Hello,
I am a rising junior and based upon my experience, I am able to provide my humble advice and opinions for the following classes: General Biology, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. I haven't take physics yet but wish me luck!
Let's Start With Fall Semester of Freshman Year
:
Biology 1-This class is a definite weed out. Bottom line, on the first day of the class, the Prof said something like "250 of you are in this class and 23 will make it to medical school
😱 And I would have had a lot of trouble if I did not have the AP bio background. You learn essential study skills in this class (read the book, take notes, understand the Professor's notes). Focus on what the Prof says, this is usually what is tested not random tangents of endless details in the book.
Biology 2-Same study skills as Bio 1. Things I wish I knew before going into Bio: it's a lot of material and you should focus on things presented in class rather than trying to "memorize" facts from the book. Find a way to see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
General Chemistry 1-This was by far my lowest grade in all of the premed classes and it was here that I learned the lesson, "Don't study hard but study smart". I would put in countless hours a day and did not feel like my studying justified my grade; in other words I always thought my grade was lower than I felt like it should be because I was making careless errors on exams or could not remember that one formula, etc. Molecular orbital theory gave me serious issues as initially did the topics on heat transfer, Coulomb's Law, etc. And I realized that it's better to study a little everyday understanding core concepts and then drilling A LOT rather than spending massive amounts of times doing problems I wasn't getting and not re-reading and redoing the material. I also should have narrowed my studying based upon exactly was going in class (I seriously think the main lesson here is Study the Topics discussed explicitly in class-do no more and do no less). I actually did better when I spent less time but used it WISELY. I will give you an example. Suppose one day you try to sit down for 3 hours to study for a Chemistry Exam. It's better to spend 3 hours going over all of the material thoroughly and practicing lots of problems that are REPRESENTATIVE of what is going to be on the exam rather than spending 8 hours pondering over the 4 hardest problems in the book that you just can't get. You should take care of those problems by seeing a Professor early in the semester. Do you see what I mean by study smart, not necessarily hard? By hard I mean putting in a lot of hours. Lesson: I wish I used my time more efficiently and rather than getting lost in the branches, I wish I focused on the forest (i.e. what the professor talked about in class, etc.).
General Chemistry 2: I finally got the hang of things and simply adopted the approach I outlined above, spending time efficiently, asking for help daily, drilling lots of problems, outlining, paying more attention in class, and again do the problems again and again. The Professor was very clear about what she expected of us. This is the best case scenario and best kind of Professor
🙂
Sophomore Year:
Organic Chemistry 1: By far my favorite class.I'm weird and found this class easier than General Chemistry 1. My first semester Organic Prof was also one of my favorite professors. That helps. I was terrified of this class but did very well. Simple thing I wish I knew: Understand core concepts and THEN do the problems (don't just jump into problems). DRILL DRILL DRILL problems. Folks have lots of tricks and anything you do differently from the book is a matter of comfort (i.e. getting other self help books, looking up shortcuts to define R vs. S, etc.). But following tricks sometimes leads to confusion for new learners. Stick to what you see in the book and drill problems. See the Professor for help when you need it.
Organic Chemistry 2: This class is mechanism-heavy.I remember for first semester we had an average of maybe 2 new mechanisms on each exam, yeah well when you get to Orgo 2 it's like having water splashed in the face when you get amines, imines, amides, etc. and there are an average of 20 mechanisms on each exam + any previous mechanism used in synthesis problems. Exams were longer too. In other words, a lot of material to digest. I wish from the outset I Foundd some systematic way of organizing, understanding, and applying the material. Whether that was flashcards (never worked for me), flowcharts, or rewriting mechanism after mechanism.
Human Physiology-not a required class but most people take it. You need a systematic way again to organize the material. Mine was based fully off of lectures but I wish I used the book more for reinforcement and went over the material more daily. In other words, if the Professor finishes the urinary system and proceeds, it doesn't mean you forget about this system and proceed. Keep concepts continually fresh by reviewing daily. This keeps everything running smoothly and you won't feel like you are about to have an anxiety attack come exam time.
Just my 2 cents. I hope I didn't ramble too much and that this helps you! Good Luck!
I will update once I get done with Physics (but maybe by then you'll have it done too).
