Difficulty of Upper Level Bios vs. Pre-Reqs

[sacapuntas]

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I am curious of the amount of work it takes to get an A in upper level bios vs the pre-reqs. I know this will vary school to school and teacher to teacher but just looking for your experience.

I haven't had any trouble with any pre-reqs (all As in bio, g. chem and o. chem and 1 level of physics) but will be taking my first upper levels this spring.

I will be taking Anatomy, microbio, physics 2 and labs for each. What should I expect?

 

[HAWKDDS2014]

From my experience they have not been too bad; in fact if anything they have been easier since the material is much more concentrated. My lower division bio and chem courses also had a lot of papers and assignments while my upper divisions have been pretty much quizzes and tests. Upper division bio courses do require you to read A LOT of primary literature on different topics though so get ready !

 

[KillaGorilla]

I second that upper levels are easier.

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

lulz

Cell Bio at my school came from the deepest part of hell...

Cell signaling, an upper level bio course... was covered completely in the span of 2 weeks WITHIN my cell bio class.


Then again, there were some easy upper level Bio courses and then there are harder ones. The pre-req BIO classes were all rote memorization. Some upper levels are rote memorization while others require conceptual understanding such as animal development, where each lecture built upon the previous lecture.

Just ask around your school to see which are the easy ones.

 

[KillaGorilla]

lulz

Cell Bio at my school came from the deepest part of hell...

Cell signaling, an upper level bio course... was covered completely in the span of 2 weeks WITHIN my cell bio class.


Then again, there were some easy upper level Bio courses and then there are harder ones. The pre-req BIO classes were all rote memorization. Some upper levels are rote memorization while others require conceptual understanding such as animal development, where each lecture built upon the previous lecture.

Just ask around your school to see which are the easy ones.

Lol cell bio did suck . Come to think of it so did histology. I take back what I said on my first post. 😱

 

[MrAvicii]

I am curious of the amount of work it takes to get an A in upper level bios vs the pre-reqs. I know this will vary school to school and teacher to teacher but just looking for your experience.

I haven't had any trouble with any pre-reqs (all As in bio, g. chem and o. chem and 1 level of physics) but will be taking my first upper levels this spring.

I will be taking Anatomy, microbio, physics 2 and labs for each. What should I expect?

i dont have any high expectations for you

 

[sacapuntas]

i dont have any high expectations for you

 

[dantemac]

I thought since they were more interesting and more relevant it made them easier.

 

[deleted341012]

I was just about to ask the same question!
All my pre-requisite (bio, g.chem, o.chem) I got all A's and B+s (I should've and easily could've gotten all As but I don't think my senioritis from HS has left me yet).
Starting next semester I want to raise my GPA but starting now it's going to be all upper-level classes. Should I be worried? Do I have to spend everyday at the library? Because I need some social life haha.

 

[Bereno]

i dont have any high expectations for you

Come on, play nice.

OP: Like you said, it depends on the class. Some can be pretty good, while others can be near impossible. I'm taking anatomy with biochemistry and an evolution class next quarter. I hope its not too bad haha

 

[sacapuntas]

Thanks for the help everyone. I am trying to decide how much time to commit to work next semester, as I need to square this away before the end of the year for my boss. On one hand I am doing upper level bios instead of pre-reqs so I was thinking they may take more time but on the other hand I am not studying for the DAT anymore (assuming it goes well in January). To me it sounds like I may have more free time in the spring for work🙂.

 

[SEAirLand]

I just finished the hardest upper level course I have taken yet. All the pre-req's were a joke in comparison!

Most upper level (3-4K) courses are harder, if not way harder, than lower level (1-2K).

I pride myself in having never gotten anything lower than an A in my bio classes. This past semester, granted, coupled with interviews, thesis, etc... I got a B. But it was vertebrate histology and the teacher taught it as if we were in med school. So it was intense.

For example, every week, about weds (usually Thursday AM) we would receive a 30 page lab packet. That next day, friday at 9am, we would have a 10 question quiz on the material. It was not the "what system are you looking at today" type questions. It was "what is the most predominant cell type in the human kidney". Or, "what type of epithelium is on your lingual lip area?"

It wasn't fun, but really glad that I took the class because I know I will see it again in d-school!

 

[JdogDMD]

I wouldn't worry too much about the upper levels. If you've done well in the lower levels you'll be fine. The classes build on each other in my opinion. I worked 40 hours a week taking at least 16 credits of upper division so you can do it. At one point I took 21 credits. You just have to want it bad enough to make it happen. Good luck!

 

[Demps]

Were upper classes challenging?

Definitely.

But I thought they were more interesting and easier to approach as far as studying and getting a good grade. At least, I thought it made more sense than general bio I and II.

You do not need to live in the library studying 24/7. They are definitely doable. Don't worry too much!

 

[SEAirLand]

were upper classes challenging?

Definitely.

But i thought they were more interesting and easier to approach as far as studying and getting a good grade. At least, i thought it made more sense than general bio i and ii.

You do not need to live in the library studying 24/7. They are definitely doable. Don't worry too much!

+1

 

[dentalWorks]

I am curious of the amount of work it takes to get an A in upper level bios vs the pre-reqs. I know this will vary school to school and teacher to teacher but just looking for your experience.

I haven't had any trouble with any pre-reqs (all As in bio, g. chem and o. chem and 1 level of physics) but will be taking my first upper levels this spring.

I will be taking Anatomy, microbio, physics 2 and labs for each. What should I expect?

my experience has shown me that upper levels are difficult (by a big margin)

For example, in general chemistry 101, we had about 1000 students, and exam averages were 50s. Majority of those 1000 dropped out of the "pre-med" mentality and went on to studying History of Modern Art. Of the ones whom stay'd are pre-meds, these guys were the ones scoring B's and higher in general chem made it to upper levels (like biochem) where exam averages were (again) 50s!!!!!!

The class "scholars" from general chem are now averaging 50s in biochem

But as others have suggested, it HIGHLY depends on the instructors. For example, MSU (where I did most of my post-bacc work), has 2 medical schools. They stress the biology department pretty heavy, and they make sure that if a student earned an A or a B+ in an upper bio, that means the student ACTUALLY learned something.

 

[433439]

my experience has shown me that upper levels are difficult (by a big margin)

For example, in general chemistry 101, we had about 1000 students, and exam averages were 50s. Majority of those 1000 dropped out of the "pre-med" mentality and went on to studying History of Modern Art. Of the ones whom stay'd are pre-meds, these guys were the ones scoring B's and higher in general chem made it to upper levels (like biochem) where exam averages were (again) 50s!!!!!!

The class "scholars" from general chem are now averaging 50s in biochem

But as others have suggested, it HIGHLY depends on the instructors. For example, MSU (where I did most of my post-bacc work), has 2 medical schools. They stress the biology department pretty heavy, and they make sure that if a student earned an A or a B+ in an upper bio, that means the student ACTUALLY learned something.

Well I would hope that you actually got something out of the class whether you got an A or an F!

 

[molar3]

upper level bio's and level of difficulty depend on the instructor imo. for ex- im takin neurobio now , and my prof is AWESOME and encourages us/is fun/not boring.
on the other hand.....my gross anatomy prof told us on the first day that half her class generally fails its a really hard class and if we want to slack we need to drop her course and labs going to be really difficult and people generally passout so we should be afraid and prepared to vomit and passout (dramaqueen) and the TA was just as bad if not worse. .....the profs basicalllllllly a weirdo who, herself, had no idea what shes teaching us tbh....therefore the class is incoherent and you had to put in a crapload of unnecessary work to get an A in that course bc her goal was basically to fail ppl...
if ur profs nice youre lucky, bc if u do the work getting an A should be pie.
if ur profs a douche , then doing well will be alot more difficult, imo.

 

[LaughingGas]

They are definitely harder. What I can tell you is that the key is to choose upper div class that you are interested in. Or brainwash yourself to like those classes. It really depends on the professor, but it doesnt matter because what shows in the transcript is just the final grade. Don't be afraid tho. It's all about your work ethics, study habit and time management 😀

 

[Golfguy]

The upper levels are more competitive, but very doable. The people in these classes are usually serious (haven't changed to an easier major), and represent many students that will apply for graduate schools. The good thing is that the scope of the class in much more focused than survey courses, and offers the opportunity to master the material.

If you did well in your pre-reqs (which you have, nice work), have confidence that you will continue to do well in the upper level courses. 👍