Every destroy a class without understanding the material?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
V

vin5cent0

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2008
Messages
811
Reaction score
70
Members do not see this ad.
So I'm in physics I right now and I'm destroying it (yes, I'm going to consider ~97% destroying it 🙄)

We go over a few days of lecture notes to get the principles down, and then we have tons of online homework problems to do. I wind up never being able to do the problems and having to google the problems to figure out how to do them. I was really worried for the tests because of this, but so far I've gotten a low and mid A on the two tests we've had (class average wavering around failing on both of the tests). In fact, I've been one of ~10 people in our class (about 100 people in it) to get an A on both tests.

I'm just really torn right now on this. On one hand, I'm doing really well in the class and I'm happy about that. On the other hand, I feel like I don't know the material at all and the book just boggles my mind whenever I try and read it / understand it. Anyone else ever in this kinda situation?
 
Please change your title to "Ever destroy a class..."

My guess on why you are doing so stupendous despite your lack of understanding;

1) You don't go to a very selective university, and thus your peers study even less than you do, making your relative scores stellar

2) Your school offers several versions of intro physics and you are enrolled in the easier version

3) You really do understand the material but are posting this thread with the hope of getting a nice warm internet ego stroke. Good for you buddy.
 
I've had that happen before, but it was in an irrelevant class.

If you haven't taken the MCAT yet, that could come back and bite you in the ass.
 
JonBonesJones said:
Please change your title to "Ever destroy a class..."

My guess on why you are doing so stupendous despite your lack of understanding;

1) You don't go to a very selective university, and thus your peers study even less than you do, making your relative scores stellar

2) Your school offers several versions of intro physics and you are enrolled in the easier version

3) You really do understand the material but are posting this thread with the hope of getting a nice warm internet ego stroke. Good for you buddy.
Click to expand...

lol. i agree with all 3 statements...but with that said i have been in a similar situation. i hated orgo with a fiery passion and never studied/did problem sets until 2-3 days before the exams and then in those 2-3 days i'd bother my friends for help and ended up with a- and a for the class. lucky for me i didn't take the mcat so it really doesn't bother me that i didn't learn/retain anything from the class.

maybe some people are just good at taking tests/problem solving and it doesn't always require a deep understanding of material?
 
1/~250 with 99% in Physics I full of pre-meds, pre-vets, pre-pharm without studying.

Beat that.
 
I set the curve for Gen Chem 2.

And Vector Calculus.

Now I don't remember a damn thing.

Ah, college.
 
i want to take that physics class if its only plug n chug!

ok ok ppl, wanna cookie for all your fa-bo-lo-us work? 🙄
 
Oh bragging. Such a great pattern on SDN. First it's grades, then MCAT score, then getting into a "Top-Tier" med school. Why do I come here again?

Look OP...you're obviously doing well in the class and what you're doing is working. Do you think anyone here seriously cares about figuring out how you're so naturally gifted at test-taking and physics? 🙄

This is akin to those threads where people ask "is this school top-tier enough?" or "what are my chances? 39T 3.8 GPA" or "will one A- screw my GPA?"
 
vin5cent0 said:
I'm not bragging you *****, I clearly admitted I don't understand the material. It's not like getting an A in phys I is some amazing feat.
Click to expand...

you don't understand it but somehow you know to manipulate the correct math equations (which implies knowing at least how they work and the basic concepts behind them) and magically come up with the right answer. hey that reminds of me a fantastical thread...http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=178634. (maybe you're a wizard with with physics powers that until this point have yet to reveal themselves). just having some fun.

if you're not bragging, then give yourself some credit! physics ain't easy.
 
.
 
Last edited:
I have a 3.999 GPA and a 44S MCAT.
smiley_smug.gif
I am also destroying my Physics class.
smiley_smug.gif
But seriously, I still don't understand any of the material.
smiley_smug.gif
Ever destroy a class without understanding the material?
smiley_smug.gif
 
Haha before I opened the thread I was thinking "Physics".
 
I am so fat I cant see my toes.



*oops I was bragging... wasn't I!????
not seeing your toes is good right???
 
- I consider getting above 95% without curve in statistical thermodynamics without understanding material and not knowing how to do partial differential equations to be very impressive, maybe even the most impressive thing you could do in the sciences.

- If there was one class that truly demoralized me, statistical thermo was it.
 
Definitely BDAQ, but keep in mind:

Every university is different. At mine, bio 1 & 2 is a weed out, and chem is ez mode compared to bio. Physics is somewhere in between. It is pretty surprising that you don't understand the first month of Physics I... yet you're getting an A in the class.
 
JonBonesJones said:
1) You don't go to a very selective university, and thus your peers study even less than you do, making your relative scores stellar
Click to expand...

That's my favorite one, I bank on it to help me skate through every class i take😀.
 
Gigantron said:
I have a 3.999 GPA and a 44S MCAT.
smiley_smug.gif
I am also destroying my Physics class.
smiley_smug.gif
But seriously, I still don't understand any of the material.
smiley_smug.gif
Ever destroy a class without understanding the material?
smiley_smug.gif
Click to expand...

With such a low gpa (you must have gotten an A- in a 0.5 credit class) and a seriously unbalanced mcat, you might want to consider the Caribbean or at least an SMP :laugh:
 
vin5cent0 said:
I'm not bragging you *****, I clearly admitted I don't understand the material. It's not like getting an A in phys I is some amazing feat.
Click to expand...

you are clearly bragging. its pathetic. you want a pick me up? i'll give you a reject line to call and then they'll read you a poem to make you feel better about yourself.

as far as getting an A in physics, I or II, or any level, it depends on school. At my school, Bio is easy. Chem is decent. Organic is a littler harder than Chem, but Physics is definitely the hardest. getting an A at my state undergrad school is almost unheard of. all courses taught by the top aerospace physicists in the country (in case you didnt know, University of Arizona gets more money from NASA to fund these physicists than every other school that receives money from them, combined).

GROW UP. and move your EGO elsewhere.

i know many individuals who got As in Ochem, Vector, and uppper 30 MCATs who got low Bs in our Physics courses (calc AND non-calc based).
 
I don't think anyone who takes PChem understands it fully, just bits and pieces, and I got an A/A- in the two semesters of that, but I don't think I "destroyed" it. I destroyed Linear Algebra but that's because my teacher was really really easy.
 
Sometimes I wonder why I come here... everyone is either subtly bragging or a troll. It was a genuine question, leave it at that. Maybe I should just stick with the tried and true.... "Breakfast before class?" pointless threads.
 
vin5cent0 said:
Sometimes I wonder why I come here... everyone is either subtly bragging or a troll. It was a genuine question, leave it at that. Maybe I should just stick with the tried and true.... "Breakfast before class?" pointless threads.
Click to expand...

i think we could have had a decent discussion about the warrants of certain flavors of cereal, poptarts, etc.

but you're right, expounding on the level of your innate geniusness in physics A should have been a genuine conversation. dude, next time, just ask your friends or the members of your local mensa chapter. you set yourself up on here.
 
BigEast55 said:
I don't think anyone who takes PChem understands it fully, just bits and pieces, and I got an A/A- in the two semesters of that, but I don't think I "destroyed" it. I destroyed Linear Algebra but that's because my teacher was really really easy.
Click to expand...

I mirror this sentiment - I got an A last semester in P chem 1 lol i know nothing
 
zempa said:
I mirror this sentiment - I got an A last semester in P chem 1 lol i know nothing
Click to expand...

On a similar note, I remember breezing through an intro to chaos class I took in undergrad (easily the most mind bending and depressing experience of my life), without any idea of what I was actually supposed to be comprehending.

Afterward, I reasoned that flailing around illogically may have just been the point of "chaos".
 
BigEast55 said:
I don't think anyone who takes PChem understands it fully, just bits and pieces, and I got an A/A- in the two semesters of that, but I don't think I "destroyed" it. I destroyed Linear Algebra but that's because my teacher was really really easy.
Click to expand...

It's VERY VERY important to pre-screen psycho professors beforehand. I got a C in a molecular biology class and retook it to an A. Completely different materials, tests, and grading scale. (Hyperbole, but it was really different.)
 
Cmon, give the OP props for creative bragging.

Truly, and I never thought I would say this, this is the most pathetic post in SDN history,

Wait, let's start a thread!!!
 
.
 
Last edited:
metallica81788 said:
I've had that happen before, but it was in an irrelevant class.

If you haven't taken the MCAT yet, that could come back and bite you in the ass.
Click to expand...

yep. i have actually had the same experience. in Physics 1. i actually think it was the teacher, he was brand new, and from another country, and the way he formatted the tests was ridiculous. they were only like, two questions. overall i chalk up my success in that class to just-barely-enough studying, lucky guessing, and good karma. seriously. i got an A i did not deserve at all.

it really bit me in the ass. when i took physics 2, i failed the first test. i scrambled like crazy to catch up but was still only able to pull a C, and i didnt even care, i was just glad I didn't fail the class altogether. and of course physics was by far the most difficult part on the MCAT for me and basically the reason for my wildly unbalanced score.

moral of the story- make sure you learn your stuff well. don't let the ego stroke lull you into a false sense of security. the MCAT does not care what grade you got!
 
holy crap this totally happened to me in physics 2. I always looked up my answers in the textbook and how they solved the problem. Once I figured out the process of solving the problem, the physics was much more understandable. I'd never had been able to pass the class without the answer book telling me how to solve the problems. I got an A in the class. The average was like 60%. 80% was an A. The prof was kinda new. I never paid attention in class because she'd talk about random stuff like the history of physics or some crap like that.
P.S. this was at the University of Maryland and I was taking calc based physics.
 
you know you're meeting one of "those" pre-meds when all they talk about is themselves and will have finished telling you their life accomplishments in the first 10 minutes.
 
- Chemistry of the environment
- 1st year running this course
- all tests we got a cheat sheet
- I fit all the chapters on it
- ended up with a 92
- learnt absolutely nothing
- best class ever
 
MB333999 said:
- Chemistry of the environment
- 1st year running this course
- all tests we got a cheat sheet
- I fit all the chapters on it
- ended up with a 92
- learnt absolutely nothing
- best class ever
Click to expand...

That too, I LOVE that. You can escape a course with an awesome grade,very little work put-in, and no knowledge acquired. I wish every course let you use a cheat sheet, it's so stress free.
 
AHAHAHAHAHAHHAA

I FORGOT ABOUT THE CHEMISTRY CHEAT SHEETS

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Now I remember why I set the curve for gen chem ;p

Best cheat-sheet skillz evar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

AnatomyAndAnonymity
What books should every pre-med read?
Replies
23
Views
1K
nobadwaves
N
Anthodite
Is auditing a class a red flag?
Replies
7
Views
674
LunaOri
LunaOri
C
Marked complete without all required LORs
Replies
1
Views
365
PickaGodnPray
PickaGodnPray
A
Marking an audited class as a repeat?
Replies
1
Views
426
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
N
How many A's does a school need to give to fill their class?
Replies
3
Views
1K
Goro
Goro
Top