Professor Hobo – college, students, professors, & cats

Cramming is not a good strategy, but you already knew that

It’s the time of year when students overdose on Ritalin in a mad dash to cram in everything they didn’t bother to learn in the prior four months. I remember this time well (minus the Ritalin, just say no kids). Now, as a professor, I see it from a different perspective. So here’s some helpful advice that might put your final exams into a better perspective.

Your professors don’t want to grade anymore than you want to take tests
Many students have a strange belief that professors spend all of their free time reveling in the grading process. On the contrary, we hate it. Sure, there’s that occasional fool, but there’s also that occasional student that asks for more homework. They’re the anomalies.

The norm is that most professors hate grading, and they especially hate grading under the gun at the end of the semester. Just like you we’re prepping for the holidays or summer break, or maybe reading classes for the next semester. We don’t have the time for a lot of grading, especially not in four or five classes. We might assign papers due, but it’s not because we’re looking forward to reading them. It has more to do with… ↓ Read the rest of this entry…