On A Midsemester Update & Dear Reader 22

Anonymous

how did you do on the chem 3b midterm? how did you study for physics? midsemester update?

Dear Anonymous,

Sorry for the late reply, but I didn't want to do a midsemester update until I got the results for my physics midterm. :) 

So far, this semester has been the most stressful semester here at Cal. Not only are my classes harder than before, but I seem to have no time for leisure. If I'm not in class, then I'm at SLC study groups, and if i'm not at the study groups, I'm at lab. And if i'm not at lab, i'm caged in my room doing homework or studying. I also got a job with a consulting company in China so that should be interesting once I get started... As far as classes go, I feel like they're manageable as long as you stay on top of your work. Chem 3B with Pedersen is a great class- he explains the concepts clearly and is overall a terrific lecturer. The Molecule of the Day he does is always fascinating- ochem is finally put into context! Only downside is that he's strict with his tests (or so I feel) with redundant answers canceling out correct ones and whatnot. But the material gets really overwhelming so SLC is basically my life line. We had our first midterm a few weeks ago, and to study for it, I just did all the problem sets and additional problem sets that our SLC leader handed out prior to the midterm. The average for the midterm was around 73% (ish)  which Pedersen said was the highest average on a first 3B midterm in all his years of teaching the class.. not good... High average = high curve = sad premeds. Fortunately, I managed to get above average (although not by a full standard deviation) so I'm happy with that. Pedersen was really surprised that the average was so high because he said when he was writing it, he thought it was really difficult, which as you can imagine was not that difficult (compared to the problem set questions). As for physics... well.. I was never a math person so physics is a bit challenging for me. The concepts I feel are much harder to grasp than ochem, but once again, I'm not a math person. The teacher, Professor Heinemann, is a little German woman with a semi-thick accent so it's hard to understand her sometimes. She focuses a lot on deriving equations (which I think all physics professors do) and doesn't do too many example problems. The demos don't work all the time either.. Labs for physics are not that intense and discussion section is optional (you're not required to attend). The midterm was difficult for me but I managed to get above average on it, thank goodness, though not by too much. To study, I did A LOT of practice problems from the book and other practice tests. I also revisited mastering physics but it didn't help me much on the test... Professor Heinemann got diagnosed with breast cancer so she's on medical leave now (the doctors say she has a high chance of recovery) so Professor Charman took over for her. He's a lot more clear than Heinemann but he's focused on deriving the equations much more than Heinemann was. I heard his tests are harder too. Today he announced that since the stats for midterm 1 didn't follow a standard bell curve, he has to make the second midterm harder... perfect... My third class is Comp Lit R1A which i'm not enjoying too much. But then again, I was never much of a writer (which is ironic since i'm writing this blog...) Lab is lab- it didn't change too much from last semester haha. :) 

If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to ask! 

Have a great weekend! :) 

-K