Micro Frustrations

Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping students and nurses who have taken Micro in the past can offer some suggestions as to how to study for such a dense subject. I have a first time professor this semester and her teaching style basically makes the class self taught. She reads right off the power point slides which are verbatum what the book says and she doesn't offer a study guide. I'm okay with not receiving a study guide, I know instructors don't have to make them, but for a subject so dense I would at least think we would get some guidance on which areas to focus on. I studied hard for our first exam and didn't do well so I made sure to study extremely hard for our last exam and I did okay. However, I'm not grasping the material. I've been to office hours and asked the same exact question: Where am I missing the connection? She literally told me "I don't know, read the book more I guess" or "form a study group". Though I appreciate the suggestions they just aren't helpful in giving me context when I have questions about differentiating between all the different topics we are learning about. I have also tried study buddies (others in the class are equally confused), rereading chapters, rewritting my notes and watching videos. I show up to every lecture, ask questions and participate in lab. It is a dense topic! Did anyone have a similar experience? Are there special studying techniques for micro that I am missing?

I really appreciate the input everyone!