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Hi! First of all Breath. An 87 is fine and you can definitely recover from it. It is not even a bad grade.
-Secondly this is your first time in college so its completely normal to have to relearn how to study. I don't know what you did and what works best for you, but take advantage of your semester to learn what study methods work best for you in this new environment.
-Maybe you do better studying with a group and teaching it to others and then having someone teach it to you. Or going to office hours at a certain part of your studying process to ask and go over the information in depth is your thing. Maybe you over studied, didn't eat or sleep enough before the exam and missed simple things because you were exhausted.
-Going over in depth the exam to understand your mistakes is always a good first step, then making sure you know that material for the final or for the next exam if it builds. Also you can talk to your professor and ta's (if your class has them) in order to see their recommendations because they will probably be able to get a better range of what might be your weak spot.
-Every Premed out there has gotten a bad grade before, it happens, but you have not done bad. If you give up this early on in the process you won't ever learn what you are capable of. Additionally, there are a lot of things out there that are worst than a bad grade. Learning to deal with the stress of things not going the way you want them to, is not only part of becoming a doctor but is a part of life. It is these skills that are going to help you succeed down the road.
-On the other note, if your stress about this is really beyond what it normally is don't forget most schools have mental health centers for testing anxiety too. Its very normal to need help with this and is nothing to be ashamed of if you decide you need this help.
-Grades are only a part of being a premed, you need research, shadowing, volunteering (non-medical and medical), leadership, letters of rec, a good MCAT score, and passion. Yeah don't get straight B's but a B or two here and there is not going to prohibit you becoming a physician, and if you look at any medical school in the country the average GPA is indicative of that.
Hope this helps!
 
Relax. Learn from this experience. How did those 2 questions “trick you” and how can you avoid that again.

It’s not over....
 
Platinumabi said:
I’m a freshman at Oberlin college here in Ohio. I took my first psychology test... I got an 87... It’s just that I do not feel like I’m capable enough to handle exams. This was my first college exam ever and it just broke me into pieces.
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I hope you remember this thread when you're a senior and realize how embarrassing this was
 
Depending on the classes you take, you could probably make an 87 on every exam in college and get into a top tier med school.

Expecting 100s on exams is not realistic at a great college (like yours) and definitely not in med school. Time to adjust your expectations, and, like the poster above said, you will look back on this and laugh before long.
 
Use your first exam to change the way you study! Do that for all your classes.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Absolutely examine your study habits. Exams are learning experiences, so make sure you learn from this. Understand what you missed on the exam and why. Psych 101 is not a very challenging course , even at Oberlin. Way more challenging courses await ,organic ,p chem, physics, bio. No real harm in one test, just make sure you up your game. Best wishes and good luck
 
I am new to this website and all I see is extremely helpful people that are willing to spend their time on encouraging me. Thank you so much, people!
 
Platinumabi said:
I am new to this website and all I see is extremely helpful people that are willing to spend their time on encouraging me. Thank you so much, people!
Click to expand...

College course final grades and even individual exam grades at times are often "curved up" especially in the more challenging classes.

E.g. in my orgo course a grade that was +15 above the median was considered an A and the median was often in the 60s so ...

Are this class's grades curved? If so, what is an 87 after the curve is applied?
 
Test-taking skills need to be learned and subsequently refined over many many years.

Prior to high school, most of the questions you are asked on assessments require a rudimentary logic and are mostly just recall or procedural (basic math, what is a mitochondria, etc.)

In high school, things start to get a little bit more complicated now that your knowledge base has expanded to cover many fields to a modest degree. Questions begin to demand a bit more application of the material and a keen eye for what the instructor is "looking for" in an answer. It only gets more intense as the years go on.

There is even a whole "science" behind how to dissect questions and get into the mind of the test writers (you'll learn more about this if you ever study for a big standardized test like the MCAT).

These are all things to look into.

One final point is that there comes a time when simply studying more will not net you any greater return on your test scores. You need to find the method of working with the material that allows your brain to best integrate the information with your current knowledge base. Unfortunately, this can only really be done through trial and error and careful examination of your study habits.

If I could recommend one technique to ensure you are being honest about your time investment, it would be to get yourself a wristwatch with a stopwatch on it. Only let that stopwatch run WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING AT MATERIAL OR ACTIVELY WORKING. See how many hours of those you have planned are actually spent studying. If the planned time matches the actual time spent and your scores still aren't what you want, it is time to look deeper.

Side note: Don't get too caught up on percent scores. For what it is worth, my first medical school exam had a class average in the mid-low 80s. It's more about the context than the raw %. The one exception would be when it comes to making letter grades for GPA because going from a 4.0 to a 3.67 because you got a 92 (A-) instead of a 93 (A) is a real bummer.
 
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!

1) Go to Professor's office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: "I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?"

2) If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof's office hours. If they have any "help sessions" or "study sessions" or "recitations" or any thing extra, go to them.

3) Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

4) Don't do the minimum...for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

5) Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

6) If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

7) Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.

8) If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best ...you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.

9) For tests that you didn't do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study...there may be a study skill center at your college.

10) How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.

11) At first, don't spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)

12) If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes...e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)...you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.

13) At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.


14) Make sure you understand how to use your online class system...Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).

15) If you get an assignment...make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.

16) If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours...not the day before the assignment is due.


You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
 
bopper said:
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!

1) Go to Professor's office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: "I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?"

2) If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof's office hours. If they have any "help sessions" or "study sessions" or "recitations" or any thing extra, go to them.

3) Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

4) Don't do the minimum...for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

5) Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

6) If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

7) Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.

8) If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best ...you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.

9) For tests that you didn't do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study...there may be a study skill center at your college.

10) How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.

11) At first, don't spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)

12) If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes...e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)...you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.

13) At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.


14) Make sure you understand how to use your online class system...Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).

15) If you get an assignment...make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.

16) If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours...not the day before the assignment is due.


You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
Click to expand...

Very comprehensive and excellent advice.
 
bopper said:
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!

1) Go to Professor's office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: "I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?"

2) If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof's office hours. If they have any "help sessions" or "study sessions" or "recitations" or any thing extra, go to them.

3) Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

4) Don't do the minimum...for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

5) Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

6) If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

7) Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.

8) If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best ...you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.

9) For tests that you didn't do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study...there may be a study skill center at your college.

10) How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.

11) At first, don't spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)

12) If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes...e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)...you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.

13) At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.


14) Make sure you understand how to use your online class system...Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).

15) If you get an assignment...make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.

16) If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours...not the day before the assignment is due.


You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
Click to expand...

I would add also to read the assigned readings BEFORE the corresponding lecture. You’ll pick up on a lot more nuances and details in lecture.

Participate in class. Having to explain something helps you understand and remember. You should also do this in study groups. Try to explain/teach instead of simply listening.

Use old exams/problem sets from the class as extra practice.
 
Yeah man I know how you feel. I got an 87 on my first bio exam too. I got my stuff together and my final grade was a 97. Don't give up young blood 👍
 
I don't know if this may just be that my school is diff, but usually if you get an 87 on a bio exam, thats a 4.0. Most people get around 65 percent and rarely does anyone score above 95, and I have had a bio class where the prof. bragged how noone has ever gotten a 100 percent on a test in his class. Idk what an 87 would translate into gpa wise but I don't think it would be less than 3.7.
 
Nomemal said:
I don't know if this may just be that my school is diff, but usually if you get an 87 on a bio exam, thats a 4.0. Most people get around 65 percent and rarely does anyone score above 95, and I have had a bio class where the prof. bragged how noone has ever gotten a 100 percent on a test in his class. Idk what an 87 would translate into gpa wise but I don't think it would be less than 3.7.
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Would have been a 3.3 for me. 93%+ was an A.
 
piii said:
Just curious, how is a freshman who has taken one exam so "passionate" about medicine?
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You have not heard my whole story, and I’m not willing to explain that. I’m sorry.
 
MyOdyssey said:
College course final grades and even individual exam grades at times are often "curved up" especially in the more challenging classes.

E.g. in my orgo course a grade that was +15 above the median was considered an A and the median was often in the 60s so ...

Are this class's grades curved? If so, what is an 87 after the curve is applied?
Click to expand...
No, my class is not actually curved. That is the worst part.
 
asmallpremed said:
Yeah man I know how you feel. I got an 87 on my first bio exam too. I got my stuff together and my final grade was a 97. Don't give up young blood 👍
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<3 “young blood”

That’s what my deceased grandma used to call me.
 
Hi. I got a 67 on my first college exam.

Aim for an A. 100s are nice as well but don't beat yourself up about it if you don't get a 100. You will learn that in other science courses at your University the 100% is not the gold standard. Some classes at my University have As at 80% and others like psych courses have As at 93%. Check what percent of your grade is based off exams in the syllabus. You're more than likely in good standing to get an A if exams are only 60%.
 
Sunbodi said:
Hi. I got a 67 on my first college exam.
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+1

My first college exam was a 67 in Bio 101. I kicked my butt into gear, and ended up with an A- in the class. Take a deep breath, keep your head down, and keep working. Having confidence in your preparation is half the battle.

If I got a D on my first college exam and ended up in med school, then an 87 is not something to freak out about.
 
Now I know that I’m over exaggerating my problem after listening to you people. But I won’t deny that it’s not my best start.

Thanks much!
 
In my experience (and this may be a delusion on my part) it seems like some teachers, especially those in "easy" courses, like to shake up the class in the first exam. Sort of a "don't slip up just because this is an easy class" thing. But.. you should study as though they aren't, just in case.

Having said that, it may also be that: 1. Your professor writes tests poorly. 2. You're not studying correctly.

For #1, there's not much you can do other than try to (gently and tactfully) argue the point with them and see if they'll throw out the question(s). For #2, see all of the posts above.
 
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