I got stuck with Dr. Raney for Mech E Met. Everything I've heard about the guy is horrible, test averages in the 50's, ect. Is it possible to get a B in the class somewhat easily? I got B's in both IDE 50 and IDE 150 without too much work. How hard is an A to pull off in the class?

I got an A in his Mech E Met class, and I guess you could say it was somewhat easily since after a while I pretty much ended up doing none of the homework (it was pointless, since I didn't think the homework was anything like the tests.)

He gives out practice tests before you take his, study those like mad and you'll probably do okay.

Do the homework even though he doesn't collect it, ask questions about stuff you don't know, study the practice test really well, and show up everyday for class. If you do all that, you should get a pretty decent grade, as should you in any class.

Do the homework, mech movies, make sure you understand everything...not just which equations you can plug and chug with. Most test avg's are in the low 50's/ high 40's, at least they were for my class. I had a high A going into the final and came out with a B.

The only way to do really well in his class is to either be very good at teaching yourself, or ask LOTS of questions, and go to his office. His lectrues alone are horrible, but he's really pretty good about answering questions.

Thankfully I was able to switch to Campbell's (Ross's) section. MUCH better, she actually teaches...and so far the material is super-easy.

and she's nice to look at

I really dont think he's as bad as everyone says he is. Albeit he doesnt neccessarily walk you through every little step, you have to learn some things on your own, this is college, not high school.
However,
he is more than willing to help people through any questions they have, and honestly, MechEMat is not exactly difficult material, if someone is honestly having problems in that class, its not because of him, its probably because they arent putting forth much effort to learn the material. Its one of the core engineering classes, if you dont have a decent understand of it, you are going to have problems later on.
His test averages are low usually, but he curves them all to match, so its actually a good thing, because you can get really far ahead if you learn the material.
Also, always remember, MecMovies are your friend, regardless of the teacher you have.

1. I hate you. Micky mat was the bane of my existence for 1 semester, and i had a good teacher.

2. I'll bet you asked lots of questions.

Who did you have Mad Duck?

I have Dr. Raney and I really enjoy his class. Its not hard and he is a good teacher. Plus he uses old-man phrases which are really funny.

I have him now, and I'm not having trouble (w/o doing hw).



"huhp" stress, gets me every time

Carrol. He had an excellent patience, and usually explained things well on the first try.

For anyone else in Raney's class (had him last semester), stick it out. If you can study on your own, you should do fine. Read the book, take notes, do Mech Movies - try to get as much exposure as you can from as many different sources and figure out which one is the most useful for you. I know that's not revolutionary advice, but it really applies for Raney's class.

It also depends on how smart your peers are: the lower the average is, the more it helps you out. And his scaling for letter grades isn't based on standard deviation, so you don't have to worry about a large spread hurting your chances at an A - it's straight +/- the average nets you a B/C, +/- 5% A/D iirc. My test scores were 57/73/46 and I missed the one homework assignment he collected all semester (which got normalized to 10% of your total grade, giving me a big fat 0) and I don't even know what I got on the fourth test because I didn't know when the test was until I walked into class he realized it was on that day.

Overall, it's not bad, I ended up with a B, so if I can do it, surely everyone can.

I can't believe this thread is still active half a semester after I made it...