Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, I happened to get super sick, so I’ve been sleeping a lot and studying for my L test (I know I am late! I’ll have that done before the break ends, and should have my N by the time I graduate)
So I’ve gotten most of my grades back (MICB 306 still hasn’t come..their notoriously late in terms of handing things back for this course, same with MICB 302). I am glad I didn’t have one standout bad grade, like usually one course throws things off, but I did well on everything, I discovered a lot of things I was doing wrong in terms of studying, and I am so glad I changed them.
FNH 350
This course is pretty much a biochemistry course, and I actually found it more difficult than Bioc 302, because there were a lot of details to memorize, there was too much to memorize, and atleast Bioc 302 final is not cumulative of the entire semester. So its an 8 am course and you have to be there for every lecture mwf, because the prof deletes parts of the slides, so you must show up to fill them in. Now I missed 2 classes this semester due to being either ill, or having way too much to do with other courses. I realized how bad that was for me studying for finals, cause I could only imagine what I missed on the slides, another thing, is I have no friends in this class lol. The class is half full every class so I know people trade off lectures, and dont care to show up knowing their friends there will give them the notes. I’m a little hesitant asking strangers for the last lectures notes (I wouldn’t be 1st year at UBC, I am now, once you’ve been here long enough, you understand how some people are! ;)) Regardless of that, the midterm was 30%, quizzes 10%, and that component I had a really high A, close to an A+. Now the variables for me were the group project, I overestimated how well my group did (not really i assumed we got 75) so didn’t devote as much time to the final exam as I should have. I did well but definitely got lower than I expected 🙁 I wish I knew my group project grade before studying for the final, would have made a difference. Regardless I did well, and it was definitely an interesting course, I learned a lot. And this course would be torture if you had never taken Bioc 302, I don’t recommend taking this without taking Bioc 302 beforehand.
MICB 306
So I had heard this was one of the more lightweight Microbio courses, in terms of 3rd year level, so I wasn’t too worried. But the course changed a lot this year, and Kion was the prof for the first 2 midterms. The first midterm was 30% and I did really well, the class had an average of 81% which is great for a MICB course 3rd year level. The second midterm also 30% was too long, and it seemed methodically done, because I only knew a few people who finished. I didn’t finish, and I wish I knew beforehand it’d be obscenely long, I’d go through the exam and do the problems I knew I could get full marks on right away. There were a lot of questions at the end I wish were in the beginning. Regardless the class average for the second midterm was 64, and I was around there 🙁 She said there was a possibility of scaling, so honestly I wouldn’t mind a 5% scale up, that’d be perfect lol. I dont know if they will scale, because the final was pretty easy. Pretty straight forward, and to the point, nearly half the class left the exam early, and I know the average has to be in the high 80s (im guessing) for the final, so we will see. It’d be a shame if the second midterm is what prevents me from getting an A, hoping I did well enough on the final.
GERM 200
So I love studying for German opposed to my other science courses, its more relaxing, not just memorize, memorize, memorize. However, things have changed from 100 level to 200 level. They don’t give practice midterms anymore, and honestly that was the best part. I knew if I did the practice midterm/final 2 times I’d guarantee an A on the exam. I got an A in the course, but nothing close to my Germ 100 grade, because there were less resources, and obviously because its more difficult, its intermediate. I really wanted to finish Germ all the way to 210 level, but I think I’m going to stop now. It’s not necessary for my degree, and Germ 210 is apparently a lot of speaking, which is my weakest point. Times like this you have to choose grades over interest. I figure I can continue learning one summer on my own.
ECON 310
This class, I took it because I wanted to take at least one Econ class before leaving UBC, my friend recommended it, and was taking it, so I took it. MICB 306 exam was at 7pm, and this exam was at 12 pm the next day, so I already knew sacrifices had to be made. Definitely hope it was worth it because I am still waiting for my MICB grade to come out. This class is pretty straight forward, read the book, do the Aplia, do the problems, and it should be fine.
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Overall biggest change I made this semester was for the science courses. The change was to completely ignore the textbook, why didn’t someone tell me this earlier? I wish someone told me this earlier..honestly! My average would be atleast 5-10% higher if I knew this earlier. So for MICB courses especially I find, ignore the textbook, and focus on the slides. I used to focus on the textbook and use the slides for review, and its way more work, way more to memorize, and less time to review. I think I had high school mentality which is, if you see assigned readings, I read, and thats my main focus. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure it out, and the time of studying for midterms decreased substantially. Way more time to re-read, and review when your focusing on one thing, not two. I still have MICB 407,408, and 308 to go so luckily I wont make the same mistakes! Still makes me sick that I figured it out this late though. So essentially unless they say reading is mandatory, its not. Regardless my GPA so far is looking better than before, and this is putting in less work, looking back I wish I did this for classes like Biol 200, and Biol 204! Better late than never!
Hope everyone is enjoying their break! 🙂
