O.K. so I'm taking Micro Next Month in August. An suggestions from those that already took it as to the best way to study/prepare in advance. Maybe any websites, Interactive C.D's or other helpful media. I got an Interactive Physiology CD in Spring and in was so helpfull to "see" what the professor was lecturing. Ended up wit an "A" and didn't even have to use my book tat much. What a waste of $150.00. I guess I'm more of a visual person and understand better when I can picture things/processes in my head.
Ok...how lucky is that for your prof to give your class her ppt slides? I hope you experience that in micro too. I haven't had the opportunity to sit under a prof with such generosity. In lecture, I write at a blurring speed and still miss some points. Hey...if you want, let me know how it goes this Fall and I'll do the same. Much success to you in the fall.
I've been very, very lucky actually. I had one really awful teacher that totally stopped lecturing after the midterms and then tested us on stuff that was in chapters we were never assigned. I also had one that gave me a B even though I had As on all the course work because of attendance. I tried to explain to him that I am unemployed and have drive 70 miles a day to get to school and sometimes don't have the gas to get there but he didn't care. I got As from all my other profs that semester and missed the same number of their classes too. Other than those two, all of my teachers and profs have been absolutely spectacular. My favorite prof is a philosophy professor who got his pHd from Yale and is the most brilliant person I have ever met in my life :loveya:. You don't expect to have an opportunity to learn from someone like that at a community college. I'm planning on transfering to UNLV in the spring and am really going to miss my CC when I do.
To get a jump on micro I would invest some time becoming familiar with the basics of bacterial structure, paying particular attention to the cell wall and the difference between Gram positive and Gram negative cells.
I would then spend some time understanding Gram-staining and the other other basic (as in fundamental, not as in the opposite of acidic) stains.
I just finished up a 4 week micro class..and i can happily say I made an
A....some tips...
1. stop listening to others...even before my first day of class i was so freaked out because of all the gossip...i had never met one person with an A in micro, i heard the teacher was a crab...etc and then my first day i was like are u serious
2. my teacher told us that she has the best grades in the summer and she figured that it was because you write notes for 4 hrs a day almost everyday and then you immediately test on it..so really you dont have time to forget it lol
3. also i probably made 6-7 hundred notecards in the course of 4 weeks...everytime i would do really good on a test someone would ask what do you do to study i was like write,write and write...( and yes it can be done without spending all your time on micro i know first hand i have a 3 yr old and a 2 yr old and a 28 yr old...lol...my husband.
4. ask your teacher for explanations...hello she has been in school for like 100 yrs..so yeah she knows all the tricks in the book
5. and last one for now but have study groups...we had a group of 3 in my little study group first test we studied alone and i made an A, other made a C and the other made an A,( this test was on our 3rd day of class) second test we all went out the night before at a mexican restaurant we all brought our note books with a list of things we didnt understand and we had the best time ever and all made As on the test
I'm not sure how you can get a head start on Micro especially without already having a syllabus. Just read the textbook material that goes along with the lecture regardless of whether or not the instructor requires it. If you are offered any independent lab time, I would take advantage of it.
ThatPoshGirl
282 Posts
I've been very, very lucky actually. I had one really awful teacher that totally stopped lecturing after the midterms and then tested us on stuff that was in chapters we were never assigned. I also had one that gave me a B even though I had As on all the course work because of attendance. I tried to explain to him that I am unemployed and have drive 70 miles a day to get to school and sometimes don't have the gas to get there but he didn't care. I got As from all my other profs that semester and missed the same number of their classes too. Other than those two, all of my teachers and profs have been absolutely spectacular. My favorite prof is a philosophy professor who got his pHd from Yale and is the most brilliant person I have ever met in my life :loveya:. You don't expect to have an opportunity to learn from someone like that at a community college. I'm planning on transfering to UNLV in the spring and am really going to miss my CC when I do.