Advice for intro biology lab?

[Fighter127]

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Hey everyone so I'm currently taking the intro biology series which includes the biology lecture and lab class, and lab has been pretty terrible for me. I like lecture a lot and enjoy it, but when it comes to the lab I feel like I'm always behind in the experiments and have no idea what's going on procedure wise. I read the manual and experiment before class too!
For example today I walked into lab, our TA talked for about 5 minutes regarding the procedure and sent us to work. To me her explanation didn't make much sense but everyone else seemed to understand everything. For the rest of the lab my partner and I were playing catch up trying to figure out what to do next, and ended up not finishing parts of the experiment. I just don't get how everyone else understands and does everything perfectly. Half the tools and procedures I've never used or done in my life and the TA just expects us to know how to use and carry out the experiment efficiently from a speedy 5 minute walk through. Anyways I just need some advice from anyone who's been through it so I can stop feeling lost all the time in lab. Thanks!

 

[MattF]

I took Principles of Biology I and II with the labs for each one. It varies from school to school but it was somewhat difficult at my school. Not the labs themselves necessarily, they were pretty easy if you read the manual, though the TA's instructions were quite vague. The class was graded pretty unfairly, first off both of our labs had two lab practicals each, with average grades ranging from D's to F's. These practicals accounted for a decent portion of our grade, additionally all the assignments were graded harshly with many places to lose points. On top of all of this there was absolutely no curve in the class and no way to make up any missed labs. I would hope that most universities don't make their labs this difficult.

What you should take away from all this is read the lab manual beforehand to get a good idea of what you'll be doing in lab, ask your lab instructor to explain something more in-depth if you have questions. And finally, be sure you know everywhere where you could possibly lose points and do your best to not do so. Wouldn't hurt to continuously review past lab concepts incase you also have lab practicals.

Good luck!

 

[RTC19]

I'm in the exact same boat, OP.

I assume they give you a copy of the lab procedure prior to the start of the lab. If this is the case, what I do is to dissect the procedure step by step, drawing simple pictures of the steps as you go.Another option, to do instead of or in addition, is to do a Youtube search for the lab procedure, and watch on there until it makes sense.

Good luck!



Edited for typo

 

[NothingWasTheSame]

I def understand. I always got better grades in the biology lecture than the lab. Try to go to the TA office hours before actual lab to get clarification on the procedure. Usually no one goes to the lab TAs office hours (until the end of the semester), so they are usually very happy to help those that do.

 

[Gurby]

Same boat here. My test and lab report grades are near top of the class, but when actually doing the labs I'm always one of the slowest. Sometimes I think I'm being too careful and everyone else is just running through it, but when I try to also run through quickly I end up making mistakes. It makes labs a miserable experience and I feel like I rarely learn anything because I'm always rushing to just get through it.

The only advice I can give is to find a really good/fast lab partner...

 

[Omppu27]

Just show up.