gettin D in calculus III, not so good in major, kinda surreal, worried about my futur

<p>I was given the chance to use a cheat sheet - one sheet of handwritten notes back to back for the exam. I did not do the homework, used a solutions manual and copied the work onto paper, handed that in. Have a bad habit of doing that for many years in math, and have still gotten 3s and 2s grades still, but this time calc III is a mixed bag of "real" math problems that got me. I read the book like heck and that's all I did. I studied the homework with the solutions manual. I put equations on the cheat sheet, but not problems and their worked out solutions. That would have helped MUCH more. I did the homework just in the past few days, understand it, feel better about it. However, I STILL forget how to do it. More repetition? Or a better cheat sheet needed with examples to remember things on the test?????</p>

<p>Sometimes you just have to BS things. And students were getting caught cheating. This is why they finally allowed note sheets on the test. I did this not at the university I am at now where it is allowed but at the community college where I was (where it was not allowed).</p>

<p>Bottom line: too hard to remember taking physics and history as well! Too much of a wishy-washy thing to get a good grade and get into grad school/med school as a biochem major (grade can easily tilt after just one test - each test has just 5 questions on it). Calc I had many more - I did better.</p>

<p>Bottom line is that I keep getting poor grades even when I skim things to save time and still learn conceptually but not perfectly for exams, and there have been many times when I have just "gotten by" with HUGE extra credit assignments at the community college. Though I must change, and have...I have 5 repeated courses total in biology, general chem, organic chemistry, now calculus, and precalculus. Maybe I am in the wrong major. My humanities GPA was a 3.5. My major GPA in biochem is a 2.65 and overall a 2.75 (university) + 3.09 (cc) = 2.92</p>

<p>Maybe I’m just misunderstanding your question, but it sounds like you’re struggling to understand why you’re failing Calc III after you haven’t done the work, made a terrible cheat sheet, and just skimmed the back of the book?</p>

<ol>
<li>Do the homework.</li>
<li>See what a good cheat sheet looks like and try to do that. [I’ve never had a class that allowed cheat sheets, yet I did great in Calc III. I don’t see why a student would need one.]</li>
<li>If you get a homework problem wrong, work through the correct solution and learn what you did wrong.</li>
</ol>

<p>Honestly…</p>

<p>You’ve posted a variation of this thread in 3 subforums here. Are you expecting a different answer?</p>

<p>Honestly, you’ve pointed out your problem in the second sentence “* didn’t do the homework.” Furthermore, you have a history of low to failing grades (a 1 is also a D, which is not technically passing). Your first low grade in a biochem major class (especially gen chem or o-chem) should have been a warning signal that you need to improve your study habits. You seem like you’ve already figured out the reasons so why are you posting this? Bid for sympathy? Why don’t you fix the problems you’ve identified. If simply doing the homework (for once) doesn’t help, get a a tutor, go to the prof’s office hours, join a study session. Actively help yourself rather than whine about how one test can dramatically alter your grade.</p>

<p>And did you just admit to cheating on tests at your community college? That would be an issue right there. </p>

<p>You don’t appear to do well or like the classes required for biochem so why are you still majoring in it? If it’s making you miserable, change. You’re not going to get into grad school with a sub-3.0 major GPA and you’re unlikely to get a biochem job with only a BS (and some employers do ask about GPA).</p>

<p>Harsh, but that’s the truth.</p>