Professors Who Suck
- Thread starter ISUCubswin
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Yeah, Abendroth had a very droning, monotonous type of voice. You really had to work hard to keep from being lulled to sleep. I imagine if you didn't find the class material interesting it was probably nearly impossible to avoid.
I took concrete in the summer, so was able to avoid Max Porter. The guy who taught it, Ron Roth, wasn't a professor but an older guy who had his own consulting business. That was actually a pretty good class. I enjoyed the fact he brought in a lot of real-world consulting experience that most other professors lacked. I've ran into him and his wife a few times in recent years at ISU MBB games. Nice guy.
I also had Bruce Munson for fluid dynamics. I really liked him, but for some reason that class just didn't "click" for me. Guess that's why I went into structures!
I didn't fully appreciate the thoroughness of Abendroth until I started working after college. I was light years ahead of my peers in terms of knowing and understanding the steel manual. One of my coworkers went to Michigan Tech and they weren't even required to buy the AISC code. Their prof just gave them copies of pages out of it. They also had steel/concrete design in one course (half semester for each). The supplementary notes Abendroth gave with the course are very helpful in practice.
And, if you remember, he checked every single number on every single exam. So, you knew exactly where you went wrong when you got your exam back. Not many profs would take the time to even have a TA do that, let alone do that themselves for all exams.
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/12/is-this-hell.html
Found this in the old thread. It's Bloom's initial draft of his hack piece. He is much more satirical in it than the final version. He also apparently can't get laid.
Found this in the old thread. It's Bloom's initial draft of his hack piece. He is much more satirical in it than the final version. He also apparently can't get laid.
Had Deam in a few Poli Sci classes. Always thought his classes were pretty interesting. Could make you feel really dumb at times, but just when he knew that you didn’t do any of the reading. It’s a surefire way to make people come prepared.
I thought Curtis was really interesting and his lectures were great. However, then you get to the tests and they'd be word puzzles that tried to trick you on every question for an hour, which I think is really unfair. He basically turned the class into a volcabulary test in my opinion.
I went to every class, which wasn't well attended, then on test day it would be a full house. I think the grades were posted and I was in the bottom half on everyone single one, so I thought his whole system was ********. Also heard his tests hadn't changed in decades and you could get them if you knew the right people, which I did not.
I went to every class, which wasn't well attended, then on test day it would be a full house. I think the grades were posted and I was in the bottom half on everyone single one, so I thought his whole system was ********. Also heard his tests hadn't changed in decades and you could get them if you knew the right people, which I did not.
If you showed weakness he made sure you knew you messed up for sure haha.
Clair Keller, who taught American history back on the day, would show up dressed as historical figures. He was great except for the crazy multiple choice tests with maybe 12 options for answers that included things like a separate option for things like a, d, and h. Class was never boring at least.
There was a thread on this just before I took it and I was able to get them. #Winning
Haha. I was just pissed that I'd sit through story time for 15 minutes each class, then walk into tests and half the **** wasn't covered, only to find out all the people not at the lectures had the test before hand and were Ace-ing the class with zero effort.
Hadn't seen his name brought up yet, but ol' Gordo's class was my only drop in 4 years. This explained a lot looking back:
https://whotv.com/2017/12/01/iowa-s...d-during-class-on-public-intoxication-charge/
https://whotv.com/2017/12/01/iowa-s...d-during-class-on-public-intoxication-charge/
I had a 400-level EE course where the entire grade was based on a group presentation and a group take-home final (same 4-person group for both). Most of the class periods consisted of watching other groups give their presentations. The professor did next-to-nothing. IIRC, the presentation was basically an automatic A, and a couple of the guys in my group found the textbook the questions in the final came from so they did the entire final for us.
I don't recall the name of the prof, but I had him for another 400-level EE class that was almost as easy, and I think he had originally been in nuclear engineering.
EDIT: It was Bartlett. Looks like he left ISU in 2006.
I don't recall the name of the prof, but I had him for another 400-level EE class that was almost as easy, and I think he had originally been in nuclear engineering.
EDIT: It was Bartlett. Looks like he left ISU in 2006.
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Herb Fromm from BBMB. Guy was a giant in his field but by far one of the worst lecturers I ever had. His exams were some of the toughest I have ever taken.
