What the hell do I do

[Maali]

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I don't know what is wrong with me but I just got my chem exam back and scored a high B. I studied for a week for this test and thought I'd get an A. So far w/labs and homework my average is around a high B for Gen Chem 1. I HAVE to get a 90 or higher on the next tests to get an A but it is stressing me out.

Anyways the professor I have right now is supposedly very easy ( He is but he puts to many trick questions on his tests, and grades favorably for his favorite students). He is teaching Gen Chem 2 in the fall but I'm registered for it in the summer (w/ a professor that is supposedly harder than him).

My question is, should I take chem 2 w/ him in the fall since I'm getting high B's and he is supposedly "easy" or just risk it & take it in the summer with a different professor (the "harder" one). If I take it in the fall, it will delay OCHEM for me.

P.S; Don't say crap about how I need to look for Caribbean schools or w/e you guys like to say. I just spend a lot of effort into studying and really thought I'd get an A so that the next 2 tests I don't have to stress about getting an A. I'm just a tad bit disappointed.

Edit: I'm also taking Physics 1 in the summer (algebra based) if that makes a difference in your advice giving.

 

[ciestar]

I get that you're frustrated that you didn't do as well as you'd hoped after studying your butt off, but don't stress about it. There's NOTHING wrong with a B+.

In regards to your question, do what works best for your schedule. If you're concerned about getting behind, take it over the summer. As I progressed through UG, I began focusing on taking courses that fit and would allow me to keep on track. If you're worried about the harder professor, take it in the fall. Sometimes challenges are a good thing. If you hit a snag, OFFICE HOURS. They couldn't have helped me enough for chem II.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

So with this professor you can have a B average for the first 75% of the course, but if you receive an A on one of his tests you get an A for the whole course? Sounds like you should stick with the easy guy

 

[NontradCA]

Apply Caribbean, DO or some other condescending thing that addresses your neuroticism.

 

[Maali]

So with this professor you can have a B average for the first 75% of the course, but if you receive an A on one of his tests you get an A for the whole course? Sounds like you should stick with the easy guy

No I have a 89% w/labs and H.W. If I get even low A's on the next tests I should get an A. I said high B..

 

[Jay11jayjay]

I don't know what is wrong with me but I just got my chem exam back and scored a high B. I studied for a week for this test and thought I'd get an A. So far w/labs and homework my average is around a high B for Gen Chem 1. I HAVE to get a 90 or higher on the next tests to get an A but it is stressing me out.

Anyways the professor I have right now is supposedly very easy ( He is but he puts to many trick questions on his tests, and grades favorably for his favorite students). He is teaching Gen Chem 2 in the fall but I'm registered for it in the summer (w/ a professor that is supposedly harder than him).

My question is, should I take chem 2 w/ him in the fall since I'm getting high B's and he is supposedly "easy" or just risk it & take it in the summer with a different professor (the "harder" one). If I take it in the fall, it will delay OCHEM for me.

P.S; Don't say crap about how I need to look for Caribbean schools or w/e you guys like to say. I just spend a lot of effort into studying and really thought I'd get an A so that the next 2 tests I don't have to stress about getting an A. I'm just a tad bit disappointed.

Edit: I'm also taking Physics 1 in the summer (algebra based) if that makes a difference in your advice giving.

What do you do because you got a B? You move on and focus on the next task at hand. You need to learn how to do that if you're pre-med. It's hard but it's important. Besides, a few Bs won't hurt you in the long run. Focus on what you can do in gen chem 2 that you didn't do in gen chem 1. Maybe there's a more efficient way of studying. Maybe you were taking too many classes. A successful student will try to figure out his/her weaknesses and work on them. Stresses out about the past can only hurt you.

As for taking an easy/hard professor, my advice is that you should not worry about that and take the professor who has a better style of teaching. Trust me, this will come a long way. Remember, you will actually need to learn this stuff well (for the mcat) so just going for the easy professor is not a good strategy. That's my best advice. Wishing you success.

 

[radkat101]

And I thought my low A was bad....

 

[Mr Roboto]

I would say not to take classes based upon whether you're expecting a professor to be "easy" or "hard" but upon their reputation as a good or bad teacher.

A B+ isn't the end of the world, and you're still solidly in contention for an A in the class.

Curious, what's an example of a trick question from his tests?

I don't know what is wrong with me but I just got my chem exam back and scored a high B. I studied for a week for this test and thought I'd get an A. So far w/labs and homework my average is around a high B for Gen Chem 1. I HAVE to get a 90 or higher on the next tests to get an A but it is stressing me out.

Anyways the professor I have right now is supposedly very easy ( He is but he puts to many trick questions on his tests, and grades favorably for his favorite students). He is teaching Gen Chem 2 in the fall but I'm registered for it in the summer (w/ a professor that is supposedly harder than him).

My question is, should I take chem 2 w/ him in the fall since I'm getting high B's and he is supposedly "easy" or just risk it & take it in the summer with a different professor (the "harder" one). If I take it in the fall, it will delay OCHEM for me.

P.S; Don't say crap about how I need to look for Caribbean schools or w/e you guys like to say. I just spend a lot of effort into studying and really thought I'd get an A so that the next 2 tests I don't have to stress about getting an A. I'm just a tad bit disappointed.

Edit: I'm also taking Physics 1 in the summer (algebra based) if that makes a difference in your advice giving.

 

[rain4venus]

become one of his favorite students....

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

No I have a 89% w/labs and H.W. If I get even low A's on the next tests I should get an A. I said high B..

"High B" doesn't mean anything specific. Could have been an 86%. And that fact that you're averaging an 89 means that you're succeeding in his class. Couple that with his syllabus being forgiving enough that an A on one of the last 3 tests, with the other two being B's lets presume, raises your overall course grade appreciably means that he is, in fact, an easy teacher.
Don't take the summer chem if it is just so that you can have a different teacher. While your personal neurosis is convincing you that an 89% is a black mark on your transcript, taking an unbiased look at the situation shows an easy solution: get an A on a test. It is clearly within your capabilities. It is nonsense to think that. for some reason, you are capped out at SPECIFICALLY an 89%.

You know how to make professors like you? Go to their office hours and ask them for help on an ongoing question in class, or push a class concept into real world scenarios and ask him about it (that is to say, don't just ask him to help you with your homework or test review). Let him know you're interested in his subject, and I would bet you can become one of his favorite students. Unless he's one of those that only likes his D-I student/athletes... can't help you there.

 

[frosted_flake]

If you studied that hard, change the way you study.
Just a suggestion, might work.

 

[Elevencents]

Did you ever stop to think you may be overreacting? I'm being serious btw.

 

[amazing tekkers]

You're not learning the material well enough, I had the same problems in Gen chem 1 and 2, luckily I changed my study habits for ochem.

How do you usually study for your chem class?

 

[darklabel]

Seriously use ratemyprofessor or ask fellow students who've taken his class before about what to do. How in the world can any of us help you when we know nothing of your school, curriculum, professors or anything really?

Just take it with this professor and study harder.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

This is a pretty sersious situation for the OP. If the prof is really supposed to be that easy and you are only getting a high B after a week of studying, then the prof is not upholding his obligation to be so easy. This is absolutely unacceptable in a university setting (has the prof even heard of grade inflation!?) particularly with pre meds who need As to get into med school!

Now it's clear the prof will give you no sympathy (this whole making you earn an A crap is infuriating, I totally understand your frustrations) so I would go straight to the chair of the chem department and file a formal complaint. If the chair rolls her eyes and laughs you out of the office, don't put up with that kind of attitude and march straight over to the dean's office and make your demands clear: fire the prof and replace him with one who is actually easy. If that doesn't work, I would stage a sit in in one of the chem labs and stay there until everyone can get an A.

Good luck OP!

 

[gobigorgohome22]

This is a pretty sersious situation for the OP. If the prof is really supposed to be that easy and you are only getting a high B after a week of studying, then the prof is not upholding his obligation to be so easy. This is absolutely unacceptable in a university setting (has the prof even heard of grade inflation!?) particularly with pre meds who need As to get into med school!

Now it's clear the prof will give you no sympathy (this whole making you earn an A crap is infuriating, I totally understand your frustrations) so I would go straight to the chair of the chem department and file a formal complaint. If the chair rolls her eyes and laughs you out of the office, don't put up with that kind of attitude and march straight over to the dean's office and make your demands clear: fire the prof and replace him with one who is actually easy. If that doesn't work, I would stage a sit in in one of the chem labs and stay there until everyone can get an A.

Good luck OP!

This is your best course of action OP.

 

[Lucca]

This is a pretty sersious situation for the OP. If the prof is really supposed to be that easy and you are only getting a high B after a week of studying, then the prof is not upholding his obligation to be so easy. This is absolutely unacceptable in a university setting (has the prof even heard of grade inflation!?) particularly with pre meds who need As to get into med school!

Now it's clear the prof will give you no sympathy (this whole making you earn an A crap is infuriating, I totally understand your frustrations) so I would go straight to the chair of the chem department and file a formal complaint. If the chair rolls her eyes and laughs you out of the office, don't put up with that kind of attitude and march straight over to the dean's office and make your demands clear: fire the prof and replace him with one who is actually easy. If that doesn't work, I would stage a sit in in one of the chem labs and stay there until everyone can get an A.

Good luck OP!

Finally someone with sense is here to stand up for our right as children who never had to work for anything in their lives to continue to not have to work for anything.

 

[gobigorgohome22]

Finally someone with sense is here to stand up for our right as children who never had to work for anything in their lives to continue to not have to work for anything.

Hey now! What @lalalaaaaaa pointed out is a lot of work! Have you tried getting a meeting with a department chair of the dean before? So many emails sent....

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

OP on a serious note, keep working hard and get your A. It's probably worth going to your profs office hours to establish some rapport and even go over old tests with him so that you can get a sense of what kind of questions he asks and what kind of answers he wants.

In regards to taking Chem 2, just keep in mind summer chem 2 is HARD. At least at my school it was. I would look at the faculty rating of that prof for a summer course. I took Chem 1 and 2 in a summer and by the end everyone was pretty burnt out and the students who weren't able to dedicate all of their time to the course didn't do well. That being said, I thought it was nice to focus on one class for a month and get it over with. Getting on track to take Ochem 1 in the fall is also nice so that you don't take it in the off semester, and Ochem might feel easier in that case considering how much you would have studied for chem 2 in the summer. This would also set you up to take the MCAT in 2015 if that is what you are going for.

Good luck, but definitely don't come to SDN of all places complaining about a few points in a class that isn't even over yet. In my experiences SDN is not the place to look for sympathy when things get hard. Tough it out!

Good luck!

 

[Mr Roboto]

It's a great place to look for sympathy when things are actually hard. Except then we'll think you're a troll.

But when a student studies for a week, then doesn't manage an A, but is still doing well in the class... things aren't hard.

 

[DokterMom]

If it's the 'trick' questions that are tripping you up, the best return on investment will come from improving your reading comprehension and core understanding of the material (vs. memorizing). Sorry if this sounds harsh - I'm not sugar-coating, but I'm not slamming you either. If you thoroughly understand the material and are mindful of the exact wording of the question, those 'trick' questions won't trip you up -- either here, or on the MCAT.