pre-pharmacy classes

[kittyluv7]

---

Members do not see this ad.

hello everyone,
I was hoping for some advice and maybe some encouraging notes from anyone that is willing to respond to an unintelligent person. I have been struggling to take all my pre-req for pharmacy for 3yrs now but for some reason I am unsuccessful (pretty sad, huh?). I really need some hints on how to study to actually pass for example the pcats. I have high hopes to finish school, but it seem as though I am getting no where. If you retake a course, does it count against you in any kind of way to be accepted into pharmacy school? I am so determined to get into pharmacy school that I am not giving up but asking for assistance. If anyone have any hints or pointers on how to pass some courses, please let me know.
Thank you.

 

[mbrindley]

I encourage you to keep your head up. I just switched to prepharm and am taking ochem and calc + 2 others. Really, it all about memorizing stuff ( a lot of stuff I grant you) and you have to figure out what works best for you. I can only tell you the things ive figured out.

Record lectures- If you are an auditory learner (as I am) buy a recorder and record any classes you can. Listen to the lecture and only write the things you have to. That way you hear things correctly and store complete information as you hear it.

Rewrite your notes- Go home and recopy your notes into a perminent notebook, combining what you wrote and what you recorded.

Learn by doing- If, for example, you are trying to learn reactions for ochem or chem, write down the reagents and the products and make yourself fill in the arrows. Then write down only the arrows and products and make yourself come up with reagents. Then write down reagents and arrows and develope the products. I do a lot of this as well as creating my own retrosynthetic any. questions (make 4-chloro-2-methyleneclyclohexan from 2-chloro-3-butene). This type of studing removes all your crutches and you have to truely learn what does this and what does that. Also, if you think you learn well by going hands on, get on the internet and buy a ball and stick chem model set to play with.

Utilize your school-If your school offers free tutoring-dont be a stupid head-use it! If there are study groups-go. Every chance you get-go see your prof. It makes them happy to help (most of them) and you may get a few brownie pts out of it.

Devote yourself-I eat, sleep, and breath ochem right now. I havent seen any of the last episodes of Lost or gotten on the computer for anything other than to look at pharm schools, post here, and study chem from my book's CD and website.

If you havnt already, you have to accept that for the next some odd years you wont be going out twice a week, you wont know whats going on at the Real World house, and you wont get near as much sleep. Thats just how it has to be for all us non-genusis folks. You can do it, just keep it up.

 

[npp71681]

Hi!
kittyluv7,

I recommond you to go to the free tutoring at your school and get help. That's what I am doing. I found tutoring very helpful.

 

[kittyluv7]

Hi!
kittyluv7,

I recommond you to go to the free tutoring at your school and get help. That's what I am doing. I found tutoring very helpful.

Thank you for the advice. I am now receiving tutoring which is helping me a lot. 🙂

 

[melt36]

Thank you for the advice. I am now receiving tutoring which is helping me a lot. 🙂

I agree! On-campus tutoring is great! Also, something that has helped me is going over my notes before & after class (takes about 20 minutes total). My micro prof told us to skim over our notes 15 minutes before class... go to class... then look over that day's notes within one hour. Third time's a charm right? 😉 I know this strategy has helped me go from C's to A/B's. Hope that helps.

 

[npp71681]

Hi!
kittyluv7,

I totally agree with "melt36". That's excatly what my BIOLOGY Professor tells the class read your notes for 15 minutes everyday. "Take small bites everyday instead of taking one big bite". Don't get behind.

 

[crest29]

Kitty, If your school offers it I would reccomend taking a Study Skills course. I learned so much in mine. College, I have learned, unfortunatly isn't always about Learning things.. like someone above said, it is about memorization for us biology folks but with enough exposure to something you'll eventually learn it!. If it is one thing undergraduate education has taught me is how to get an "A". It is all about HOW you study. Here are some tips that have helped me get through tough classes that I found from my study skills course

1. Find out if your class is Lecture or Book reading Based -- this will help you determine if you need to study your lecture notes or book or both to cut down on studying time. Study the way your professor wants you to study.

2. Many people are Visual learners like myself- use your book or lecture notes to make charts, graphs and diagrams (like brainstorming) use key words to help you remember bulk information. Draw these pictures over and over again until you know them without looking. I find that during a test, I can close my eyes and visualize my picture and answer the questions much better.

3. Always go over your notes 24 hours after you have taken them-- dilligence is key.

4. Make some friends and study in groups and goto office hours (especially before a midterm)

5. Lastly, Have confidence in yourself! Psych yourself out before a test. Go in Knowing you are goin to ACE it! It really does help! Hope this helps, goodluck!

 

[Tuck]

As with everything else, the biggest key to doing well comes back to networking. Talk with those people who have taken the class, get old exams, etc. Having access to old exams is one of the best ways to assure getting good grades. In pharmacy school, the preceeding class at our school scans all their old exams, quizzes, study guide, and paper examples onto a disk and sells it for like $10 to the incoming P1 students. I can't tell you what a huge help that has been to all of us. The exams are not the same obviously, but learning how an instructer tests and grades is really imperative to getting a good grade. I know people who study 6-8 hours a day and get mainly B's and people who study 4-5 hours the day before the test who get A's. It all comes down to being efficient with your time, knowing what to study, and knowing what the instructor is looking for.

 

[npp71681]

Hi!

Here is a really good thread about "Laws of Learning".

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=92567&highlight=study+tips

For more threads about how to study type "study tips" in the search box.