which semester was your worst?

[crazymedgirl]

hey guys,

i'd love to hear responses on this one...

what was the heaviest/hardest workload you took on for a semester and how did you (or did you? survive it?

i'm planning on taking o-chem 1 with lab, physics 1 with lab, physiology with lab and an english in the fall...

is that just asking for pain?

what were other people's experiences with o-chem in general?

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[GoldShadow]

3rd semester, I took Orgo I, Physics (w/calc) 1, Cell Bio, Genetics, Animal Physiology. It was a lot of work but I survived it very well.

Orgo is a lot of work, but doable as long as you put in the study time.

 

[chad5871]

Spring semester of sophomore year, I took:

Intro Bio 2 (3)
Intro Bio 2 Lab (1)
Quantitative Analysis (3)
Quantitative Analysis Lab (1)
Human Societies & Globalization (3)
Ethics & Health Care (3)
Criminal Justice System Survey (3)

It was 17 credits, and although it may not SEEM like it's that much - it was hell. My Intro Bio professor apparently failed over 50% of the class and the university didn't make her curve (she was fired after that semester) - I got a B. Quant was painfully difficult and the lab was really long and involved long, drawn-out statistical calculations for each lab. I probably devoted about 15 hours a week to that lab. I got a B in lecture and an A in lab. Ethics was the class that made me so frustrated. Our entire class was graded based on just a mid-term and final, which consisted of open book multiple choice exams. Try taking a multiple choice exam on ETHICS...... I got a B and I'm still bitter about it!

Anyway I ended up with a 3.47 overall and a 3.25 BCPM for the semester. I guess it all worked out because I only got one B over the next two years (Organic 2 - all the rest of my grades were A's).

 

[RySerr21]

My worse GPA is during the only semester i decided not to take a full course load. its kinda weird.

 

[HumidBeing]

I've read your previous posts. You're good at academics. You should be fine, depending on your outside time commitments. Ochem is not bad. It took less study time for me than chem did. Physics was tougher for me, because I took it before I had the math background (not a great idea). I still did just fine in there, but it took dedication. It's much easier if you've already taken the math. My "worst semester", as far as time needed to do well, was probably the semester that I took physics, chem II, Eng II, a math course, a foreign language and and one other intense course for 20 credits, plus spent a considerable amount of time working in the lab. It was exhausting, but I did well. The WORST class of the semester was English because it took me more effort to survive that class than any that I've ever taken. Sometimes people perform better when they have a heavy a course load than when they have a lighter one.

The way I got through that semester was by continuously counting down the weeks and days until it would end. I've taken the equivalent of the same amount of course hours since then, and it wasn't nearly as stressful.

 

[bcat85]

First semester sophomore year I took
Orgo 1, Developmental Biology, A minority history class barf, and a polisci class.

I did a decent job of putting my schedule together such that I didn't die. You'll be fine tho.

 

[Artimacia]

I'm unsure about my semester coming up and the one after

Fall:
Physics 1
Chem 2
Honors Calculus
Humanity

Spring:
Physics 2
Orgo 1
and 3 humanities (maybe not as bad as I thought, haha)

 

[chad5871]

OP, my junior year I took Organic I + Lab, Cell Bio, and Physics I + Lab (as well as a couple of other general ed. requirements and an independent study). To make matters worse, I had all of my classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I had Cell Bio from 9-10, Organic from 10-11, and Physics from 11-12. Those three hours were quite painful. One day I even had exams in each class. I ended up getting a 4.0 that semester, and I don't really feel like I had to work too hard for it. Just keep your chin up and work hard, and you'll be fine. Good luck!

 

[Artimacia]

OP, my junior year I took Organic I + Lab, Cell Bio, and Physics I + Lab (as well as a couple of other general ed. requirements and an independent study). To make matters worse, I had all of my classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I had Cell Bio from 9-10, Organic from 10-11, and Physics from 11-12. Those three hours were quite painful. One day I even had exams in each class. I ended up getting a 4.0 that semester, and I don't really feel like I had to work too hard for it. Just keep your chin up and work hard, and you'll be fine. Good luck!

Wow, only three hours? At my school, thats about the average time of a science course. Since im doing summer classes right now, I'm in bio 2 for 6 hours and statistics for three, all in a row. I go 12 pm - 9 pm

 

[Ella Shepherd]

I haven't experienced a super hard subject yet but I'll be taking organic chem and physics soon. I hope it won't be as bad as some people say.

 

[Ella Shepherd]

OP, my junior year I took Organic I + Lab, Cell Bio, and Physics I + Lab (as well as a couple of other general ed. requirements and an independent study). To make matters worse, I had all of my classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I had Cell Bio from 9-10, Organic from 10-11, and Physics from 11-12. Those three hours were quite painful. One day I even had exams in each class. I ended up getting a 4.0 that semester, and I don't really feel like I had to work too hard for it. Just keep your chin up and work hard, and you'll be fine. Good luck!

I hate it when I have three classes straight! It's so exhausting and I find it hard to concentrate in the third class sometimes. (and it is scary when all three classes have exams on the same day )

 

[Cegar]

Third quarter, freshman year.

English 101, General Chemistry 3, Calculus 3, and Bio 3 at a community college.

I hadn't taken English previously as I thought my AP credits would be sufficient for my major. However, the school I would graduate from did not accept any English AP classes as composition classes. They counted them as literature credits.

And so I had to suffer through a quarter of community college English.

Now, I had chosen to go to this particular community college to save a good chunk of money and take Freshman/Sophomore level classes without having to worry about not getting in due to room issues. The science classes at this place were great. None of them were curved and the tests were pretty nasty, but the professors knew their stuff.

Math and humanities? Not so great.

Most of the math professors had been computer engineers or researchers who, upon retiring, wanted to try their hand at teaching. Most of you have probably had similar experiences. Freshman calculus professors always seem to have issues.

The worst of it was English. Lots of peer review. Most student papers were incomprehensible. I never knew that adults did not know how to write.

It was a rather depressing experience, actually. Luckily the professor did her doctoral work in linguistics, so she was at least interesting.

But that quarter was not fun.

 

[CrouchingTiger]

One semester, I had:

Organic Chem II + lab
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Microbiology + Lab
Information Technology
An upper level psych course.

I had the finals for Cell molec, Microbiology, and the ACS Organic on the same day.

 

[MilkmanAl]

First semester sophomore year:

Organic 1
Genetics
Analytical Chem + lab
Modern Physics + lab
Public Speaking

Analytical lab at UNC is a serious pain in the ***. I believe my labs averaged something like 12 pages, and we had 11 of them to do, if I remember correctly. Along with the physics lab, that meant I was churning out ~20 pages of lab per week. Combine that with 2 family members dying, my mom losing her job, my grandfather being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, my grandmother having 2 strokes and falling and damaging her spine, moving out of the home my family built and lived in for 90+ years, and a roommate freaking out about getting deployed to Iraq, and you have one seriously craptastic semester.

 

[Carlin]

The two semesters I took Pchem I and II were the hardest for me... It didn't matter which other classes I was taking those semesters.

 

[redlight]

Wow, only three hours? At my school, thats about the average time of a science course. Since im doing summer classes right now, I'm in bio 2 for 6 hours and statistics for three, all in a row. I go 12 pm - 9 pm

wow your schedule is utterly ridiculous. you have 6 hours of bio and 3 hours of stats in a row? how many days a week btw? i hope you weren't including bio lab in there with the 6 hour total.

First semester sophomore year:

Organic 1
Genetics
Analytical Chem + lab
Modern Physics + lab
Public Speaking

Analytical lab at UNC is a serious pain in the ***. I believe my labs averaged something like 12 pages, and we had 11 of them to do, if I remember correctly. Along with the physics lab, that meant I was churning out ~20 pages of lab per week. Combine that with 2 family members dying, my mom losing her job, my grandfather being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, my grandmother having 2 strokes and falling and damaging her spine, moving out of the home my family built and lived in for 90+ years, and a roommate freaking out about getting deployed to Iraq, and you have one seriously craptastic semester.

yikes, thats a rough semester (understatement of the year). kudos for surviving and rebounding nicely (acceptance to med school).

 

[cheasus]

I had such a bad semester:

Intro to Physics II
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I
Mechanics of Deformable Bodies (soooo hard!)
Biological Systems Analysis
Endocrinology

oh and jogging II and two seminar classes... it was bad, 3.18! Dropped my gpa by .14!

 

[45408]

hardest semester - fall of sophomore year - 21 credits, including organic 1, physics 2 with lab, bio 2 with lab, honors history, weight lifting, intro to clinical medicine, and my EMT-basic.

lowest grades - fall of junior year - just never got into it

 

[chad5871]

Wow, only three hours? At my school, thats about the average time of a science course. Since im doing summer classes right now, I'm in bio 2 for 6 hours and statistics for three, all in a row. I go 12 pm - 9 pm

Well each class is one hour long and its three times a week, so it would be 3 hours of class each week for each course. At my school, amount of time in lecture is usually about equal to the number of credit hours gained (except for labs, where you can work your butt off and only get 1 credit hour!)

 

[DrSus]

senior year:
1st semester: interviews and secondaries
2nd semester: lack of motivation
GPA: MAJOR DROP!!!

 

[redlight]

Well each class is one hour long and its three times a week, so it would be 3 hours of class each week for each course. At my school, amount of time in lecture is usually about equal to the number of credit hours gained (except for labs, where you can work your butt off and only get 1 credit hour!)

omg, same here!
one of the 1 credit intro labs is regarded as the worst credit to time commitment ratio offered at our school (1 credit yet it's a 3 hr lab plus at least 3-4 hours of work out of class, with 5+ as the average) .. heck the lab is regarded as one of the toughest (in terms of grading) labs on campus too.

 

[TupacalipseT96]

Every semester my gf was around.
Makes me wonder what my gpa would've been otherwise

 

[Scean]

Every fall. The classes don't even matter, damn you football season and your addictive awesomeness.

 

[directdoc]

This is off topic, but I noticed that most of you have taken Organic. I'm trying to decide whether to sell my Gen Chem book back. Did any of you use your Gen Chem book at all in Organic?

 

[GoldShadow]

Not once. Gen chem and organic are totally different.

 

[Carlin]

This is off topic, but I noticed that most of you have taken Organic. I'm trying to decide whether to sell my Gen Chem book back. Did any of you use your Gen Chem book at all in Organic?

I'm a chem major and I haven't even kept any of my old chem books. Definitely go ahead and sell it.

 

[boostedct9a]

Every fall. The classes don't even matter, damn you football season and your addictive awesomeness.

Thats the exact reason I take my harder classes in the spring I suffer from the same problem

 

[redlight]

This is off topic, but I noticed that most of you have taken Organic. I'm trying to decide whether to sell my Gen Chem book back. Did any of you use your Gen Chem book at all in Organic?

yea there are a few threads floating around in which this question was addressed.

sadly, the only apparent parts of gen chem that apply in organic are the acid/base stuff and lewis dot structure (barely). i actually tried to sell my gen chem book back to the campus bookstore and people retaking but next semester but the professors are using a newer edition..

 

[45408]

This is off topic, but I noticed that most of you have taken Organic. I'm trying to decide whether to sell my Gen Chem book back. Did any of you use your Gen Chem book at all in Organic?

Heck no.

 

[JRock310]

this past semester kicked my ***...

principles of bio II & lab
anatomy & physiology II & lab
general chemistry II & lab
biotechnology lab techniques
independent study w/ placebo effects in asthma research

SUCKED.

im so glad it's over!!!!!!!

i, too, am taking organic and physics in the fall and am nervous for those!

 

[WellWornLad]

My worst semester happened in the Fall of my junior year:

2 honors-level comp. sci. courses
introduction to quantum mechanics
partial differential equations
classical guitar (2 credits, only A that semester)

Add to that the fact that I worked the overnight shift, 12 am to 8 am, twice a week. I'd go home, sleep for an hour, get up and go to class at 9:30 am.

I don't know what I was thinking.

 

[nu2004]

hey guys,

i'd love to hear responses on this one...

what was the heaviest/hardest workload you took on for a semester and how did you (or did you? survive it?

i'm planning on taking o-chem 1 with lab, physics 1 with lab, physiology with lab and an english in the fall...

is that just asking for pain?

what were other people's experiences with o-chem in general?

i took a whole year (3 quarters) of bio, organic, and physics, all with lab, and i was also working 24 hours/week. it was painful. my grades were okay. i definitely would not recommend it to anyone else.