Hi everyone,

I'm a prof at Mac (I posted a few months ago to explain what things were like on our side of things) and I've been checking in the last few days to see how everyone was doing. The answer, evidently, is "not good." I feel for all of you people and I'm really glad they extended the break. It won't solve everything, but it'll help.

Here's something else that will help though: stop lying about grades. I sit on various committees at the university and I literally see hundreds of transcripts per year. All of this talk about 11s and 12s is, frankly speaking, bullshit. The overwhelming majority of students on campus (like 95-99%) usually get grades in the 4-9 range. When people post about "easy 12s," it's (a) usually a lie, and (b) damaging to other people. We seem to have an entire school of people who are riddled with self-doubt and insecurity because they're measuring themselves up against imaginary people who are "getting straight 12s." In 15 years at McMaster, I am yet to see a transcript of straight 12s. I could probably count the straight 11s and 12s transcripts on two hands, and that would be from a sample size of many thousands.

The point is this: if you're feeling badly about your grades (and consequently about yourself), don't waste your time. The thing that you're comparing yourself against doesn't really exist. It's a product of paranoia, insensitivity, and dramatics on the part of those posting about these grades. Study what you enjoy, do your best, and relax in knowing that actual student grades are WAY lower than reddit would have you believe. You and your grades are not the problem and you don't need to change.

Sitting here shell shocked as I write this. I genuinely can’t move or breathe. I’ve been sitting in the same spot for 2hrs. I got a 45 on my first chem midterm. If I get up I might puke everywhere. My mark got released a day late, I know I did 60-70s bad but not a FAIL bad.

I’ve been attending all lectures, get 90-100s on quizzes and labs. Take notes, study, understand the material. I’m failing to understand how I messed up at such a large scale. I had a 97 in gr 12 chem, and now I’m here. I have a dream of med school (ik typical), but medicine is all I see myself doing after personal medical experiences.

I’ve hit rock bottom with my mental health. My first instinct is to drop out and go back home, because how do I even recover from something so horrible. I understand if I didn’t study, but I put effort in, so if this is the result of it then, I’m not making it.

Edit: Thank you to everyone that has reached out with kind words and encouraging anecdotes, feeling a bit better now.

Please try to keep all comments and questions regarding course selection and group chats within this thread. Thank you!

i had a list of 15 things (from all 5 of my courses) which i'd study/work on during reading week....

i only did 4 of them....

I'm a shitty procrastinator idk why i'm like this...

pls tell me i'm not the only one who barely did anything during reading week🫡

Some of you really piss me off in this subreddit right now and you want to know why?? Because instead of actually studying for your exams, you’re on here bitching, complaining, expressing how “cooked” you are in the course, how you’re currently crying, how much you have to do and review, how little time you have,… DAMN IT PEOPLE! You’re only stressing yourselves out more or stressing poor people who are actually preparing for the exams! I have a suggestion for you! Instead of writing lengthy posts about all of the above, why don’t you take that time and study what you damn well can before tomorrow, Friday, next week, WHENEVER! Need motivation??? I’ve got it right here!! Study or you will fail and feel like a miserable failure afterwards who knew you could’ve done better but didn’t because the worst thing you can feel out here right now is knowing you could’ve been the best version of yourself this exam season, but weren’t! Harsh, but truth hurts! Get your asses up and hit the books because guess what buttercups, you’re making this harder and more stressful on yourself every SECOND that goes by that you’re on here or wherever instead of where you need to be which is in that chair with your iPad, books, practice tests, etc on that desk!! Vite Vite! Time’s ticking!

i have no motivation and am so burnt out that i literally do not care anymore and have not touched a single thing to study for finals. i know i’ll be upset if i don’t do well but also i cannot be bothered 😭😭😭

help

I am nearly 40yrso, and i finally learned english. escaping from my country for cananda education -- real education, but only finding out that i am so far left behind everything. i could not catch up with my course pace. (i only take 3 courses).

i could not finish assigned reading, nor essay assignments because of the language proficiency. i passed language tests before i came here. but IELTS 7 is anything than enough to manage literature 1000 level courses here.

i told myself that things will change as I keep pushing through, because proficiency improves as i get more experienced. nope. now it is the end of the term, i am still struggling on every assignments.

what else i can do to keep up with the university level study? thank you all in advance.

mentally, i am really breaking down and getting doubt about myself on everything by solid evidence...

Where do I even start guys. Dr jennifer ostovich is the worst prof I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve never seen someone so rude and disrespectful to students. I don’t know what stick she has up her ass but I really want someone higher up to call her out. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way either. She doesn’t care for her students and says one thing then edits her posts (specifically for the humbehv 3md3 course). I ended up doing bad and I know this is a type of course post grad look at. She had no desire to acknowledge my request of potentially reviewing grades. I hope she gets what she puts out there because she is genuinely evil. I hope she sees this and because basically all your students hate you. There’s a reason why you’re the only psych prof that has classes open. If that’s not telling I don’t know what is.

Background 

• At first, I didn’t want to believe the reviews on Rate My Professors. However, after PNB 2XE3, I can confidently say she is the most unprofessional, dismissive and straight-up rude professor I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing. PNB 2XE3 content is fine, she is the issue. 
• She showed up to lectures late and frequently ended 50-minute lectures early. 
• One of which, she spent 10 minutes incorrectly explaining a z-score chart. 

Her Tests (Believe me, this is not even all of it) 

• There is a serious lack of time, with 31 questions, including short answer calculations, expected to be completed in 50 minutes. 
• There is no going back, and short answers are randomly put through the test, so you have no idea how to manage your time. 
• Respondus locks people out of their tests, laptops malfunction (punishing students who can’t buy the newest products) and wifi issues are common. But still, she refuses to make paper copies available (I believe because she doesn’t want to mark them herself). She also dismisses wifi issues, saying only 2 people had problems, as if nearly all of our class wasn't hot spotting themselves.
• We asked multiple times for practice questions, and she provided 5, not at all similar to many asked on the test. Our course has no required textbook, yet she advised us to “grab a textbook from the library” to make our own practice questions. As you know, textbooks vary widely in content, difficulty, and alignment with course expectations and are not a valid substitution for structured materials. Here are some quotes pulled from our class to showcase Lisa’s teaching style (when asked about providing practice questions): "Yeah, unfortunately, I can't commit myself to doing short answer questions,” "I haven't looked at the questions from the textbook. I think if you do as many practice questions on your own, whether it's from the signed textbooks, or if you go to the library and just find a stats textbook. It doesn't even have to be in psychology. It could be like, even in business. They also could have questions."

Her Response to Feedback 

• I am positive she has written multiple reviews about herself to raise her Rate My Professors score. Needless to say, this is extremely unprofessional. If you think that is crazy, I agree and encourage you to read through 5 and 4 star reviews. One of which a “student” says, “I wasnt looking forward to taking stats after hearing horror stories from others. Lisa made the course very manageable and interesting. She knows a lot and presents the material in an easy to follow format. Too bad there were a few students who held the class back. They should have styaed in Stats 1.” Another one states, “Lisa knows a lot. We just got back our first test. hard to believe that someone only answered the multiple choice and didn't bother with the computations. Did the person buy or read the book. Great for me to have those students in the class. Boosts my grade!” Lastly, my favourite “student” review, “Some presentations were not debates but that is not surprising since this generation cant follow instructions. Makes other shine. Great class.” 
• I would say she is passive-aggressive, but that’s not true. She is just aggressive and will insult your character and work ethic as a student before reflecting on the feedback she has received multiple times. 
• After a fellow student emailed her concerns about the midterm, Lisa decided to target her study habits specifically to deflect from her teaching. How did she do this? Well, to quote Lisa, “Just wanted to further add that I had a look at your engagement with AL, and noticed that you never visited any of the lecture slides.” To be clear, you can download these slides without clicking on the link, so not only is this point extremely disrespectful but also invalid. 
• I honestly think she doesn’t allow recordings to stay up longer than a week because she wants deniability when students refer to her poor lectures in their complaints. I say this because she is currently lying about the length of lectures and content she has taught my class. 

This review would be pages long if I were to cover her inadequate teaching and all her unacceptable behaviours. But I will stop here as enough of my time from actual course work has been spent trying to get this professor to do their job. If you can, save yourself and do not take any course with her as the professor. 

- A fed-up student whose tuition is too high to have such a professor.

How’d everyone do?

It's that time of the year again. Any and all bird courses should be put and discussed in here, and a reason as to what makes it bird must be added. Putting in how well you did is optional if you feel comfortable in doing so. If mods of this subreddit can help pin or make this post more visible to subreddit members it would go a long way. Cheers!

SUNDAY? LAST DAY OF READING WEEK? WTF? I’m ready, I’ve been ready but why bruh. Whyyyy Sundayyy 😭😭😭😭😭😭

To the inconsiderate donkey dunderhead in the MAIN music 2mt3 group chat that asked that goofy question about whether the quizzes are proctored( this is not towards the person that emailed). I hope you’re happy now cuz they just decided to make it proctored 💀 💀

For a couple of my classes (psych and earthsci) i was happy about my mark about a recent midterm, then i asked everyone else and they all got 90+, and that was really demoralizing.

And then there's so many people in my program (lifesci) who seem to be getting 10-12 in every course. I have people on my dorm floor who party a lot, get drunk on monday nights, skip lectures, wake up at 1pm and seemingly don't study and they all have A's in lifesci courses it seems (i know this for a fact because in the common room they're literally showing off their Avenue grades). Am i just tripping or am i just coincidentally bumping into academic overachievers? I thought grades were supposed to deflate significantly from high school to uni.

Sorry if this post sounds extremely stupid. I guess this applies to those in the social sciences or humanities as well but whenever i'm studying in the library i see so many people studying STEM, and they are likely in engineering, math/stats or lifesci. I keep thinking to myself, "damn i wish i had the motivation and drive to handle chem, physics, calculus all in one semester and still do well".

Mind you i took physics and chemistry and computer electronics in grade 11, did ok (but not amazing) and i knew it was not for me. I did alright in the business calc course last sem. but i wish i was hardworking and determined where i'd be able to handle physics, calculus, linear algebra etc in the same semester like i see many engineering majors do.

I know engineering majors take like three math courses and physics and chem in year 1, while lifesci kids have to take two chem courses and physics and bio. I also heard of the stereotype of business or social sci majors "being bad at math and problem-solving courses" by STEM students

I see so many people asking questions, so I’m going to post this for everyone for any questions you might have regarding deferrals.

Deferrals are a last resort effort, and do not use them unless you really have to. Now let’s say it’s the night before and you’re coughing your lungs out because you don’t wash your hands enough or talk to too many people (imagine), and you realize “oh shit, can’t do this exam”. Well, you’re gonna defer. However, there are many other reasons to defer as well.

IMPORTANT: you’ll need to fill and submit the deferral form for ANY reason. Also, all documents will be submitted to your academic advisor/associate dean for your faculty. You will have 5 business days.

EDIT: do NOT email them about deferral BEFORE you miss your exam. You’re NOT allowed to plan deferrals.

1- you’re sick: sickness deferrals will require a filled out “McMaster medical form” that you can find if you google it. This will have 3 sections: one for your to fill out (personal info, etc). Another section is for the doctor to sign and state the reason why you’re missing you’re exam (make sure to talk to your doctor when filling it out). Attaching a doctor’s note can also help, but as far as I know it’s not AS important. Medical form, doctor note, and deferral form is all you need to email to YOUR FACULTY’s academic advisor/associate dean. This is it for this reason. Important to note that mental health reasons can be considered a reason, just make sure the appropriate doctor (psychiatrist, etc) is signing it. Also, I encourage you to send a doctor’s note with that. However, if you have SAS accommodations, talk to your SAS person.

2- You “missed” your exam: Lemme guess, you woke up too late or procrastination got to you. Nontheless, you have 2 options. One is that you use your ONCE IN A UNIVERSITY CAREER free deferral. It’s exactly as it sounds. One free deferral no matter what, even if you’ve submitted one before for medical reasons or anything where you’ve submitted documents, you can still do this. Admit to what happened, and you’ll be okay. “Woke up late” or “was too anxious” or “traffic” all work. Don’t worry. Second is if you’ve already used your free deferral, then your mark is in the hands of your course coordinator. SOMETIMES they’re sympathetic and they allow you. Don’t count on it, don’t expect it to work, but it can. Other than that, Goodluck. (You can late withdraw from a course up until the exam, this will save you a “fail” on your transcript, but cost you money and you’ll have to redo the credits).

3- personal reasons: this one is straightforward. Even if you think something is insignificant (travel plans booked before the announcement of the date, family emergencies, your online girlfriend turned to be a 40 year old swindler, etc), it can still pass based on your course coordinator. All you need is supporting documents such as plane tickets, hotel receipts, even a picture of you in your emergency family situation. Documents obviously are better because they provide facts, but you never know.

4- Stacked exams: this one is tricky, so I’ll leave it for you to google for more information about specific cases, but I’ll give you the short version. If you have 2 exams one day, one exam the next day you qualify for a deferral of one of them. There’s other scenarios, such as one exam on 3 consecutive days, 2 exams on one day, no exam on the next, but one more on the next. There’s a chart on the deferral information website that describes it better. Edit: here’s the link https://registrar.mcmaster.ca/exams-grades/exams/

Now you need to know that you can defer an exam that has weight moved from a test (40 exam + 10 test), as well as exams that are more than 50%, but there are some issues that arise: 1- if it’s a prerequisite, it’ll be okay, just make sure you study. 2- if you defer 2 exams, you will HAVE TO drop one elective (preferably) or required (usually doesn’t happen) from your second term. This is to make sure you study. 3- you cannot defer an exam twice

Finally: Fall exams deferred will be done February reading week. Winter exams will be done in June. I’m not sure about summer courses (I’ll edit it later).

Ask questions down here so people don’t have to hunt down their answer, and me and others can try and help out.

Goodluck on exams everyone!

I think commerce 3MC3 has to be THE worst course I’ve ever taken here at McMaster and trust me I’ve taken courses with some really bad professors. To start with, the marking scheme. I understand you want students to participate and you want them to be engaged in class but how the fuck am I participating answering every question right and when I receive my participation marks it’s an 80 and trust me you won’t get HIGHER than an 80. The profs take their lives way too seriously like to the point where the class isn’t even enjoyable. The worst thing of them all is the presentations, you’ll put every single piece of information provided to you, follow what the profs and the TA say to a T and you’ll still get fucked or end up hating your life because of how hard they mark. This class has been the most unnecessarily difficult and tedious classes I’ve ever taken in my life and it’s not funny at all, what’s worse is it’s mandatory for all Commerce students and all Eng management students. Good luck to whoever takes this course, you will hate every second of it

why should u try the things i'm about to say? because i've been known in the friend group as the girlie to have the attention span of a cocomelon ipad obsessed 4-years-old baby and still get pretty good marks, SO I PROMISE YOU I GOTCHU BAE 🩷 honestly if this is too long for you just pm me i can say the exact same thing BAHAHAHHA this is quite of a read so i'm sorry 😭

1. BUST OUT UR CALENDAR AND REMINDER APP NOW AND START SCHEDULING UR ENTIRE LIFE IN!! now if ur like me and you're not the type of person who can stick to a schedule down to the t of what time ur going to eat ur meals THATS OKAY!! i'm the type of person who can't feel super restricted so what i like to do is put down actual times for when my coursework is due, times my classes are, when to take my meds, when i have to go to work, you know things that need exact times and then for activities like going to the gym, eating, sleeping, and self care time i put them in my reminders!! MAKE SURE UR CALENDAR IS COLOUR CODED IT JUST HELPS I CANT REMEMBER THE REASON WHY and also when it comes to assignments and tests i like to put 2 "alarms" on them so 1. is a week before and 2. two days before its due. as for your reminders (idk if this is also on android i'm speaking from an iphone user) but make it a widget and place it on the front page or whatever page you look at most on your phone AND IN ORDER type the things you need too e.g. wake up @ 8 a.m., breakfast, groceries, study for 2QQ3, gym, etc. i do it this way so that i can check off things that i've completed so that i feel like "wow i'm such a productive person" and it feels so satisfying to the point where i'm motivated to complete the entire list for the day. BEST PART? YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO OPEN THE APP CUZ ITS A WIDGET AND YOU CAN CHECK IT OFF RIGHT THERE. personally, this helps me because there's i don't forget things that i have to work on and i have the flexibility of doing whatever daily chore i need to do at whatever time as long as i just get it done for the day.

2. WHEN IT COMES TO STUDYING i personally like studying in any place but my own house but there was a time i only wanted to study in my room so i'll talk about both!! in terms of something you can do for both: record time lapses of yourself studying, it's honestly just super cute to look back at and see how locked in you were and it makes you feel like someone is watching you so you almost feel like you have to keep going. MAKE SURE TO GET UP AND MOVE A BIT TIME TO TIME, if you stay in a chair for a billion hours not only does ur ass hurt but you're gonna burn out quicker. YOU NEED TO STRETCH. ALSO KEEP SNACKS FOR LONGER STUDY PERIODS! if ur at home i think it's better to walk and go get your snack but if you're outside it keeps you satiated and helps you focus. it's hard to focus on an empty stomach. BUT BAE I NEED TO EAT HEALTHIER AND I CAN'T BE EATING CHIPS BUT I ALSO DON'T WANT TO EAT CARROTS WITH HUMMUS ALL THE TIME. I GOTCHUUUU. dates with peanut butter have been my absolute fav, it tastes like snickers and makes me happy. i use it as a treat when i'm done a chapter. there's also this popcorn thats SO GOOD WAY BETTER THAN CHIPS and it's by poptastic spicy cheddar flavour (can get from fortinos). kiju juice is also a nice drink to have and guilty pleasure is the machine in mills second floor (also at lr) FRENCH VANILLA IS SO GOOD. I also love love LOVE pomodoro and those white noise type beat audios. what is pomodoro you may ask? well it's basically this method where you study for 20-45 minutes (i personally do 20) and then when that is done you get a 5 minute break. after four sessions of that (80 minutes) you get a 30 minute break and then you continue that process! here's some of my fav websites and an app i really like with pomodoro and some of my favourite background noise that helps me lock in!

fav pomodoro apps, sites, and youtube videos:

flow (available on the app store, i have it on my mac and it's super minimalistic)

https://pomofocus.io/

if ur muslim: https://youtu.be/n6by03H78gE?si=t9Iu5RNYZCVqSu-R (because sometimes i be putting it in the hands of god fr 😭)

https://youtube.com/@lostnotesfound?si=JVf--8GwX3ugqbh6 (a whole channel with pomodoro videos with different durations)

background noises and just chill audio:

https://youtu.be/4PUHBL1vMNY?si=X9yKSHxfSNohdBBY

https://youtu.be/p2_zDvtPQ-g?si=LAATYHpdL7agQLoK

https://youtu.be/mGAgyt6MGvg?si=vpUrKDW0Tu2mXJxk

studying in your room: MAKE IT A VIBE for me especially during exam szn i put a bunch of sticky notes on my wall in front of my desk ranging from things i need to get done (the idea of crossing it off feels so good), motivation quotes, the life i want to live, honestly a dream manifesting wall at this point helped me a lot because they're very bright colours and when i felt like stopping, seeing a note that says "ain't no way you're about to get 20k in osap loans, no degree, and no job, FINISH THAT ASSIGNMENT NOW" had me not only finish my work but get ahead in some of my classes too. I also have a bunch of candles and what i like to do is light them and basically "compete" with the flame, it just motivated me to complete my assignment or finish studying for an exam because in my head "i can't stop until it goes out."

if ur at outside: personally i like being on campus early and either at the hub third floor where the meeting room is cuz i like the chairs, lr whenever the conference rooms are available, thode first floor all the way in the back with those individual desk and lights (only night time), mills second floor all the way in the back with the windows and outlet bars and why all these places? because theyre all in areas and specific times (for some) that have noise but not super loud. with noise cancelling headphones i basically can't hear anyone and i like it because i can see people talking or working on things and because i see everyone be "productive" i want to be productive too!! when i want a quiet space tho i like to go to mdcl third floor and pick a tutorial room there, usually theyre empty so it's just you. ABOVE ALL COFFEE SHOPS I LOVE A GOOD CAFE. ark + anchor my beloved but they are closing down soon so pls enjoy this gem while you styll can. relay is also one that i frequent a lot, sometimes i go to second cup but again seeing people be productive makes me want to be productive, the ambience is nice, and i feel like because i went all the way to dt hamilton I HAVE to lock in because not only did i travel all the way here but i'm also spending 7 dollars on coffee.

1. TAKE CARE OF URSELF THIS IS SO IMPORTANT I CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH how tf you gonna lock in if you haven't slept in three days, you feel horrible, and you haven't touched grass in months. YOU NEED BREAKS AND YOU NEED TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY. sleep is so important and something that i struggle with too specially since ramadan started can confirm my sleep been so fucked up it's been so hard going to classes and doing ANYTHING. you need at least 7 hours. "but girl i got so much to do and so little time." I PROMISE YOU THERE IS TIME. you just gotta balance everything out. and i'm sorry I'M GUILTY OF THIS TOO SO I GET IT but we can't be doing everything last minute all the time. if you have an assignment due in a week you gotta start at least 4 days before babez. doing it bit by bit allows you to have time for other things in your life and maintain sleep and self care. for me there are assignments i work better under pressure with so i figure out ahead of time what i have on the day that it's due and do some of those things ahead of time so that one the day of, it's mainly just the assignment i'm worrying about and not a lot of other things. i also treat school like a 9-5. monday-friday i work and the weekends i be chilling fr (ofc with some hectic weeks its subject to change). also highly want to emphasize touching grass. pls see ur friends and maintain your hobbies and go to the gym if ur into that. focusing on school 24/7 is so stressful and leads to burnout so much quicker. you gotta relax your brain time to time to be able to lock in better. it's similar to those moments where the first time you listen to a lecture you think to yourself wtf is going on. and then when you hear that same thing the next day for some reason you just understand it better.

i'm lowkey getting tired of typing so IM DONE there's much more i wanna say but i will leave you with this. i hope it helps bhaddies and may we all get 11/12s this term MWAH

For a long time, I was considering specializing in it for second year. But now, a bunch of people are hating on it. I thought it was the best route for med school, is it not?

Also stop emailing them you’re gonna make it worse 😭😭w

Yup, I failed. I feel like I studied so much for nothing. It’s not even understanding the content, I just ran out of time after only 12 questions. I feel incapable of doing math quickly bcuz of my anxiety problems💀Sorry for the vent post. Hope it went well for everyone else

To all the menstruating population at McMaster, how do you stay productive during pms? I just can’t concentrate, i feel stupid, whatever i’m reading my brain just can’t process. And i’m not even talking about more challenging courses, i just give up on them during this time of the month. And more broadly how do you coordinate your work with your cycle to stay productive? I’m even considering getting on adderall, cause I can’t allow to loose 2-3 days every month. Some sustainable advice please…

Well I failed.. I got a 46 and now I'm scared lol. Hopefully I can bump it up during finals. And I've been doing well on the weekly quizzes and tutorials so hopefully that keeps my grade afloat.

Class average: 56% 💀💀💀

DR CADIEUX WON THE MSU TEACHING AWARD

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! if u have ever had Dr cadieux u would agree that she deserved this award. hands down THE MOST enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgeable prof i have ever had. she’s also THE SWEETEST human ever with the most contagious smile. literally screamed from excitement when i saw she won. YAYYYYYYYY

u/MacIntroPsych