On Fall of 2nd Year

I apologize for my lack of posts these past few months but there are a few reasons for that.

First, I spent weeks after I moved in trying to fix my schedule. I originally enrolled in Chem 3B, English R1B, and Music 26ac. However, I decided to switch from chem 3B to Bio 1A (on an epiphany I had in the middle of the night...) because I wanted to take chem 3B with Pederson (who only teaches it in the spring) and bio 1A didn't seem too much different in the fall or spring. So i enrolled in Bio 1A, English R1B, and got waitlisted for Music 26ac. Now, usually when you're on the waitlist, if you wait long enough then you'll most likely get into the class- usually. However, that didn't seem to happen this semester as I got dropped from the music 26ac waitlist (it was a breadth so it wasn't too important, but still..). Being dropped wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't already 3 weeks into the semester and I had to frantically find a replacement class. After emailing numerous professors and GSIs to see if I could still enroll, I finally found a class that I both needed for units and for med school- Stats2. So basically, this semester, I'm taking three classes that are going to be catastrophic for my GPA, but hey, might as well take all the hard classes at once while I'm at it and get it over with right? Ok, that's fine. But that's not all. I got a position at one of the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and I started working about two weeks into the school year. Research wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to work 15 hours a week on average (Right off the bat, I had to do DNA extractions and PCRs, and now I'm on cloning). I get home at around 6-7pm every day, cook/eat dinner, try to do some work, and then collapse. Not the ideal way to spend your 2nd year of college. Now that midterm season is rolling around, the pressure and stress have doubled and I feel I'm beginning to reach the limits of my endurance. I just hope I can make it through this semester without breaking hahaha

If you have any questions or topics you would like me to address, please feel free to ask/comment. :)

Other than that, to my fellow Berkeley peers, good luck on your first (or possibly second) round of midterms and I'll see you on the other side!

-K 

Dear Reader 13

Anonymous said...

Hello K,
do you remember what you got on your first midterm in chem 1A?
Also, do you have any advice for us on future midterms?? thanks!

Dear Anonymous,

I believe I got an F on my first chem midterm hahaha 

I was depressed for three days straight. I thought I knew all the material going in and I finished the exam about twenty minutes early and thought "That wasn't so bad..." It was my first college test ever and I wasn't sure on how to approach the test. The failing grade was a huge wake-up call for me. If you didn't do too well on the first midterm, just remember that you have about 4 more tests to go (total of 4 midterms and 1 final i believe?) and so your first midterm will be buffered by many others. As for advice on future midterms- I started doing the practice exams weeks in advance so that way, I would have plenty of time to go to GSI office hours and get help on material I didn't fully understand or that I needed extra help with. I also started going to the professors' office hours and SLC study groups. All these things just help reinforce the material. Reading the book didn't help me too much. While doing the practice tests, try to get into the frame of mind "How do I apply the concepts learned in lecture to this problem?" since all of the chem 1A midterms are extremely conceptual. After a few midterms, I figured out how to 'think' about the problems and so my scores started going up. I ultimately did well on my final and lab so I did alright in the class (although your labs are separate this year so that's a bit confusing..). 

I hope this helps somewhat (people usually find what study methods work for them half way through the semester so don't worry too much! :) Good luck on your future exams and in chem 1A! 

-K