How to get a 3.7+ GPA in undergrad

[etherealsolvent]

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How do you guys get a GPA above 3.7? More specifically, how do you approach studying for midterms for Biology and Chem. There is so much material, how do you remember all of it?

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

ANKI
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K
I

 

[TXMED_1695]

You need to figure out how your brain retains information. Some of us are the same, and some of us are different. YouTube has College lectures from Doctors who have studied it and just random videos by people and their personal methods. For me, I have to understand each mechanism (example: Skeletal/smooth muscle EC coupling) I can completely draw out and contrast EC coupling. So understand/learn concepts fully, memorize facts. It's hard to forget concepts you learn vs memorizing facts (for me anyway). I could write a ten page article on my methods, but simply put - learn how your brain works. GPA is easy - do not be lazy.

 

[treesnm3s]

Work hard. Either you want it or you don't. And Anki.

 

[Aerus]

Study groups helped me immensely. Find a group of people who are aiming for complete mastery of the material. Test each other on the material using the most obscure questions.

 

[mistafab]

For me, the trick in undergrad was quickly pre-reading (15 min skim) before lecture, go to lecture taking notes, then read slow.

 

[deleted801953]

Rewriting notes with colo(u)rs. Many, many, many coloUrs.
Notes became a Colo(u)ring book

 

[Gilakend]

Don't get behind.

 

[leonardoson]

Put school first. Understand fundamentally why things work instead of memorizing. When reading through how things work, really ask yourself if you understand it. You can reason through questions you don't know on exams just from knowledge of first-principles

 

[bioboy23]

I have kind of a freaky memory with pathways and systems, so that helps a ton. But like many of the above posters said, USE ANKI. It took me a full semester to actually know how to use it to my advantage and it has been a godsend. Learn how to use it. Also, remembering where the notes are on the page helps me when I get stuck on something I didn't study as much. Use Anki.

 

[Gurby]

 

[Suspiciousmycologist]

I don't know how much your courses align with your textbooks, but what works best for me is using textbook to really understand information in-depth. There may be some material in the textbook that you won't have to know for exams, but it can help with making connections between different processes and understanding the big picture. It's great to know the facts but learning the context can actually make remembering the facts/definitions easier. I usually go through every page in the chapter and make a detailed outline. I rewrite this outline a few times, and then rewrite my lecture notes a few times.

 

[Lucca]

Get As.

Don't not get As

 

[pnwhmt]

I posted this on reddit in response to a productivity question, but it essentially answers your questions as well. I think the amount of time you need to put in doing these things will vary from person to person depending on how intuitive the subject is for you, but overall some techniques are more effective than others. That's what I focused on.

"Things I do to maximize my time and increase productivity in no particular order:

• Take notes by hand during lecture if you are attending as it helps you process information and builds a foundation for the material. Do not type out notes if it can be avoided. Studies have shown that this is significantly less effective.
  
  
• Make notecards using Anki from the book when reading and then expand on this using notes from class and the lecture slides. Practice notecards.
  
  
• Don't waste time underlining, rereading notes, rereading material, etc. Why would you use study techniques that are not effective? If you make your notecards properly and are thorough, they have all the information that you need in them.
  
  
• For classes that are heavily based on practice (orgo, physics, chem) make sure majority of study time is spent actually doing practice problems. Highlight weak spots this way. I tend to work on classes like this in the tutoring center, then there is someone there to help you work out the problem when you're lost.
  
  
• Don't waste time on stupid things. For example, 75% of my physics homework last year was done online using WebAssign, only 25% from written assignments. The problems on WebAssign were insanely difficult/time consuming and the professor would often accidentally assign questions that were based on topics not even covered in class. He did not base tests off WebAssign or off reading, only lecture, previous tests he had written, study guides, and written homework. Therefore, used Chegg for literally all online homework over the course of the year spending about 5 minutes an assignment crunching numbers and then studied only the written homework problems and problems done in lecture.
  
  
• Use resources, specifically tutors on campus. They have taken the EXACT class they're tutoring for. They know the professor, format of the test and how to get an A. Listen to them. Ignore everyone in your class who is stressing about the wrong things.
  
  
• Form a study group with one person who knows a little less than you and one person who knows more. Learn from the person who knows more and teach the person who knows less. More than three or four people and it's not a study group, it's a social group.
  
  
• Caveat for study group - Do not get bogged working with someone who needs significant help. It will slow you down."

 

[RogueBanana]

Take good notes

Re-Read your notes and write summaries of important points

For anatomy I would re-write everything into one organized document which I would then use to make flash cards.

For Chem, write out formulae and reactions, draw and understand them.

For Ochem, learn the concepts, dont memorize. Use Khan Academy, learn the logic of a reaction, then drill it to iron out the small details

For bio, make note summaries, use study guides from the prof to guide your study.


*edit*

If a professor provides you with powerpoints from lecture, use these to make your notecards. Reference your personal notes to see what topics from the powerpoint were important (for example, if you have a 40 slide presentation, and the prof spent half the lecture on 5 slides while skimming over the rest, those slides will probably be on the exam.

 

[Lucca]

To be more helpful, I have found having a study group really helps. Explaining things to one another has been more helpful to me insofar as understanding concepts is concerned than rereading notes or doing flash cards. I'm surprised seeing them recommended so much. Maybe it's because my major coursework has been closer to the physical sciences than biology but flash cards were helpful in OChem and the MCAT and that's about it.

For classes that rely heavily on math, what I do is try to make sure that I understand the physical consequence of every equation we see. It can be as simple as "The tangential slope of a point on a potential is the force experienced by a molecule on that potential". It could just be my learning style but I have always found verbal logic to "stick" better than staring at equations and memorizing them.

 

[RogueBanana]

To be more helpful, I have found having a study group really helps. Explaining things to one another has been more helpful to me insofar as understanding concepts is concerned than rereading notes or doing flash cards. I'm surprised seeing them recommended so much. Maybe it's because my major coursework has been closer to the physical sciences than biology but flash cards were helpful in OChem and the MCAT and that's about it.

For classes that rely heavily on math, what I do is try to make sure that I understand the physical consequence of every equation we see. It can be as simple as "The tangential slope of a point on a potential is the force experienced by a molecule on that potential". It could just be my learning style but I have always found verbal logic to "stick" better than staring at equations and memorizing them.

I would actually disagree with the notion of using a study group, at least for the initial learning period.

In my experience, its better to spend a good amount of time learning the concept on your own without anyone to distract you. Once you have an understanding of the topic, its very helpful to bounce practice problems and situations off of other students. For orgo, my classmate and I would make up practice problems and do our best to out-wit eachother. Because of this, we were both prepared for the tricky problems on exams. But the majority of our study time was solitary, we only "finished" our studying in a pair.

 

[deleted831695]

Distractions are a big thing. I'm almost certain if I cut back on the amount of 'fun' I had, my GPA could have bumped + .1-.2. Smartly choose your classes as well - make sure you have reasonable classes/schedules where you'll do well. A couple of bad grades can sink your GPA quickly. Try to find out the right way to study; for example, at my school, reading from the Orgo textbook was useless, and doing the problem sets were all you needed.

College is a time of great personal growth for a lot of people (I changed a lot, as did many of my friends), and one of the most unique experiences you'll have in your life. Prioritize your academics foremost, but also take advantage of the opportunities (clubs, research, study abroad, etc) and potential lifelong bonds you can make during this time. I ended up in the 3.6s, but you can most definitely achieve a 3.7+ and all of that with proper time management and smart focus.

 

[RogueBanana]

Distractions are a big thing. I'm almost certain if I cut back on the amount of 'fun' I had, my GPA could have bumped + .1-.2. Smartly choose your classes as well - make sure you have reasonable classes/schedules where you'll do well. A couple of bad grades can sink your GPA quickly. Try to find out the right way to study; for example, at my school, reading from the Orgo textbook was useless, and doing the problem sets were all you needed.

College is a time of great personal growth for a lot of people (I changed a lot, as did many of my friends), and one of the most unique experiences you'll have in your life. Prioritize your academics foremost, but also take advantage of the opportunities (clubs, research, study abroad, etc) and potential lifelong bonds you can make during this time. I ended up in the 3.6s, but you can most definitely achieve a 3.7+ and all of that with proper time management and smart focus.

+1 on being mindful of how much "Fun" you have.

Generally speaking, If you have an exam monday, you should plan on staying in saturday night to study. Friday nights are still generally fair game to go have fun even if there is an exam monday, but a light initial review of the information wouldn't hurt.

My goal was always to finish a "once-through" review of the material 2 days before the exam. That means I would have gone through all of the material on a monday exam at least once by saturday night. That way, I would know what sections I have issues with and be able to focus my energy on them all day sunday.

 

[ServiceFirst]

Concepts concepts concepts. I didn't encounter too many instances of which I was expected to memorize everything down to the most precise, insy-teensy detail tidbits. Make sure you remember the most important concepts first and foremost, that will help you succeed the most.

I frequently saw many students make the mistake of getting hung up on the smallest of details that ultimately were not tested/professor didn't expect students to have memorized. And because they spent so much time on the smallest details, they did not spend enough time understanding fundamental concepts. This is why I recommend really trying your hardest on CONCEPTS and not necessarily always small details.

 

[pioneer22]

can anyone share their anki stacks?

 

[gadtoo]

Crammed... I'm sure everyone's different, but short term memory worked best for me. Tried Anki in med school and didn't work for me, but had classmates that used it, some who did worse and some who did better than me. I think you just have to figure out your way.

 

[ladymiresa]

Graduating with a 3.9 and literally never heard of this Anki thing! Sounds like a great resource that would have saved me a lot of time.

Anyway, my best piece of advice would be to space your studies. Research shows that you learn best if you have multiple study sessions with increasing times between those study session. So, to contradict the poster above me, do. not. cram. At least not if you're aiming for long term retention.

 

[penpenclown]

This is probably a dumb question but how do you guys use Anki for science classes? I've used it before for language classes but that's just vocab stuff.

 

[slippydubloons]

Generally speaking, If you have an exam monday, you should plan on staying in saturday night to study.

 

[Gurby]

This is probably a dumb question but how do you guys use Anki for science classes? I've used it before for language classes but that's just vocab stuff.

In addition to the obvious question/answer cards, here are examples of some cards I've made:

 

[bioboy23]

In addition to the obvious question/answer cards, here are examples of some cards I've made:
View attachment 217122 View attachment 217123 View attachment 217124 View attachment 217125

Thank you! I was just about to ask how you guys used Anki to supplement organic study.

 

[QowsEatDumlogic]

A lot of it is honestly confidence and the knowledge that, while there's a lot to learn, it is possible to learn it all and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to. Once you have that, spacing out studying is important. Between classes, etc. just several times a day looking over your old lecture notes for a few minutes and explaining things to yourself or to a friend to solidify concepts. I never spent more than a couple hours studying the day before an exam and I think if you have to do that, you're usually doing something wrong.

 

[Gurby]

.

 

[floatingribs]

don't use the same approach for all classes. Actually learn how to do stuff when doing hw/when going over it in class. One thing that's definitely saved my butt in bio classes which allows me more time to focus on chem (where i have to put in 5 times the work) is to type of chapter notes as we're going a long. Takes 15 min max, but at the edn of the semester I'm pretty much just revising and can allocate my time to subjects I struggle more with.

 

[thisismyacct]

It comes down to 3 things in my opinion: 1. actually studying 2. effectively studying 3. the classes and professors you take (and your schedule)

For memorization heavy classes such as bio make flashcards, use anki, read the textbook, show up to class, consistently go over your material everyday. That doesn't necessarily mean review for 3 hours each day but rather maybe half an hour each day and amp it up accordingly.

For classes like math, gen chem, orgo, physics, it comes down to practice problems.

You also have to be smart about what classes you take and with the professors. Let me put it to you this way: there are 3 orgo professors at my school. 2 of them are good. the 3rd? he has 27 students in his class and 17/27 of them received a D or F on their last test. I thank God everyday he's not my professor. Also, talk to other people at your school to see what some of the easy classes are.