<p>Hi, I'm currently a biochemistry major and I am in an intro bio course right now. I took ap bio in high school, aced the class with an A. But I am barely pulling an A right now in the intro class. I'm am afraid that I might get a B ( the range for an ab 3.5 is very small for this class). There is no curve. And this is only an intro course! The courses later on will only get harder right? Is this how all intro courses work? I want to apply to med school, but would a b in intro bio really hurt my chances?? The class is 5 credits, the rest of my courses I have As but they are not my major courses. Any advice? I am freaking out right now...</p>
<p>Well, I’d buckle down and make sure that that A stays an A, for starters. I don’t know much about advanced Biology, but I’m not sure that your courses will necessarily “only get harder” from here: they’ll get more advanced, yes, but there are a lot of other factors that influence the difficulty.</p>
<p>There’s a difference between a solid A and borderline… with about a month left, there are still a lot of different factors</p>
<p>…getting an A- or a B isn’t the end of the world.</p>
<p>Intro Bio is harder than upper level courses for the simple fact that in the intro classes, you cover A LOT of material in a really short period of time but in the upper level classes, they get more advanced while having an increasingly narrow focus so it’s not genetics, ecology and plants, viruses, bacteria, invertebrates, etc. I have three professors for my intro bio course who tell us the class average (at best) is about a C and even they struggled in intro bio sometimes when they were students. Stuff happens.</p>
<p>If worst comes to worst and you actually get that B (GASP) then just do better next time.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your plans for future are (grad school, med school), but it’s the general pattern of your grades that matters. If the overwhelming majority of your grades are As, maybe with an A- or B+ now and then, you will be fine. Should you get B+ in an intro class and then follow-up with As in advanced classes, you’ll be fine.</p>