advice on doing well

[pittpanther24]

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Hi, I'm going to be a freshmen next year at the University of Pittsburgh. I'm planning on majoring in biology and attending med school after i get my bachelors in bio. I'm really nervous for college and doing well. Can anyone provide me with studying tips on how to succeed in college science classes? I'm nervous I won't maintain a good college gpa of >3.6. My high school gpa was 3.4 unweighted and I worked my bottom off to do well. I could have done better but taking 6 major classes instead of the typical 5 crammed my schedule. I have ap history credit and AP science credit but I'm not going to be using it. Does AP Bio and chem help out or is it easy and useless compared to college bio and college chem?

Thanks,

 

[xroc]

High School to college can be a rough transition. You really need to be able to use your time efficiently. If you think you worked your butt off in high school, you will be in for a rude awakening once you reach college (if you want to do well), and probably go into shock once you see the workload of med students.

Having said that, you will eventually become adjusted to just "going to the lib to study every day" instead of going out/hanging with friends. Personally, finding a close group of friends in each class helps a lot, as I usually "hang out with friends" while studying.

Some key tips that I feel definitely helped me:
1) podcast/listen to recording of lectures
2) take your own notes (whether it be from recordings, or powerpoint slides - you remember more material this way)
3) try to formulate your own questions from the material; this will help you interpret the material better and after a while you will be able to "read" your teacher and what type of questions he/she likes to ask
4) after a thorough review of your notes, quiz your friends and have them quiz you on the material


for example, for a bio test, I might have to go over about 300-400 slides. If they are self-explanatory, I usually condense these slides into 30-40 pages of notes (takes about 1-2 days). I then review my notes for a day or so, then quiz my friends. By this point I'm usually very prepared. Keep in mind, that if you want to do well, you can not procrastinate (I start studying for an exam about a week before).

Rule of thumb is that in undergrad, you will work as hard in one semester as you probably have in 2-3 years of high school, and in med school, you will work as hard in one semester as you have in 2-3 years of undergrad. Like I said, this might be somewhat of a shock to most people, but just get your bigboy pants on and you'll be fine/adjust.

 

[Seahawk]

Understanding the grading system may help. I never really understood what people meant by STUDY until college. In high school tests are normally not hyper important to do good on...I remember making 70's 80's on tests and getting A's in the class due to pad grades.

College classes are normally, I'm going to say 85-100% test grades.

You will have TONS of free time because there is not too much busy work like there was in high school. The trade off it you can't just joke through the tests and get a good grade.

So basically don't joke around, I would say no life it, know everything you possibly could for your first round of tests, will let you know what to expect and you won't get any unpleasant surprises.



I also think GPA freshman year is important. Your GPA is delicate freshman year...You get a B in a class is going to FLY down. Once you get a bunch of good grades your GPA is more like a rock. Example: It now takes a C in a class to do what an A- would have done to my GPA freshman year. I know it all evens out if you pick up the slack, but I think it can be a morale issue.


Hit the ground running.

 

[I'm No Superman]

Hit the ground running.

this. No more second chances, a lot of your science class grades will consist of only exams, which doesn't leave a lot of room for carelessness.