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If I could go back in time and not taken Physics(my scheduling only allowed this one guy), I would, but it is too late now. No refund, and I can drop him but that would be money wasted. So far, we have had 3 labs, exam is next week. This guy is just horrible, my god. Even ratemyprof and myspace's ratemyprof graded him poorly. I don't believe one student actually benefited from his class. He is an old Russian guy with a thick accent. Well, the accent I can stand but it's his uninformative lab reports.
First lab, alright, no one knew wtf was going on. He said follow the manual(7 page lab report) and we did, I'm sure some people did the same as me. I did a 7 page lab report. Like I followed the manual, and I had a sample calculations on one page. Everything like that. But fuck, he gave me a 75. He said I have too many pages and should not have more than 4. What the hell? Be specific next time, please. Geez. I am more pissed about that than anything, taking off points just for that. His excuse was "I have a lot of people's lab reports, I don't want to read long labs." Basically he don't want concise lab reports.
Alright. How odd? I guess simplicity is what he wants. The next lab I have a 60. Wow, seems like I keep dropping and dropping. This time, my error was this, I don't even know(besides doing the graph wrong, my part of the error)... you know how you would have a chart and it would say "N" and below it you would have a number? Well, I only put 200N and he took points off for having the repeated results. He said that 200 already shows as 200N which 200N is not needed.
Give me a break, I know a lot of you are going to say, "you're an idiot. Professors don't want long concised lab reports. They don't want to look at all the shit." He made a short speech about "overdoing" it too. I don't get it, what should I do? My last lab, he just saw it, and gave it back to my group. We all received a zero. He just shitted on all four of us, we were just all pissed. Seriously, no one can stand this guy. He told us where did we get the numbers from. Is he too lazy to look in our, no, my data sheet? I put the numbers there. Well, looks like I am going to redo it.
I don't know what to do anymore. Thanks for reading.
/Rant.
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request to schedule a meeting. At the meeting, ask exactly what he expects of you. Don't leave until you're satisfied with the answer. Do what he tells you. Not all professors are great, some are assholes, some are uncommunicative, and some flaky/lazy... but they're all being paid to teach you. Your only job is to meet their expectations. If you don't understand his expectations, you're going to have to ask him about them.
Also, talk to lab partners and classmates and find out how they're doing. If they're doing well, ask if you can see one of their old lab reports so you can figure out what you're doing wrong. If they're doing poorly, you can enjoy their company.
Just don't give up.
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complain to the department? i dont know, but he sounds like a bitch.
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On October 02 2007 16:18 geometryb wrote: complain to the department? i dont know, but he sounds like a bitch.
Friend had him before, they did not do anything. Other prof's already said he is hard to work with. Thanks guys and I won't give up, I paid for this and I have every motivation to fucking own this course, Physics is suppose to be fun, he told us it's not suppose to be fun. Like, wtf?
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Quality vs Quantity is essentially the best form. Even if the requirement says 4+ pages, if you can clearly explain the subject in 2 pages, no professor should care, vice versa, if you can clearly explain the subject with more than the required pages, then I see no problem. However, your professor sounds like an asshole. If I was you, I'd just pass the class out of spite.
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On October 02 2007 16:59 Lycaeus wrote: Quality vs Quantity is essentially the best form. Even if the requirement says 4+ pages, if you can clearly explain the subject in 2 pages, no professor should care, vice versa, if you can clearly explain the subject with more than the required pages, then I see no problem. However, your professor sounds like an asshole. If I was you, I'd just pass the class out of spite.
That's what I am trying but this is my first time taking Physics, it's not an excuse but the way he's explaining, or not explaining, is horrible. I know that in the end, quality > quantity, but that's not the case. It's simplicity. I followed the lab manual exactly and he did not want that.
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On October 02 2007 17:05 Raithed wrote:Show nested quote +On October 02 2007 16:59 Lycaeus wrote: Quality vs Quantity is essentially the best form. Even if the requirement says 4+ pages, if you can clearly explain the subject in 2 pages, no professor should care, vice versa, if you can clearly explain the subject with more than the required pages, then I see no problem. However, your professor sounds like an asshole. If I was you, I'd just pass the class out of spite. That's what I am trying but this is my first time taking Physics, it's not an excuse but the way he's explaining, or not explaining, is horrible. I know that in the end, quality > quantity, but that's not the case. It's simplicity. I followed the lab manual exactly and he did not want that.
I'd find help outside of the class, try looking for a tutor or even go to a library or something and look up books.
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Whoever told you physics is supposed to be fun is a dirty, stinking liar.
Unless ofcourse spherical harmonics are cause for a party
+ Show Spoiler +
Anyways, out of the 20 or so physics courses I took in university I maybe had one or two decent profs. The physics department doesn't exactly attract people who are in it for the teaching. Thankfully most higher level textbooks are extremely well written. And if that's not an option, similar courses can be found on different university websites and you can leach off of their lecture materials to more or less self-teach.
In regards to labs, just learn to give him what he wants. Every prof has their own set of standards and part of getting a degree is learning how to play 'the game'.
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Id go to his office hours and have a sit down and be like, 'listen, i want to pass this course, how can i do this?' extacly like others said, dont leave until you get a CLEAR answer.
Also, less than three weeks in, it's still not too early to drop and get most of your $ back, correct? Trust me on this man, if the course really seems that bad and you're pretty sure your on track to fail, don't kill your GPA. Back when I was a psych major, I waited to do this in two courses (I think experimental and child psych) I got thouroughly assfucked. =[
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Calgary25951 Posts
Go talk to him. Say what you've said in this thread to him.
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I feel you, my theoretical physics prof was exactly like that last semester. Thankfully there's no such thing as theoretical lab reports. Still, the lectures sucked and so does he. I am so glad I have 1 semester without him now.
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If you are a full-time student aren't you paying full-time tuition for something like 12 to 21 credits? I think that's what it was for me. I would try to sign up for one more course than I planned on taking, and just drop the course that seemed the worst.
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Sounds exactly like my Calc. Teacher. I know how you feel. Just keep it up!
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On October 02 2007 17:17 paper wrote: try office hours? :d
You want me to copy his syllabus for you? He doesn't have office hours, he told us to do things "on our own" as well as if we missed a lab, we do it on our own time, then give him the lab report, he won't use up his own time for ours.
@Flaccid, I mean that Physics lab = fun, not the actual work. We were laughing and joking around but we were still getting our work done. He comes over and tells us to shut up or get out. What the hell?
On October 03 2007 00:24 NoName wrote: If you are a full-time student aren't you paying full-time tuition for something like 12 to 21 credits? I think that's what it was for me. I would try to sign up for one more course than I planned on taking, and just drop the course that seemed the worst.
I don't think there is another course open at the moment, and it's passed 3 weeks. I'll just have to see and work it out. If all else fails I really really need to talk to him. If he tells me to LOOK at the manual and follow it, I will snap, literally. I will snap.
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What I think you should do is talk to him. Tell him you do a lot of work, and there is nothing wrong with your reports. Just be kind of firm and respectful, and I'm sure he will change your grade.
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that 200N thing is bullshit, I think he doesn't like you lol.
most physics professors will insist that you put the Symbol after the number every single time.
i was beat into me in high school, always put the N or g or m/s^2 at the end of the answer.
schedule a meeting. About the zero, get another professor to grade your paper. I bet he wont give u a zero. Be calm when you talk to him and argue with him politely.
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I don't know the situation well enough to make any comments, but... your prof marks the labs? No wonder he's in a pissy mood. I always thought profs hired TA's to do all the marking except the final exams, which they HAVE TO mark.
Profs are very busy people, I'm surprised the school makes them mark the labs.
As for the final, gl. If he's not a good teacher, learn as much as you can through the textbook. The language can be pretty thick at times and it'll give you tons of details that you don't need, but there is a lot of value in learning this stuff outside of class that even the best profs don't have time to cover in class.
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Snuff that bitch! That guy sounds like an ass, sorry you got stuck in that one... but why would you take a physics class? Thats just craziness.
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