<p>I feel bad. Just got all my grades for 2nd semester. Total gpa is a 2.97something....</p>
<p>first semester, i got a 3.1 or something...now its below................</p>
<p>I used to get straight A's in high school, but Berkeley has pretty much shown me that I'm an average/less than verage student. It sucks, but I guess that is life. Thing is, am I absolultely screwed for graduate school? I know I have 3 more years left...but classes are just going to get harder. The class that pretty much screwed me over is chem3a.....</p>
<p>Do you guys have tips on how to succeed from now on? I studied hard for chem, but I guess it just didn't click for me. Maybe I should change majors? I'm good in english and stuff, but that doesn't exacty land you a job..not like MCB will either....sigh.</p>
<p>I'm taking bio1b this summer. Any tips for that? Thank you guys.</p>
<p>How many units did you take your past two semesters? One way to increase your GPA might be to take less graded units, like three graded classes instead of four, or 13-14 total units instead of 15-16.</p>
<p>This might delay your graduation, but it would probably be worth it if your GPA is higher.</p>
<p>forget the other thread…i didn’t see it when i clicked submit so i made a new one. sorry</p>
<p>i took about 14 units both semester…but chem/chem labs are horrendous. take up too much time…i did okay/good in other classes. just chem is the one that messed me up.</p>
<p>Well, I think you should stick through Bio 1B over the summer before you decide to switch majors. Maybe you’ll like that and upper division biology a lot more than you like chemistry.</p>
<p>Don’t worry I am exactly in the same boat as you hahahaha. Got straight A’s in HS, now finishing freshman year with a 3.32. Although that’s all my fault I definitely could have worked harder academically…just keep your head up and study harder next semester. Try to take advantage of all the resources Berkeley has like the free tutoring at the SLC, it’s really helpful.</p>
<p>agree with singh about taking less units. focus on the sciences, take some breadths for P/NP.</p>
<p>some tips:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>go to office hours frequently but only go after you’ve gone thru the stuff yourself and have questions (make a list of questions). you see a lot of ppl going to office hours without having reviewed material and expecting to get stuff explained to them for the first time, that doesn’t really help and wastes everybody’s time.</p></li>
<li><p>i think the way you should study is to focus on the big picture stuff first and then zoom in on the microscopic details. so the first time, scan the text or just listen to the lecture and just try to understand the general points without focusing too much on detail. then once you’ve understood the general points, do a deeper reading while working thru the material with a piece of paper (taking notes, annotating, etc). you may have to do this deeper reading a couple times to absorb everything. review your notes now several times. at this point you should have both a very good understanding and a very good recollection of everything. finally, as a test, explain it to yourself. if you can explain the material to yourself like a GSI or professor is explaining it to a student, you’re good to go and you’re going to get an A on the test. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>yes, the mechrocket method is a lot of work, but if you go thru those steps, not only will you do well on the test, you’ll have a really good understanding of what’s going on, which is important considering the upper divs build heavily on lower-div coursework.</p>
<p>Units of credit are not always a reliable way of comparing course workload.</p>
<p>4 unit science or engineering courses with labs tend to be much more work than 4 unit math or math-like courses (e.g. economics, computer science theory, engineering courses without labs). Lots of computer programming or large term projects (which can exist in humanities and social studies courses) also tends to make a course more work than its units may indicate.</p>
<p>“MCB majors from Berkeley regularly get into top 10 PhD programs with a 2.8 GPA” I find this hard to believe, but then again biology is not my field.</p>
<p>i do both 1 and 2 from the mech rocket way and have a high gpa. the mech rocket way is how to study efficiently. basically, you come to office hours to have all the gaps in your knowledge filled(by asking questions and getting them answered) and u always start learning something by getting the big pic first and then working at the microscopic details afterwards. it rly works.</p>
<p>and yea, srsly, people who come to office hours with no reading/interaction of/with the material whatsoever beforehand gain almost nothing from the time spent</p>
<p>I too find the above claim (in the first quote) to be dubious. However, I could be swayed by evidence. Does anybody have anything that would speak to the notion that MCB majors ‘regularly’ are admitted to top 10 PhD programs with just 2.8 GPA’s?</p>
<p>As one case in point, MIT states that the average undergraduate GPA for admitted students to the biology PhD program is a 3.6. I doubt that many applicants with 2.8’s are being admitted. </p>
<p>UCSF explicitly states that you can’t even apply to any of the programs in its Graduate Division, which comprises all of its MS and PhD programs, without at least a 3.0 undergrad GPA. </p>
<p>The mech Rocket way is legit and more commonly known as “learning.”</p>
<p>Personally, learning is not my first priority in college, grades are. In this case, I like to employ our good friend Charlie sheens method: “winning.”</p>
<p>Only spend your time doing the things that will help you win: don’t waste time with profs, get straight to ur knees in front of ur gsi an know how to milky the almighty pity/guilt/friendship card from destiny’s deck come grading time (super effective if u r borderline)…get ur hands on as many old tests as possible and read ur teacher during lecture for what is going to fursure end up on the test… Work with people smarter than you during hw assignments or review sessions… Limit what info u give to others, but squeeze as much reliable intel as u an from others… Stay a silent killer to the very end.</p>
<p>Learning is definitely needed to set the base grade:“the grade u deserve”, but there are more ways to boost your odds of a better grade “the grade you want”</p>
<p>I love berkeley, but I definitely hear what you’re saying. I think the students make it so so so hard to feel that you’re ever “smart,” almost maybe even creating an invisible standard. I feel it in my classes too. I think about asking questions and then somehow, this little voice in the back of my head screams “NO. everybody knows everything. Just suck it up and research it later. Character building.”
Needless to say it’s a struggle! You can do it. Jut go to office hours like people say it rly does help :). And do outside research. Otherwise, just try ur hardest we’re only human and not robots at the end of the day :)!!</p>
<p>It’s because there’s always one person that asks super detailed questions and scares everyone else because your questions are probably not as specific. I also happen to hate those types of people, at least during review sessions because everyone else in the classroom and their mothers know that the test is not going to be that specific.</p>
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