How to study with a horrible professor

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I literally have the worst professor in the world for human physiology. This professor just reads off the slides that come with the book during lecture, not to mention she can't answer a single question that any student has. The slides are incomprehensible without reading the chapter, and they still do not provide enough detail as the exam requires. Reading the chapter to its entirety seems physically impossible because of the amount of time it takes to read a single chapter coupled with the pace of the course. The course goes at one chapter per lecture, with lecture 2x/week. What would be the best way to study for this class? I tried to read the chapters and to take notes from the book for the first exam, but couldn't get past the first two chapters due to the amount of volume covered. Got smacked with a 50% on the test. I have never ever done this bad on a biology test. Even in orgo, the lowest I got was a 65%. How do you guys recommend I study for this class?

 

[I Love Cats]

I got through my physiology classes just reading the textbooks. I never even looked at the powerpoints to most of my classes back in the day to be honest. In your case, I would look at the powerpoints and then read exclusively those relevant sections in your textbook. Sometimes education is more of a game than a content learning process. Find out what is important and learn those portions from your text in order to find success. Avoid buying into that sense of helplessness that may creep up and just play the game right.

 

[MedPR]

I literally have the worst professor in the world for human physiology. This professor just reads off the slides that come with the book during lecture, not to mention she can't answer a single question that any student has. The slides are incomprehensible without reading the chapter, and they still do not provide enough detail as the exam requires. Reading the chapter to its entirety seems physically impossible because of the amount of time it takes to read a single chapter coupled with the pace of the course. The course goes at one chapter per lecture, with lecture 2x/week. What would be the best way to study for this class? I tried to read the chapters and to take notes from the book for the first exam, but couldn't get past the first two chapters due to the amount of volume covered. Got smacked with a 50% on the test. I have never ever done this bad on a biology test. Even in orgo, the lowest I got was a 65%. How do you guys recommend I study for this class?

You can't read two chapters in a seven day period? Good luck in med school.

 

[Shockwave456]

I literally have the worst professor in the world for human physiology. This professor just reads off the slides that come with the book during lecture, not to mention she can't answer a single question that any student has. The slides are incomprehensible without reading the chapter, and they still do not provide enough detail as the exam requires. Reading the chapter to its entirety seems physically impossible because of the amount of time it takes to read a single chapter coupled with the pace of the course. The course goes at one chapter per lecture, with lecture 2x/week. What would be the best way to study for this class? I tried to read the chapters and to take notes from the book for the first exam, but couldn't get past the first two chapters due to the amount of volume covered. Got smacked with a 50% on the test. I have never ever done this bad on a biology test. Even in orgo, the lowest I got was a 65%. How do you guys recommend I study for this class?

You could check out the textbook website and see if there are additional resources. Sometimes, they even have narrated slides. Also, you could purchase a study guide.

 

[HughMyron]

Quit facebooking, fapping, redditing, SDNing, whatever you do, and get yo ass in the game.

Come on, you've been in college long enough to know that a lot of classes suck. Especially if you're a premed. But you still have a duty to put your best foot forward.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Have you tried things like YouTube or the Khan Academy? They have some incredible videos that really make difficult subjects, like physiology, come to life. It can make a world of difference.

Khan Academy Medicine has been fantastic for our medical school physiology class so far.

 

[bluishgreen]

You can't read two chapters in a seven day period? Good luck in med school.

Did well in genchem, orgo, intro bio, molecular bio, cell bio, physics, without reading a book. It seems more than just luck my friend. Only book I read in undergrad is for english and for math. And yes, it is ******edly boring to read a biology book. I'm used to the white board and professors actually teaching material in a conversational manner.

 

[txMed7]

Did well in genchem, orgo, intro bio, molecular bio, cell bio, physics, without reading a book. It seems more than just luck my friend. Only book I read in undergrad is for english and for math. And yes, it is ******edly boring to read a biology book. I'm used to the white board and professors actually teaching material in a conversational manner.

Are you sure you want to go to medical school? The first two years will be filled with learning material derived from (albeit specialized) biology texts - immunology, neuroscience, physiology, genetics, biochemistry, cell/molecular biology, etc.

It's virtually a requirement that you enjoy these subjects if you want to go to medical school. It's not sufficient to just love science, mind you, but it's necessary nonetheless. You won't survive if you find reading biology texts to be "boring."

 

[Shockwave456]

Did well in genchem, orgo, intro bio, molecular bio, cell bio, physics, without reading a book. It seems more than just luck my friend. Only book I read in undergrad is for english and for math. And yes, it is ******edly boring to read a biology book. I'm used to the white board and professors actually teaching material in a conversational manner.

Forgive me, but I'm not sure how you can be a pre-med and think reading about biology is boring. It should at least be tolerable as you're going to be reading about it or relating topics for at least the next 4 years.

 

[Anchovy]

Reading the chapter to its entirety seems physically impossible because of the amount of time it takes to read a single chapter coupled with the pace of the course. The course goes at one chapter per lecture, with lecture 2x/week.

I'm taking a molecular immunology course at my school and have been having similar issues. I had been studying every single day for this class and still couldn't get through the material in time for the next lecture. I take way too long writing down half of the text in my notebook while I read the chapter - and it likely doesn't help me in the end anyway. I just had a hard time resisting - i was afraid just about every sentence was extremely important and should be written down.

Because I realized there was no way I could finish getting through it all before the exam unless i neglect all of my other classes/MCAT studying, I've adopted a new plan of reading the lecture for a general understanding, then reading the book WITHOUT taking notes or underlining/highlighting everything, then re-reading the lecture with a better understanding. If there's a section you still struggle with, you can take some notes from that part of the chapter. Just my method of trying to be more efficient.

 

[bluishgreen]

Forgive me, but I'm not sure how you can be a pre-med and think reading about biology is boring. It should at least be tolerable as you're going to be reading about it or relating topics for at least the next 4 years.

Because textbooks are too filled up with junk information to make the book big. And it confuses me to know what to memorize/not memorize. I like getting straight to concepts. As in, I like knowing the mechanism of cascade signaling, but not reading several pages about it, as it can be described in a picture way better than reading about it.

 

[bluishgreen]

I'm taking a molecular immunology course at my school and have been having similar issues. I had been studying every single day for this class and still couldn't get through the material in time for the next lecture. I take way too long writing down half of the text in my notebook while I read the chapter - and it likely doesn't help me in the end anyway. I just had a hard time resisting - i was afraid just about every sentence was extremely important and should be written down.

Because I realized there was no way I could finish getting through it all before the exam unless i neglect all of my other classes/MCAT studying, I've adopted a new plan of reading the lecture for a general understanding, then reading the book WITHOUT taking notes or underlining/highlighting everything, then re-reading the lecture with a better understanding. If there's a section you still struggle with, you can take some notes from that part of the chapter. Just my method of trying to be more efficient.

I think I'm about to try this method. Did your grades improve after you started doing this?

 

[Shockwave456]

Because textbooks are too filled up with junk information to make the book big. And it confuses me to know what to memorize/not memorize. I like getting straight to concepts. As in, I like knowing the mechanism of cascade signaling, but not reading several pages about it, as it can be described in a picture way better than reading about it.

One strategy you might try is listen for the key words/concepts that the professor mentions (or that are covered in the slides) and read more about those in the book. I don't know exactly how to describe this, but after a while, you just kind of know what's important and what's not so important. 🙂

 

[Anchovy]

I think I'm about to try this method. Did your grades improve after you started doing this?

Can't say for sure as our first exam in the course is this tuesday - but I know for a fact that my whole purpose of reading the book in the first place was that I couldn't understand the lectures without it, and I do feel that I'm retaining the same amount of info as I was previously. Basically my handwritten overdone textbook notes were doing me no good. Ditched those and I can move much faster now.

I'll letcha know how tuesday's exam goes. It's got a reputation for being an incredibly difficult class as it is at my school.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I literally have the worst professor in the world for human physiology. This professor just reads off the slides that come with the book during lecture, not to mention she can't answer a single question that any student has. The slides are incomprehensible without reading the chapter, and they still do not provide enough detail as the exam requires. Reading the chapter to its entirety seems physically impossible because of the amount of time it takes to read a single chapter coupled with the pace of the course. The course goes at one chapter per lecture, with lecture 2x/week. What would be the best way to study for this class? I tried to read the chapters and to take notes from the book for the first exam, but couldn't get past the first two chapters due to the amount of volume covered. Got smacked with a 50% on the test. I have never ever done this bad on a biology test. Even in orgo, the lowest I got was a 65%. How do you guys recommend I study for this class?

Literally? I doubt it.

If the teacher sucks, read the book. If you can't be bothered to read the book, then I have no pity for you. Grow a pair and get to work, man.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Did well in genchem, orgo, intro bio, molecular bio, cell bio, physics, without reading a book. It seems more than just luck my friend. Only book I read in undergrad is for english and for math. And yes, it is ******edly boring to read a biology book. I'm used to the white board and professors actually teaching material in a conversational manner.

This will end up being a huge problem. I succeeded in college because almost every professor I had except for a couple wrote on chalkboards or white boards. They solely tested on those notes. There were also professors that had all oral notes, and since I managed to write very quickly, those worked out. Therefore, I never read text books.

In medical school, not only will you not have any professors like that, but chances are you'll be skipping class anyway due to the volume of information!!! Therefore, you need to get used to self-study now. Definitely take advantage of secondary sources like YouTube, Khan Academy, computer applications, and iPad applications.

 

[bluishgreen]

Literally? I doubt it.

If the teacher sucks, read the book. If you can't be bothered to read the book, then I have no pity for you. Grow a pair and get to work, man.

Yes, literally. She reads right off slides that come with the book. She is unable to answer any questions.

 

[MedPR]

Did well in genchem, orgo, intro bio, molecular bio, cell bio, physics, without reading a book. It seems more than just luck my friend. Only book I read in undergrad is for english and for math. And yes, it is ******edly boring to read a biology book. I'm used to the white board and professors actually teaching material in a conversational manner.

You can't learn unless you are spoon-fed all the pertinent material? Good luck in med school.

 

[Medstart108]

You can't read two chapters in a seven day period? Good luck in med school.

I'm assuming this isn't their only class.

 

[RosettaStoned]

You can't learn unless you are spoon-fed all the pertinent material? Good luck in med school.

Thanks. Douche