I know everyone says they want a high-quality education with well-qualified teachers, etc., but let’s be real… none of us want a class that is ridiculously difficult.
After all, we all have lives outside of the classroom, right? In this article, we’re going to discuss 3 ways to find out if a class is hard before you sign up!
1. Visit RateMyProfessor.com– Rate My Teacher or RMP is a website that is specifically designed for students to write reviews about their teachers and assign ratings. I found this particularly useful during my college career and have continued to use it while pursuing my graduate degree.
RMP offers the largest list of university professor ratings, with over 11 million student reviews for over 1 million professors! Millions of college students each year use this service to help them plan their class schedules. And the best thing about this website is that it is absolutely FREE.
The website currently offers ratings for approximately 6,000 schools worldwide…in the United States, Canada, England, and Scotland and Wales. Also, if you have an iPhone, you can download the RMP app directly to your cell phone!
Are you still a little skeptical? That’s understandable… which is why I’ve included a sample of the reviews below so you can see the detailed quality reviews students leave every day:
Example 1:”She’s great. If you really appreciate math and are willing to put in the effort, her class is pretty easy. She is more than willing to help her students and her exams are easy if you come to class. Overall I really enjoyed having it and wish I could take it again.“
Example #2:”He is not a good instructor. He provides power points and schematics for the chapters, but testing him is very difficult. He listens carefully and takes notes in class, even though his ramblings seem off topic. The extra credit map pack of about 30 maps is ridiculous for just 2 extra credit points.”
Example #3: “I am a writing senior, having earned A’s in writing since elementary school. He is a nightmare! No matter how many times I took his homework to the LARC tutoring center, he still accused me of plagiarism. Just because we’re not all newspaper editors doesn’t mean we all have the natural talent for writing. Do not take this!”
Are you beginning to understand why this site is so popular? I thought it would.
2.reviewum.com– Well, nothing can really compare to RateMyProfessor.com, but Reviewum is your next best thing.
Similar to RMP, Reviewum is a website designed to allow students to provide feedback on their professors. You can search for your school and then locate the name of the teacher you are considering taking.
However, one of Reviewum’s drawbacks is that it currently only has 178 schools. But it’s FREE, so you can’t really complain about getting free information, even if it’s limited.
If you don’t see your school listed on the site, don’t be afraid to be the first to add it! If you’ve taken some really horrible professors in the past, why not share that with other students so they don’t do the same?
Here are some sample reviews from Reviewum.com:
Example 1: “Great teacher! She is an amazing speaker, she is extremely personable and very helpful.”
Example 2: “Not to crush her too much, but she’s absolutely horrible. I’ve never had a teacher like that since I started college. [She has] Horrible student-teacher communication. He despises when you ask him questions in class. He doesn’t stick to what he says. [She] It is not precise in the instructions. I would not recommend it. It’s not even about her being a tough teacher, but she’s just she’s not a good teacher.”
Example 3: “Occasionally boring and a little hard on his grades, but very knowledgeable in his subject and a solid teacher. A well structured class, no surprises.”
3. Ask your friends – If you can’t find the teacher on RMP or Reviewum, ask. It is common during registration time to hear students chatting in the hallways saying things like:
“Have you heard of this professor? Did you like the way he taught?”
“Is the class hard? Did you have a lot of written homework and tests?”
“What grade did you get in Professor X or Y’s class?”
If you ask around campus, chances are you’ll run into someone who has taken the class with the particular professor you’re considering taking, or at least heard of him or her.
Good luck! I’m sure this tip will help you build your class schedule for the next semester.
