Preparing for a hefty semester

[intangible]

How do you all prepare for a hefty semester? I'm trying to remediate my first undergrad year (I had medical concerns that made me do poorly in my classes) so now I'm doing my best to undo that damage.

I'm taking:
- Gen Biology II
- Inorganic Chem I
- Statistics II
- Neuropsychology
- Gen Parasitology
- Gen Parasitology Lab

In total, it's about 16 credits. No fluff courses, and I work 20 hours/week. I'm motivated and determined to do well, but I'm still fairly new when it comes to actually being a student. I was definitely an overachiever this semester and worked really hard to bring my GPA up (and succeeded), but I spent an unnecessary amount of time trying to figure out the best way to prepare.

So why not ask the experts? What are your suggestions?

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[AlteredScale]

1) Let your friends/family/significant other know that this will be a hard semester. It primes them into being more understanding during times that you don't respond right away or cancel on them. Additionally, it adds a level of support when you need it because they know your situation.
2) Leave room for non-studying. You know that feeling when there aren't enough hours in a day? You're going to feel that. But you cannot let it overwhelm you.
Make sure you save time for yourself. Whether that is an hour at the gym or an hour reading a good book or an hour watching TV. Let your mind rest up.
3) Prioritize your studying. After the first few weeks you'll come to realize that some classes will take more time than others. I suggest always hitting the time-crunchers first and work your way out towards courses that you feel confident in. Make adjustments according to the results you get from your tests.
4) Organize your work. This is paramount in reducing stress in having to find class-specific notes.
5) Get your prelabs out of the way. Write them up a few days before if you can than spend a few hours before lab rereading your lab manual to prepare.
6) *most important* Be willing to accept your limits. Something may happen: family issues, health issues.
You need to acknowledge the fact that you may need to drop classes. And that's OK. Better to do well in your courses than take too many and bring your GPA down.

Hopefully that helps out a bit!

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

I would never consider taking more than 3 STEM courses per semester, but a hefty semester for me would be taking 12-15 credits while working 40-50 hours. When that's the case, I make sure that past a certain point, I put all my work aside even if I'm not done and do nothing. I make time for myself everyday to just do nothing for a little while so I don't burn out. Not being able to do that is what really breaks me down.

 

[intangible]

I would never consider taking more than 3 STEM courses per semester, but a hefty semester for me would be taking 12-15 credits while working 40-50 hours. When that's the case, I make sure that past a certain point, I put all my work aside even if I'm not done and do nothing. I make time for myself everyday to just do nothing for a little while so I don't burn out. Not being able to do that is what really breaks me down.

I wish that were the case—but if I want to take the MCAT by junior year (at the very least), I would need to get my pre-reqs out of the way, and I'm already immensely behind as a second year not having taken organic chem or physics at all—never mind having any upper division biology classes (immuno, neuro, histo, embryo, endocrino, etc.)

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

I wish that were the case—but if I want to take the MCAT by junior year (at the very least), I would need to get my pre-reqs out of the way, and I'm already immensely behind as a second year not having taken organic chem or physics at all—never mind having any upper division biology classes (immuno, neuro, histo, embryo, endocrino, etc.)

Remember this is a marathon. Having a gap year isn't the worst thing in the world. Taking on 5 STEM classes at once while working is something that even naturally super smart and motivated people would struggle with. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it may be a risk to your grades that cannot be undone, whereas 1 year of your life is very small in comparison. Being you mentioned you already messed up a bit with your grades, this could be detrimental to the point of exclusion if it doesn't go as expected.

If anything, calm down a little. I'm in my third year doing orgo and physics now. Plenty of people do that. Plenty of people even take those classes years after they graduate. Unless your major requires it, you don't need to shove a bunch of upper divisionals into your schedule if it's going to make you even more nervous.

 

[mattheworosa]

Rule of thumb for me is to take 2 difficult classes a semester. 1 medium. 1 easy. Usually get 14-15 hours a sem.

It is definitely possible to ace all of those classes as long as you manage your time efficiently, but it will take a lot of work. Good luck!

 

[Fedekz]

Care to trade me ... Please?

Physical chemistry - 4 credits
Biochemistry - 4 credits
Organic chem II - 4 credits
Chem quantitative analysis - 4 credits
Physics 2 - 4 credits

At my school o chem 2 is not a pre req for biochem, and physics 2 isn't a pre req for p chem

Oh, and work full time as a police officer and part time as a paramedic

 

[butternutsquash]

Care to trade me ... Please?

Physical chemistry - 4 credits
Biochemistry - 4 credits
Organic chem II - 4 credits
Chem quantitative analysis - 4 credits
Physics 2 - 4 credits

At my school o chem 2 is not a pre req for biochem, and physics 2 isn't a pre req for p chem

Oh, and work full time as a police officer and part time as a paramedic

You're not human!

 

[Rhino1000]

Care to trade me ... Please?

Physical chemistry - 4 credits
Biochemistry - 4 credits
Organic chem II - 4 credits
Chem quantitative analysis - 4 credits
Physics 2 - 4 credits

At my school o chem 2 is not a pre req for biochem, and physics 2 isn't a pre req for p chem

Oh, and work full time as a police officer and part time as a paramedic

I see less than a 3.7 semester GPA in your near future. If not, good job. If so, but still greater than a 3.5, good job. Mostly, I think this sounds like a bad idea.

 

[intangible]

Care to trade me ... Please?

Physical chemistry - 4 credits
Biochemistry - 4 credits
Organic chem II - 4 credits
Chem quantitative analysis - 4 credits
Physics 2 - 4 credits

At my school o chem 2 is not a pre req for biochem, and physics 2 isn't a pre req for p chem

Oh, and work full time as a police officer and part time as a paramedic

There just aren't enough hours in a day for that—unless you happen to be taking all these for the second time. Go fish.

 

[Fedekz]

There just aren't enough hours in a day for that—unless you happen to be taking all these for the second time. Go fish.

There certainly is, do all of them have labs? No, O chem II and biochem don't have a lab. Only physics, P chem and chem analysis. 3 labs isn't that bad, normal for science majors.

Then work 4 10's at the sheriff's office, and 24s as a paramedic occasionally.

 

[gubmentbenefits]

Wake up at 5am. Also get some rittlin..it really helps

 

[intangible]

There certainly is, do all of them have labs? No, O chem II and biochem don't have a lab. Only physics, P chem and chem analysis. 3 labs isn't that bad, normal for science majors.

Then work 4 10's at the sheriff's office, and 24s as a paramedic occasionally.

Sorry, just doesn't seem believable to be taking 20 credits and working 40 hours a week; casually taking an additional 24 hour shift on occasion. Even someone intellectually inclined to excel could not effectively handle that course load. Something's got to give. Either you: (a) are lying through your teeth; (b) have terrible risk/benefit analysis skills; or (c) aren't telling us something. Regardless, you'll probably fail out or drop a few of these by the end of the semester.

I am also curious as to how you came up with those credit hours? Biochemistry is almost always offered as a 3 credit course, and so is Quantitative Chem. As far as I know, Organic Chemistry with labs through the series are required for admission to a medical school, and oftentimes, those two are co-requisites within the university—so I find it curious that you aren't taking them.

3 labs, normal? When those labs are for physical chemistry, physics and quantitative chem, it isn't normal. At all.

 

[Fedekz]

Sorry, just doesn't seem believable to be taking 20 credits and working 40 hours a week; casually taking an additional 24 hour shift on occasion. Even someone intellectually inclined to excel could not effectively handle that course load. Something's got to give. Either you: (a) are lying through your teeth; (b) have terrible risk/benefit analysis skills; or (c) aren't telling us something. Regardless, you'll probably fail out or drop a few of these by the end of the semester.

I am also curious as to how you came up with those credit hours? Biochemistry is almost always offered as a 3 credit course, and so is Quantitative Chem. As far as I know, Organic Chemistry with labs through the series are required for admission to a medical school, and oftentimes, those two are co-requisites within the university—so I find it curious that you aren't taking them.

3 labs, normal? When those labs are for physical chemistry, physics and quantitative chem, it isn't normal. At all.

220 Quantitative Analysis 2-credit Course Prerequisite: CHEM 106 or 116. Theories of quantitative chemical analysis; statistical evaluation of data; chemical equilibrium; volumetric and gravimetric methods of analysis; introduction to electrochemistry.
222 Quantitative Analysis Laboratory 2-credit (0-6) Course Prerequisite: CHEM 220 or concurrent enrollment. Application of classical methods in volumetric and gravimetric analysis; acid-base, redox and EDTA titrations; ion-exchange chromatography; introduction to spectrophotometry.

So that is 4 credits there for quantitative chem...

303 Introductory Biochemistry 4-credit Course Prerequisite: CHEM 102 or 345. Modern biochemistry for undergraduates in the biological sciences.

4 credits there for biochem...

348 Organic Chemistry II and Problem Solving 4-credit (3-2) Course Prerequisite: CHEM 345 with a C or better. Advanced concepts in organic chemistry including mechanisms and multistep-synthesis; problem analysis and critical thinking development in organic chemistry. Credit not granted for both CHEM 346 and 348.

4 credits there for the lecture, and here is the lab I am NOT taking

347 Organic Qualitative Analysis Laboratory 3-credit (1-6) Course Prerequisite: CHEM 345 with a C or better. Isolation, purification and identification of unknown compounds; for chemistry and biochemistry majors.

O chem 2 + lab is 7 credits at my university. Biochem is 4 credits without a lab, and quantitative analysis is 4 credits with lab and lecture.

If you're not a paramedic or EMT, then you probably wouldn't know what 24 hour shifts are like. You're not awake for the entire 24 hours. I run maybe 6 or 7 calls per shift on average, so that leaves a considerable amount of downtime to study or sleep.

My cumulative GPA is 3.9, and sGPA is 4.0 and this is the last semester of my senior year. Will take ochem 2 lab in the summer. Sure, this is the hardest course load I've had, but it's not like I haven't taken several science classes in one semester before.

 

[kraskadva]

Sorry, just doesn't seem believable to be taking 20 credits and working 40 hours a week; casually taking an additional 24 hour shift on occasion. Even someone intellectually inclined to excel could not effectively handle that course load. Something's got to give. Either you: (a) are lying through your teeth; (b) have terrible risk/benefit analysis skills; or (c) aren't telling us something. Regardless, you'll probably fail out or drop a few of these by the end of the semester.

I am also curious as to how you came up with those credit hours? Biochemistry is almost always offered as a 3 credit course, and so is Quantitative Chem. As far as I know, Organic Chemistry with labs through the series are required for admission to a medical school, and oftentimes, those two are co-requisites within the university—so I find it curious that you aren't taking them.

3 labs, normal? When those labs are for physical chemistry, physics and quantitative chem, it isn't normal. At all.

I agree that it sounded a bit fishy, but /shrug/ some schools are weird, idk.

Back to your original question though...
I've taken 14-16 STEM credits per semester for the last 5 semesters and it ain't easy. This semester I've been riding the edge of burnout and been forced to let some things slide a bit to keep that from happening (totally fine with the B/B- I'll be getting in PChem for instance, even though it's breaking my lovely streak of As). So, couple of suggestions for you:
-Earmark one course right now that you will be willing to drop if things get uber stressful right off the bat. The first 6 weeks or so of the semester are the easy ones. If you feel like you're balls to the wall before you even hit midterms, then drop that course.
-Schedule everything. Dinner, sleep, time off, homework, everything. Google calendar has been really helpful personally.
-Don't procrastinate with homework or assignments. Have them done several days before if possible. Also don't procrastinate on getting help if something is confusing. Office hours or your school's tutoring center FTW.
-Make sure you have time off. At least 30 minutes of personal time every day and 1 full evening every week at a bare minimum. And with this load it won't be much more than that.
Good luck.