Dear Reader 34

YOLO said...

Do you have any specific tips for Bio 1A/L?
I feel like I'm going to die in those two classes (figuratively, of course). ;___; *shudders*

Dear Yolo (haha love the name),

Most premed/science majors dread taking bio1A/L. Personally, I'm glad it's done and over with. The lecture wasn't that bad- it was like AP bio, but more in depth. The lab portion, however, i hated.. The lab grade is broken down into three components: midterm, practical (which will be different for you guys- I heard they're changing the format), and quizzes. The prelab and postlab for each lab doesn't count towards your grade so I wouldn't worry too much about those. The midterm is worth more than the practical so make sure you do well on it (not that I have to tell you haha). The worst part of lab for me were the quizzes. The quizzes are based mostly on your lab manual, but my gsi added a lot of questions from lab lecture. As far as tips go, for bio 1A lecture, focus on the lecture slides and not so much the book- use the book for reinforcement but from my experience, the lecture slides are more important. For lab, memorize the damn lab manual, do as many practice problems as you can for the genetics portion on the midterm (it's pretty difficult, but once you get it, it's not that bad), start memorizing everything from the dissections in advance (take pictures!!) as well as the analogous parts/functions from various animals, and don't fall behind!! In all, it's not so bad haha. 

Best of luck! 

-K