Overcoming "Subject" Anxiety

[chrisj1982]

As some of you know, I'm the crazy person who's leaving my career as a corporate attorney to pursue medicine. As I've mentioned, I have a real anxiety about doing well in my science pre-reqs.

I realize some of these classes are quite hard, but I'm going to be devoting my full-time to studying and doing well in them. I'll be doing 2 per semester for the next 3 semesters to finish everything off.

Question is..for someone who isn't naturally gifted at mathematics, can some of these harder classes be learned through hardwork and studying? Or is something like physics II and/or Ochem something that requires more natural ability. Appreciate it guys.

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[Life Sucks]

You're making up excuses .....stop IT.
Use your learning style and work hard and they grade will come.
If you're weak in math, start with the easiest and work up.If you want to master a subject, you must work with it a lot, well at least untill it becomes second nature.

 

[angldrps]

As some of you know, I'm the crazy person who's leaving my career as a corporate attorney to pursue medicine. As I've mentioned, I have a real anxiety about doing well in my science pre-reqs.

I realize some of these classes are quite hard, but I'm going to be devoting my full-time to studying and doing well in them. I'll be doing 2 per semester for the next 3 semesters to finish everything off.

Question is..for someone who isn't naturally gifted at mathematics, can some of these harder classes be learned through hardwork and studying? Or is something like physics II and/or Ochem something that requires more natural ability. Appreciate it guys.

Absolutely! many of us don't have any sort of a natural ability and manage just fine through hard work and dedicated study time. There will be that one subject that will be a total pain (Ochem for me) but most are very do-able. I have never been good at math either but still did well in Physics. As long as you plan to put the work into it, you really don't need to worry about much.

 

[DocRooster]

Do what you've always done to receive what you always have.

 

[chrisj1982]

Absolutely! many of us don't have any sort of a natural ability and manage just fine through hard work and dedicated study time. There will be that one subject that will be a total pain (Ochem for me) but most are very do-able. I have never been good at math either but still did well in Physics. As long as you plan to put the work into it, you really don't need to worry about much.

Appreciate the encouragement. Sometimes I'm still crazy to think about leaving everything to pursue medicine...but alas, it is what I want. Plan on spending a solid 30-40 hours a week studying and practicing problems..hopefully this should do the trick.

 

[DocRooster]

Personally, I came to LIKE pre-semester anxiety. Let's me know I'm still taking it seriously. The classes that made me feel the sickest were the ones in which I tried hardest to do well. If I don't get that acetylcholine dump, now, I start to feel like I'm wasting my time.
They say the best hunting dogs drop a deuce right when they jump out of the truck, so excited for the hunt. You can let the anxiety worry you, try to treat it and do relaxation techniques and all. But personally, if my hands start sweating over classes a semester or two away...aaawwww yeeeaah.... That's when I walk out at the top of the class.

I was THE worst chemistry student in high school. Eight years later, I walked to organic class, covered half the sidewalk in puke, and smoked every single test. The professor STILL says I'm a better chemistry student than HE was.
You don't necessarily need 30hrs/week of studying. Listen to the professor as deeply as you possibly can, take notes like crazy with old fashioned pencil and paper, do the homework and find every practice problem you can possibly find. Ask every question you need to in class, no matter how unpopular or stupid it makes you look. Find a way to be able to "see" the stuff in your head, as a physical object instead of scribblings on paper. Fit the atoms together in your mind like legos, and see ways to play around with them. See the electron fields, the shapes of hydrocarbons, the colors of the elements in each. When you think OH(-), be able to see a physical representation in your mind. Flip propanol around like a poker player absent-mindedly screwing with his chips. YOU arent the one doing the chemistry - you're just allowed to watch as things bond by themselves. Sooner or later, your subconscious starts to do the chemistry for you. You see it in your sleep, in random patterns, etc...you start to be able to solve equations and pathways without even knowing HOW you knew it. And then just bask in the glorious jealousy.


(How weird is it that I still do that thing with propanol? I might be going a little insane.)

 

[docmayer]

Try dealing with the anxiety of having an acceptance for c/o 2017 assuming you get at least a 70% in ENGLISH when you haven't read a book or written an essay since high school.

 

[ur2l8]

Man up son

 

[maestrohuang]

undergrad lol

 

[chrisj1982]

Try dealing with the anxiety of having an acceptance for c/o 2017 assuming you get at least a 70% in ENGLISH when you haven't read a book or written an essay since high school.

I made it through 3 years of Standford law... I'm sorry I can't sympathize

 

[TriagePreMed]

I did poorly in undergrad and then very well on post-bacc. If you managed to get into Stanford law, you can make it through these classes. Math beyond trigonometry is not at all important to succeed in pre-med courses, well, except if you consider calculus a pre-med course.

 

[maestrohuang]

I made it through 3 years of Standford law... I'm sorry I can't sympathize

standford? at least it phonetically sounds prestigious

 

[docmayer]

I made it through 3 years of Standford law... I'm sorry I can't sympathize

Pfft, that's a joke.

 

[chrisj1982]

Pfft, that's a joke.

I assumed as much. Congrats on your acceptance.

 

[museic]

Worst comes to worst, you can always sue the school. I mean you are a lawyer and everything..

 

[docmayer]

I assumed as much. Congrats on your acceptance.

/sarcasm