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previous ~ ~ ~ next I started writing this on Thursday of last week but got interrupted... Oh, and also, the comments are broken at the moment, or at least partially broken. D-land is working on it, I'm sure, since I sent in the help request. Bear with me. Ok, this cracks me up: This is a bad teacher. He does not explain stuff good. He doesn't cover everything that will be on the test or quizzes. He goes off on random stories, and keeps talking about monkeys. And no, in case you were wondering, I didn't write that. But it is true, especially the part about the monkeys. Oh, I can't stand this man. And because I already posted on how horrible he is at Rate My Professors.com (and really, does a more wondrous site exist??), I can't rant there again. So, you, my fine friends, are the lucky recipients of my rant. Aren't you glad you stopped by? Let's ignore the quarter-long raging frustration I have with this man due to poor lectures, insufficient information, poorly written tests, and refusal to answer questions. We'll just pretend that I wasn't already seething with pent-up frustration and anger at this man prior to Finals Week, ok? Ok. Monday morning: After reviewing the study list (typos and all) over the weekend, I find there is one item that I know absolutely nothing about. "Be thoroughly familiar with the sulfuric acid problem. We went over it in lecture." Huh? It isn't in my text book. It's not in my lecture notes. It's not in my lab manual. It's not in my lab notes. I've been to every lecture and I take good notes. There was NO sulfuric acid problem anywhere to be found. Trust me on this. So I decide to go to Calgher's office hours--which, incidentally, are at 7:30 am and no one voluntarily gets up that early to go to office hours unless they are crazy morning people or really dedicated. Anyway, I show up at 7:30 on the nose... only the new science building isn't entirely complete yet, so they don't have offices for all the instructors; some of them are in cubicles, still. And, understandably, we don't want students to have free access to instructors desks and tests and answer keys, so the outer door of the office area remains locked. There's supposed to be a phone placed outside so we can call the appropriate instructor who will then come and let us in. At 7:30 in the morning, no one has put the phone out yet! So here I am, standing outside in the rain, the day before finals, praying for someone to come along and let me in so I can talk to Calgher. God is good and another instructor let me in. I walk to the area where he has his office (becuase, unaccountably, he does have a real office and not a cubicle) and stop in confusion because there's a bathroom sign on his door. But it's undeniably his door, and I can see lights on behind the blinds, so I knock on it and wait. No answer. I figure he's gone to do something and should be back (hopefully) soon. So I sit down to wait. About 5 minutes later, he comes walking OUT of his office!!!!! The booger had been in there the whole time and just refused to answer. He waited until he figured whoever it was had left before he came out! So I call to him, and say, "Excuse me, I have a question about the study list you gave us." "I don't have time for that right now," he says. I blink at him in startlement. "But the final is tomorrow," I protest, "and I'd really like to ask you about this question." "Yeah, well, I don't have time for that today. I need to go make copies and drop some stuff off and blah blah blah blah." "But," I try once more, "when can I ask you about this?" "We might have time in lecture today to go over it. You can ask then." He turns around and walks off. Quickly. Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. So, lecture rolls around, and, fortunately, it turns out there is time to review. So I ask him about the sulfuric acid problem. "Just look in your notes," he says and tries to move on. "But, Mr. Calgher, I've already checked all my notes and I haven't missed a single lecture. I can't find it anywhere. Could you just go over the sulfuric acid problem, please?" (Actually, I don't know if I was that reasonable and sweet; I was pretty pissed off by this point.) "Well, you should have taken better notes, then. Why don't you get together with someone in the class who took good notes and get the information from them." He turns from me and scans the class of about 90 people. "Does anyone have the sulfuric acid problem in their notes?" You can hear crickets chirping. Finally one boy in the back of the class raises his hand. "Ah, there, see? Someone took good notes. Why don't you get together with him and figure out the sulfuric acid problem." The boy speaks up, "Actually, no, Mr. Calgher, I was raising my hand to say I don't think you went over this in class." Calgher looks pissed. "What? I've been teaching this class for 40 years, and I always do the sulfuric acid problem! I can't believe this class takes such bad notes! Fine, I'll go over the problem." Grumble, grumble, grumble. And the whole time, I'm thinking, if you'd just started going over the problem when I asked, we'd be just about done with it by now! Why did you waste all that time arguing when this is supposed to be a REVIEW SESSION?!?!?! Even if I was the worst note-taker in the world and had missed 10 classes, this is a REVIEW SESSION which means you're supposed to REVIEW things!!! So even if it had been in everybody else's notes but mine, YOU are the instructor, and YOU should be REVIEWING the material in your REVIEW SESSION!!!!!!! Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. At the end of the (supposed) review session, Calgher makes the comment that he's going to rearrange the seats for the final so we can't cheat, so we should be there 15 minutes early unless we want to lose that time from the final exam which will be 60 - 80 questions in a two-hour period. Which means, at best 2 minutes per question with the full two hours. So, since the exam officially starts at 7:00 am, we need to be there by 6:45. And while I can understand this, I'm very rebellious because the earlier the start I get, the harder my day will be because I've got back-to-back finals: Chemistry from 7 - 9 am, and then American Government from 9:15 - 11:15. Tuesday morning: 6:45 am, my butt is in front of the classroom which, fortunately, is programed to open automatically. There is no sign of Calgher but it's freaking 6:45 in the morning and we don't care, we just file in lethargically and sit in our normal spots until he gets there. 6:50, no Calgher. 6:55, no Calgher. 7:00, no Calgher... He doesn't show up until 7:15, and then he doesn't even rearrange the seating! Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. On top of that, he doesn't start handing out the final right away, he spends about 10 minutes walking up and down the rows (remember, there are about 90 people in this class!) making sure no one has anything out. Including scratch paper, even though he told us on Monday that we would have to balance redox equations on a separate piece of paper. Then he finally starts handing out the test. So we just lost 25 minutes, really 40, if you count the 15 minutes we were there early when he wasn't!!!! Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. It turns out that there are 65 questions on the exam, and not all of them are calculation questions. I'm keeping an eye on the clock, and as it gets to be 8:55 (remember, the exam is supposed to end at 9, and my next one will start at 9:15), I have 4 problems left, and Calgher isn't saying anything. I think, gee, what a jerk! No warning at all. So I make a guess on the 4 I have left, and go to turn in the test. AFTER I turn in the test (and it's now about 1 minute shy of 9), Calgher says, "Ok, folks, 15 minutes left." Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. I'm torn. I don't HAVE 15 minutes because I have to be in my next class by then. But... the American Government test is likely to take less time than this one, so I'll sacrifice some of the time on the next final to do this one. So I go to ask for the test back and he tells me no, because I might have looked at something while I was packing up and now know something I didn't before. Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. I try, patiently, to explain that I don't think it's very fair, since I have another exam at 9:15 and I can't really afford to stay, and I was watching the clock based on the time the exam was supposed to be. "Well," he says, "we started late, so I gave you guys more time." "Yes," I say, "but I have another final to go to across campus." "Oh? What final is that?" "American Government," I say with relief, thinking he's starting to understand. "Well, good luck with that," he says, and turns away. Gah!!! Argh!! And other various noises of disgust. A friend of mine said, "That should be a lesson to you. Don't turn in the test until they pry it out of your cold, dead hands." I stomped across campus in time to my new mantra, "I HATE that MAN, I HATE that MAN, I HATE that MAN!" I still don't know what my grade on the final was, and actually, I won't know at all; I'll only be able to find out what my overall grade was. At this point, I feel like I'll be lucky to get a C. We'll see what happens, though. Theoretically, I should know by 5 pm tomorrow, although I think they may take longer than that to post online. How many days until finals? 0!!! WHOOO!!! I am ALL done, as of today. Well, you know, until I start the countdown again next quarter. What was one good thing that happened today? I got my speech score back! I thought I did bad, but I got 101 out of 105!!! Miscellaney: My brain is still FRIED from Tuesday's back-to-back finals. Tell me what you think. Unsolicited Advice (The best sort) ~ ~ ~ Random thoughts while studying Most recent: The REAL surprise party - Monday, Jul. 11, 2005 Still not here - Wednesday, Jul. 06, 2005 Moved - Thursday, Jun. 30, 2005 I survived - Thursday, Jun. 23, 2005 Go see her. Now. - Thursday, Jun. 02, 2005 |
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