2.9
Quality4.2
Difficulty46%
Would Retake88
Reviews46%
Would Retake
88
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
18
4
23
3
12
2
16
1
19
What Students Say
“Your absolutely must go to class”
ME311 - 3.0 rating“Combative during office hours”
ME312 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
34%
Textbook Required
17%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.16 avg changeRatings by Course
311
5.0
(1)ENGR311331
5.0
(1)ME001
5.0
(1)ME311312332
5.0
(1)ENGR331
4.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
ENGR311331
5.0
ENGR331
4.5
ME311
4.4
ENGR311
4.2
ME312
4.1
Reviews (88)
super hard tests, but a good teacher
She is a hotty, but tests are hard compared to homework, likes things her way
She da bomb !!!! Took the class just to see her..
Friendly and opinionated. Her way is the right way but will help you see that it is. Tests are often concept driven with no calculations. Highly developed defensive attitude. Hot but skinny.
One of the best technical profs I've had. Extremely clear lecture and problem solving procedures. Provides a ton of additional resources for success and is very concerned with students learning. Over-zealous on testing, they can be very hard.
She's very well organized, and provides lots of examples, equation sheets, and study hours. Her tests and homework can be tough.
She is hot, but she gives too much homework. Other than that she is really cool and tries really hard to make class fun.
Stellar professor. If you have the chance to take Pence for thermodymaics, do it. The class is fairly difficult, but Pence is very clear on the material.
Best Prof I’ve ever had. Very helpful and concerned with students learning. She gives lots of homework and difficult tests but you really will know your stuff by the end of the class. Plus she is cool as hell and pretty hot.
No Comments
No Comments
I accidently gave her the finger one day in class and I think that scored me a 'C'. =( Good teacher... somewhat difficult tests, TA graded hard!
She used to be a good professor, but since they gave her tenure she has completely stopped trying and doesn't seem to care anymore. A huge disappointment. She has entirely lost the students' respect. No longer an asset to this university. Avoid her classes if possible.
One of the hardest teachers I've ever had. Nice lady, but her tests were difficult. I liked her, but I wish Becca taught it instead.
really hard class. her tesets really don't directly corespond to problems that were covered in class. stay off her bad side or she will eat you alive
Great teacher; very difficult though. She really makes you learn the material. Sometimes it can be hard to concentrate because she's so hot.
No Comments
Excellent teacher, highly reccomended. I will miss classes with Dr Pence. Be careful of her exams though, they tend to be very difficult. I just barely got out of her classes alive and I am an A/honor roll student.
Very hard class, but you learn alot. She really has a genuine interest in her student's learning
She cares more about her research than the students learning. OSU doesn't pay her enough to care about her students ability to grasp the concepts she rambles on about. She complains EVERY day about her long hours and her reports that are due and her life in general.
She doesn't care about most students. Only cares about her projects and research. She berated her students. Her time was too precious for students. If you believe she made a mistake grading your test and went to get points back she would reduce your grade if it was frivolous (regardless if it was during office hours).
she didnt have time for the class. constantly complaining about not having time for grading or office hours even though she has TWO teaching assistants. entire class butchered her on class evaluations and she retaliated by making the final IMPOSSIBLE. if she doesnt curve this class and i go from an A to a C i will be having words with the dept head
The class started out okay and then went downhill fast. In the last 2 weeks, she tried to cover way too much material in too short of time so her lectures became incoherent. Engineering professors are strict, but I'd rank her in the top 10th percentile. I'm guessing 1/3 to half didn't pass her class, and it's a pre-req. for alot of ME/NE classes
Hmmm...she wakes us up twice a week at the crack of dawn to sit for 2 hours in her dryyy class while she derives equations without explaining how or why we should use them. She does simple examples in class, makes the homework much harder, and makes the tests dam near impossible. THEN she rants and raves about how fair her test was. Hmmm....
Whatever you do don't ask about a grade. She has better things to do then teach. Failure to circle answers could result in a severe dock in points on an exam. Classroom was a hostile environment often due to student complaints with grading.
Deborah is a horrible professor. Every test was unclear, ambiguous, and very difficult. Her final was absolutely ridiculous. She does not curve, so you must get 70% for a C-. Daily HW was only worth 10% of the final grade. Worse, she has no interest in the students. Expect her OH/lecture to be curt, unfriendly and basically worthless.
Dr. Pence challenges her students. If you study hard and read the text, do the homework, and make sure you understand you will get a B. If your talented you will get an A. This is how it should be, many other teachers are just too easy. Thank you Dr. Pence for pushing us!
Kinda nuts. Become her friend and you'll hear some great stories. Don't tell her you think she graded your test wrong, she will take off more points in the end. She teaches pretty well, though, and seems to like doing it.
No Comments
She isn't as nice or outgoing to non-ME students or non-attractive male students. She talks about drinking during lecture; very unprofessional. Aside from that, the lecture material is very orgainzed; tests-everything you learn, all in one problem. She complains about how little time she has and does not care about students what so ever.
class is almost useless. hard material and you have to teach most of it to your self. tests are ridiculous, every little detail has to be accurate as far as even needing to make variables upper case as opposed to lower case. just ridiculous.
No Comments
Good at presenting material at beginning. Then you hit the tests where you will get all the concepts and even the right answer, but she will ding you for little mistakes which add up to lowering your grade drastically. Final is impossible, nobody knew what they were doing, and tests were overly wordy and she went out of her way to set traps.
Lecture was mostly useless derivations with occasional examples of basic problems. Class started out moderately difficult and progressed to insane. Apparently she lost it for the final, picking random seats for people to sit in and yelling at students.. She taught us to play the piano and then asked us to write a symphony for the final...
If you want a good grade, Study your buns off.
Does not care about her students success. If she cared, she would spend more time helping them and less time berating them. We pay thousands of dollars to learn and be taught not to be brushed off and abused.
Deborah Pence is unreasonable, terse, insular, pretentious, and cantankerous. These adjectives to describe her, because she would rather argue than reconcile and she would rather take offense that give the benefit of doubt. These characteristics are shown in her teaching, her persona, and in her byzantine exams.
Very hard teacher. Test are crazy, I mean much more difficult than the homework. Make sure you do the all of the homework twice before a midterm. Doing the homework is what's going to help you the most. She is kind of helpful in her office if it's not her time of the month. She can be sweet one moment and than bitter the next. Have fun!
I agree with the comment made on 11.4.09. It's one thing to challenge students, it's quite another to be witch with a b.
Assigned homework was simple to complete and did not come close to relating to her almost impossible tests. Wait till winter term to take ME 311 with a differnt professor
Deborah Pence is rude and abrasive. She loves to argue rather than listen. Honestly, I feel she has some self image and esteem issues. Unfortunately, she takes it out on her students. Ultimately, she's more concerned with hear image among her fellow professors than with the success of her students.
Rather than spend any large amount of time rating Pence, I can sum things up adequately by saying SHE SIMPLY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT HER STUDENTS NOR IS INTERESTED IN TEACHING THEM THE MATERIAL. She's an embarrassment to the Oregon public school system.
Dr. Pence is very UNHELPFUL and she often seems very uncomfortable teaching the subject matter; UPTIGHT.
She's difficult to work with.
Not very approachable and often seems more willing to stir trouble than to make amends. Moreover, her attitude and demeanor seem both fake and affected. If you can take the class from another professor (Dr. Nancy Squires is vastly superior) then you will have greater success with ME 311.
At first I thought this class will be horrible and considered dropping it. Even though her teaching depends on her mood, she pushes her students to learn the material. Do all the homework a few times before the exam and you will be fine. Yes the exams were challenging, but you are not in highschool or community college anymore; do work.
Difficult class. She always seemed hyped on coffee and would explain things too quickly and incoherently. Combative during office hours. For the group project our group went above and beyond, with the correct results, but got a low grade. She picks favorites. Definitely brought my GPA down. Take it with Dr. Squires or anyone else if possible.
I think Professor Pence is fantastic. She excellent at explaining new concepts, and she will be solving problems similar to the homework and exam questions on the black-board. Her exams are very straight forward, but she will have one midterm that will dissapoint every body, But overall, she is really fair. Her grading is the best I have ever seen
Professor Pence is probably the best teacher I have had in pro-school for Mechanical Engineering. She is fantastic at explaining how to solve thermodynamics problems. Her exams are not that bad at all, and her grading is great!
Dr. Pence is a decent person as a person, but as a professor she is awful. She is rather poor at lecturing and her grading is extremely inconsistent. Beware her projects. They are utterly asinine. The project had to be re-posted three times because she made requirements that were literally impossible. Avoid her if possible.
Good professor. The class is hard, exams are tough, and HW takes a while. However, Dr. Pence is good at what she does. If you have problems, GO TO OFFICE HOURS!!!! She is very helpful, despite how busy she is. Also, GO TO CLASS! Attendence isn't required and the text book is good, but lecrtures and HW are very close to exam material!
Dr. Pence is one of the few professors who gives a (cares) about the integrity OSU's ME program. As a result, she makes her classes challenging. She makes up her own problems so you can't just look the answers up. However, if you take good notes, the HW is pretty easy. I thought the exams were pretty reasonable.
Dr. Pence is one of the best professors in OSU's ME program. Show her you care and want to learn and she will treat you respectably. little patients for students looking for the easy way out. Very strong personality, so wear your big boy/girl pants when you decide to visit her during office hours, and bring well thought out questions. Don't whine.
Professor Pence creates all of her own homework and the tests reflect the homework which is something that I appreciate.
Dr. Pence enjoys teaching thermodynamics. She makes the class somewhat hard; you have to put a lot of time into studying/hw. This is one of the few classes at OSU that separates the mediocre students from the exceptional because it does not allow you to bs or cheat your way to a good grade.
It seems that Dr. Pence put students' interest at the bottom of her list. Yes, she was helpful in office hours if you went in with specific questions, but that was about it. She never posted solutions to her exams, (she said she would "if she had time") so it was very hard to learn from your mistakes.
Although she is not a nice person, if you make it a point to want to learn in the class, the things covered are pretty cool. I enjoyed her but I know I am the minority in that sense. If you can't deal with a selfish prof do not take her! If you're willing to put the time in to teach yourself a little, great prof!
One of my faves in ME thus far. She is nit-picky on details, but it's ENGR: details matter. If you want help in office hours, go in with specific questions (what you're having trouble with, what a couple possible ways to move forward are, etc) and be prepared for a fire-hose of an answer. Pay attn. to hints in lecture about what might be tested.
Intense class where you have to pay attention to what she says in class if you want to pass, but she is very sarcastic and loves picking on kids so its not too hard to stay awake.
Your absolutely must go to class. There was an exam question that asked to solve a problem using the "method discussed in class". She was not happy about having to teach two sections of ME311. She made this clear by writing exams that were easy to grade but awkward to take. Exams weren't too hard but the format took some getting used to.
Pence seems to not be well liked on this site, but I feel as though many people are confusing the fact that her subject areas are difficult with her being a tough teacher. She definitely has high expectations of students, but not to an unfair degree. Her lectures are among the best, and if you attend every class you will learn the material.
Do not take her if you have the option. She's very harsh in every aspect of the class and doesn't care. Her tests are the worst part, as she grades them,not the TAs,no clear grading rubric for them so she can take as many points for any error she sees fit. Dont bother asking questions in class,if in any way she can mock you, she will. Hard to get B
Pence is a wonderful teacher. She is difficult and her tests aren't easy but she is preparing you for the real world which not enough professors do. While her classes are difficult, she is extremely good at teaching and explaining things and if you go to office hours with questions she is really good at clearing things up.
311H was absolutely fantastic. Pence really cares about her students and takes time to get to know them. She'll have the class work out problems in groups on whiteboards, which is probably the single best thing, as it lets students get real time feedback. If you aren't in the HC but have the opportunity to take it from her, DO IT. She's great.
Hard to get a B or more
do not ask questions, if you want to feel respected (even when you are actually not getting any); try not get offended by her exam rules, she just assumes that everyone will do anything to cheat in her class; if you need to go to a funeral, you better show her the death certificate of your relative's, and the proof that you are in the same family.
This is the professor who makes you think about if tenureship is a good idea, it makes some people with personality issues "untouchable". Pence knows her stuff but is arrogant, condescending, always tries to create a dispute and likes to stir things up. Avoid working with her will help maintain your passion in the field and overall wellbeing.
1. She don't post note 2. You will get points off by having two seperate equation instead of one single equation for final answer. 2 she don't reply questions on email 3 Her assignment don't provide the hint for final answer 4 You are expecting to spend 10hr+ each week on her assignment 5 You never know what to square in the assignments. 6more....
Opinions on Dr. Pence are very mixed but everyone agrees on the fact that she's an incredible lecturer. She has been prone to grade harshly in the past, but it's really not difficult to get partial credit if you have any idea what's going on. Dr. Pence is very doting if you get to know her, so stay on her good side. ME 311 was one of my favorites.
Not impressed with her teaching. Lecture are hit and miss with an organized and methodical methods for solving problem. This leaves you some what confused when undertaking the homework. Her exam grading is harsh, to the point that my artistic representation was marked down because it was not "identically" the way she felt it should be. Dissapointed
The reviews on Dr. Pence are pretty mixed, but I really liked her a lot. ME311 is not a difficult course if you go to lecture, do the homework, and ask for help when you need it. The homework was graded brutally, but she curves the homework and the exams at the end of the term to make up for it. The exams arent hard if you understand the homework.
Before taking the class I was terrified. everyone told me that you have a high chance of failing this class if taken with pence. I never skipped a class, did my homework, and everything went just fine! Pence knows her stuff, and she wants each one of her students to FULLY understand the materials. Just put an HONEST effort and you'll be just fine.
She is a great lecturer. However, she has an extraordinarily difficult grading system. Midterms are 30% each and final is 25%. All of which are multiple choice with up to 20+ different answers for one question. She does at least give you credit for ones that are almost right. The homework is also insanely difficult compared to examples in class.
Tough grading and tests are worth a TON. Homework was not only difficult, but graded hard. She ended up curving the class a fair bit, so look forward to that. Stay caught up and make sure to attend office hours. She is intimidating but will help.
Dr. Pence is the single worst professor I have had the misfortune of taking a class from. She constantly tried to intimidate students, especially in exams. Homework was graded harshly with little feedback. The only redeeming quality is that she curves the class.
If you want to be successful in this class, showing up everyday is a must. All her homework questions and exam questions are unique, so doing the homework on your own before getting help is strongly suggested. Her exams are very challenging and are 80% of your grade, so make sure you understand the concepts and fundamentals very well.
There's no sugar coating it: Dr. Pence is a tough teacher, but you will learn a lot from her. If you don't do the homework and show up to every lecture, you very likely won't pass. You need to put in the work, but she is an amazing instructor that is always willing to provide students with extra help when they need it.
350 characters is nowhere near enough to describe this class. I spent more time on 311 than my other 3 classes combined. Prepare to be frustrated, uncomfortable, and at times, hopeless. Show up, pay attention, take GREAT notes, do as many practice problems as you can, and you should be fine. Be proud of yourself when you pass this class.
Dr. Pence is incredibly intelligent, she just sucks at sharing that intelligence. She is also incredibly impatient and abrasive. There were 228 students in the class and we all had a panic attack everyday. If you take a class with her, kiss your sanity goodbye. The only reason she gets is because this site won't let me give her zero.
Dr. Deb has a tough job to do, to teach thermodynamics. This subject is hard so her classes are not Disneyland. If you watch her lectures, and literally do every problem she gives you, you will do fine. But if you skip lectures, problems and the homework you won't get very far.
This is my least favorite class at OSU. There is no reason why thermodynamics should be mandatory for mechanical engineers when most jobs don't involve the subject. Dr. Pence's class is a desolate wasteland. My TA was great though.
I will never choose her class again
She might be the nicest professor you will ever have but she is still not worth learning under. Despite the hard material she did a poor job. There is little to no feedback from her to the students. You'll never know your grade or where you stand with the class. Which makes thermo a nightmare. I spent 60 hours a week on this class and still failed.
90% of the grade is based on 3 exams and she tries to trip you up in the exams. She's pretty rude to students who call in by Zoom and isn't caring. She specifically said in class she won't check chat or listen to people on Zoom and is taking away Zoom option next term for people who are sick or can't come to class for some reason. Don't take her
90% of your grade is based off 3 exams and the highest class average was a 63%. In her own words, "over the past 24 years, I have perfected the art of tricking students" - Deborah Pence. Her equation sheet is good but it can screw you over if you have to take another professor for 312 who doesn't let you use her equation sheet.
Her lectures were clear and easy to understand, but her style is not for everyone. There's a lot of examples done in class. The tests are so hard but she makes up for it by doing an extreme curve at the end of the term. If you go to class and do all the homework it will be hard to fail, she will work with you if you're worried about your grade.
I did well in this class by following the structure. This professor is an absolute pro. It is a hard class for sure, but if you want to pass and put in your work you will do so. The hate she gets is incredibly undeserved, this is easily one of the best professors I've ever had. Her lectures cover a massive amount of content but it's all helpful.
great professor, it's difficult content and she grades tough but if you pay attention and do the homework you will be more than prepared for exams.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
34%
Textbook Required
17%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.16 avg changeRatings by Course
311
5.0
(1)ENGR311331
5.0
(1)ME001
5.0
(1)ME311312332
5.0
(1)ENGR331
4.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
ENGR311331
5.0
ENGR331
4.5
ME311
4.4
ENGR311
4.2
ME312
4.1