I didn't even study....and got an A

[insane]

Art Appreciation: Never touched the book, slept through most lectures, did both essays got 100%s, got 100% on every quiz, and 100%s on both midterm and final. Why, class was full of jocks, the teacher curved everything, and it was art appreciation, its a joke.

Orgo: Study my butt off, and barely scraping an A. Why, class is full of over achievers no curves, no extra credit, and all the points are in 3 exams and a final.

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[tom1504]

i chose to double major in math (big mistake, don't do it!) and art history. i can tell you guys with all honesty that i barely study for the art history and pulled all A's whereas the math is a very different story. but then again, it's all relative. by "barely" studied i mean i studied for a few hours the night before the test, which would not get me a high grade in any pre-med course. on the other hand, i've spent countless hours writing papers for the art history, so that compensates for the hours studying biochem. i think the amount you study depends on the structure of the course and, of course, your personal interest and how much you want to put into your work/how much you want to learn.

i wouldn't worry too much about finding the courses that are "easy A's." even those can be tough if you don't like what you're studying. i think when people say that they're studying something that "comes naturally", they really mean to say that they're studying something they're passionate about. it's a lot easier to study for (and get an A in) a subject you're genuinely interested in rather than one that seems like a drag!

 

[jpatel]

Jesus christ. If physics came just miraculously came to people and everything made sense first time they ever thought about it, it wouldn't have taken 2500 for human civilization to come up with a simple concept like F = ma. its funny how people are listing people they know who didn't touch the book. Its probably the other way around and that ur a ****** for believing him.

If someone is good looking, then he will fascinate about how he is best looking and how he gets all chicks. Similarly since more premeds are above average in their grades, we all like to think we super intelligent. And saying "we didnt study and aced all the classes", we are reinforcing our psychological brain that may be we are super intelligent. its part of of being a premed. I can imagine how insane med school is going to be like as it is already evident in this thread.

I have a 3.98 sgpa and I am obviously strong in science but I did study even if I started preparing for 3 days before the test. May be I should just join the club and act like how everything just comes to me. at least I can pretend like I am super smart.

 

[austinap]

Jesus christ. If physics came just miraculously came to people and everything made sense first time they ever thought about it, it wouldn't have taken 2500 for human civilization to come up with a simple concept like F = ma. its funny how people are listing people they know who didn't touch the book. Its probably the other way around and that ur a ****** for believing him.

Nice straw man. There is a huge difference between coming up with and validating an idea from first first principles, and being able to understand a complex idea after one pass through the information. I've only taken one class ever where getting a good grade required being able to derive a new idea from basic concepts, and that was a biophysics class I took that was taught by a mathematical physicist.

If someone is good looking, then he will fascinate about how he is best looking and how he gets all chicks. Similarly since more premeds are above average in their grades, we all like to think we super intelligent. And saying "we didnt study and aced all the classes", we are reinforcing our psychological brain that may be we are super intelligent. its part of of being a premed. I can imagine how insane med school is going to be like as it is already evident in this thread.

Sure, I think a lot of premeds are like that. That doesn't mean that people capable of understanding the material after a single pass don't exist. If you want an extreme example, have a look at Ramanujan, who came up with some ridiculously complex theorems without having any formal mathematical training. As uncomfortable as it may make you feel, people that smart do exist.

I have a 3.98 sgpa and I am obviously strong in science but I did study even if I started preparing for 3 days before the test. May be I should just join the club and act like how everything just comes to me. at least I can pretend like I am super smart.

In my experience, grades correlate only weakly with intelligence. Most of the extremely intelligent people I know don't really care much about their grades simply because they're more interested in actually learning stuff, and they know that they're sub-4.0 gpa will still get them where they want to go. In contrast, I know a lot of people that I would consider to be of average intelligence that have 3.9+ gpas because they work their asses off.

 

[StormingWynn]

Jesus christ. If physics came just miraculously came to people and everything made sense first time they ever thought about it, it wouldn't have taken 2500 for human civilization to come up with a simple concept like F = ma. its funny how people are listing people they know who didn't touch the book. Its probably the other way around and that ur a ****** for believing him.

If someone is good looking, then he will fascinate about how he is best looking and how he gets all chicks. Similarly since more premeds are above average in their grades, we all like to think we super intelligent. And saying "we didnt study and aced all the classes", we are reinforcing our psychological brain that may be we are super intelligent. its part of of being a premed. I can imagine how insane med school is going to be like as it is already evident in this thread.

I have a 3.98 sgpa and I am obviously strong in science but I did study even if I started preparing for 3 days before the test. May be I should just join the club and act like how everything just comes to me. at least I can pretend like I am super smart.

Does it really bother you that much to see people who can grasp concepts with one single pass? Wow man! Take a chill pill. Also, read the poster's post above me. They took the words out of my mouth.

 

[Naijaboiler]

As an engineer, i got by most of my undergrad studying very little. The hardest things in engineering are not the exams but the countless long homeworks, projects etc. A lot of engineering is like physics. You can think your way through it in an exam as long as there is enough time. We often don't even have to memorize nothing. A lot of basic equations are given to your on the exam sheet, and the rest of the equations you need, you can derive during the exam if you understand the basic principles of the topic. This is engineering. If you get what the material you get it, if you don't, good luck.

Doing bio classes in my postbacc, I am finally learning how to study. Sorry no amount of intuition ( no matter how intelligent you are) will help you differentiate the function of IL4 from IL1 or IgA from IgB. Intuition might help you figure out how they might likely function but you only know their names because you have either seen them before in class or in a book. The only exception to this is Mendelian genetics which is mostly basic math and a little biology. That's the only exam I have killed without studying at all besides showing up in class ocassionally. The others I learned my lesson really quickly.

 

[Naijaboiler]

Jesus christ. If physics came just miraculously came to people and everything made sense first time they ever thought about it, it wouldn't have taken 2500 for human civilization to come up with a simple concept like F = ma. its funny how people are listing people they know who didn't touch the book. Its probably the other way around and that ur a ****** for believing him.

If someone is good looking, then he will fascinate about how he is best looking and how he gets all chicks. Similarly since more premeds are above average in their grades, we all like to think we super intelligent. And saying "we didnt study and aced all the classes", we are reinforcing our psychological brain that may be we are super intelligent. its part of of being a premed. I can imagine how insane med school is going to be like as it is already evident in this thread.

I have a 3.98 sgpa and I am obviously strong in science but I did study even if I started preparing for 3 days before the test. May be I should just join the club and act like how everything just comes to me. at least I can pretend like I am super smart.

seriously, a lot of basic physics is intuitive. its not like we are talking about relativity here. A strong background in math which includes a thorough understanding and full appreciation of trig and calculus will pull you through a lot of classes easily. And having been an engineer and now taking bio classes. They are worlds apart. That's why you might find physics challenging while others can spend 15 mins looking at it and make sense of the entire chapter. Completely different way of thinking. In a way, physics is about making sense of the material and not studying it to memorize it. And once it makes sense, you are almost good for life.

 

[waspahh33]

As an engineer, i got by most of my undergrad studying very little. The hardest things in engineering are not the exams but the countless long homeworks, projects etc. A lot of engineering is like physics. You can think your way through it in an exam as long as there is enough time. We often don't even have to memorize nothing. A lot of basic equations are given to your on the exam sheet, and the rest of the equations you need, you can derive during the exam if you understand the basic principles of the topic. This is engineering. If you get what the material you get it, if you don't, good luck.

Doing bio classes in my postbacc, I am finally learning how to study. Sorry no amount of intuition ( no matter how intelligent you are) will help you differentiate the function of IL4 from IL1 or IgA from IgB. Intuition might help you figure out how they might likely function but you only know their names because you have either seen them before in class or in a book. The only exception to this is Mendelian genetics which is mostly basic math and a little biology. That's the only exam I have killed without studying at all besides showing up in class ocassionally. The others I learned my lesson really quickly.

"We often don't even have to memorize nothing"
Obviously, english wasn't tested too much in engineering? J/K

 

[jpatel]

seriously, a lot of basic physics is intuitive. its not like we are talking about relativity here. A strong background in math which includes a thorough understanding and full appreciation of trig and calculus will pull you through a lot of classes easily. And having been an engineer and now taking bio classes. They are worlds apart. That's why you might find physics challenging while others can spend 15 mins looking at it and make sense of the entire chapter. Completely different way of thinking. In a way, physics is about making sense of the material and not studying it to memorize it. And once it makes sense, you are almost good for life.

Who said I found physics challenging. I tutor physics as well as other sciences and I know a lot of it is intuitive.

And this is to everyone in here who is saying how physics was intuitive to them. MOST of the concepts in phjysics are not intuitive. electric fields, magnetic fields, circular motion, torque, optics almost everything besides the first two chapters in physics 1 are not intuitive. Dont tell me you just went to lecture and intuitively learned about sound waves and harmonic motion and all of the sudden everything made sense. Intuitive my ass. Oh look at me I just went to the lecture and all of the sudden I realized how magnetic fields induce electric fields. Oh man, I intuitively knew that and I intuitively understood Gauss's law. Well the only thing left for me to do is jerk my self off before the test because INTUITIVELY everything makes sense.

 

[austinap]

Who said I found physics challenging. I tutor physics as well as other sciences and I know a lot of it is intuitive.

And this is to everyone in here who is saying how physics was intuitive to them. MOST of the concepts in phjysics are not intuitive. electric fields, magnetic fields, circular motion, torque, optics almost everything besides the first two chapters in physics 1 are not intuitive. Dont tell me you just went to lecture and intuitively learned about sound waves and harmonic motion and all of the sudden everything made sense. Intuitive my ass. Oh look at me I just went to the lecture and all of the sudden I realized how magnetic fields induce electric fields. Oh man, I intuitively knew that and I intuitively understood Gauss's law. Well the only thing left for me to do is jerk my self off before the test because INTUITIVELY everything makes sense.

Somebody's bitter...

Keep in mind nobody is saying that these things are intuitive for everybody... but there are definitely people capable of understanding the concepts you listed in sufficient depth to ace a test simply by going to lecture.

 

[caseofthemndays]

There was a guy who was known as the "I don't study or show up to class but pull off A's" guy in college, he totally spent every night in the library. I saw him leaving at like 11 every night. Needless to say, he was pre-med.

 

[jpatel]

Somebody's bitter...

Keep in mind nobody is saying that these things are intuitive for everybody... but there are definitely people capable of understanding the concepts you listed in sufficient depth to ace a test simply by going to lecture.

Yea agreed. and people like that are rare if they do exist. But it is obviously none of these people here.

 

[Hope0913]

It's kinda like a thrill... ;p

yep

 

[austinap]

Yea agreed. and people like that are rare if they do exist. But it is obviously none of these people here.

Whatever you say boss.

 

[apumic]

Yea agreed. and people like that are rare if they do exist. But it is obviously none of these people here.

You should get out more and seek people out before declaring "they don't exist." People vary in their talents. This is like saying that because none of your friends can break the 4-minute mile (running) these people are so rare that no one on a running forum is one of them. The fact is that it's quite likely at least someone on a running forum as popular as SDN has broken the 4-minute mile. Likewise, it is highly probably that a number of people here are, in fact, among those who learn quickly and in such a way as to seem "impossible" to you. People exist who can run a mile in <4 min and, likewise, people exist who can ace a course like ochem or biochem with only a couple of hours of studying each week outside attending lectures.

 

[addo]

Or how about when people say "I didn't go to class once, and still got an A". Actually, thats the case with me sometimes, especially with boring professors, but i still study my butt off.

 

[apumic]

Or how about when people say "I didn't go to class once, and still got an A". Actually, thats the case with me sometimes, especially with boring professors, but i still study my butt off.

Good for them. If they can pull that off, more power to 'em. To me, that seems counterproductive since much of how I am able to obtain that A w/o studying is by reading the prof during lectures to determine what will be most likely to be tested on. Not going to lecture would be very harmful to that aspect of my strategy.

 

[thesauce]

You should get out more and seek people out before declaring "they don't exist." People vary in their talents. This is like saying that because none of your friends can break the 4-minute mile (running) these people are so rare that no one on a running forum is one of them. The fact is that it's quite likely at least someone on a running forum as popular as SDN has broken the 4-minute mile. Likewise, it is highly probably that a number of people here are, in fact, among those who learn quickly and in such a way as to seem "impossible" to you. People exist who can run a mile in <4 min and, likewise, people exist who can ace a course like ochem or biochem with only a couple of hours of studying each week outside attending lectures.

I believe he was arguing against people being able to make A's without ANY studying outside the classroom. A couple of hours per week is quite significant for an undergrad course.

 

[tncekm]

like 60-70hours a week id estimate (including listening to lectures on itunes bc i dont go to actual lectures)

60-70hrs/wk? Is that pretty normal for people in your school? I honestly wouldn't know what's normal. LOL. I skip class all the time, so I have no idea how much people study, and I try not to pry too much into peoples study schedules at school. ^_^

 

[tncekm]

I believe he was arguing against people being able to make A's without ANY studying outside the classroom. A couple of hours per week is quite significant for an undergrad course.

Well, that's nearly-impossible because often not everything on tests is covered in class ^_^ But, for conceptual classes, what may take some people days to study, others can study in an hour or two (on top of class time).

I think the amount of time needed for people to study conceptual topics varies greatly, but I think that the amount of time required for people to perform rote memorization probably has a much tighter bell curve, with a few freaky outliers with insane photographic memories. (note: photographic memory doesn't equal genius, it just means photographic memory!)

 

[Tabicakes]

yous guys is too serious. sure maybe there are a couple of fabricators posting on here, but getting into medical school/becoming a Dr obviously requires some level of intelligence above the norm (and even more dedication/hard work)
and everyone's standards of 'not studying' vs. subject of interest vs. the professor is COMPLETELY relative to them and them alone so why even try to bicker?
just laugh and be impressed by their superiority and our inferiority.

 

[UpQuark]

Got away with it in Gen Bio and Chem. Physics.... not so lucky lol

 

[circulus vitios]

I believe he was arguing against people being able to make A's without ANY studying outside the classroom. A couple of hours per week is quite significant for an undergrad course.

My professors keep saying we should study "3 hours outside of class for every hour in class." Who in the **** studies 45 hours a week ON TOP of going to lecture, doing the homework, doing labs, doing lab reports, etc. I'd be pulling like 80-90 hour weeks if that was true.

 

[Elpenor]

I would just like to add that i never study and always get a's. Usually a+'s. Maybe some day you will be like me op.

 

[Frazier]

I would just like to add that i never study and always get a's. Usually a+'s. Maybe some day you will be like me op.

You don't have all A+'s?

 

[NickNaylor]

There's another explanation for this: people bull**** in an attempt to impress others. Why they do this, who knows, but I don't put this beyond the neurotic people at all.

 

[DM3]

Cinema Survey

Grade: A
Hours studied: 0

ezpz

 

[hiyaman]

You know those pre-meds- they make the nefarious claim of not having studied for an exam, and STILL making that "A". I hate them. Why? Because of four reasons:

1) Their claim is completely false

2) They say it to embellish their grade and ego

3) They throw your study skills out of whack (or at least try to)

4) They are almost always the gunner pre-meds.

My question is: Why bother? Have you guys had any such experiences? How do you respond?

I really do hate this, I think it's psychological warefare. Or maybe they really didn't have to study and are just gifted like that.

Btw I study 2 hours per hour of class at a minimum, when you think about it 2 hours per hour of class is not much at all esp since you usually have gap days for classes, that's only 1 hour per day of that subject....I usually study more, except for labs, usually sink in 4-6 hours in lab reports sometimes less if the prof is more lax.

I don't know why people do this, esp since when no one cares and they just put on their ignore list IRL.

 

[Perth Domer]

how do you define studying? In conceptual classes with problem sets I can usually pull off solving the problems and looking over them the night before. Other classes I'm bad at so I can use the extra time to compensate. I hate pure memorization if I don't care about it (I'm looking at you cell bio) but if I care about/find it interesting (Physiology) I can do pretty well in those sorts of classes. It just requires time.

Funny story, I knew a guy whose only As in his first two years of college were the two Orgos. He literally just went to class and took the exams.

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[osumc2014]

honestly, I feel that type of people are worse off. I was the never study til night before the test kinda person and still got As. But that is biting me in the butt in med school, you simply cannot cram, and the 4 years of bad habits are hard to kick! i recommend getting in a good studying habit in undergrad, you will thank yourself later!

 

[ReptarBar]

first year, all i had to do was review my **** quickly for an hour and i would get an A. 2nd year became a bit harder, and now in 3rd its impossible to do that...i gotta study like 2 days in advance now. oh well =(.

 

[dbeast]

There's another explanation for this: people bull**** in an attempt to impress others. Why they do this, who knows, but I don't put this beyond the neurotic people at all.

I'll tell you why- not enough love from the opposite sex in middle school.