How I Got An A+ In One Of My Toughest College Classes

College is not a walk in the park for most, and on numerous occasions we encounter courses that take all of our sweat and tears. These courses can be core classes, major classes, or even electives. Being a Neuroscience major in college, I had to pick a Neuroscience related elective last semester. Out of the list of arduous interconnected electives, Molecular Cell Biology seemed the most relevant and useful. In my university, Molecular Cell Biology is deemed as gateway class for science majors. If I were a Biology major I would have to make a B or better to even stay in the Biology major. Fortunately, I am a Neuroscience major. Imagine having the continuation of your degree hinge on a grade in a certain class. Regardless due to my schedule situation last semester, I was relegated to the sole option of a Molecular Cell Biology Hybrid course. This means that it was online, with the class meeting once a week on campus. I have always preferred self teaching over listening professors drone on in lectures, so I was ready to give it a go.

Being a Neuroscience major we do take general Biology classes but not much more than that. I did not have fancy Biology classes like genetics or animal biology under my belt as compared to my Biology majored peers in that class. I was already starting a footing behind the rest. Neuroscience is very Bio oriented but it is specific to the Brain and Spinal Cord. Quite frankly learning about neurons and tracts is not the same as learning about the rest of the body's cells. I was mildly intimidated at the start of the course and our professor did not makes things easier.

Her methods for running the class made things a lot more difficult than needed. She would assign a massive unit each week along with a tediously long homework and exasperating quizzes. She was a huge fan of the multi select question style, meaning each multiple choice had multiple correct answer choices. Say for example, I picked the right choices but did not choose another option that was also correct, I'd get the whole question wrong. The online quizzes would not even tell you which one of the options you chose were correct or wrong. The quizzes were retakeable online until the due date, so my weekends would turn into guessing battles with the hopeless quizzes that wouldn't even suffice any feedback. She also had a knack for asking details that she did not cover on her power point slides, and when questioned on that matter, she'd water it down to us being able to use our "critical thinking skills."

All in all, quite a frustrating course. In the start, I was hoping for a B at best. The class exams she made were extensive and long, and that was the least of our misery. We even had a massive cumulative final exam at the end of the term. I had my work cutout me, for a class that was just a necessary elective in my major. Mid semester however, I managed to turn it all around and here is how I did it.

1) Study Patterns - With any tough course, begin by studying the patterns of the course. What does your professor focus on more, what type of questions do they ask, what styles of assignments do they give, and especially what do they cover more heavily in the textbook. I studied all my professor's patterns, from what she focuses on a lot, the level detail she delivers the unit in, and the wording of the questions she gave. This helped me cut down a lot of information and focus solely on the impertinent sections of each chapter in the textbook. I also took note of what topics from the chapter she asked more homework or quiz questions about. I knew that these topics would repeat on the exam, but the questions that had already been given and quizzes and homework would not repeat. This way I was able to crack what was left to be asked about that certain topic.

2) Read The Textbook - Many college classes have textbooks, but students today tend to toss it aside and rely more on their professor's power points. Do not do that. Professor's fish the details for their exam questions from the textbooks, their power points are barely summaries of the topics covered in the chapters. Take that extra hour to read the designated chapter and make condensed notes. I formulated an excellent system of following the power point slides. I will go through the slides at home and find those same topics in the designated chapter. Then I'll know what to read in specific. I'll take detailed but condensed notes on it. After I have made my notes on the chapter, I do not need to revisit the book for that chapter ever again. This makes reviewing so much easier come exam time. I'll just read my detailed notes and not the endless pages of the textbook.

3) Copy Down All Questions - This is a method I use for my toughest classes only. It's tedious but its worth it, especially if that particular subject is not your cup of tea. Pay attention to the homework, quiz, and class questions. Make a small notepad or mini notebook of those questions with their answers. Designate a small notebook to just the questions and answers. When exam time rolls near, you can keep rereading the compilation of quizzes from that unit. It trains your brain to subconsciously pick up on patterns and similarities. I guarantee you will make better guesses on your exam should that need avail.

4) Make Review Sheets - This a method I implement near exam weeks. I go through my detailed notes once more and condense them even further into review sheets. I am not a fan of flash cards. Being a science student I've noticed that index cards are too small to hold detailed conceptual info. Plus, for a whole unit exam as information laden as Molecular Cell Biology, you would easily burn through the whole pack of index cards. I prefer making neatly organized review sheets on legal pad paper instead. The rewriting and active condensation of information improves the retention of the material.

5) Memorization Talk Show - Molecular Cell Biology has a whole ton of processes to memorize. The weekend before my exam, I would take all my review sheets and begin memorizing them. I would actively read them out loud and then retell it to a pretend "audience." Sometimes, I'd pretend I was teaching an imaginary class or even doing the voice over for those educational videos on YouTube. It sounds weird, but once you really get into your role, it makes memorization a lot more fun. This also adds an element of experience, which by the way has been proved neuro-scientifically to engram memories more solidly.

These are the 5 methods, I used to ace my toughest class last semester. You would have to adjust these methods to fit your class, but the same principles apply. These tips sound long and tedious, but as you get more practice you get faster and faster at them. In the long run, these techniques save time and boost your grade significantly. I did horribly on our first exam, but jumped to an A+  test average right after implementing these techniques. And I did study very hard for that first exam, it just wasn't effective. 

No one else will tell you these tried and true personal methods. A plethora of blogs and videos ramble off the same cliché methods of better note taking and asking questions in terms of academic advice. This on the other hand is solid advice coming from someone who turned the tables and defeated her odds in a course that was going to defeat her. The time spent is worth the gain. At the end of this whole course, I ended up becoming so well versed in Molecular Cell Biology, that a course I went in loathing I came out loving. Taking the elective that snapped me into shape put me a foot ahead of my Neuroscience peers. I can now make connections and analyze topics in more depth with the cellular understanding I gained.

Thank You For Reading!