Grades going downhill . . .

[datsa]

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Well, I'm two years into a post-bacc (a second degree) and my GPA is suffering. I study a lot, yet I do poorly on tests, and, unfortunately, grades are based mostly on tests. Interestingly, once a test is over, I can usually get the right answers without looking them up; it is only during the test that I have trouble.

Example: I took an Ochem test yesterday, and I thought I did well. I practiced and reviewed for days, made practice tests, and went over the material. But I scored just below average. I made a lot of mistakes on this test, but did not notice them while taking the test; only when I got the test back did I find out just how badly I did. I was very surprised, and even the professor could not understand the mistakes I made. Yet, I was able to immediately redo the problem and get the correct solution without prompting or help.

My current post-bacc GPA is 3.4 and will probably be 3.2 after this semester. I am getting some A's, but mostly B's -- not a good GPA for med school or the MD/PhD programs that I am interested in. To make matters worse, my school doesn't give plus or minus grades, so if you miss a grade level by one point, you get the next lower grade. Last semester I missed an A in Ochem by 10 points out of 1000, so I got a B. Very frustrating.
And it looks like I will get all B's this semester.

I've been to counselors, hired tutors, had psychological tests, but no one has been able to provide any insight as to how to stop or correct this problem.
My problem appears to NOT be test anxiety; I feel fine on the test, I just do the problems wrong during the test, but I almost always get them right after the test during office hours. Today, I was able to correct my test in front of the professor without help, so it is not like I don't know the material.

One bit of insight came with today's test: I mistook a propyl group for a pentyl group when asked to draw a mass spec structure. I made the exact same mistake on a prior test. But I clearly know the difference between the two, and as before I could swear the test asked for a pentyl group, yet when I got the test back, it clearly said "propyl". So perhaps I have some sort of reading disability? This wasn't the only reading mistake I made, but the fact that I made it before seems to be important.

Any ideas?

 

[ShyRem]

Have you tried hypnosis? I had a friend with almost the same case, and after trying everything he could think of, someone sent him to a hypnotist. Turns out his problem was a form of anxiety that was causing a lack of concentration on the exam. A few relaxation techniques and his grades improved enormously.

 

[relentless11]

IMO, each person studies differently. There may be similarities such as doing more problems and so forth. Maybe something as simple as checking and rechecking answers, or just slowing down.

If this gets bad enough, I'd really take a pause and re-evaluate your study methods. It may be even worse to go down in GPA as a post-bacc. What was your GPA as an undergrad? Time to sit down and reflect on whats up and try new methods at studying including finding any and all old exams, and so forth.

I'm not sure how a school that doesn't give +/-'s grades is bad. If you have a 90% in a class, thats an A on your grading system, not an A-. Therefore if you average 90% in all of your classes, you have a 4.0. Conversely, if you averaged that at my school, you'd have a 3.7 GPA. There's good and bad to either system. Regardless you are expected to do well. An A/A- is 90% or more regardless of a fair curve. Focus on improving your study skills rather than trivial matters such as grading.

On a side note, I ran into the same problems as you back in the day. Got over confident by studying "so much", so breezed by the questions so fast that I didn't notice the small details. Therefore I did stupid mistakes. Now I just take my time reading questions, underline key words, write little notes, and check, recheck, and re-recheck my answers before turning it in. So yea, but that worked for me, might not work for you. However the good news is this doesn't appear to be an issue about knowledge and your capacity to understand stuff. Its just a study skill thing which is fixable. Good luck!

 

[saintsfan]

Chill! I used to do the same thing. I ruined my gpa becuase I was working full time and trying to take care of sick family memebers and dying relationships and doing what everyone else told me to do. I psyched myslef out and put WAY too much pressure on myself.

I would know my stuff (engineering and the basic science degree) stuff backwards and forwards, yet I would get to tests and totally blank out. I am an A student and was pulling Cs. NOT COOL!

I took drastic measures (which I dont necesssary recommend doing but it is what I had to do): I moved away from all the drama (and in an area where I could complete all my goals), did ALOT of self discovery and am now totally motivated. lets just say my test taking skills and my confidence have gone way up. Now its is time for me to "fix" all the mistakes on my application (no degree and low gpa).

Another thing to do (way less drastic) is do practice tests. Almost in every class you can find practice tests to do. If not, make them up. You probably know the professor's ways by now. Practice the problems. If they are essay questions (like in cell molec) practice writing answers to possible questions.

 

[bel15]

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