Frustrated...ugh. B students?

[Hopeful_Doc]

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with very few weeks (less than 2) left i've gotten a pretty solid idea of my grades for my first semester back to school....what i've realized (which my chem professor loves to point out constantly) is that no matter how hard i try i am like the eternal 85-89 student. It looks like I will recieve 1 A (Bio 1) and 3 B's(chem 1, pre-calc, english) this semester.

anyone else seem to get stuck in the B range? 🙁 🙁

 

[Shake_yabooties]

with very few weeks (less than 2) left i've gotten a pretty solid idea of my grades for my first semester back to school....what i've realized (which my chem professor loves to point out constantly) is that no matter how hard i try i am like the eternal 85-89 student. It looks like I will recieve 1 A (Bio 1) and 3 B's(chem 1, pre-calc, english) this semester.

anyone else seem to get stuck in the B range? 🙁 🙁

my belief is that.. everyone has almost equal intelligence.
If you're stuck in the B range,
it's either you do not know how to study yet,
or have not put in enough effort to obtain an A

If you feel like you've put in enough effort (at least 4 hrs of studying per day)
then you should experiment with different methods

 

[Rafa]

I know not this B range of which you speak. I either get As or Cs - with very little in between. But believe me - the C part is quite frustrating.

 

[doublehh03]

i dont believe ppl's intelligence are the same. my friend studies A LOT and he always seems to get Bs.

some ppl are just smart like gettin 4.0s studyin the same.

but it depends if u like or enjoy the subject

 

[Hopeful_Doc]

Im not sure what i believe as far as comparative intellect but i would say that per class, per day ~1 hour is spent, i've tried studying more and even studying less and to no improvement or degradation. I've tried different methods of studying, outside of when i tutor classmates in Biology i dont find my retention to improve any. 🙁

 

[Rafa]

Im not sure what i believe as far as comparative intellect but i would say that per class, per day ~1 hour is spent, i've tried studying more and even studying less and to no improvement or degradation. I've tried different methods of studying, outside of when i tutor classmates in Biology i dont find my retention to improve any. 🙁

I think it might be because subconsciously, you don't give a damn about what you're studying. I totally don't mean that in a negative way, and I might be completely off. But I'm pretty sure that if you were studying something you were more interested in (not that you can pick and choose what subjects adcoms pay attention to, but in a perfect world...) you'd be doing a lot better. Perhaps you could trick yourself into thinking you love the material. It might B.S. your brain into letting you absorb the info necessary for the remaining few percentage points...

 

[Hopeful_Doc]

I think it might be because subconsciously, you don't give a damn about what you're studying. I totally don't mean that in a negative way, and I might be completely off. But I'm pretty sure that if you were studying something you were more interested in (not that you can pick and choose what subjects adcoms pay attention to, but in a perfect world...) you'd be doing a lot better. Perhaps you could trick yourself into thinking you love the material. It might B.S. your brain into letting you absorb the info necessary for the remaining few percentage points...

an interesting hypothesis, i am willing to try just about anything at this point (aside from say....adderall)

 

[e_phn]

it's more about studying technique than intelligence or smartness.
ppl get As because they know how to study and take notes in class. for those who are weak in those arean, they are more vulnerable.
Just my opinion.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

It could be how you're are studying. I know someone who "studies" alot. However, after actually having taken the time to study with him I notice he does little things like, oh, take hour long breaks, then tea breaks, then naps etc. He does spend alot of time over the books, but not in a productive way. It's almost funny. Anyway, your grades could be alot worse. Better Bs than Ds right?

 

[e_phn]

It could be how your are studying. I know someone who "studies" alot. However, after having taken the time to study with him I notice he does little things like, oh, take hour long breaks, then tea breaks, then naps etc. He does spend alot of time over the books but not in a productive way. It's almost funny. Anyway, your grades could be alot worse. Better Bs than Ds right?

actually, breaks can really help your mind to focus more. your mind needs to relax or else you might go crazy.
if too much breaks, you won't have time to study though.

bottom line: manage yout time wisely.

 

[Hopeful_Doc]

my study method is to reread the notes i've taken that day or that week, if there is something i do not understand i look it up in the book or online and make a small note, this is usually accompanied by reading the chapter(s) atleast 2x (per week)

and yea the grades could be worse i suppose but i really need to prove myself especially with my spotty previous college experiences.

 

[doublehh03]

my study method is to reread the notes i've taken that day or that week, if there is something i do not understand i look it up in the book or online and make a small note, this is usually accompanied by reading the chapter(s) atleast 2x (per week)

and yea the grades could be worse i suppose but i really need to prove myself especially with my spotty previous college experiences.

i think when u take notes in lectures, just try to understand the material b4 hand. reading does not mean understanding.

but ur very dedicated 👍

 

[Philo]

If you're stuck in the B range,
it's either you do not know how to study yet,
or have not put in enough effort to obtain an A

If you feel like you've put in enough effort (at least 4 hrs of studying per day)
then you should experiment with different methods

I agree with the above poster. I was a B/B+ student my first term, then I changed my study habits and now I am doing much better (A-/A range).
I have a few tips that have helped me.

1. E-mail the profs before the term begins and get them to e-mail you the course outlines with the first few assignments. You don't have to do any hardcore studying, just familiarize yourself with the concepts and some of the problems/info etc. This will get you ahead of the class.

2. When class begins, try to learn the material that is going to be covered in class the day before. Then right after class review the material.

3. In a class like math or chemistry try to do every problem assigned 3 times. Once before it is covered, once for homework, and once to study for the exam.

4. Do not memorize; try to undertand the concepts fully. Try to learn the experimental origins of a concept, or find other applications for an equation or concept. Find exceptions to rules. (When I say find, I don't mean discover....I mean on the internet or something)

5. If you must memorize (cramming, boring class, etc): Take a page of your notes and divide it into three sections. Take the first line of the first sections and read it over and over aloud and until you can say it without any mistakes. Then take the nextline and do the same, then say both lines aloud without looking at the page. Continue doing this until you are able to say aloud every word of the first section from memory. Then write down the first section on a piece of paper from memory. Continue doing this with all other sections in all other pages. It hurts but it works.

6. Go to class. You may feel that you can learn more and faster through the textbook, but it helps to come to class. Your prof. usually knows shortcuts to problems. Your prof. will sometimes give you insight into concepts that your textbook cannot offer.

7. Sit in the front of the class. You will have no distractions, you won't be able to sleep, you won't be able to talk to your neighbour, you will be able to ask questions easier (you won't have to yell to be heard).

8. (This one may not go well with the crowd) Don't make too many friends at school or at least not the type of friends that are not studious or the ones that will distract you. In freshman year, I made a lot of friends and I found that I would run into them all the time and they would want to stop and chat and go for a cup of coffee, go for a smoke, etc and all this will kill my time in small amounts.

9. If your textbook sucks at explaining a certain concept, read a different one. In my experience, this happens a lot in math and computer science courses. Many writers of these books subscribe to the teaching philosophy of 'teaching by example'. Showing me an example where some concept is used doesn't necessarily explain it to me.

Something out of these must work, just me 2 cents 🙂

 

[Dimoak]

Just to add on to what Philo said (which I think is all good advice), I believe it's also important to get a feel for how the prof likes to teach. For example, if you can get a previous year's exam or a sample exam, definitely take advantage of that. Some profs don't particularly like students having access to such things, but others don't care. Sample exams can SIGNIFICANTLY help you out though, because if anything, you begin to understand how the prof likes to ask questions, what kind of concepts or things are stressed etc. This will help you know what to focus on to maximize your points.

Try and visit your professors occassionally or stay after class and ask a few questions. This way, you can often get a better idea of what the professor expects for you to learn, and may even get certain hints on what concepts may be focussed on in the assessments. Some of this information or exposure can give you an advantage over some of your fellow students, and hence perhaps give you that extra boost into a higher grade category.

Finally, I think it's important to recall that you need to study for different subjects seriously. Bio usually requires for you to spend considerable time absorbing alot of information and being able to recall or regurgitate it for an example. Math, on the other hand, will often focus on you understanding various concepts and techniques, as well as how and when to use them. Chem and physics are often somewhere in between the aforementioned in terms of how assessments work, depending on the type of chem or physics you're studying. Preparing for mathematical like portions is often best done by doing lots of problems and a variety of problems, including ones that require different approaches or combinations of problem-solving routines to solve. The more practice and familiarity you get with the different types of problems, the less of a chance there will be that the exam will feature problems you may not know how to do. In Bio, I believe it's really up to your ability to absorb lots of information. The more you memorize and understand, the more of it sticks and the better it sticks, hence lowering the chances that the assessment will contain questions to which you don't know or don't remember the answers to. Hope this helps somewhat! 🙂

 

[MossPoh]

I'm stuck in the B range but most of the time it isn't really my fault. Most of my major has a major group project involved for every class.......and somehow I seem to get the slacker everytime. You know how frustrating it is to HAVE an A before the project and your final grade get's dropped to a B+ or B because of one or two people not doing the job they are suppossed o do. I have started getting to the point where I just do everything...but when there are 2 or 3 projects which each take approx 10 hours per individual to do and is intended for 3 or 4 people...yea ..needless to say I don't have 80+ spare hours in my backpocket.lol OR my favorite was an essay of revised work for a German course....I had a Ph.D in German Linguistics proofread everything, help me rewrite stuff....she gave me a B-. (Thus dropping me to a B+ from an A) My friend used a translator online and got an A...........OH well..I'm not bitter...no really..*cough*

 

[LJDHC05]

I was also the eternal B student, with a cum of 3.35. I just had the problem of stretching my time too thin with EC's/girlfriend/fun and not focusing on my work until the week before the exam. My roomate plotted out my schedule at one point and I was committed to 19 hours of stuff a day.

I chalk your situation up to being a freshman and figuring out your learning style. I found that the easiest way to do well in a class was to style my studying to what the prof emphasized in class and how they test.

 

[austinap]

I really hate the concept that a lot of students have that more time studying is better. I really don't think this is the case at all. Study smart, and study when your head is fresh. Pounding concepts into your brain hour after hour doesn't do that much good, and it will only leave you disliking the subjects.

First off, everybody learns in their own way. Some people are visual, some people are by experience, some people are auditory learners, etc. Figure out which one you are.

In general, re-reading your notes several times won't do much good. Knowing what your notes say and actually understanding the material are two different things. Same goes for re-doing the same problems over and over. I'd just wait until you have some grasp on the material before you do the problems, and then only do them once. Look over the concepts you seem to be missing, and ask yourself what you don't understand. Pick up related books on the subject (I've always felt that most text books are bad teachers) and scan over them.

Try to apply what you do know to situations that you don't know. This will get you to actually think a little more in-depth that just regurgitating the material time after time. Processing the information helps. A lot.

Try to teach the material to other people (say, in group study sessions, etc). I've always heard the saying that you never really understand something unless you can teach someone else. It's pretty accurate. Trying this will also really point out what concepts you don't know that well so you can focus your other studies to those areas.

On a last note, if you have to memorize material, don't sit down and pound it into your head hour after hour. The brain learns by repetition, but there's also a temporal factor at play as well. Spread out the stuff you have to memorize if possible. Start at least a week before your test. The first day, go over the stuff you're trying to memorize like you usually would, but only once or twice. Later that day (a few hours later, etc), do it again. Do it once or twice the next day, once the day after, then skip a day, and once on the next day.

If you have a large amount of material, divide it into chunks, and set aside a little bit of time every day to memorize it. Start with a small chunk the first day, and go over it a few different times throughout the day. The next day, go over the first day's material once or twice, but add in some new material with it. The third day, go over the first day's material once, the second day's material twice, and add some new material in there again. Keep repeating until you know everytime pat.

You'll essentially 'trick' your brain into thinking that it really is going to need to know this, and you'll end up remembering it for a considerable period of time. This will help with other classes, the MCAT, etc. A lot of language classes use this type of repetition to help students learn the language while remembering a huge amount of vocabulary.

 

[NonTradMed]

with very few weeks (less than 2) left i've gotten a pretty solid idea of my grades for my first semester back to school....what i've realized (which my chem professor loves to point out constantly) is that no matter how hard i try i am like the eternal 85-89 student. It looks like I will recieve 1 A (Bio 1) and 3 B's(chem 1, pre-calc, english) this semester.

anyone else seem to get stuck in the B range? 🙁 🙁

I was very much the epitome of the "B" student back in college. I studied my butt off and could never crack the A curve in a lot of my science/engineering classes. But you know, schools can vary in quality. Where one place may be easy to get an A (for you), another may be hard. The MCAT is the great equalizer. I got into med school despite my middling grades because I didn't do 'B' work on the MCAT and for that, I thank my school for making me endure a tough curriculum which was not memorization based (because the MCAT was not either). So cheer up, perhaps your school has a tough curriculum and you are competing against some really smart people! It will then equalize when you take the MCAT and those kids who got the easy 4.0 will cry when they see their 25 while you marvel at your 30. 😀

However, if you really feel you are not meeting your GPA goals, I suggest transferring to a less academic demanding school where you may be allowed to shine more readily (and perhaps get some top notch recs from professors). The thing I realize about college is that what may be a 'great' school for one person may be a horrible school for another simply because of the mismatch between academic apititude of student and school.

But for what its worth, your freshmen year doesn't decide your entire college GPA. You have a few more years to impress the adcoms. Rethink your studying strategy and see about kicking ass next semester!

 

[Philo]

I really hate the concept that a lot of students have that more time studying is better. I really don't think this is the case at all. Study smart, and study when your head is fresh. Pounding concepts into your brain hour after hour doesn't do that much good, and it will only leave you disliking the subjects.

First off, everybody learns in their own way. Some people are visual, some people are by experience, some people are auditory learners, etc. Figure out which one you are.

In general, re-reading your notes several times won't do much good. Knowing what your notes say and actually understanding the material are two different things. Same goes for re-doing the same problems over and over. I'd just wait until you have some grasp on the material before you do the problems, and then only do them once. Look over the concepts you seem to be missing, and ask yourself what you don't understand. Pick up related books on the subject (I've always felt that most text books are bad teachers) and scan over them.

Try to apply what you do know to situations that you don't know. This will get you to actually think a little more in-depth that just regurgitating the material time after time. Processing the information helps. A lot.

Try to teach the material to other people (say, in group study sessions, etc). I've always heard the saying that you never really understand something unless you can teach someone else. It's pretty accurate. Trying this will also really point out what concepts you don't know that well so you can focus your other studies to those areas.

On a last note, if you have to memorize material, don't sit down and pound it into your head hour after hour. The brain learns by repetition, but there's also a temporal factor at play as well. Spread out the stuff you have to memorize if possible. Start at least a week before your test. The first day, go over the stuff you're trying to memorize like you usually would, but only once or twice. Later that day (a few hours later, etc), do it again. Do it once or twice the next day, once the day after, then skip a day, and once on the next day.

If you have a large amount of material, divide it into chunks, and set aside a little bit of time every day to memorize it. Start with a small chunk the first day, and go over it a few different times throughout the day. The next day, go over the first day's material once or twice, but add in some new material with it. The third day, go over the first day's material once, the second day's material twice, and add some new material in there again. Keep repeating until you know everytime pat.

You'll essentially 'trick' your brain into thinking that it really is going to need to know this, and you'll end up remembering it for a considerable period of time. This will help with other classes, the MCAT, etc. A lot of language classes use this type of repetition to help students learn the language while remembering a huge amount of vocabulary.

All very good points 👍 👍

 

[LifetimeDoc]

I won't go into as much verbage as everyone else...my suggestions are...

1. Read the material before going to class. Obtain the teacher's PPT slides or just read the assigned chapter in the book.
2. Goto class!
3. Be ahead of the game; study little bits of the material over a longer period of time. You will remember and understand it better over the long run if you spread your studying out.
4. Get a good night's sleep. This is very important, and more important than studying IMHO.
5. Eat well and get some exercise.

 

[austinap]

I won't go into as much verbage as everyone else...my suggestions are...

1. Read the material before going to class. Obtain the teacher's PPT slides or just read the assigned chapter in the book.
2. Goto class!
3. Be ahead of the game; study little bits of the material over a longer period of time. You will remember and understand it better over the long run if you spread your studying out.
4. Get a good night's sleep. This is very important, and more important than studying IMHO.
5. Eat well and get some exercise.

I forgot to mention #'s 4 and 5. I guess I just assumed that all pre-meds MUST be healthy people!