Make sure you keep up with what is taught in class, especially if you have a heavy course load. If you're taking 4-5 courses, you will do very poorly if you leave studying to a week before midterms/finals (a week for 4-5 courses doesn't work). If you really want that 3.7+ GPA, do all the course readings, etc. All of the first year Science courses are fairly easy compared to 2nd+ year courses, (this is usually the case, unless you major in something easy) as they are introductory courses. If you put in the work, you can easily get a really good 1st year GPA.
The toughest part of the high school - University transition is adjusting to the freedom. There is no attendance, so you don't have to attend lecture. Profs don't care if you don't hand in assignments. You are not taught everything in extreme detail, so you have to learn things by yourself outside lecture. Basically, going to lecture and studying for a day will not get you an A in University courses. A lot of new University students got through high school with very little work and have to drastically change their bad study habits in order to succeed in University.
Basically, study daily, keep up with the class, do all assignments (which are usually easy marks) and attend all of the lectures if you want a 3.7+ GPA.
1) Go to class. 2) Keep good, succinct notes. 3) Spend a week before each major exam studying from your notes. 4) Make a "summary" of 1-2 pages of the essential info for each exam. 5) Go to tutorials, don't miss out on the easy marks. 6) Make friends on campus, join clubs, be involved.
These may all seem pretty ordinary, but failing out is usually just the response to not having done most of these things.
*points up* What they said. Especially the making friends part. They're often the ones you end up studying with and who you turn to to get help from on homework.
Additionally I highly suggest powering well ahead in your mathematics and physics - don't hold those off till the last minute. Get your math done by second year and get your physics done then too. Then focus on chemistry. What you'll find is that some of the mathematical reasoning used in the higher level chemistry courses is easier to follow if you've already seem multivariable calculus and linear algebra (particularly the eigenstuff).
One other thing, speaking as a grad student in the sciences - TAs love it when students actually show some interest and will (usually) be more than happy to help you with a problem. They won't do all the work for you but they will try to explain things. That is, after all, what we're paid for.
You will have to get used to this concept of going to someone-other-than-the-teacher/professor in university. I know it was a bit of a jarring adjustment for me when I went to uni straight out of high school.
Also, as a PSA, I need to say that we're starting to crack down more on instances of cheating and academic dishonesty. This includes seemingly innocuous things like copying your friends' lab reports, word for word. You MUST develop your own data analysis and conclusions. It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to cheat when a course looks hard, but the best thing to do is not risk the wrath of the professor, and instead try to get help or an outside tutor.
Grading in the sciences. In general the stress of curving isn't evident, because the marks in general tend to be very poor in some subjects. Do not be surprised if your abysmal 65% on the final exam ends up somehow equating to a B+ in the course, especially if a lot of other students did even worse. Do not put too much faith in the magic (science? ;) ) of curving. If you don't put forth a decent effort to understand concepts and how to mathematically apply them, you'll get screwed over.
chewbacca, good luck with your first year! I managed to keep a 3.7 GPA for my first year with two A+s, a B and a B+ each semester, so I took 4 courses per semester which I think is better than taking five (as long as some of the courses are 4 credit courses). My first year experience: BIO 101 (4 credits): In my experience, no critical thinking whatsoever is required for the Bio 101 lecture portion. Of course, every class tells you you will need to think critically and you should always try to, but it's just a memorization class and you basically have to absorb the textbook. The lectures were useless when I went. The lab is a little harder, you need to actually understand and connect concepts because there's some very tough, ambiguous multiple choice exams. CHEM 121 (4 credits): This was an extremely difficult course for me because the Chem class I took in high school had no lab and practically no problem solving, so I was woefully unprepared for Chem 121. It's ALL problem solving. You just need to practice every kind of problem. My method for getting through this class was to gain as many little points as possible in easy ways, like on CAPA and lab report sheets, because I knew I was going to do pretty badly on the big points areas, like exams. I managed to get a B but I would say it consumed more of my time than any other course I've taken. PSYC 100 and PSYC 102 are easy A+ courses if you're good at memorizing. ENGL 105 was probably one of the easiest English courses when I took it but they change its contents every semester so I guess it's hard to say, but I think it's a good elective. Now I took Math 12 (pre-calculus) already so I could have just gone straight into MATH 154 but I actually decided to take MATH 100 with permission instead to review and get used to math at the university level before jumping into calculus, and if you're weak at math, I would definitely recommend it. I got better at math during MATH 100 than with any of my high school math courses. Physics 100 on the other hand seems to be totally unnecessary for Physics 101 because Physics 101 basically IS Physics 100. The problems are a tiny bit harder but it's all the same.
Tips of succeeding in all courses: - obsessive note taking, textbook reading and summary writing. I know some people like to read the chapter first and then summarize it but what works best for me is to summarize and write while I'm reading. Then I rewrite my summaries, and rewrite, and rewrite.. for my Psych exams I would even get out a bit of paper and start writing concepts from memory during boring Bio tutorials to practice. So in your spare time..write and rewrite! - get easy points: LON-CAPA is the best way to add up points. You get a few tries so you have practically no reason to get anything wrong. The same with assignments..you have time to perfect them, unlike exams, so you can get as many points as possible from those. - study all the time. I tried to study every weekend. I don't understand people who study right before exams. It REALLY doesn't work for problem-solving courses like Chem 121.
I would also not recommend trying to cram the day before an exam. It is better if you begin studying at least a week prior to get re-familiarized with the concepts and equations used in your course - especially so for 'memorization' type material like biology.
Even if you do not want to take math 100 as a formal course, delay your math 151/154 until the spring, and sit in on math 100 in the back somewhere. There's so many students one more won't get the professor's interest. :teeth:
You should also ask other people who've taken math courses which professors they like/dislike. I find that the professor's personal style has a great deal of impact on how well one learns calculus. If a professor takes an excessively 'theoretical' approach, give serious consideration to dropping the class and retaking it the following semester with someone different.
... Unless you find the theoretical math approach actually works for you, of course. :teeth:
Comments
The toughest part of the high school - University transition is adjusting to the freedom. There is no attendance, so you don't have to attend lecture. Profs don't care if you don't hand in assignments. You are not taught everything in extreme detail, so you have to learn things by yourself outside lecture. Basically, going to lecture and studying for a day will not get you an A in University courses. A lot of new University students got through high school with very little work and have to drastically change their bad study habits in order to succeed in University.
Basically, study daily, keep up with the class, do all assignments (which are usually easy marks) and attend all of the lectures if you want a 3.7+ GPA.
2) Keep good, succinct notes.
3) Spend a week before each major exam studying from your notes.
4) Make a "summary" of 1-2 pages of the essential info for each exam.
5) Go to tutorials, don't miss out on the easy marks.
6) Make friends on campus, join clubs, be involved.
These may all seem pretty ordinary, but failing out is usually just the response to not having done most of these things.
Additionally I highly suggest powering well ahead in your mathematics and physics - don't hold those off till the last minute. Get your math done by second year and get your physics done then too. Then focus on chemistry. What you'll find is that some of the mathematical reasoning used in the higher level chemistry courses is easier to follow if you've already seem multivariable calculus and linear algebra (particularly the eigenstuff).
One other thing, speaking as a grad student in the sciences - TAs love it when students actually show some interest and will (usually) be more than happy to help you with a problem. They won't do all the work for you but they will try to explain things. That is, after all, what we're paid for.
You will have to get used to this concept of going to someone-other-than-the-teacher/professor in university. I know it was a bit of a jarring adjustment for me when I went to uni straight out of high school.
Also, as a PSA, I need to say that we're starting to crack down more on instances of cheating and academic dishonesty. This includes seemingly innocuous things like copying your friends' lab reports, word for word. You MUST develop your own data analysis and conclusions. It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to cheat when a course looks hard, but the best thing to do is not risk the wrath of the professor, and instead try to get help or an outside tutor.
Grading in the sciences. In general the stress of curving isn't evident, because the marks in general tend to be very poor in some subjects. Do not be surprised if your abysmal 65% on the final exam ends up somehow equating to a B+ in the course, especially if a lot of other students did even worse. Do not put too much faith in the magic (science? ;) ) of curving. If you don't put forth a decent effort to understand concepts and how to mathematically apply them, you'll get screwed over.
I managed to keep a 3.7 GPA for my first year with two A+s, a B and a B+ each semester, so I took 4 courses per semester which I think is better than taking five (as long as some of the courses are 4 credit courses). My first year experience:
BIO 101 (4 credits):
In my experience, no critical thinking whatsoever is required for the Bio 101 lecture portion. Of course, every class tells you you will need to think critically and you should always try to, but it's just a memorization class and you basically have to absorb the textbook. The lectures were useless when I went. The lab is a little harder, you need to actually understand and connect concepts because there's some very tough, ambiguous multiple choice exams.
CHEM 121 (4 credits):
This was an extremely difficult course for me because the Chem class I took in high school had no lab and practically no problem solving, so I was woefully unprepared for Chem 121. It's ALL problem solving. You just need to practice every kind of problem. My method for getting through this class was to gain as many little points as possible in easy ways, like on CAPA and lab report sheets, because I knew I was going to do pretty badly on the big points areas, like exams. I managed to get a B but I would say it consumed more of my time than any other course I've taken.
PSYC 100 and PSYC 102 are easy A+ courses if you're good at memorizing.
ENGL 105 was probably one of the easiest English courses when I took it but they change its contents every semester so I guess it's hard to say, but I think it's a good elective.
Now I took Math 12 (pre-calculus) already so I could have just gone straight into MATH 154 but I actually decided to take MATH 100 with permission instead to review and get used to math at the university level before jumping into calculus, and if you're weak at math, I would definitely recommend it. I got better at math during MATH 100 than with any of my high school math courses.
Physics 100 on the other hand seems to be totally unnecessary for Physics 101 because Physics 101 basically IS Physics 100. The problems are a tiny bit harder but it's all the same.
Tips of succeeding in all courses:
- obsessive note taking, textbook reading and summary writing. I know some people like to read the chapter first and then summarize it but what works best for me is to summarize and write while I'm reading. Then I rewrite my summaries, and rewrite, and rewrite.. for my Psych exams I would even get out a bit of paper and start writing concepts from memory during boring Bio tutorials to practice. So in your spare time..write and rewrite!
- get easy points: LON-CAPA is the best way to add up points. You get a few tries so you have practically no reason to get anything wrong. The same with assignments..you have time to perfect them, unlike exams, so you can get as many points as possible from those.
- study all the time. I tried to study every weekend. I don't understand people who study right before exams. It REALLY doesn't work for problem-solving courses like Chem 121.
Even if you do not want to take math 100 as a formal course, delay your math 151/154 until the spring, and sit in on math 100 in the back somewhere. There's so many students one more won't get the professor's interest. :teeth:
You should also ask other people who've taken math courses which professors they like/dislike. I find that the professor's personal style has a great deal of impact on how well one learns calculus. If a professor takes an excessively 'theoretical' approach, give serious consideration to dropping the class and retaking it the following semester with someone different.
... Unless you find the theoretical math approach actually works for you, of course. :teeth: