DAE Have a Professor That Doesn't Seem to Understand How Exams Work?

You're getting a lot of flack here OP, but I feel compelled to chime in and say I strongly agree with you.

I'm a non-traditional student with 2 years left in my degree with a 3.9 GPA. I'm not a slouch. I don't blame everything on the professor. But no one can say anything in this sub about a professor without being told that it is, in fact, their fault. Really? You don't even know OP or their professor. You can't reasonably just assume that OP has no legitimate reason to complain about their professor.

There absolutely is such a thing as making an exam unreasonably long, difficult, or different from coursework. And there are profs that do it. So it's ridiculous to just automatically assume that a student is slacking off if they're struggling.

While I'm on that subject, I just have to say that I vehemently disagree with anyone that says a professor is justified in writing an exam with a format that significantly deviates from the rest of the coursework. What the hell is the coursework for? Yes, the challenges you face in the workplace will differ from your coursework. But an exam is TIMED. If you're having trouble understanding what the prof is asking for because all the study problems you just spent 30+ hours doing were worded or formatted in a completely different way, too bad, you're screwed. Time's up. I don't care what you're studying - that's not an accurate representation of the workplace.

What is this sub for? Are we not allowed to vent here? Most of us have had profs who we are sometimes justified in ranting about.

With all that said, yeah, I get it, there's not much we as students can do about it. The only way that I've maintained my grades is to recognize that this is reality, and I have to do everything in my power to prepare for it. But that's not the same as saying that all professors are infallible or reasonable teachers. They're not.

Sorry that you're going through this OP. I have had similar experiences. I know it sucks. The fact that the majority of a 60 student class scored below a 50 is a dead giveaway that this professor has unrealistic standards and/or is an ass. My advice would be to either drop the class, or power through it and get the very best grade you can. Then talk to him/her and the department about it at some point in the near future.

/r/EngineeringStudents Thread