Summer class problem ...

[MaybePharmacist]

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I'm currently taking an Anatomy class this summer which is only one session long (about 4 weeks). Being a business major, I'm also taking a Business Law class which requires a huge amount of reading. I feel as though Business Law is easy enough as long as I keep up with the readings, but I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with Anatomy. Not only is the next in-class test over 12 chapters, but the lab final covers the nervous system, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, and the urinary system (meaning that I have to memorize all of the parts that make up those systems). I don't feel as though the material is that difficult; the problem is that I just don't have enough time to learn it all and really know it. We just had our first in-class exam last week and I got a 72 🙁. We also had our lab "midterm" last week, but I won't know my grade until tomorrow. My next in-class test is in exactly a week, and although I've started studying (I'm done with 3 chapters out of 12), I'm not sure how well I'll do. I can't afford another bad grade (see my first thread), but, at the same time, I don't want to drop the class. Any ideas about what I should do? Thank you.

P.S. - I know that I can do well in classes such as this. For example, I took a Microbiology class last semester which a lot of people complained about (mostly, people said that the teacher was terrible and that she made the class a lot more difficult than it needed to be). There were quite a few people in my class who were repeating it and many people dropped it later as well. However, I ended up loving it and I got a B+ in the class. Microbiology involved a lot of memorization too, but it really helped that the class was spread out over 4 months. *sigh* I don't know how relevant that is, but I just thought I'd share.

P.S.S. - My Anatomy teacher has stated that he "doesn't usually curve" ... which sucks.

 

[Ji the Captain]

I'm currently taking an Anatomy class this summer which is only one session long (about 4 weeks). Being a business major, I'm also taking a Business Law class which requires a huge amount of reading. I feel as though Business Law is easy enough as long as I keep up with the readings, but I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with Anatomy. Not only is the next in-class test over 12 chapters, but the lab final covers the nervous system, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, and the urinary system (meaning that I have to memorize all of the parts that make up those systems). I don't feel as though the material is that difficult; the problem is that I just don't have enough time to learn it all and really know it. We just had our first in-class exam last week and I got a 72 🙁. We also had our lab "midterm" last week, but I won't know my grade until tomorrow. My next in-class test is in exactly a week, and although I've started studying (I'm done with 3 chapters out of 12), I'm not sure how well I'll do. I can't afford another bad grade (see my first thread), but, at the same time, I don't want to drop the class. Any ideas about what I should do? Thank you.

P.S. - I know that I can do well in classes such as this. For example, I took a Microbiology class last semester which a lot of people complained about (mostly, people said that the teacher was terrible and that she made the class a lot more difficult than it needed to be). There were quite a few people in my class who were repeating it and many people dropped it later as well. However, I ended up loving it and I got a B+ in the class. Microbiology involved a lot of memorization too, but it really helped that the class was spread out over 4 months. *sigh* I don't know how relevant that is, but I just thought I'd share.

P.S.S. - My Anatomy teacher has stated that he "doesn't usually curve" ... which sucks.

What you need to do is make yourself a studying time chart. Divide the week up into several study sessions and plan out how many chapters you want to knock out/capable of knocking out each day of the week.
Also a great idea would be to devote one day memorizing all the parts to these systems and their functions. once you get the hang of this. you can kind of focus on details for the rest of the week

I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK!😉

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

Yeah I hear you. I am taking Chem II this summer - it is an eight week class and I am getting a solid B in it and know for a fact that if it was during the regular 16 week semester I would be able to pull an A. My new motto is no more summer classes. LOL. Anyway, the only thing is to gut it out and study till you drop...sleep be damned. And be prepared to get a grade lower than you would be able to get during the regular semester. That is my opinion.

 

[diastole]

I'm a big fan of summer classes but I wouldn't do it if I had to work a lot or I had to take two classes that required lots of time. It sounds like you have too much on your plate right now. You are going to either have to study more and more efficiently, sacrifice sleep, drop one of the classes, or risk getting a grade you aren't happy with. You are going to have to decide what to do on that. Having taken A&P 2 over a five week summer session, I think what you are trying to do is extremely daunting. If it were me, I'd drop one of the classes if that is still possible.

 

[Kaiter]

Well for Anatomy...if the Lab is just memorizing where parts are located then you can do what I did...make/use a bunch of powerpoints and label each part on each powerpoint then just cycle through them over n over...study them in your spare time or when your eating...like for my anatomy lab final i did that...i spent like 3-4 hours of actual studying and maybe 4-5 hours? sparetime studying like 10-15 minutes at a time while i was waiting for something or eating...for a cumulative final that I aced (92% i think). It may not work for you and making powerpoints takes time, but it defintely helps I think.

I also advise you to think about whether dropping anatomy would be useful or not. Does your teacher make the final cumulative? If so and you did bad once and don't do well this time, the material next time will just be the same difficulty...might want to consider dropping if you feel you won't do well on the final if you can't learn from these 2 bad tests (potentially bad)

 

[AKN16]

I'm currently taking an Anatomy class this summer which is only one session long (about 4 weeks). Being a business major, I'm also taking a Business Law class which requires a huge amount of reading. I feel as though Business Law is easy enough as long as I keep up with the readings, but I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with Anatomy. Not only is the next in-class test over 12 chapters, but the lab final covers the nervous system, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, and the urinary system (meaning that I have to memorize all of the parts that make up those systems). I don't feel as though the material is that difficult; the problem is that I just don't have enough time to learn it all and really know it. We just had our first in-class exam last week and I got a 72 🙁. We also had our lab "midterm" last week, but I won't know my grade until tomorrow. My next in-class test is in exactly a week, and although I've started studying (I'm done with 3 chapters out of 12), I'm not sure how well I'll do. I can't afford another bad grade (see my first thread), but, at the same time, I don't want to drop the class. Any ideas about what I should do? Thank you.

P.S. - I know that I can do well in classes such as this. For example, I took a Microbiology class last semester which a lot of people complained about (mostly, people said that the teacher was terrible and that she made the class a lot more difficult than it needed to be). There were quite a few people in my class who were repeating it and many people dropped it later as well. However, I ended up loving it and I got a B+ in the class. Microbiology involved a lot of memorization too, but it really helped that the class was spread out over 4 months. *sigh* I don't know how relevant that is, but I just thought I'd share.

P.S.S. - My Anatomy teacher has stated that he "doesn't usually curve" ... which sucks.

Hey, sorry about your sitation.. I can sympathize with you though, bc I took A/P during the spring sem and it wasn't easy.

But, your sched is rough.. I have to ask, y are you taking 2 classes during a 4wk semester, that sounds rough just typing it.

You obviously have a lot on your plate. With that, figure out whether dropping the business law class is going to hurt you or not. And then from there you can decide b/c I get the feeling that you really wanna do pharmacy.

 

[beezeeMom]

As you probably know, applying to any pharmD program anywhere in the US is very competitive especially if you are applying without a bachelor's. If you decide to drop one of the two classes, would it show on your transcript as a W? You might get away with it if you do not have too many W's and you have 3.8 to 4.0 GPA. I had two on my transcript and my GPA was at 3.8 without O-Chem 2 and Calculus 1. I did not think I would get accepted as I sent in my application about a week or two before the deadline in 2008, was interviewed in January this year but did not get a call until April. I just finished O-Chem 2, an 8 week session this summer at one school and Calculus 1 at UNLV which is a 5 week course - ends next week. I did very well on the final exam which is the ACS (American Chemical Society) exam that is for combined O-Chem 1 and 2 and got a final grade of a B. It is doable - you just need to give up sleep - literally, friends, family, posting here in SDN, etc...my exams for both classes just happened to get scheduled within the same week which was very frustrating. Well, best of luck to you...

 

[Kaiter]

As you probably know, applying to any pharmD program anywhere in the US is very competitive especially if you are applying without a bachelor's. If you decide to drop one of the two classes, would it show on your transcript as a W? You might get away with it if you do not have too many W's and you have 3.8 to 4.0 GPA. I had two on my transcript and my GPA was at 3.8 without O-Chem 2 and Calculus 1. I did not think I would get accepted as I sent in my application about a week or two before the deadline in 2008, was interviewed in January this year but did not get a call until April. I just finished O-Chem 2, an 8 week session this summer at one school and Calculus 1 at UNLV which is a 5 week course - ends next week. I did very well on the final exam which is the ACS (American Chemical Society) exam that is for combined O-Chem 1 and 2 and got a final grade of a B. It is doable - you just need to give up sleep - literally, friends, family, posting here in SDN, etc...my exams for both classes just happened to get scheduled within the same week which was very frustrating. Well, best of luck to you...

did you only have to take the ACS as your final? we had to take that + the prof given final 🙁

 

[MaybePharmacist]

Ok, so I ended up dropping the Anatomy class. This was my second W. My GPA is currently a 3.2, which, while not HORRIBLE, isn't exactly fantastic either. So, I'm not sure how badly this W will hurt me. Hopefully, I'll do better in the class next semester (maybe that'll make up for the W ... *hopes*). I plan on graduating this December (which is why I had to take the Business Law class over the summer), and then retaking some classes, taking some classes (I haven't taken physics yet), studying for the PCAT (Kaplan, here I come), taking the PCAT, and then applying next August (August isn't too late, is it?). We'll see how things work out, I guess. Does anyone else besides me get scared thinking about the future?

 

[Passion4Sci]

Ok, so I ended up dropping the Anatomy class. This was my second W. My GPA is currently a 3.2, which, while not HORRIBLE, isn't exactly fantastic either. So, I'm not sure how badly this W will hurt me. Hopefully, I'll do better in the class next semester (maybe that'll make up for the W ... *hopes*). I plan on graduating this December (which is why I had to take the Business Law class over the summer), and then retaking some classes, taking some classes (I haven't taken physics yet), studying for the PCAT (Kaplan, here I come), taking the PCAT, and then applying next August (August isn't too late, is it?). We'll see how things work out, I guess. Does anyone else besides me get scared thinking about the future?

August isn't too late as long as you're applying to schools that don't have rolling admissions, and even for some rolling admissions programs August would still get you into "tier 2" consideration. it's fine...

As far as the future goes, I am excited. Every day I wake up and think about how much fun it'll be to be The Angry Pharmacist x3! Just kidding. Seriously, though, the future holds so much potential and uncertainty, I thrive on it. Worrying about the future, i.e., something you can't change, is silly!

 

[MaybePharmacist]

lol, well you don't have anything to worry about Passion4Sci ... you've got great stats! I, on the other hand, think that I need to get a Plan B ready. I want to go to pharmacy school of course, but I also don't want to waste too many years in pursuit of something that's just not going to happen. I just have to face the fact that I'll be competing against plenty of people with stats like yours. Well, if it happens it happens, and if not ... we'll see.

 

[Passion4Sci]

lol, well you don't have anything to worry about Passion4Sci ... you've got great stats! I, on the other hand, think that I need to get a Plan B ready. I want to go to pharmacy school of course, but I also don't want to waste too many years in pursuit of something that's just not going to happen. I just have to face the fact that I'll be competing against plenty of people with stats like yours. Well, if it happens it happens, and if not ... we'll see.

I think your realistic perspective and can-do attitude will get you there. Unlike a lot of people who sit in their chair, spinning around whimsically saying "Yay, pharmacy school, I'm gonna make it!" without realizing the situation they're in, with whatever it may be - grades, money, family - you are grounded and you know what's in your inventory.

OTOH, I can definitely see it from your perspective. Hm, have you considered Clinical Lab Scientist (CLS) as a Plan B (Not the Levonorgestrel kind)? With a good background in math/science from pharmacy pre-requisites you'd probably do pretty well in that field, and CLS can make as much money as Pharmacists do in hospital settings. There are lots of choices for the health care field if that's your passion. Explore radiological technician/technology and respiratory care also - Both of them pay well and with some work experience and CE under your belt you'd see salary figures almost what a new pharmacist will see with less schooling.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll be successful, because you're not under any false pretenses about who you are and what you can accomplish, and in MY opinion, that can go a really long way.

 

[MaybePharmacist]

Hey. I appreciate your words. I think I've been whining a little on here, but there are times when I just need to get it all out. Anyways, I've never actually considered a career as a MLS, but I'm not sure if I'd be happy doing that since I think it would involve minimal interaction with patients, and also because uh ... I'm not a big fan of bodily fluids 😳 (which is why I like pharmacy so much). I believe I've mentioned previously that I've thought about nursing (the bodily fluids issue could be kept to a minimum if I was to become like a PNP, I think), and that's most likely going to be my 2nd choice. The money's not as great, but it's definitely not all about money. However, I refuse to give up on pharmacy until it's painfully obvious that I'm not going to make it in! 🙂 Thanks again!