What are the first signs you see in a unit/course that you should avoid taking?

What are the first signs you see in a unit/course that you should avoid taking?
For me its..
>the word "abstract" anywhere in the unit guide
>Male lecturer teaching the first half and female lecturer teaching the second half
>unit administered by all female staff

Number 1 and 3 are the most dangerous imo.

Professor speaks worse English than a toddler

>Subject is focused on 'applications of [topic]'
>Subject claims to cover more areas than is reasonable in a single semester
The second one usually means it skims over a lot of shit, so you end up not really learning anything, just getting a vague appreciation of what those different areas are about.

>Examination: oral
>Examination: written paper/essay
>Teaching methods: X hours of laboratory work
>Group assignments

My biggest red flag:
>The exact content of the course varies from year to year
And variations there on. It normally implies one of:
>We've tried to fit too much into this one course, so bit get dropped arbitrarily.
>The guy teaching this course changes more often than the wind
>The guy teaching is a bit like that

>Introduction to geophysics
>professor is a meek little mainland china girl
>says in the beginning "don't email me, don't ask me for help, don't go to my office, go to tutoring for that"
>fucking awestruck like i just watched a shooting star

I read the assigned textbook and another textbook at the same time, fucking bullshit professor, seriously bullshit, if you want to be a researcher then don't teach

>if you want to be a researcher don't teach
Do they even get a choice? Over here to do one the uni pretty much forces you to do the other as well.

The second one is more a sign that you should be careful: it's not always a bad thing.
>this looks like a lot of content for a paper, I wonder if I should take it?
>the lecturer turns out to be the best lecturer I've ever had
>(almost) nothing gets skimmed over
>seem to learn more in every lecture than I learned in most other papers
>Dude encourages us to make an attempt at every single thing shown in class, gives extra guidance and etc for anyone that does
>all the assignments are actually challenging to the point where they're fun
Only "downside" of that class was that the assignment were in pairs, but the class was rad enough that all the brainlets dropped it in half a week, and all (non-chink) the groups ended up working well.
As always, most of the chinks got hit for plagiarism.

The lecturer also encouraged us to drink before tests and exams.

>Group assignments
fucking hell, those are the worst
I run away from courses with them as soon as I see them

"This course is an experimental process of becoming half online and half in classroom."

Nope the fuck out of there."Experimental" is a horrible red flag and the words "Flipped Classroom" are also up there.

Why drink before exams? So you'll fail?

It's hell
I was insulted by a girl, my teammate, in front of the whole class.

>Syllabus is longer than 25 pages
>Learning and getting a degree is not a race!
>If you attempt to take any other course outside of this at the same time you will fail both.
>Expect to spend 40 hours a week outside this class studying.
>Teacher expects you to address them as Doctor.

This was for Chemistry 101, at a community college.

Alcohol lowers inhibitions and temporarily annuls anxiety. As long as you're tipsy not drunk, your brain functions very well and you'll be faster to solve everything.

Professor starts teaching straight from the text instead of lecturing on their own.

Well, the last one is kinda reasonable, I guess, after spending 5+ yrs to get a doctorate.

if they could only get a job teaching at CC though, it says alot about them.

Damn, this is a good one (unless they wrote the textbook)

What did you do to deserve it?

What about state based memory? This seems like a good way to make it difficult to recall information that's important during an exam

>the introduction explains why this field actually is a science

Stopped me second guessing myself on every question like I usually do.

Seems alien to me. I went to a top 10 national uni (UK) and we were on first name basis with the lecturers

this.
I go to a top 8 and the only department that insists on being called by titles is psychology & social sciences (surprise).
All other lecturers insist on being on a first name basis with students

I bet you took a summer suicide and expected it to be easy you faggot
And you should actually address people by the title they earned you ass burger

I avoid professors with female or black names, because I want the the best bang for my buck, and affirmative action means white or Asian male professors are hired by merit.

Which unies were you attending? Ratings always change.

>group assignment
obviously

>course is based on a classic book from the 90s or a "intro to X" book
why wasting time in uni for something that so many people know or it a better educationalist already reworked it for easier understanding?

>lecturer is proud of interactive lectures
>1. lecture repeats stuff from 1. or 2. mandatory courses
Idiots will argue with him all the time, slowing progress down and making every lecture shallow and boring

>lecturer is female
There are great female researchers, but every female lecturer I had sucked

A low amount of alcohol can work, but a micro dose of LSD (10-25 ug) is probably better as a makeshift nootropic.

>says top 8 and not Harvard
probably Brown lmfao

A mistake in an experiment. I feel I didn't deserve it. I only made one mistake while she was fucking wrong all the semester and I didn't say anything.

Should have mentioned Australia
Usyd

>Look at coursework requirement and see it's not retarded marking criteria
>See if textbook is available online 4 free

>female professor

top 8 in the uk
ie: top 300 in the world

Unless you only study drunk

Just two:

>female
>webassign/wileyplus or some jew shit like this

>tfw only study drunk/on stimulants