Secret # 4 Rate My Professor can be a Powerful Tool

Rate My Professor is a website and an app where students rate their professors based on a variety of categories such as clarity, helpfulness, and easiness. In addition to those particular categories, you will also find the average grade that students have received and possibly what books have been used by that professor. Rate My Professor can be a powerful tool to have for any college student, but you must be aware of its horrible inaccuracies.The biggest flaw with Rate My Professor stems from its voluntary nature. Voluntary surveys are often inaccurate representations and cannot be generalized. The people who tend to speak out are either extremely pleased or very disgruntled; you almost never read about someones average experience. While the information provided only represents the extremes, it can still be useful, if you know what to look for and 
how to look for it. I've provided a list of a few simple steps that will help you navigate this website.

1. Completely disregard the statistics provided. These are largely opinionated.
2. Focus your attention on what the students actually wrote. This is where I find the most helpful information.
3. If you aren't sure what information is helpful, sort through each comment, and try to find the statements that appear to be facts. You will find things like, “doesn’t use a mic” or “very unorganized.” These are the things to look for.
4. Disregard anything that sounds like an opinion. 
5. Act accordingly, once you've found all the facts. It's not enough to have the information, you have to act on it! At this point you have two options: find a different professor or find a way to deal with their flaws. For example, If you read that the professor doesn’t use a mic, then you should definitely consider sitting up front. If you read that the test is exactly like the book, continue to study your notes (just in case), but be sure to pay extra attention to your text.

The more you use the site, the better you will become at sorting through the information. In no time, you will begin to notice patterns. For example, I often run across students that complain about a teacher in one sentence, and then mention the possible extra credit in the next. In this case, you can generally assume that the class isn't going to be all that hard. I have yet to come across a difficult class that offers extra credit. I'm sure it happens, but it's very unlikely. 

Rate My Professor is a site filled with opinions that often favor the extreme; however, if you follow these simple steps, you will be able to utilize the small pieces of truth that can be found in almost every comment.