take one more math or math-based class after that. And the thought of physical chemistry (which was looming) struck terror into my heart.

The semester that drove me from the engineering college was the one that had the second calc-based physics class, FORTRAN, DiffE, Chemical Processes, AND Statics and Strengths of Materials. I didn''t see a WORD that entire semester. I was completely mathed out and overwhelmed. I figured if I was that unhappy with my degree choice at that point, I was going to be miserable later in life too. I changed majors. Probably didn''t make the best choice there either, but leaving Chem E, that was the right choice, yes.

No. Three words. Partial Differential Equations.

Made DiffEq look like a joke.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 11/11/2009 7:28:55 PM
Author: yssie

Date: 11/11/2009 10:01:17 AM

Author: ksinger

Date: 11/11/2009 1:13:38 AM

Author: vc10um

Two words: Differential. Equations.



**shivers**

NO! You used the wrong terminology. It''s DIFFICULT Equations. Please get it right.

Yeah, had to drop that one once, and re-take it with a different teacher. Made all the difference. But not enough to make we want to take one more math or math-based class after that. And the thought of physical chemistry (which was looming) struck terror into my heart.


The semester that drove me from the engineering college was the one that had the second calc-based physics class, FORTRAN, DiffE, Chemical Processes, AND Statics and Strengths of Materials. I didn''t see a WORD that entire semester. I was completely mathed out and overwhelmed. I figured if I was that unhappy with my degree choice at that point, I was going to be miserable later in life too. I changed majors. Probably didn''t make the best choice there either, but leaving Chem E, that was the right choice, yes.

No. Three words. Partial Differential Equations.


Made DiffEq look like a joke.

Haha. I also mentioned that above.

Partial was definitely worse, but I did better because we had take-home exams instead of in-class exams for DiffEq

 

[Maria D]

wow, so many chem e''s around here! That''s what my b.s. is in as well but now I''m a high school math teacher. I barely passed Physics in college. I found it completely overwhelming, lost all confidence and pretty much gave up. I always felt guilty about not trying harder to really understand it as it is foundational for eng''g.

A couple of years ago I was asked to teach a section of Honors Physics at the high school I taught at. It turned out to be karma -- I had no choice but to really apply myself and learn the stuff. Fortunately, I could devote just about every waking moment to learning Physics (and then figuring out how to teach it) because it pretty much took up my ENTIRE LIFE that school year. I''m sure I can''t say the same for my students but I finally felt that I learned basic Physics.

I''m sure that doesn''t make you feel any better! As for the class average being so low, that was pretty common in my major. I remember grades always needing to be scaled for the first couple of years, after that it got better. I never understood the point of tests with expected averages of 50 that then got scaled to a C. It''s so demoralizing.