I’m taking General Biology next semester, and I hear from many people that it’s really tough. For those who’ve taken it, how should I go about handling this class? Was it really as bad as other people make it out to be? How hard would I need to work?
A lot of this will be college specific. My son loved Biology in college and really had no trouble with it. Others did. He studied by making note cards, rewriting portions of his notes, reading the chapters twice and watching videos if there was a tough concept. It depends on your study skills what works for you. You will need to study a good bit. I think he studied more for Chemistry than Biology that semester but both turned out great. You can do it! Go to every class, go to office hours, get help if you don’t understand.
I took the General Biology I/II sequence at my school since it was required for my DPT program. My professor happened to be really easy since all of her exams were 100% memorization from her powerpoints that she wrote out during class, so I ended up getting A’s both semesters.
Here’s some things that I did in that class that really helped me out, but you might have to do more if you know that your professor is hard.
-Review your notes: it’s really important to review your notes. Make sure you go to class to get as much as you can down. If you miss something, you can use lecture capture (basically a recording of the lecture posted on the class page) to find out what it was.
-Read the book! If you have a textbook for the class, make sure to skim it or look at the diagrams in it. You can also answer end of chapter questions to see where you’re at and what you can work on more.
-If you’re a visual learner, you can draw diagrams and flow charts to help you understand the logical process of certain concepts like cell respiration or mitosis. You can also use YouTube videos or websites to help, like Bozeman AP Biology or Crash Course if that’s up your alley!
-See your professor: get to know who your professor is and take advantage of office hours. They’re there to help you and they can even bump your grade up if they know who you are.
-Get a peer tutor: it’s okay to ask for help! I tutor Biology and I get students every week. Tutors are great for explaining concepts and giving their study advice.
-Look for back exams: these are exams from previous years. They’re useful in that the questions are usually similar each year. If you can sucessfully answer back-exam questions, you should be in good shape.
That’s pretty much all I can think of at the moment. Hope this helps and best of luck! You got this 