grades in bio

[une]

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I keep getting c's in bio classes idk why i used to do good.....can anyone give me tips as to what and how etc...things that can help me understand or how do you get a's in bio?

 

[DancingBull]

You get A's in biology by studying hard and memorizing every slide.

 

[sjv]

How do you typically study? Likely will need to put in some more time and effort to improve C's into A's.

 

[missdiana]

Go see prof. ask them how to study for that specific course.

 

[ZaneKaiser]

Are the exams multiple choice?

http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/09/...-clusters-to-study-for-multiple-choice-tests/

Basically, at the end of every week, summarize everything from lecture into a series of questions and answers. Try to anticipate essay questions when writing the questions. For example, if we learned about how an action potential is transmitted, I would write, "Explain step-by-step how an action potential is transmitted, taking into account the role of K+ and Na+ ions" etc.

So if you do this every week, by the time the test rolls around, you already have material you can study from; just cover up the answers and try to answer the questions (write out your answers, don't just say them aloud! You're going to have to write them on the exam; might as well get practice now!)

 

[NMC2010]

Draw pictures whenever possible. In a class like physiology, you can draw pictures for just about every topic except the hormones. For example, I probably drew the spinal cord cross-section 40x along with all of the sensory pathways included (did motor on dif sheet), where they decussate, which layers they synapse in, myelination VS unmyelinated, fiber type, etc, and included important labeling and info along with it.

For anatomy, draw out each muscle, where it attaches proximally, distally, etc. Draw the organs and individual bones. Draw out diagrams for things like receptor-mediated endocytosis, glycolysis, krebs.

Sometimes, you can't draw pictures and have to straight up memorize.

 

[blcopp]

Flash cards worked well for me in bio classes. Also I bought a dry erase board that I would draw out processes and stuff. Figure out what makes you remember things best.

The number one thing that works best for me in mostly any science class is teaching the material to something. I found a stuffed animal in my house and sat in on the bed and literally talked to the stuffed animal like it was a student while writing the processes and terms on a dry erase board. It's weird and trust me I kept it to myself but it allowed me to get a 108% in the bio class.

Another thing was just to write questions down and answer them.

 

[Jbrowndds]

YOUTUBE.COM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE youtube. My bio teacher is..well..not for me. So after class I search for the subject we talked about in class and let other people teach me. Its so much better. Get together with a study group. Snag the person in class who is always asking questions and getting A's.

 

[jHoon]

You get A's in biology by studying hard and memorizing every slide.

Nuff said. I enjoy biology more than orgo but orgo is so much easier cuz I don't have to memorize even a fraction of what is required from my bio courses. Biology is not intuitive at all until you get to upper lvl bio and learn to incorporate all the seemingly random, unconnected, uninteresting facts & exceptions to those facts from intro bio and have them memorized.

I hesitate in saying this, but from my experience, you don't even need to understand biology conceptually to do well in bio courses. Nearly every exam I took, I knew the concepts and mechanics of nearly every process or theory being studied, but got questions wrong because I forgot the exact name of a certain protein or genus or the name of a scientist. (One time I studied the the sodium potassium pump for like 3 straight hours in depth but then got the question wrong on an exam because I obsessed so much on how the pump worked that I forgot which ion was being pumped in, and which ion was being pumped out LOL)

This made me mad at first cuz I felt that all my time studying concepts was in vein, but I realize that the skill to memorize and recall is imperative in any health profession. You may know every minute difference between two very similar drugs and the complete mechanisms their syntheses, but if a patient is allergic to one and not the other, none of that matters and you being able to remember which drug is named what becomes a matter of life and death.


That doesn't really answer your question, but many others have, I just wanted to help you understand why straight up memorizing (even with no intention of every using that information again) is a crucial skill to build and be able to utilize, aside from it being necessary to get A's in bio 😛

 

[Funz]

try going over lecture slides and understanding as much as possible, then what you don't understand study in the text book + reinforce everything you understood by reviewing text book.