I graduated in 2011 as a homeschooled student. My family was in the military and so we traveled often. However this also meant that my parents didn’t have a lot of time to monitor my schooling, and as a teenager I didn’t really put any effort what so ever into it.
Fast forward 5 years after taking a year off to work and doing another 2 years of volunteer work, I’m currently a sophomore at Brigham Young University, studying molecular biology and wanting to go to medical school. My freshman year I just did general college requirements but this semester I’m taking a biology and a basic chemistry course. I just took my first chemistry test and realized I didn’t do too well on it. But I know it’s only the start and that I can still bounce back from this and do better. So for someone who doesn’t have any previous math and science experience, how difficult is it going to be for me too get through all of these courses and learn them well, because right now I feel so behind because everyone took all of these courses in high school for the most part. So my main question is what tips do you have for someone in this type of situation
Thank you so much for any and all advice!
Take advantage of every office hour and tutoring option available to you on campus. Get help the moment you feel slightly confused. Hopefully that will help you catch up.
For quick review videos, try the Bozeman Science youtube channel. He’s really good for bio and not bad for chem. Tyler DeWitt as some amazing chemistry tutorials on youtube, but there isn’t complete coverage of all topics. But what he covers is pretty thorough.
If you can’t catch up using resources available on campus and on the internet, community colleges offer “pre-biology” and “pre-chemistry” for students who did not have strong high school preparation. You could take some time off of BYU and take come community college classes if you really have to.
@AroundHere is absolutely right: push yourself to find out what resources BYU has- guarantee that there is a lot there, but you have to take the initiative. Plan to go the whole term, even once you start to feel confident. It can’t hurt, and as these are the teachers you will have for upper level classes, and are good sources for Letters of Recommendation (essential for grad school), having them know you as a student who is motivated and works hard can only help.
If you get stuck out of hours, Kahn academey (online & free) is your friend.