Do you drop a class you are doing bad in? Or do you stay in it tough it out and get a subpar mark? This comes up on the premed101 forums quite a bit. And for my situation, I decided to drop it. If it was during Sept-April, I would be less inclined to drop it. But because the summer semesters at UBC are only 5 weeks long, it is a very fast pace to do a 3 credit course in 5 weeks, much less to do 2 of them, and also to finish my two online courses and study for the final exams for those at the same time.
I simply took on too much to chew this summer. I only want marks in the 90s, and if I'm in jeopardy of falling below 85, then I will drop it. I've done some number crunching, and I basically have to have a near perfect GPA for the next year if I want to have a shot at medicine at UBC (haven't calculated for other schools). It's a tough decision to make because I already started the course and spent a considerable amount of time on it. But if I do end up re-registering in the course, then it will be time well spent.
There is something I'm doing wrong though. I really think I need to work on my problem solving skills. Because in my class, I had a tough time with in-class activities and also doing the quizzes. I found it really tough because the text only has a fraction of the information we need to do the questions. The rest comes from lecture, and I don't really excel in taking lecture notes. My strong suit is spending countless hours on course materials/online resources to know the course material off by heart. Basically, I study so much that I make the whole thing easy. But I need to work on problem solving, thinking critically, and attacking situations logically, because when things get tough I need to be able to get through it. I have a feeling a lot of my courses at UBC are going to emphasize these skills. It is not enough to regurgitate, not with an active prof at least, the active prof will challenge you to really hit the points home.
Usually, from something like this you can infer a take-home message, like "I should've have studied more for that test" or "I should've been more prepared for class". Great things to learn from, but the usual suspects of some form of preparation for activities were not applicable in my case. My preparation was great. What I learned from this is that I need to expose myself to new situations where I can apply the course work - basically I need to do more practice questions, and be creative about it. For example, if I'm not given many practice questions, and can only find a hanful online, then make some up! Or schedule an appointment with someone who knows the course so that you two can make up practice questions together. I heard from a professor that studies learning that self generating practice questions and then testing yourself on the questions is a great way to learn, much better than highlighting and/or re-reading.
As for my remaining marks for my 4 summer courses, I am still optimistic on all of my marks being in the 90s, and 3/4 could be above 95. Mind you I don't have any marks back yet so that could change quickly. But overall, I am feeling VERY good about my summer. It's going to be tough, but it will be rewarding as well. And I'm finally going to break the threshold of a 90% average for a semester. I know if I am optimistic, then I will be better suited to being open to learning and enriching myself and therefore getting a higher mark. That is just the kind of person I am.
Anyways I should go to sleep, I have to get up early to study for my biopsych exam. It is worth a lot too, so the pressure is on. My first big test of the summer and I have that small glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, I can get 100%. Wouldn't that be special. I do love the class so I hope my mark reflects my enjoyment level.
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