Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andrés Gómez-Peña on October 11, 2011 at 1:18pm

I recommend you fill in the blanks with a good book, ie: http://amzn.to/qS3e2a

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nelson on October 11, 2011 at 3:13pm

I'll second the suggestion that you look to a good undergraduate level text book. Also, there are plenty of popular level books on evolution specifically.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by scLovely on October 12, 2011 at 10:34am

My instructor is a theist. We have not touched biology. I have read it in the text book, but he has completely skipped it in lectures. It has never been on an exam...

I know he is a theist because he is always making a ton of religious references in class. He is very "dopey" and scatter-brained. He says things like "there are more atoms than god made little green apples" and "back when Noah saved all the animals". Point is, he is extremely hard to follow :(

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Arcus on October 12, 2011 at 1:26pm

Have you tried making a formal complaint to the dean? If it is, as you say, several others feeling the same way, it's possible to request his removal and replacement, or at least having oversight by another prof.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rocky Oliver (LotusGeek) on November 2, 2011 at 11:11pm

I agree with the others - your first course of action should be to complain, either informally or formally. If you would rather not complain, and don't want to change colleges (which would be the next course of action), then I recommend you drop/add - and if you're past drop/add for the semester, then just withdraw so you get an I instead of a failing grade. There are too many good professors and teachers out there to be stuck with a crappy one.

 

BTW, don't feel guilty about lodging a complaint - in the end you are a CUSTOMER, you're paying for a service, and you're not getting the satisfactory service you paid for. For some reason college students forget that this isn't high school, and you are paying for your coursework so you can and should complain when you're not getting what you paid for.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Walrus T on November 3, 2011 at 10:26am

this is what I would recomend.  you are not getting what you have paid for.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Marc Poulin on October 11, 2011 at 3:25pm

If I were you I'd start here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?field-keywords=biology+for+d...

 

No offence intended, these books are great.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Eoganacht on October 11, 2011 at 6:45pm

I would suggest reading/studying the course's text books and attending study groups/tution if needed. Uni Bio i expect would be very hard for someone with a very limited background in bio and chem.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by scLovely on October 12, 2011 at 10:43am

I love the college text. I have read it and understand it. He confuses me in class and the questions on the exam are nothing close to what is in the book.

He went off on us yesterday because the average in the class is 55. The highest grade on the last exam was a 70. I have a feeling the students are not the problem. His tests are insane. My brother, who just got out of high school and has freshly taken chemistry, has no idea what the answers are to any of the questions that I have told him were on the exam. I think that even if I was a bio major, I would still fail this instructor's course.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rick on October 12, 2011 at 12:00pm

It can seem like a game at times. Some profs. will only test on their lectures, using the book simply to enhance them, others will take the opposite approach. Some will combine the two.

 

Some will test you on hard facts while others will test on concepts and expect a deeper understanding. Usually after the first exam you can get a feel for their testing style.

 

If the class as a whole is having a tough time, you might want to ask the prof. if they would be willing to put together a study guide. Some will entertain this idea if their class is struggling. Not everyone's teaching style will mill mesh with your learning style. Dont be afraid to ask your prof. to make some adaptations to suit your needs. Realize that some (many) of the people who stand in front of classes may be brilliant in their field, but have limited teaching experience, so unless they are natural teachers, the students have to suffer as they learn how to teach.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by scLovely on November 2, 2011 at 10:47pm

Hi! I just read your reply. Wish we had some type of notifications (other than emails). I'm trying to recall some questions from previous tests.

- Name a polar molecule and explain why it is polar. (I've tried and tried to get this. It still makes no sense to me).

- What is an enzyme's function derived on? (I am still confused on why he words questions this way).

Some questions are so open ended, I don't know where to start. 

-ex: What are 3 results of cell division?

It is extremely hard for me  to memorize all the new vocab and the in depth process of things, especially when I am lost and not taught properly in class.

One that really confused me is the outer shell of the an atom. He specifically said in class that the first shell holds 2, the second holds 8, and the third can hold 16, but we will only go up to 8. Then I see the question on the test and I didn't know if I should write 8 or 16??? Still don't know.

- Name the steps of the Krebs Cycle (same question for Calvin Cycle).

- How many turns does the Calvin Cycle turn to make a glucose? (he never said this in class when he lectured on it. I recorded many of the lectures and the Calvin Cycle was one of them. I went back to listen to it after the test to see. Not on the recording. I googled it to see and there are different answers on every website. I answered 3. I still don't know if I got it right).

-I also have to memorize chemical equations for all kinds of things... photosynthesis, cellular respiration, saccharide, sucrose, the list goes on. Btw, most of these aren't even listed in the text book that goes with this course.

There are a million other ones with big words that he doesn't define. He just throws out all of these terms when talking about something else and expects us to know what they mean.

These questions may be really easy to you guys. It may just be that I am not able to grasp the material. If this is simple stuff, please don't make fun lol. I'm a fairly intelligent girl, I just have my moments.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve on October 12, 2011 at 11:08am

The point here seems to be that a lot of the basics are missing. Especially as far as chemistry is concerned. The standard text book isn't going to help when you can't follow which electron goes where via which transfer molecule or don't know the structural and functional differences between different types of molecules.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page