<p>Hello, so I'm really nervous about my upcoming fall semester, I'm usually okay with taking 2 sciences together with labs, but next semester I'm taking three: Physics, Biochemistry, Structural and Physical Chemistry, Physics lab and my elective Arabic V. This schedule might change, however it is the one I'm most likely committing to. Honestly I'm not sure if I bit of more than I can chew, how overwhelmed I'm going to be, if I'm going to tank my gpa that I've worked really hard for. I've already taken orgo 1 & 2 and have gotten A's, genetics, cell biology, calc 1 & 2, etc, etc and my current average is a 3.9. Any tips, or anything I can over the summer to prepare? Or any idea on how challenging the courses are?</p>
<p>The difficulty of individual courses and their respective labs varies a lot from school to school, so it is hard to judge as an outsider. For example, at my university orgo labs were a breeze but biochem labs were murder and took 3x the work of the lecture portion. If you are taking an algebra-based physics course (as opposed to calc-based), and have any background in physics (like from high school), I wouldn’t expect that to be too difficult of a course.
From your grades, it looks like you are definitely a strong student, and if you’re already thinking about how to prepare for the fall semester, you just have to bring that level of commitment to the courses. I was in a similar situation to you wall of my sophomore year, when I took physics + lab, genetics + lab, graduate-level human neuroanatomy + lab, and statistics, plus a couple of required 1-credit classes for a total of 21 credits. It didn’t end up being as bad as I expected, and I had still had time to volunteer in a research lab and at a hospital.
Moral of the story: don’t overwork yourself being afraid of how hard it will be. Just be willing to sacrifice a bit of sleep and social events and you can probably pull it off.</p>
<p>I agree with the previous comment. It sounds like you’re a strong student. My son took Biochemistry, physics 2, ORGO 2, and science research last semester and did greats. Actually his GPA is similar to yours - 3.91. He has a great aptitude for science which also sounds like you. </p>
<p>Thank you nanotechnology and momworried so much! Nanotechonology you words really helped and I’m appreciative of the time you took to share your story. I was definitely psyching myself out, but like you said, commitment and sacrifice will be my new two best friends fall semester. </p>
<p>When my son had a rough semester, he cut back his part-time job to 2 hours a week…on Friday afternoon…so iit never interfered with school. he committed to socializing less…only going out later on weekends after homework/studying.</p>
<p>You could get your textbooks early and start reading/studying them.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t necessarily recommending doing any prep in the summer, but really, it’s just about staying on top of things during the semester. You’re a good student, so you clearly know how to study and do well in college courses and you have a good mastery of previous material. Just make sure you keep up with the work and you ask for help early if you need it. It’s a lot harder to cram an entire semester the night before a test when you have to do it for three classes, instead of one. </p>
<p>One thing to be cautious of, regardless of the amount of classes you take is a bad combination is to have a class that requires a lot of studying and memorization like biochemistry, with a class that has lots of assignments, or in class lab time. Usually the large amount of assignments will detract from your studying time for your other course. </p>