<p>Ok well I am trying to figure out if I should take Bio 101 or 121. I am premed focused, so GPA is important and I am sort of freaked by the Bio 121 curve. Additionally, I have done all the readings for Bio 121 and have the slides. However, on all the old 121 tests I have, I dont score very well (like between 60-70%). However, I hav a few 101 tests that I basically get perfect scores on without even second guessing any questions. So, would it be really bad if I took it easy and just took Bio 101 which would basically be a guarenteed A over Bio 121, which I might not do well in.</p>
<p>You know, there was a discussion about this in the facebook group. According to an upperclassman student, the difference between the two is minimal (other than the difficulty), especially from a pre-med perspective. But keep in mind, only 1 person said that.</p>
<p>If the Bio 121 exams are very hard, the class average may end up being lower than 60%. From what I know about the intro science courses is that it matters less how you do yourself than how the rest of the class does. So if the Bio 101 exams are easier, the class may have a higher average making it harder to distinguish yourself.
But many of the doctors I have spoken with (some who went to medical schools like Penn, Hopkins, Harvard, and Duke) have said that you really should try not to be overly focused on your GPA. Of course it requires a lot of work, but if you are meant to be a doctor, you will be able to get the grades. Struggling in pre-med is actually not a bad thing, it may help you realize that medicine is your passion or that the field is not the best fit for you.</p>
<p>Stop freaking out about Bio 121…I would recommend you to take it since why should you have to pay Penn’s insane tuition costs and then take courses on subjects that you already knew about. Furthermore, the intro Bio courses are hardly the hardest you will encounter within a Premed track…Orgo will probably by far be the hardest. Frankly speaking, if you end up freaking about Bio 121, you really should rethink of doing a premed route…Orgo will just kill you.</p>
<p>I’m pre-med as well. How did you do “all the readings for Bio 121 and get the slides”? What readings? What slides? Where do we get those things?</p>
<p>He might have gotten them from a student who has already taken the class. Rtgrove, if you have all of the materials for Biol 121, why not take the class? You have plenty of time to learn it, the first midterm may not even be until October. I know in Biol 101 they only have three midterms and a final.</p>
<p>Same is true for 121; there’s 3 midterms and a final, and I think the final grade is your best two midterms + final. When I took it last fall, the averages on the midterms were typically in the 60s-mid 70s, depending on the exam (first midterm, the biochem-heavy one had the lowest average, and the grades progressively got higher) As long as you are above the class average, you’ll generally do well in the class. I don’t know if 101 curves…I want to say your grade is based on your raw average, but I’m not 100% sure…</p>