Need some guidance

[I wannabe a doc]

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Ok so im just here browing SDN and i know you guys have been through it all and get good grades etc. I finished general chemistry last semester and im starting my first series of biology, cell biology fall semester and first part of organic chemistry. What should i practice or study so i do well in organic chemistry and biology. Also what study techniques etc do you recommend to suceed in biology and chemistry. Thank you if you decide to post a reply.

 

[TopSecret]

Ok so im just here browing SDN and i know you guys have been through it all and get good grades etc. I finished general chemistry last semester and im starting my first series of biology, cell biology fall semester and first part of organic chemistry. What should i practice or study so i do well in organic chemistry and biology. Also what study techniques etc do you recommend to suceed in biology and chemistry. Thank you if you decide to post a reply.

Join a co-op, get a voice recorder, and take careful notes. Most of what you need to know for exams will be discussed in class or will be in the syllabus. It's also not a good idea to know everything just everything that will be tested. That's a big difference. Also, don't go overboard with all the "honors" courses because those are GPA killers.

 

[I wannabe a doc]

Join a co-op, get a voice recorder, and take careful notes. Most of what you need to know for exams will be discussed in class or will be in the syllabus. It's also not a good idea to know everything just everything that will be tested. That's a big difference. Also, don't go overboard with all the "honors" courses because those are GPA killers.

Also do you think my current study technique is good. I am actually reading the book and i like make my own notes etc. Should i just stick to in class notes and not worry about the book cause it might go into greater detail? Also making your own notes out of the book takes a long time cause i get confused and dont understand some concepts.

 

[TopSecret]

Also do you think my current study technique is good. I am actually reading the book and i like make my own notes etc. Should i just stick to in class notes and not worry about the book cause it might go into greater detail? Also making your own notes out of the book takes a long time cause i get confused and dont understand some concepts.

Stick to the class notes and the syllabus. You'll also learn from the classes what you don't need to know. You'll save a lot of time in the end.

 

[beckhunter116]

For organic do as many problems as you can. For my class we had extra worksheets that were for extra practice, but you want to get comfortable at manipulating the molecules and what reactions use what reactants (mostly orgo 2).

For biology it is mostly just studying like normal. Try to connect the information to chemistry or later chapters so that it is easier to remember and for the MCAT later on. Good luck!

 

[ziggydoc]

If your class has online lecture slides, print them out and take notes on those, then study them for exams, you will/should get good scores everytime. I found writing notes from the books to be a waste of time unless I KNOW the professor teaches straight out of the book, but even then, many professors skip sections or chapters, so if you took notes on those and studied, you have wasted your valuable time.

Note cards and such are a waste of time if you have a decent memory, because the time you would use to write them all out on note cards, you can prob go over the material 5 times. However, some stuff are better visually, and consolidating important info into a study guide is very helpful (for example, O-chem reactions), in those cases a few flash cards will help.

Finally, MANAGE YOUR TIME WELL, know your limits, studying for 10 hours while you are distracted every 10 min. and studying for 2 hours while focused are very different. Study hard, study smart, and don't waste time. Work out a system and know when you need to start studying for particular classes.

And good luck, keep your eyes on the prize and you will be fine 🙂

 

[TopSecret]

Also, buy your MCAT review books and mark them up as you take your basic science courses. So when the MCAT rolls around, you'll be covering old ground and studying more efficiently.

 

[Cleveland]

Here are some rules that have worked for me in the past:

Organic Chemistry- See if you can get the solutions manual for your textbook, especially if your professor assigns homework out of it. (NO, not so you can copy the hw...that really does wreck you in the long run. Don't do it.) That way, you can do those hw problems AND related problems and know if you are getting them right or wrong. I had a class that was very book-heavy, so this strategy really payed off on the exams.

Cell Bio- Reading the book and understanding the material is key for this class. My cell bio course was arguably harder for some than my organic chemistry course (both taken at the same time) and required a different learning strategy. Cell bio required more memorization of facts and principles and a little bit less application, whereas my ochem class was all application, little memorization. For the memorization of the facts/principles, flash cards always worked well for me.

Either way, find out what works best for you. Taking my own notes really helped in some classes, and in others it was a waste of time. Put in your hours at the beginning of the semester and ace the early exams, so as to reduce the stress on you once finals roll around. Get A's. If you need to study harder than all of your friends and stay in on weekends, do it. It all pays off. Good luck dude.

 

[ziggydoc]

Also, buy your MCAT review books and mark them up as you take your basic science courses. So when the MCAT rolls around, you'll be covering old ground and studying more efficiently.

Wish I had done that, but back then I was soooo uninformed 😕

 

[brahms11]

Also do you think my current study technique is good. I am actually reading the book and i like make my own notes etc. Should i just stick to in class notes and not worry about the book cause it might go into greater detail? Also making your own notes out of the book takes a long time cause i get confused and dont understand some concepts.

For organic chemistry:

I found that I did best in orgo when I skimmed the entire chapter before we started it in lecture. Following the instructor's suggestion, I would take class notes and then recopy them with examples later on that day or the next day. The recopying sounds dumb at first, but it really helps you solidify the important parts of the lecture. As others have said, notes from the textbook itself is not the best way to go.

Before finals, I would make "rule sheets" based upon the common reactivity trends seen in the chapter (ex. what is an SN2 mechanism, what polarity/type of solvent does it react under). If I had difficulty coming up with a lot of information for a topic, I would then know that I need to review it.

I second Cleveland and the others who suggest tons of practice problems and checking with the solutions manual. It's really easy to think you understand the subject while reading, not so much when you have to sit down and synthesize something.

Most importantly....NEVER fall behind. If you take a week off from problem sets to catch up in another class, it might kill you. In fact, it almost killed me second term.

Best of luck!

 

[TopSecret]

This was my usual studying schedule. It works for any class.

1) Go to class. Take notes.
2) Return from class.
3) Take a nap to feel refreshed.
4) Review class notes.
5) Read the text.
6) Sleep.
7) Try to recall everything that I had learned the day before as I shower and brush my teeth in the morning.
8) Review notes before class and jot down what I failed to recall.

And then repeat.

For the weekends I would review everything I learned that week. Repetition is the key to learning. Also, studying when fully awake and alert, and not half-asleep, is crucial. You'll find out that studying when half-asleep is just a waste of time. You'll process information a lot slower and the information that is processed might be erroneous.