<p>I only took a year of honors biology in ninth grade, and I hated it, slacked off, got a B+ which was much higher than I deserved. And now I really regret it because I'm terrified of the biology GIR ^.^' Does anyone have any tips for surviving the biology GIR with a poor background in biology? Is there a 7.01 variation that people tend to do well in, or people who are more math- and physics-oriented enjoy? I have a fairly strong chem background (5 on AP), so I'm planning on taking 7.01 during pass/no record. Should I be okay?</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I had an excellent background in biology.</p>
<p>I had a poor background in calculus and physics. I had no background in chemistry.</p>
<p>I can tell you that it is possible to pass the GIRs with no background. While most of your peers will have the background, there is a large chunk of students that do not. If you go to class, recitation, and office hours (ask questions! ask “stupid” questions!), and stay on top of things, you will be perfectly fine. The danger is freshmen tend to have trouble asking for help - then they stop showing up to class. That is what you need to avoid.</p>
<p>The thing is, most of your peers have that background. They’ll be complaining about how bored they are and how easy this is, or they’ll tell you about how they finally stopped wasting their time by skipping lecture. This is something to mentally prepare yourself for, because you can feel pretty stupid when you hear this for a class you have to put effort into (and you’ll be tempted to skip too!). There’s not much you can do about it - MIT is generally a lovely place, but this is an annoying aspect of our culture - it’s just best to be aware that you’ll deal with this and you should ignore it.</p>
<p>As for biology-specific tips: I hear that the spring version of biology is actually easier than the fall version. You can also try to take a more problem-solving approach – most people default to a memorization approach, and that’s just boring.</p>
<p>I think you should be fine. Assuming you take bio on P/NR and don’t need to take any further bio classes you can do really poorly in the class and still be totally fine. It’s not that hard to do OK in classes if you put in a reasonable amount of time as Piper said. If you are intent on getting an A or don’t put in much time then you might run into problems.</p>
<p>My judgment may be clouded by my biology-ness, but I think biology at MIT is quite different from biology as taught in many high schools around the country, so you may be pleasantly surprised. </p>
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Well, and IMO, it’s actually more difficult to succeed in MIT bio classes using memorization than by learning how to solve the problems, counterintuitive as it may sound. Many of my engineering friends tried to brute-force 7.013, and it was never a strategy I thought worked particularly well.</p>
<p>^ I’ll agree with that. </p>
<p>Take the class during your P/NR term. Go to lecture and recitation. Go to office hours if something doesn’t immediately make sense. Do the problem sets. Show up for the exams on time. If you find that you are not passing after the first exam get a tutor.</p>
<p>There is free tutoring for all freshman classes! There is tutoring through the office of minority education (even if you’re not minority!): <a href=“http://ome.mit.edu/programs-services/ome-tutorial-services-room”>http://ome.mit.edu/programs-services/ome-tutorial-services-room</a> You can also ask your TA and professors about tutoring within the class or the department.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the answers, that’s really a relief. I have every intention of attending all the classes and taking advantage of office hours or tutoring if necessary, but the warning about that temptation helps. Problem-solving in biology is currently a foreign concept to me since my high school teacher did not believe in teaching anything other than pure memorization, but I love problem solving. I’ll take it during P/NR to keep my GPA safe, I’m just relieved that it’s not too difficult to be on the passing side of that scale. Thank you!</p>