Too many Bs, and not enough As

[vcentwin]

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Finishing up the ochem series with an A-, B+, and B during the three quarters overall. It honestly could have gone a lot worse, but my GPA isn't looking the greatest at the moment(3.4 cGPA, 3.38 sGPA) . I know I have the capability to understand the material (B in something like organic IS decent) but seeing everyone else have A+ scores makes me feel like a troglodyte who simply does not understand the science required to become a future physician. I have never recieved anything lower than a B in a lecture class, but I tend to get too many Bs, and not enough As (That is the main problem; I do well enough to get a decent grade, but almost never to crush and ace a course)

I have summer courses (10 quarter units of physics), and two years of GPA in before graduation. What is some advice that would be helpful to improve information processing, efficient study techniques, and proper knowledge recall so that I can truly reach my best potential? I want to be able to learn for mastery of the subject material, without spending all my time in the library and becoming the troglodyte I was meant to be.

A 3.7 cumulative would be the Dream by graduation, but that is realistically an uphill battle.
A 3.6 seems optimal and would allow me wiggle room for low-tier private OOS MD programs and top DO programs ( I am a Vietnamese male applicant)
A 3.5 seems the most realistic. and would allow me to apply DO.

 

[Goro]

Go visit your school's learning or education center

 

[Dr panda]

Here are my .02:
1) use ratemyprofessors before registering for classes
2) use your school's grade distribution archive to pick easy graders
3) Go to your school student success center

 

[deleted947265]

Finishing up the ochem series with an A-, B+, and B during the three quarters overall. It honestly could have gone a lot worse, but my GPA isn't looking the greatest at the moment(3.4 cGPA, 3.38 sGPA) . I know I have the capability to understand the material (B in something like organic IS decent) but seeing everyone else have A+ scores makes me feel like a troglodyte who simply does not understand the science required to become a future physician.

Hawt Take: GPA doesn't mean anything; it just matters to adcoms. Do the best you can, and it is what it is. It's not standardized. It's not reflective of your intelligence or ability to be a doctor. Unless you're getting like a 2.3 or something. There are no academic standards, courses are much more difficult than others, easy vs. hard vs. serial killer professors. So really it's all about gaming the system as much as possible. Yes, building good study habits is good and all but ultimately you can get a B or a C for basically no reason and know the content perfectly fine.

1. If you are taking summer courses, you should take 1 at a time. Summer courses are much harder than normal courses because of the condensed time frame. You want to avoid summer classes in general.

2. Don't take more than 4 hard classes. Taking 5 senior classes with a lab or two is not going to go well for you. Yes some people can swing it, but most people can't. Ideally, don't take more than 2 or 3 courses with labs at once. I never ran into this problem being the CS premed snowflake that I am, but that seems like something you could run into as a chem or bio major.

3. Sherlock Holmes. Seriously, check out who you're scheduling with. Some professors are excellent, and some professors have tenure.There are entire course tracks at some schools that should be entirely avoided because some professors are so ridiculous they must be avoided at all costs to protect your GPA. Rate my professor isn't the best metric, some people get very butthurt that some professors are hard but fair. It's not about avoiding the hard but fair professors, more about avoiding the ones that you'll have trouble getting an A in and make your life so insufferable it will effect your performance in other courses too. Ask around. Watch them teach if you can. Quality of lecture doesn't matter, it's all about earning those points.

Source: Learn from my mistakes, save yourself.

As for study habits. Use Anki if you aren't already. Do the practice problems in the book, and stop writing papers the night before they're due. Also check online for practice quizzes for each subject if you can. It's really as simple as that, there's no magic to it.

 

[vcentwin]

Hawt Take: GPA doesn't mean anything; it just matters to adcoms. Do the best you can, and it is what it is. It's not standardized. It's not reflective of your intelligence or ability to be a doctor. Unless you're getting like a 2.3 or something. There are no academic standards, courses are much more difficult than others, easy vs. hard vs. serial killer professors. So really it's all about gaming the system as much as possible. Yes, building good study habits is good and all but ultimately you can get a B or a C for basically no reason and know the content perfectly fine.

1. If you are taking summer courses, you should take 1 at a time. Summer courses are much harder than normal courses because of the condensed time frame. You want to avoid summer classes in general.

2. Don't take more than 4 hard classes. Taking 5 senior classes with a lab or two is not going to go well for you. Yes some people can swing it, but most people can't. Ideally, don't take more than 2 or 3 courses with labs at once. I never ran into this problem being the CS premed snowflake that I am, but that seems like something you could run into as a chem or bio major.

3. Sherlock Holmes. Seriously, check out who you're scheduling with. Some professors are excellent, and some professors have tenure.There are entire course tracks at some schools that should be entirely avoided because some professors are so ridiculous they must be avoided at all costs to protect your GPA. Rate my professor isn't the best metric, some people get very butthurt that some professors are hard but fair. It's not about avoiding the hard but fair professors, more about avoiding the ones that you'll have trouble getting an A in and make your life so insufferable it will effect your performance in other courses too. Ask around. Watch them teach if you can. Quality of lecture doesn't matter, it's all about earning those points.

Source: Learn from my mistakes, save yourself.

As for study habits. Use Anki if you aren't already. Do the practice problems in the book, and stop writing papers the night before they're due. Also check online for practice quizzes for each subject if you can. It's really as simple as that, there's no magic to it.

Thanks boss: i am taking 2 physics classes over the summer: I will be taking them in a sequence, having finished the first of the series of three.

 

[M&L]

Here are my .02:
1) use ratemyprofessors before registering for classes
2) use your school's grade distribution archive to pick easy graders
3) Go to your school student success center

yeah, ratemyprofessors is amazing!!! save me so much headache. Great resource.

 

[M&L]

pick a few advanced biology courses, - microbiology, virology, etc. Go to ratemyprofessors, find which professors are "easy A", and take those. You will still have to work hard for the grades, but you will have a better shot at an A. This will boost up your grade, and show adcoms that you can handle advanced science courses.

 

[M&L]

oh, and personal favorite, - i always watch every single video on the subject (on the particular topic) on Khan Academy before going to the corresponding lecture.

 

[meepdog]

oh, and personal favorite, - i always watch every single video on the subject (on the particular topic) on Khan Academy before going to the corresponding lecture.

This is excellent advice. Diversify the ways you take in the material and you might find it "sticking" faster and more permanently