I Am Absolutely Terrified

[kimt2234]

OK, not to sound nuts, but I just took my first gen chem exam and could honestly not gauge how I did. I am being 100% honest. I have been going to tutos for 3 hours for the past 3 weeks, and spending at lest 3 hours usually 5 per day for the past week studying for this exam. It is very concerning to me that I have studied harder for this one class then I did in my undergrad and grad combined, and yet I am unable to tell how well I did. It may sound strange, but I will be incredibly upset if I get less than a B, because to have put this much effort in and to do less than a B is very depressing to me. Especially since the classes are supposed to get harder.


I am a nontrad with a 3.29 undergrad gpa and 3.8 grad gpa with lots of other stufff to add, but I am really freaking out about the 8 prereq's I have to take to apply to med school. I am scared that if I don't get all A's with maybe a B in there I will not get into med school. MAybe I am overreacting, but this is where I am at right now. WHat the hell are you supposed to do if you study like a mad woman, get all the problems you can do correct than get to the exams and not even manage to get a B? I am sorry, but I take serious issue with the idea of having to take any of these classes over again because I got mostly B's or even C's.

Any advice on what to do?

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[NapeSpikes]

Relax until you get the test back, at least. Yeah, those eight prereqs are a pain, and you should aim for mostly A's, but a B (or two or even three) doesn't rule you out of the game.

 

[eccles1214]

Like the other poster said, relax. At this point, there is not much you can do for now. But, depending upon the grade you actually receive, and your instructor's grading scale, you may still be able to salvage things if you don't get the grade you had expected.

I, too, was terrified (and still am) of tests, and found that taking timed practice tests, preferrably in the same room where the real test will be given, helped prepare me for doing well in G-chem and other courses.

 

[ockhamsRzr]

relax...GenChem1's first exam can't be THAT bad. Nomenclature, atomic structure, basic periodic table theory, balancing equations, mole conversions, stoichiometry...?

C'mon stiff upper lip

 

[barasch]

Look, this is only one test. There will be many others. You'll do well on some and poorly on others. If you do poorly, there will be opportunities to improve.

My midterms

Physics - A
Bio - C
Organic - A

So I stunk on Bio - I've got some work to do there, but like me, if you visit with the professors and keep plugging away, you'll be able to bring your C's up before the end of the semester.

Good luck.

 

[blee]

If you honestly gave it your best shot, then don't be ashamed of your score, whatever it is. All we can do is our very best, which means not giving up and looking for ways to succeed even if it seems impossible at first.

I've told this story before on SDN, but it's appropriate here as well. My cousin-in-law (is that a real term?) got a C in gen chem during his first postbac semester. His premed advisor suggested he look into dentistry or anything else but med school, which pissed him off so much that he doubled his efforts and got As for the rest of the year. The end result - excellent state medical school, absolute top-notch residency program in his specialty, and next year he will begin his fellowship at another best-in-class program. So, yes, a couple of bad exams can be overcome.

In the end, all you can give is your very best. If that's not enough, then perhaps med school isn't in your future, but you will at least know that you gave it a fair shot. My guess is that you didn't do nearly as bad as you think, and that you can easily improve your scores by the end of the semester. Just keep at it!

 

[Monitor]

I did UConn's Post-Bacc and freaked out when a Teaching Assistant would give me 9/10 on a lab report. They thought 9 of 10 was pretty good, I felt I needed EVERY LAST POINT. Other's took 7 or 8 of 10 and didn't complain. We all got in (well 9 of 11).

Grades show how you'll hold up under year 1 conditions in med school. I did 2 semesters taking ORGO, BioChem, Micro, Embryology, Genetics, and Physiology with labs (16 upper level science credits/semester) and lab reports where like a whole course in themselves. Med school covered all that material in 12 weeks and my head was spinning, SPINNING.

Bottom line and this comes from the Chair of the Admissions Committee. When a program accepts you, they're making the decision that you're what they look for in med students. They are doing you a service by getting you ready for the VOLUME of material by putting you through the paces in a POST-BACC program. Difficulty is not the issue, VOLUME of material, 50-100 pages per hour of lecture was typical of reading assignments in year one.

Get the grades and/or MCAT score. Grades and poor MCAT won't cut it!