Do you have any tips for these science classes?

[Cofo]

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This fall semester I'm taking...

Biochemistry (without lab)
Microbiology (with lab)
Anatomy and Physiology (with lab)
and a history class lol, because that's my major.

What tips do you have for me in any of the first three courses mentioned?
My biology background is pretty good btw.

 

[ItalianPrincess]

this is help you with biochem 😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyN0wx2AHfE&feature=related

seriously tho, this song is accurate-biochem is awesome (bias 😛), dont fall behind on the pathways and make sure you have the enzyme used in every step down VERY well because they all have similar names and start to sound alike and its easy to mix them up under the stress of a test

 

[JBieber]

wow, tough semester. honestly, just memorize every little detail thrown at you and you'll get A's in all of those courses. biology is all memorization.

oh, and making connections and thinking about things intuitively makes memorizing things a lot easier imo.

 

[FreeFallin]

This fall semester I'm taking...

Biochemistry (without lab)
Microbiology (with lab)
Anatomy and Physiology (with lab)
and a history class lol, because that's my major.

What tips do you have for me in any of the first three courses mentioned?
My biology background is pretty good btw.

Biochem is like a continuation and puts concepts together. I remember having to memorize the structure and formula for each amino acid too.

Micro lab was fascinating to me! I loved growing Staph and Strep cultures on the agar plates and checking the microscope.

A&P is a lot of memorization. I personally really enjoy anatomy and how the body works.

 

[slm266]

You will probably find the most help from fellow classmates. Do you have a predental club on campus?

Also, on ratemyprofessor.com you'll find good tips of how to succeed w/ specific professors.

 

[aelian]

I'm going to assume your classes are taught similarly to mine. Biochemistry and anatomy are much more memorization than microbiology, biochemistry with its pathways, enzymes, etc. and anatomy with the structures. For courses with heavy memorization, you have to hit it at least every other day as opposed to microbiology where you can start studying the day before the exam. Usually the hardest part of A&P is the lab section. At our school, it is 50 percent of the grade. The reason it’s hard is because you have so many strange names to memorize. The lecture portion will probably be similar to microbiology, with much more physiology (function) than anatomy (structure). One of the most underrated pieces of advice I can give is to make use of short periods of time. I used to take the bus to school and back. 30 minutes of sitting down, doing nothing, 5 days a week. That is two and a half hours of studying that would otherwise be wasted. And those two and a half hours would probably be more productive than studying three hours straight. You just get to a point where you no longer absorb material as well. Diminishing return, if you will. The other advantage is that you will constantly be reinforcing yourself if you study sporadically. Both biochemistry and anatomy rely heavily upon building up on previous concepts. So make sure you start off strong so your foundations aren’t weak. If you get a bad grade on an exam/quiz, go back and make sure you know why you didn’t do well. As far as micro goes, take really good notes. If you take good notes and study once a week, you should be fine. You said your bio background is fine so this shouldn’t be too far from your comfort zone (again, all I said before is under the assumption that our courses are taught similarly). And for your micro lab, memorize the techniques, know what they are doing, why you are doing it, what the dyes are for. Now your lab techniques and materials well, and if you have a lab partner, don’t let them do all of the work. Same goes for anatomy lab. Take that scalpel to town on your dog/cat/human. Don’t be afraid.