How do you guys study for your science classes?

[kapil_MD]

hello everyone,

I'm struggling in genetics and chem 2, and I'm trying really hard to learn the material, but it just doesn't click. The difficulty I'm facing is just really discouraging and upsetting me. The material is just overwhelming. I can ace any english, history class etc with relative ease, but these science pre-reqs are hell. What do you guys do for your science pre-reqs, what works for you? How do you keep yourselves motivated after a not so good test? What do you think of when you think you're ready to give up?


Thank you for your time.
A very sad pre-med🙁

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[wolfram241]

Some people just aren't cut out for the sciences. They usually become biology majors.

 

[kapil_MD]

so what do they give up medicine entirely?

 

[49912]

.

 

[wolfram241]

so what do they give up medicine entirely?

Some embrace osteopathy, others become clerks, garbagepeople, or politicians.

 

[kapil_MD]

Hi Kapil:

You are in my thoughts. Yes. These premed prereq can be overwhelming. I had to deal with them for one year! Luckily for me, it is over.....just dealing with the application process itself right now.

For Genetics: believe me, it is a quite a subject. My friends who did really well (got As) actually used index cards for this subject. I do not mean just vocabulary cards but sometimes to aid in memory, they would write down the whole paragraph. After doing that, this material became clearer to them. It might take a whole day to do that for just one chapter plus doing some end-of-the-chapter review questions, but it is well worth it. Also, look over your classnotes, assigned HW, and practice exams to see what your professor emphasizes on.

For Chem II: I took down really good notes in class with two colored pens (traditional blue and hot pink) to contrast concepts from examples. But the bulk of my learning really came from doing those questions at the end of the chapter. The professor gave us a lot of questions--each emphasizing different concepts--and I did them all. Also, I went to office hours to go over questions I got wrong and/or questions I do not have the answers to.

Believe me: taking good notes, re-reading them, doing practice problems, really spending time to do the problems (my brain hurted afterwards), and talking to professors in order to have a thorough understanding of the material are what I did to get that good grade.

Last, I would make an appointment with your professor to go over the exam; do not complain about the score. Professors care about students who want to learn the material. Tell your instructor what preparation method you used for this exam and tell her/him your new strategy for the rest of the course. Ask for her/his advice/suggesion. Built an active dialog between you and your instructor.

Life is not fair. Things do not always go as planned. But we can make things work out.....we just have to try. It all depends on what you make of it 😍

wow, thank you for those study tips. I will try them out, you're very cool🙂

 

[mvenus929]

Just for the record, I'm a biology major, and I'm great at science, I just find chemistry rather unstimulating and physics really annoying. I'm good at both, I just don't enjoy them as much as I enjoy biology.

But moving on.... I write things down. That's how I learn best. It's a really good thing with my cell bio class, because our professor teaches through pictures. But I digress. I haven't taken Genetics yet, so I can't advise you on how to study for that. Chem II, though, I suggest you do all the problems at the end of the chapter. Do a few every night, until you understand the concept. Don't be afraid to do the same problem multiple times, just make sure you're understanding how you're doing it, rather than just doing the problem from memory. It might help to rewrite some of the notes, or tape yourself reading the notes. I don't know how you learn, but either of those might help. Going to your professor might help as well.

Study hard, and if you still don't understand the subjects... well, just be aware that you'll pretty much be doing nothing but science when you go to med school.