Need some motivation...

[TylerJ]

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Alright, so organic chemistry, it's going great; 98 on my first exam and lab is going well too.

On the other hand, physics with calculus... I've taken all my math already until differential equations and aced everything, but physics is killing me. In lab I am doing great, but lecture, I have a different professor and I can give him the correct answers to questions and still get points taken away.

I have not even received my first exam back, I will in a few hours, and I am freaking out, because based on his quiz grading that it's going to destroy me. I studying all weekend, doing problems in the back of the book. I was so nervous the night before, that I could not sleep. I went into my first exam, sleep deprived and beyond nervous, and I know I made mistakes that I should not have because I could not focus. This just compounds the fact that if I was of sound mind at the time, there is NO reason for not getting a 100, even if the professor marks off points for nit-picky reasons.

Anyone recover from a bad test to come out with an A? Also, with exception to quizzes, tests are the only grading component in the lecture course--yay! No assigned homework, no feedback, all tests! The only positive thing I can find is, that I know how his tests are formatted, so I now know how to study for them.

I am freaking out, because this is my first bad grade in college and I studied so much.

 

[ShoTyme]

Alright, so organic chemistry, it's going great; 98 on my first exam and lab is going well too.

On the other hand, physics with calculus... I've taken all my math already until differential equations and aced everything, but physics is killing me. In lab I am doing great, but lecture, I have a different professor and I can give him the correct answers to questions and still get points taken away.

I have not even received my first exam back, I will in a few hours, and I am freaking out, because based on his quiz grading that it's going to destroy me. I studying all weekend, doing problems in the back of the book. I was so nervous the night before, that I could not sleep. I went into my first exam, sleep deprived and beyond nervous, and I know I made mistakes that I should not have because I could not focus. This just compounds the fact that if I was of sound mind at the time, there is NO reason for not getting a 100, even if the professor marks off points for nit-picky reasons.

Anyone recover from a bad test to come out with an A? Also, with exception to quizzes, tests are the only grading component in the lecture course--yay! No assigned homework, no feedback, all tests! The only positive thing I can find is, that I know how his tests are formatted, so I now know how to study for them.

I am freaking out, because this is my first bad grade in college and I studied so much.

Tyler, with all due respect, you don't need motivation. You need a hug. You need someone to tell you it will be all right. It probably will be. It's your first exam. Relax. Take a deep breath. There is nothing you can do about your past performance. Learn from it. Move on. If your exam isn't what you'd hoped, then you know what is expected of you for next time. That being said... physics sucks. 😀

 

[Nasrudin]

Alright, so organic chemistry, it's going great; 98 on my first exam and lab is going well too.

On the other hand, physics with calculus... I've taken all my math already until differential equations and aced everything, but physics is killing me. In lab I am doing great, but lecture, I have a different professor and I can give him the correct answers to questions and still get points taken away.

I have not even received my first exam back, I will in a few hours, and I am freaking out, because based on his quiz grading that it's going to destroy me. I studying all weekend, doing problems in the back of the book. I was so nervous the night before, that I could not sleep. I went into my first exam, sleep deprived and beyond nervous, and I know I made mistakes that I should not have because I could not focus. This just compounds the fact that if I was of sound mind at the time, there is NO reason for not getting a 100, even if the professor marks off points for nit-picky reasons.

Anyone recover from a bad test to come out with an A? Also, with exception to quizzes, tests are the only grading component in the lecture course--yay! No assigned homework, no feedback, all tests! The only positive thing I can find is, that I know how his tests are formatted, so I now know how to study for them.

I am freaking out, because this is my first bad grade in college and I studied so much.

It should be obvious. That not it any way. Do you need to be motivated. Anyone asking to be motivated--clearly not you--should hang it up.

What you need desperately is perspective. You are experiencing the same thing our ancestors did when thy needed to escape being the prey of an elephant-sized cave bear. Only. You can't shut it off.

Your ripping yourself up physiologically. Medicine is a decade and some change long in it's course of training. From undergrad to doc. Just for the initial phase.

Does getting your health stress-raped for that entire time sound nice?

It's unlikely you will heed what I'm saying. We're built like this. For self-destruction. And it's feeding frenzy on our own selves from go. The best do it the dirtiest.

So feast away on your own flesh until there's nothing left. Be my guest.

Edit. Showtyme beats me to the draw....

 

[Bluesun]

Nasrudin, I love the way you think -- very much inline with how I think, in this instance.

OP:
Calc based physics is hard for most people-- no getting around that. I had to take a year of it with lab in undergrad with a notoriously terrible professor as well. Terrible in the sense that not only was he not very effective at lecturing, but he was incredibly nit picky when it came to grading (and our tests were from a different book than the homework...). Note that this is not just my perspective, but literally my entire graduating class -- it's a running gag about how horrible of a professor he was.

I mention this to say that my view of calc based physics may be a little skewed. Having said that, I aced all of my math courses up through diff eq, numerical methods, linear algebra, etc, but physics II was one of two classes in undergrad that I had to study for. Basically, you are not alone 😀.

You may want to take a look at your studying methods -- there may be more effective ways of learning that suit you better that you are not privy to. Most importantly, just relax and put in the study time necessary and you'll do fine. It is likely that you are more than capable of understanding the material (it's not beyond comprehension) -- it's just a matter of how it needs to be presented to you and more importantly how well you understand the underlying concepts. All it really comes down to is putting the necessary number of reps in, like anything else. 🙂

Also, try yoga and/or some form of exercise if you are finding it difficult to cope with stress (if you don't already do this). I could not believe the difference getting in shape has made on my psyche.

 

[TylerJ]

Thanks for the replies! I'm in the midst of climbing out of the pit of despair to re vindicate my grade in that class back to an A. Revaluating my approach and study habits.

I received a 79% (worst exam grade ever) and will just have to work harder to make up for it. At least I know what his exams are like now and will more aptly prepare for the format in the future. Admittedly, I did psych myself out for this test and could not sleep the night prior, so I was rather deprived and nervous during the test. I can only imagine what I'll be like the night before the MCAT--egads!

As far as exercise is concerned, I swim and workout at the gym when time is available; however, my time doing both has decreased due to the demands of schools, so my stress has increased. Why do I feel like I'm in lab report mode.

 

[ShoTyme]

Edit. Showtyme beats me to the draw....

Sorry about that. I'm very blunt. Your eloquence is your gift which unfortunately I do not have. I always appreciate reading your posts 🙂

 

[Nasrudin]

Sorry about that. I'm very blunt. Your eloquence is your gift which unfortunately I do not have. I always appreciate reading your posts 🙂

Blunt is better. Hemingway was blunt. In fact. Since man first learned to make words. There has probably been a direct correlation to the degree of "eloquence" with the extent of a man's lies.

But OP. Now worries man. If your grades are good. You can take a hit or two on the prereqs.

My angle was only to get your attention. You're riding to tense in the saddle. You need to ease up. You spend 10 times the energy you need to the way you're at it.

Sometimes you just come up on a really hard instructor. It happens. It's a total package that gets you there. And it's a cooler head that you gets you there being you. And some deranged freak.

The pressure will eat you up unless you learn to go easy.

It's not like I've got it figured out. But you have to try. And keep trying.



Bluesun--birds of a feather. Yoga is the ****. A good yoga instructor is 5 times the doctor any doctor will ever be. Anyone who feels it. Who has needed it. Knows it. And doesn't need a scientist to prove it.