Can't seem to get A in Bio

[elitehacker1337]

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So I've always been decent with chemistry but less so with physics. However, I feel that my worst subject is Bio.

Being a biology major, I was wondering how you guys seem to pull off As in your bio classes? I can get a B on exams but it's not enough and I don't know enough to pull an A. For chem/phys, I can do a bunch of problems but for Bio, I stare at text for hours and try to conceptualize.

I often can't recall exact details either if I don't memorize the darn thing. What would you guys recommend someone that is going into cell bio and physics II class in a week?

Thank You.

 

[wholeheartedly]

So I've always been decent with chemistry but less so with physics. However, I feel that my worst subject is Bio.

Being a biology major, I was wondering how you guys seem to pull off As in your bio classes? I can get a B on exams but it's not enough and I don't know enough to pull an A. For chem/phys, I can do a bunch of problems but for Bio, I stare at text for hours and try to conceptualize.

I often can't recall exact details either if I don't memorize the darn thing. What would you guys recommend someone that is going into cell bio and physics II class in a week?

Thank You.

This is one of those courses where you're going to really going to have to learn how you learn best. I was a pretty decent student, but when I went back to school, I actually went and talked to someone on campus about study tips and did some reading online about different strategies. It really helped me take things to a different level But when you're in the middle of a course you don't necessarily want to be trying a bunch of different things either.

So a few questions

What year are you in school?

What types of questions are you struggling with?

What are you currently doing to study?

Do you learn concepts best in lecture, or lab, or discussing things in small study groups, or reading, or drawing things out on a white board?

 

[elitehacker1337]

This is one of those courses where you're going to really going to have to learn how you learn best. I was a pretty decent student, but when I went back to school, I actually went and talked to someone on campus about study tips and did some reading online about different strategies. It really helped me take things to a different level But when you're in the middle of a course you don't necessarily want to be trying a bunch of different things either.

So a few questions

What year are you in school?

What types of questions are you struggling with?

What are you currently doing to study?

Do you learn concepts best in lecture, or lab, or discussing things in small study groups, or reading, or drawing things out on a white board?

I am entering Junior year.

I haven't taken Bio for about 1 year at this point but from what I recall, I struggled on the pathway of blood,

For chem and physics, I've been doing book problems and problems professor assigns and understanding them (mostly) and it's been serving me well.
What I am planning to do for Bio is pre read, read, and post read(review) for quizzes/exams.

I don't learn well in groups, I prefer to be alone when studying and learn better if I can figure it out. This applies to most recent science classes I've taken (organic chemistry) which I did well in.

Honestly, I study much harder(much more hours) and more actively than I did a year ago when I took my last bio class but I'm still not sure of it's enough improvement.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Ok, seems like you do better when you have a chance to apply things.

First thing, more studying/more work isn't always better.

A few things I've noticed with people reading texts (and in lecture too) is the try to get all the details down at once. I've seen people take lecture notes that are practically dictations of the lecture or when reading take hours to read something because they try to get all the details down and keep going back to reread the same paragraph only to find they haven't absorbed anything (i was very guilty of this, attention span of a gnat a lot of the time). You tend to miss both the details and the big picture trying to do it this way.

So what I did was either take the learning objectives from lecture and review them, or if no learning objectives used the key points at the beginning of the chapter and used those as my learning objectives and turned them into questions. I would then either review my notes and supplement with my textbook to actually write out the answers to those questions. If I read the text first, I would read quickly for a very basic understanding and not worry about the details, no note taking etc. on that run through.

Then, after going over stuff in lecture. I would get out my dry erase board (became a bit addicted to the thing) and try to explain each of my learning objectives without referring to my notes or anything if possible. If I got stuck, .i'd review that topic again, until I could do it. Then once I nailed the big picture I'd go into more detail. Sounds time consuming, but was actually more efficient. Any pathway would get drawn dozens of times until I had it memorized.

Another thing I found is that while I liked learning the material on my own, it helped me immensely to help a friend of mine who was struggling to understand the material. I apparently learn well by teaching. Our pre exam review sessions really helped me solidify things.

Don't know if any of that will be useful to you, but hopefully it gives you some jumping off points.

 

[elitehacker1337]

Ok, seems like you do better when you have a chance to apply things.

First thing, more studying/more work isn't always better.

A few things I've noticed with people reading texts (and in lecture too) is the try to get all the details down at once. I've seen people take lecture notes that are practically dictations of the lecture or when reading take hours to read something because they try to get all the details down and keep going back to reread the same paragraph only to find they haven't absorbed anything (i was very guilty of this, attention span of a gnat a lot of the time). You tend to miss both the details and the big picture trying to do it this way.

So what I did was either take the learning objectives from lecture and review them, or if no learning objectives used the key points at the beginning of the chapter and used those as my learning objectives and turned them into questions. I would then either review my notes and supplement with my textbook to actually write out the answers to those questions. If I read the text first, I would read quickly for a very basic understanding and not worry about the details, no note taking etc. on that run through.

Then, after going over stuff in lecture. I would get out my dry erase board (became a bit addicted to the thing) and try to explain each of my learning objectives without referring to my notes or anything if possible. If I got stuck, .i'd review that topic again, until I could do it. Then once I nailed the big picture I'd go into more detail. Sounds time consuming, but was actually more efficient. Any pathway would get drawn dozens of times until I had it memorized.

Another thing I found is that while I liked learning the material on my own, it helped me immensely to help a friend of mine who was struggling to understand the material. I apparently learn well by teaching. Our pre exam review sessions really helped me solidify things.

Don't know if any of that will be useful to you, but hopefully it gives you some jumping off points.

Thank you for the advice man!

I've been contemplating your method for the past few weeks now of how I'm going to tackle this class and I've all but decided that I will read the text lightly, attend lecture, and then identify high/low yield subjects and go over them again for retention.

I'm honestly kind of excited to see how I do in upper division Bio class since I loved studying organic chemistry and mechanical physics even though physics was harder for me.

 

[wholeheartedly]

learning gets a lot more enjoyable when you don't feel like you're getting nowhere and banging your head into a wall, lol

 

[jconnell82760]

Great advice so far on this thread. I'd just add that if you are still struggling to get the big picture of the difficult Bio topics, I'd suggest doing concept maps. These can make it easier to see where things are similar and different, how things are connected, and the overarching themes of a unit. It also lays a framework that you can work the smaller details into.

 

[Blanky]

I guess im not the only one who felt like memorizing pounds of useless facts about specific plant phylums and their reproductive cycles was like chewing on a brick for four months. 🙂

 

[elitehacker1337]

Great advice so far on this thread. I'd just add that if you are still struggling to get the big picture of the difficult Bio topics, I'd suggest doing concept maps. These can make it easier to see where things are similar and different, how things are connected, and the overarching themes of a unit. It also lays a framework that you can work the smaller details into.

The funny thing is that the exam that covered phylogeny was the only one I got higher than 90 on lol. Mollusca are like snails right? Arthropods are spiders, I think.

Still didn't change my grade in the end though and I still lose sleep over it...

 

[Saifa]

I TA molecular bio. I often challenge students to draw processes on their own without looking at pictures and only their notes. This puts the concept in some kind of abstract form they can understand and learn from. I generally get very positive feedback but then again the students that seek help typically do well enough already.

 

[Lost in Translation]

Don't worry, neither did I (B+ and B) and I'm still a med student. The problem with bio is that while it's still rote memorization, there's often fewer schematics you can make for it (as opposed to Orgo and gen chem) so you can't use pathways to guide you through.

Spoiler

I got a 4.0 in all my other science courses minus intro to psych though so that probably helped #notsohumblebrag

 

[DBC03]

One thing I learned from a few other people in class is that it helps if i take notes on the powerpoints (typing what the professor said), then review the notes later that day and then copy the powerpoints later that week. My method of studying changed with each professor (based on what was on the exams), but I found I'm much better with writing my notes multiple times than I am with things like flashcards. I usually write my notes, then create a concept map, the maybe rewrite what i'm forgetting. I'm much better at applying what i know then straight-up recall, so I had to work on that. I also got together with a group (that usually ended up being just one other person), and we had to pretty much say what was on each slide. We went back and forth. Normally I'm a loner, but that really seemed to help.

 

[pugsessed]

Invest in a dry erase board and markers! It's so much easier if you are drawing things and explaining them out loud to yourself (aka talk to yourself you may be like me and recall it better if you say it out loud multiple times). Plus you get written memory too! This helps a ton with pathways, but also when learning anatomy or microbiology where you can draw cells.

 

[AttemptingScholar]

I liked and really benefitted from making my own practice exams in the style of the test (multiple choice? essay?). It helps me see where I could be tricked. For example, I question I made was something like

Which of the following develop T-cells?
a. Hypothalamus
b. Thalamus
c. Thyroid
d. Thymus

The trick I was testing for here is remembering exactly what from a lot of similar sounding names. You also get help prioritizing the same way the teachers do--what seems like half the unit when reading and taking notes sometimes only turns into like three questions. For each unit I'd have a three page document of just questions like this I'd make as I went along. I would try to be as comprehensive as possible. The week before, I'd review/cram by doing them all again without looking at my answer key!

 

[fouracle]

Biology, beyond understanding concepts, is mostly memorization. If your class is more intensive like mine was, it will require application.

For memorization/recall, my technique was to go through text/slides (depending on which is covered in exams) multiple times until you know every single detail.

For application, practice. Problem banks, practice problems from the prof (most helpful if they're the one writing the exam), textbook problems, whatever. That's the only way to conquer these problems.

 

[Mad Jack]

I went to every lecture and took notes extensively in addition to actually doing all of the reading. Nothing but As. Literally nothing, I had no life, but it was worth it.

 

[Lannister]

I liked and really benefitted from making my own practice exams in the style of the test (multiple choice? essay?). It helps me see where I could be tricked. For example, I question I made was something like

Which of the following develop T-cells?
a. Hypothalamus
b. Thalamus
c. Thyroid
d. Thymus

The trick I was testing for here is remembering exactly what from a lot of similar sounding names. You also get help prioritizing the same way the teachers do--what seems like half the unit when reading and taking notes sometimes only turns into like three questions. For each unit I'd have a three page document of just questions like this I'd make as I went along. I would try to be as comprehensive as possible. The week before, I'd review/cram by doing them all again without looking at my answer key!

I second this method, I used to do this all the time in undergrad.