Gen Bio

[futurenurse18_]

Hey, I'm a pre-nursing student and so far general bio has been kicking my butt. I don't understand the concepts being taught. any advice ? and tips on studying for exams

[dorkypanda]

A general biology course will be a foundation of basic bio, so, it shouldn't be too difficult. The concepts aren't quickly understood all the time. Some require more thoughts than others. when I took a gen bio course for science majors it took me multiple readings of the same paragraphs to fully understand what is going on. I'm one of those who spend more time grasping concepts since I'm not a very quick learner but it's the work that counts no? The course requires diligent reading and studying almost daily if you can. It's a burden to read multiple chapters a few days before an exam, please don't do this to yourself. readings done slightly ahead of time gives you time to understand the material and ask for help. Perhaps you should buy a voice recorder, it helps make your notes a lot more detailed. if you put in the time and true effort, you will rock this bio course and conquer its behind. exam answers can get tricky when professors throw in little details(haha, mine did this a lot), so be careful of that.

good luck in your course

[ThatOneDude822]

I think a lot of the time people find general bio to be difficult because it's all over the place! Animals, plants, cells, genetics, animal behavior, ecology, evolution.... It just gets confusing! I highly recommend watching some Khan Academy videos. He explains biology in a very simplistic way in layman's terms, and the videos are searchable by topic, which is then broken down by subtopic (extremely convenient). They are long videos, but if you're truly struggling, it's honestly the best way to go. I had a hard time with the 2nd semester of my AP Bio course (comparable to gen bio) a couple years ago in high school (this was the semester we covered genetics, and of course my teacher had a masters in genetics. Apparently she thought all of US had masters' as well...). Anyway, I used Khan Academy and got my grade up from a high D to a low B (technically a B-, but my high school didn't use a +/- system).

Good luck in bio! I'm sure you'll do great once you find your way.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day, futurenurse18_:

Keep in mind, when there are "general" statements, and "general" questions, the responses will be "general" for the most part. If you have specific questions about specific areas of general biology for which you are having trouble making connections, then maybe specific help can be given.

Thank you.