No matter how long your studies are, there will come a time when you end up in a class with a bad instructor. An uninspiring instructor is one thing, but some are so unhelpful they make you realize the real lesson is how strong you can be on your own. Sometimes, you don’t get much more than Brightspace deadlines, a textbook and a prayer. You study by yourself, trip and fall then figure it out anyway. Weirdly enough, I think that experience makes you tougher.

I once had a course where the PowerPoint slides looked like they were last updated when BlackBerry phones were still trending. In the first week, I asked why some slides didn’t even have headings and clearly skipped important content. The instructor proudly said, “You’re the first student in 14 years to ever question these slides and coursework I designed.”

My face in that moment? Pure exploding-head emoji shocked, frozen and wondering if he was actually serious. He was.

So, what do you do when you’re stuck in a class with an instructor who just doesn’t care? Besides scouring Brightspace for scraps of information before resorting to a quick prayer, there are a few ways to survive without dropping the class. But you’ll need to take initiative.

First, remember that your classmates can be your ultimate teachers. Start a group chat, compare notes, share resources and piece the course together as a team. One person might catch a detail you missed, another might explain it better and someone else will find a YouTube video that makes everything click. In my experience, the student community sometimes teaches you more than the person at the front of the room. Besides, NAIT’s “hands-on” approach means you’ll likely be doing a group project anyway.

Second, make the internet your backup instructor. From Khan Academy to Coursera to TikTok explainers, the world is full of free resources that can untangle even the most confusing course material. NAIT’s Learning Services also offers free learning modules for subjects like writing and trades math. Are you an apprenticing electrician struggling with circuit calculations? There’s a module and practice test for that. Don’t feel guilty about using these resources, you are just doing what you need to survive.

And when you can, brave those awkward office hours. If sloppy PowerPoints are any indication, you’re probably better off asking questions in-person rather than over email. Even if lectures are useless, one-on-one conversations can sometimes squeeze out a clearer explanation. It might not fix everything, but it can at least help you survive the next exam.

Finally, keep a sense of humour. Laugh at the vague assignment instructions, the recycled slides or the infamous “that is beyond the scope of this course” responses. Sometimes the only way through is to treat it like a bad Netflix series; you cannot believe what you are watching, but you keep going anyway. For particularly bad episodes, maybe you even grab your classmates for drinks and discussion at the Nest.