I am one of those students

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I am one of those students.

I am one of those students who are not intelligent. Coming out of high school I had horrible SAT scores. In community college I came out with a 3.67 GPA; never got anything higher than a B+ in a science course.

I am one those students who will probably study longer than you, and yet never get grades higher than you. For example in my genetics class, (which I'm failing), I'm comparing study habits with other students who got better midterm grades than me, and I found out that I studied longer than them and still got horrible grades. I got a B on two midterms and a D in genetics.

I am one of those students. And as you can see, I am concerned about this. You may be laughing at my concern, or thinking that I don't know what I'm talking about, but its true. Are there any people out there who are not smart and still got into dental school? Who will work as hard as they can, and yet never make those good grades?

Any opinion helps. Thanks
 
I am one of them too. My HS chemistry teacher always used to say: responsibility>intelligence. Let me explain: he said in order to be successful at anything you do, you have to be responsible; does not matter if you are intelligent or not. For example, some people may have a hard time with chemistry but if you are responsible in your actions (i.e. reading ahead, doing lots of problems till you master the stuff) you will always come out forward. I myself am an average student getting Bs and a few As here and there. But by no means I am intelligent. I just be responsible about it and trust me it works. And don't worry- I always scored lower than my fellow classmates (biochem for ex) but I didn't give up and killed the final and got an A in the class. So keep doing what you doing (studying, doing problems, and being responsible about coursework) and you'll be fine in your future endeavors. He was the best HS teacher I had in terms of preparing us for college and beyond.

don't stress 🙂
 
I remember an adcom member telling me dental students must have the cognitive ability to get through the courses. If you meet that requirement, then you're on a level playing field and work ethics is the only thing that matters. I'm sorry to say not everyone can be a dentist, just like not everyone can be a football player. We all have limits as well as the number of seats. Know yours. You sound like a rather smart individual. Maybe you should work on your weakness; is it reading?, then read more. There are fundamentals that can be improved. I too had poor grades in school but I worked really hard at my weakness (I googled ways to improve x and y) and now I've got 3 interviews line up this month. Don't be discouraged; some of us have to work harder to even get close to the outliers. Whats important is to continue working hard and it will all pay off in the end.
 
Hard work is more important than intelligence in most cases. I'm sure there are plenty people whose intelligence is comparable to yours that have made it to dental school. Don't give up if that is your goal. One thing to consider is the difference between the number of hours study versus the effectiveness of studying. Perhaps take some time to evaluate how you study and see if there are ways to make it more effective.
 
Stop saying that you are, "one of those students." I firmly believe you are what you think you are. Use the many different resources at your school to talk to someone to evaluate your study techniques and maybe all you need is a small tweak in your study habits to get good grades! Stay confident and if you want to be a dentist, you will be one. Just have to stay positive.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I really try to study about 2 hours a class a day... somedays I just can't though. I'll keep pushing. I've changed how I study for some classes so I guess Ill see.


What are your guys' usual study times for each class a day on average?
 
mitrieD said:
Thanks for the responses.

I really try to study about 2 hours a class a day... somedays I just can't though. I'll keep pushing. I've changed how I study for some classes so I guess Ill see.


What are your guys' usual study times for each class a day on average?
Click to expand...

I don't study hours/day. I do more like 15 hours/2 days before the test. But I never do all nighters... I always get good rest before a test. maybe you're a Crammer and you just don't know it. I know telling someone to
Cram and procrastinate isn't the normal advice but try it. Works for me. Ohh and office hours!!
 
destinedsirius said:
I don't study hours/day. I do more like 15 hours/2 days before the test. But I never do all nighters... I always get good rest before a test. maybe you're a Crammer and you just don't know it. I know telling someone to
Cram and procrastinate isn't the normal advice but try it. Works for me. Ohh and office hours!!
Click to expand...

This works for me too! Office hours the day before the test and 8 hour marathon study sessions. Sounds bad but it's true!
 
Keep your chin up.

More importantly, it's not about working harder, but working smarter. For example, I took a cell biology class one summer and realized it was impossible to write down everything the teacher said. Thus my understanding of the material had missing pieces to the puzzle.

So what I did was hand pick four of the smartest students in class and formulated an approach of meeting 1.5 hours every morning before class and reviewing our previous day's notes and filling in the gaps. The rationale was there would be no way all five of us could miss the same thing at the same time.

Well, at the end of the course, 4 of the 5 of us (the other guy had some health issues) got A's as we knew everything that came out of the teacher's mouth. In fact, only 5 people got A's in this course. There was no way any of us (except one dude in our group) could've scored an A on our own. This was truly an example of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Likewise, you may want to approach your difficulties by "working smarter". This can be done by forming a study group or focusing on the more important relavant material for exams. Also the study group could employ a tactic of "divide and conquer" meaning each person is responsible for learning a certain topic and then teaching the rest of the group.

Btw, I plan to form a study group in dental school. Who wants to join?
 
My girlfriend is like this.

She spends hours and hours studying for exams. She literally never stops working. And yet she's doing bad in all her classes right now.

My god, it kills me inside to see her do poorly after putting a ridiculous amount of effort into her studies. She wants to get into Med school btw.

So you're not alone in any case.
 
Beeeen there.

If this is the goal that matters to you, you will find a way to keep pushing. Every class is different, and materials are tested differently. What may work for a class may not work for another class. You just have to try and find out your learning style and what works for you.

My first 2 years in college, I struggled. Then, I found out what learning style works the best for me, when I do it right and allot enough time towards the class before an exam, I usually do well. I think it's mainly due to learning what works for me.

It can be done...It just takes patience, hard work, and some time.


A MD/PhD student once told me that "anyone can go to medical school...it's largely work ethics." He was a smart guy, so I doubt the statement a little. However, regardless of intelligence, I believe work ethics makes a whole lot of difference between one guy to the next. You have to endure a lot of emotional beating to get to your goal sometimes, but if you give up, the war is already over.
 
MrAvicii said:
You are the 99% :laugh:
Click to expand...

I don't study every day, nor do I have a schedule to go by. I do assigned homework and prepare labs ahead of time. I try to finish assigned papers a week ahead, this way I'm freed up for exams and such when they come close.
I usually study for exams beginning a few days before the exam.
On exams I go with my gut and almost never change answers. I'm pretty sure, this is what most high scorers do, (correct me if I'm wrong).....
In my experience, those who do poorly and have put in the study time, 2nd guess themselves and take the time to review the exam and change answers. My feeling is, if you studied, then trust your instincts.

I wasn't a great student in high school.....I just didn't care. I actually believed I wasn't too smart and why bother. Even my 1st year of college was pretty lousy.
It wasn't until a few years later when I got into dental hygiene school where I was put to the test and I began to become more confident as a student.
Now here I am, many years later.....putting myself to the test again, but this time with even more drive and maturity.
I'm not a 4.0 but I am very proud of how I'm doing so far. I just had an orgo exam that kicked my ass, but I still think I got at least an 85. The first exam I got a 96 🙂
Maybe stop your old study habits and think about how you remember things best. For some subjects, I find, making index cards very effective. Some people rewrite notes, while others pull all nighters. You just have to find what works and stick with it.

Try a study group for your challenging courses. You can test each other and sometimes remember it better that way.
 
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I am one of those students too 🙁 No matter how much I study I end with B. I remained a B student.
 
Some of the best advice I ever heard was that nothing is harder or easier than anything else, some things just require more time.



P.S. That advice was given to me by an oral surgeon who claimed to be "one of those people" too.
 
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This is actually pretty close to my story. In high school I felt a lot like you do now. I would look at my notes and just not get what I was seeing, and none if it would stick. I graduated high school with about a 3.0 and I was in the bottom 50% of my class. I actually wanted to go into dentistry then but never considered myself smart enough.

When college came around a professor talked about the difference between active and passive studying. The problem was that I was just staring at the page not getting anything out of it. When I started actually engaging in what I was studying and really thinking about it rather than just memorizing it, it changed everything. I would describe it as the difference between "knowing" and "understanding." Fast forward 4 years and now I'm graduating with a high GPA.

The point is, you just have to figure out what works for you. For me, studying for 8 hours a day doesn't do much because I get burnt out. I study about 3 hours a day for a week before tests. I also always study problem areas before I go to bed because it solidifies in your brain while you sleep.

No one can tell you what to do, you just have to figure out what works best for you. But seriously, don't give up on yourself. You have it in you somewhere, now you just have to find it.
 
+1 for the active studying.

Everyone studies differently, you just need to find your own method to understand and comprehend material. I found that keeping up with the material and constantly being exposed to the material really worked for me. That would mean going to multiple sections for the class, taking notes during class, listening to the podcasts and formalizing a final note sheet for that lecture. Then before the test, I would just go over these piles of notes for every lecture and jot down what I didn't know. Worked pretty well for all of my upper div science courses classes.

As for how much to study, I really stopped counting how many hours I would study. I studied by how much stuff I needed to get done for a subject, however long that would take me.
 
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mitrieD said:
I am one of those students.

I am one of those students who are not intelligent. Coming out of high school I had horrible SAT scores. In community college I came out with a 3.67 GPA; never got anything higher than a B+ in a science course.

I am one those students who will probably study longer than you, and yet never get grades higher than you. For example in my genetics class, (which I'm failing), I'm comparing study habits with other students who got better midterm grades than me, and I found out that I studied longer than them and still got horrible grades. I got a B on two midterms and a D in genetics.

I am one of those students. And as you can see, I am concerned about this. You may be laughing at my concern, or thinking that I don't know what I'm talking about, but its true. Are there any people out there who are not smart and still got into dental school? Who will work as hard as they can, and yet never make those good grades?

Any opinion helps. Thanks
Click to expand...

One of my interviewers claimed to be "one of those students," so don't beat yourself up about it. We all have to work hard, and there will always be someone smarter than us. Keep your head up. The hardwork will pay off in the future.
 
Wow such thoughtful posts! Thankyou!

DentalJedi I love your idea about changing the way I study. I don't know why I was taught to learn by memorizing instead of gaining the insight to actually understand the material. Maybe this can make a difference!

For others like me, you're not alone! lol
 
To the OP:

Hey, just keep working hard and you'll eventually get what you want. Even though I believe in determinism to an extent and that some people have it easier than others, I do believe that if you truly work hard enough; you can change your path. I have several friends in the same boat as you and I really admire their self-discipline and relentless perseverance.

I suggest you watch my recent favorite movie called The Adjustment Bureau. Even though its a love story, the main idea of the story will relate to your situation.

Furthermore, don't compare yourself to others. Don't ever label yourself as "one of those people" and never let someone discourage you from your dreams. Also, never let someone downplay the significance of your accomplishments. Plus when you you finally get what you want after you pour your sweat, tears, and soul into your dream, it will be extremely rewarding.
 
Keep your spirits up. Once you get in, you'll see that being smart is overrated. C's are the way to go 😀
 
Its not about what you study or how long you study it. Its about how you study it. Change your study habits. I did and for the past 2 semesters i have had nothing below an A- and my GPA has increased from a 2.71 to a 3.04 in 2 semesters and 2x summer courses
 
Impulse155 said:
Its not about what you study or how long you study it. Its about how you study it. Change your study habits. I did and for the past 2 semesters i have had nothing below an A- and my GPA has increased from a 2.71 to a 3.04 in 2 semesters and 2x summer courses
Click to expand...



So what is your study technique? How did you change it compared to your previous study habits?
 
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