Discouraged with Genetics...advice?

[southpawcannon]

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I'm just in my second week of Genetics and am already frustrated and lost. It also doesn't help that my professor is dry and scattered in the presentation of the lecture content. I wwnt through an academic program, athletic training(sports medicine) during my undergrad years in which whatever we learned, we applied right then. I've always been a hands-on person, and so repetition in class and our clinical sites worked well for me. Switching over to courses that require me to learn differently is challenging. I am also taking Cal A now. Math is never a problem for me, neither physics nor chemistry. Anatomy and Phys I'm excellent at.

I'm a bit discouraged with this class right now, and just, well, feel dumb.

What has worked for you guys in learning and passing Genetics? Not just passing, but getting an A? Anything interactive that you might recommend i.e. videos, that would help me learn the material better and thus increasing my enjoyment of Genetics?

 

[Emerald84]

I had a tough time with genetics at first too. I would record lecture and I probably spent more time reading and transcribing lectures that most other students, but the effort was worth it. The other thing that helped me was reading pubmed articles that focused on genetics, just to give it more of a relevance to what I was studying.

 

[BennieBlanco]

I'm just in my second week of Genetics and am already frustrated and lost. It also doesn't help that my professor is dry and scattered in the presentation of the lecture content. I wwnt through an academic program, athletic training(sports medicine) during my undergrad years in which whatever we learned, we applied right then. I've always been a hands-on person, and so repetition in class and our clinical sites worked well for me. Switching over to courses that require me to learn differently is challenging. I am also taking Cal A now. Math is never a problem for me, neither physics nor chemistry. Anatomy and Phys I'm excellent at.

I'm a bit discouraged with this class right now, and just, well, feel dumb.

What has worked for you guys in learning and passing Genetics? Not just passing, but getting an A? Anything interactive that you might recommend i.e. videos, that would help me learn the material better and thus increasing my enjoyment of Genetics?

whenever you have a poor professor, recipe for success:

1. Find a really good resource (textbook or maybe something else)
2. Read
3. Take notes
4. Review

It is that simple. If you try to learn from a horrible unclear lecture you will notice your thoughts are horrible and unclear. Gain clarity by obtaining a source that is clear.

Genetics is awesome, it is by far my favorite thing to study undergrad (other than psio). Your prof sucks.

Molecular Biology of the Cell = domination textbook (there is also a solutions manual).


Follow the blancian rules of premed

The best way to understand a horrible lecturer is to already understand what he is talking about
--BennieBlanco

 

[jinx520]

BennieB gives solid advice, so I second that. So with that out of the way, from your post it looks like you are strong in the subjects in which you pretty much have to take a straightforward, systematic approach (such as with calculus and physics). If it makes you feel any better, genetics is pretty straightforward as well, once you learn the "rules".

What exactly are you having trouble understanding? If it is just that you don't know where to start b/c the instructor is a scatterbrains, then what BennieB suggested--getting yourself a good textbook or other resource and basically teaching yourself--is probably the easiest thing to do (besides dropping the class and taking it with a better instructor). Or is it a specific concept that you are having a hard time grasping?

One of my favorite resources is the NCBI website. They have some awesome resources with tutorials. When I first started working in a lab I would hang on that site for hours and just see all the different things you could do with a sequence, read the tutorials, etc. Another thing I used to do is to go to the biotech companies' websites (Invitrogen, Sigma-Aldrich, etc.). They also have excellent resources--a lot of background info for the different kits they offer, etc., which are mercifully brief and easy to understand. Just so I didn't feel so lost when all the scientists started talking around me. Good luck! Remember, genetics is fun!

 

[southpawcannon]

I had a tough time with genetics at first too. I would record lecture and I probably spent more time reading and transcribing lectures that most other students, but the effort was worth it. The other thing that helped me was reading pubmed articles that focused on genetics, just to give it more of a relevance to what I was studying.

I'd give recording the lecture some consideration if it was like listening to Ben Stein in 'Ferris Bueller.' However, I do like the pubmed article suggestion. Having some immediate relevance and purpose-outside of the obvious 'you have to do this for med school and learn it for the MCAT-would really help, I hope at least.

 

[southpawcannon]

1. Went to the bookstore and found two texts: Genetics for Dummies and this one one that has a bunch of random cartoons explaining the subject. I was a bit skeptical with the first, but read the 'About the Author' section and she had taught Genetics at the college level, won some major award for her teaching, etc. So, I'll give those a go.

2, 3, 4. It's a new language from what I've been used to, so I've having to read several times for it to even soak in.

Our pre-med society meets tomorrow, so I'm hoping someone will have time out of their schedule to help me out along the way. If there are others tomorrow who tell me 'yeah, that class sucks,' then I'll not feel so inferior.

Molecular Bio of the Cell...considered taking that at some point down the road.

This spring for me, particularly the next 3 mths, is going to be very busy being I'm responsible for taking care of all the athletes at my school, with around 8 sports being in-season and with the occasional football player and wrestler to take care of. Definitely a full-time schedule. So, adding in Genetics and Cal A into the mix will make this not very fun. I admit, I felt pretty stressed this morning, and with an off-day from school and only work to tend to, still felt very lacking in enthusiasm. I always hear the analogy that med school is like a fire hose being turned on...or something along those lines...so I don't expect it to be easy, but I would think, or hope at that point, you are focused on one thing: medicine. Not trying to juggle a full-time job, get ECs in, prep for an MCAT, and do well in classes in hopes of being considered. I would hope that maybe one could breathe a little easier on the other side. That not every day will feel like I felt today, because today, I began to doubt myself.

Thoughts anyone?

PS Dig the quote.

whenever you have a poor professor, recipe for success:

1. Find a really good resource (textbook or maybe something else)
2. Read
3. Take notes
4. Review

It is that simple. If you try to learn from a horrible unclear lecture you will notice your thoughts are horrible and unclear. Gain clarity by obtaining a source that is clear.

Genetics is awesome, it is by far my favorite thing to study undergrad (other than psio). Your prof sucks.

Molecular Biology of the Cell = domination textbook (there is also a solutions manual).


Follow the blancian rules of premed

 

[southpawcannon]

I don't necessarily know where to start. Also, how she just flies through random Punnetts with 'if we cross this and this, we will have this many of color x and this many of color y' or 'if dad and mom have a kid, one's a carrier, etc. etc.' Not enough attention is given to practicing Punnetts, and our book has one, maybe two problems in that chapter? I was thinking 'why can't there be a book on nothing but Punnett's? kinda like those Sodoku books...' I took freshman Bio about 10 years ago, retook Fr Bio II nearly 4 years ago, which from what I remember, was more developmental?

I really like your suggestion about the tutorials. Something a bit more interactive and visual is what I would like, since I can go poking around at cells.


\

BennieB gives solid advice, so I second that. So with that out of the way, from your post it looks like you are strong in the subjects in which you pretty much have to take a straightforward, systematic approach (such as with calculus and physics). If it makes you feel any better, genetics is pretty straightforward as well, once you learn the "rules".

What exactly are you having trouble understanding? If it is just that you don't know where to start b/c the instructor is a scatterbrains, then what BennieB suggested--getting yourself a good textbook or other resource and basically teaching yourself--is probably the easiest thing to do (besides dropping the class and taking it with a better instructor). Or is it a specific concept that you are having a hard time grasping?

One of my favorite resources is the NCBI website. They have some awesome resources with tutorials. When I first started working in a lab I would hang on that site for hours and just see all the different things you could do with a sequence, read the tutorials, etc. Another thing I used to do is to go to the biotech companies' websites (Invitrogen, Sigma-Aldrich, etc.). They also have excellent resources--a lot of background info for the different kits they offer, etc., which are mercifully brief and easy to understand. Just so I didn't feel so lost when all the scientists started talking around me. Good luck! Remember, genetics is fun!

 

[Valvool]

I was always fascinated with genetics, but I did not enjoy my genetics classes until I got to medschool. You may find the same.

 

[sassilysweet]

I don't necessarily know where to start. Also, how she just flies through random Punnetts with 'if we cross this and this, we will have this many of color x and this many of color y' or 'if dad and mom have a kid, one's a carrier, etc. etc.' Not enough attention is given to practicing Punnetts, and our book has one, maybe two problems in that chapter? I was thinking 'why can't there be a book on nothing but Punnett's? kinda like those Sodoku books...' I took freshman Bio about 10 years ago, retook Fr Bio II nearly 4 years ago, which from what I remember, was more developmental?

I really like your suggestion about the tutorials. Something a bit more interactive and visual is what I would like, since I can go poking around at cells.


\

It is really easy to practice Punnet Squares (the long way)
Start with a 2x2 if you are having problems, just keep changing the "genes" (AAXBB, AaXBB, AaXBb, etc), Literally drawing the boxes.
Once you get that concept down, just keep adding types until you understand the patterns. Then you can learn the shorthand way without having to draw them out.

If you are planning on taking Molec/Cell Bio, you will need a good grounding in the genetics concepts.

Good luck

 

[jinx520]

It is really easy to practice Punnet Squares (the long way)
Start with a 2x2 if you are having problems, just keep changing the "genes" (AAXBB, AaXBB, AaXBb, etc), Literally drawing the boxes.
Once you get that concept down, just keep adding types until you understand the patterns. Then you can learn the shorthand way without having to draw them out.

If you are planning on taking Molec/Cell Bio, you will need a good grounding in the genetics concepts.

Good luck

Good advice here. Draw the whole box and play around with them. Start with 2X2 and work your way up. Pay attention to the ratios when you have two heterozygous parents, two homozygous parents, one of each, linked genes, etc., b/c the ratios will stay the same. Once you learn the patterns, you will be able to tell just by knowing how many offspring were a paticular color (or whatever) what the P generation was.

Sounds like your instructor is assuming that EVERYONE knows how to do this (I hate teachers like that). If you are embarrassed to ask her to clarify (or the class is so large that it's impractical), go to office hours or get a tutor. The advantage of going to office hours is that she might cut you some slack when it comes to grading if she sees you are really trying to understand the material.

Another thing that I can think of is to get a copy of a general biology text and read about whatever concept you are having a problem with. You see the same concepts over and over in biology, but in more detail as your classes get more advanced. So read about punnett squares or whatever in the gen bio textbook, then again in the genetics book. If it makes you feel better, I didn't even get mitosis/meiosis down cold until I took microbiology. AFTER I took genetics. Good luck!