Hi guys. I am a sophomore at Columbia CC, pre-med, undecided in major. I am currently taking BIOL2005 Introduction to Biology, and I am really struggling with the class (my first exam score was very below average). Are there any upperclassmen or alumni that could share with me any resources, advice or notes on how to do well in this course? I know there are recommended texts but it does not help at all with the material, and the professor keeps saying that the best we can do is watch lectures and do the problems in the Lerner’s Manual. But is there anything else somebody used that also helped with understanding the material? I’d sincerely appreciate the advice.
I am sorry for your experience with this class. I am neither a current student nor an alumnus at your school; however, I have experience in the academia, and I offer these practical suggestions:
Look at your test, and find out if your mistakes were due to your not understanding the questions, or you did not remember the answers, or you knew what were asked but did not know how to proceed. With these identified, then you can improve your study skills to address these deficits. Your professor’s comments suggest that the test questions are based on the problems sets in the Lerner’s Manual, so compare the two and see if you can match the test questions to the ones in the problem sets, by the concepts or principles that they share, and study them. Perhaps your schedule is already overloaded with other classes and there is just not enough time for this? Do try to get some sleep, take a walk and enjoy the glorius autumn in NYC to refresh your mind and brain.
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