Melissa Eugene
Staff Writer
At some point in time, a college student might experience a dreadful professor, and if you haven’t by now, trust me you will sooner or later. No matter how many Rate my Professors you check or making sure you sign up for classes early before all the “good” professors are taken, there will always come a time when you have no choice but to take the 2.9-star professor.
Having a poor professor can be shown in two categories, one being a professor you thought was one of the good ones but turned out to be dreadful. And two, a professor that you know isn’t well liked and holds an unfavorable reputation but despite all those allegations you take the professor anyway and are met with the same distressing professor you heard all about before. But there is good news to this, there is an art of not having a good professor.
Having a bad professor doesn’t mean the professor is a bad person, but rather the professor doesn’t have the best teaching methods in order for a student to succeed in the class. Also, meaning the professor doesn’t put any effort for students to have resources within the class to be successful if they feel stuck or lost. Switching professors in college isn’t any easy task and sometimes it’s too far in the semester to drop the class easily or to be in another class, and willingly failing a class just because a professor isn’t ideal is not the best option. While having a 4-to-5-star professor makes any class easier because you have that support, being in a class without it doesn’t make passing impossible; it can be a difficult but never impossible.
The art of being in a situation like this leads you to be independent and creative. Such as discovering different studying methods that work for you and using other resources such as tutors and even YouTube to better understand a topic. It gives you the resilience to not fail and boosts your confidence. This can also be taken as a learning experience in other situations such as having a bad boss, but that doesn’t stop you from having a great work ethic and showing up.
Along with the experience you gain from that job, it gives you the chance to upgrade to a better one with a better boss, as well for other classes that you may come by with a harder subject. The studying skills and creativity that lead you to pass the class with the bad professor can be used for another class that has more of a workload and a harder understanding.
When I came to college, I never studied throughout high school until I had to take Anatomy and Physiology in college. I received low scores on the first few quizzes for lab and I failed the first exam for lecture because I never studied, and I didn’t know how to study until I finally took the time to learn. I didn’t want to fail and found that watching videos helped me to retain what I was learning and making Quizlet flashcards.
In return, I started passing my quizzes and my exams. I now apply the same studying technique to my other classes as well. And I am now currently experiencing a not-so-great professor, but I am becoming creative once again and developing a new study strategy. So, the next time you come across a 2.9-star professor, know that there are resources outside of that professor to help you and the stress will be worth it in the end.
