Microbiology?

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Is anyone taking Micro this fall? I'm taking Micro along with Nutrition, and I'm a little nervous!

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is anyone taking micro this fall? i'm taking micro along with nutrition, and i'm a little nervous!

i took is this past spring semester. as you, i was nervous taking microbiology at first, but once you start it is so much fun. it is alot of material and the labs are just as important as the lecture. the labs are so much fun and you should enjoy it.

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I took Micro this past Spring as well. I was nervous too, but once I started the class, it wasn't so bad. My suggestion for lab is make sure you write down all the characteristics of your bacteria and any of the results for the tests you run. Color, shape, etc... If you are able to use your lab book for your lab final (we were able to), this will help you out tremendously!

I'm sure you'll do fine...but I completely understand you being nervous as I was there too, but once you start running all the tests and getting your results, it's a lot of fun! Lecture for me was boring in the beginning, but the further we got into it, it really was interesting!!! Deal with the boring stuff and you'll find yourself enjoying it by the end of the semester.

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Specializes in Cardiac Care.

I, too, understand the nervousness, but like the posters above, once you get into microbiology, it is a blast! It's all interesting, to me that is, and the labs are actually fun, and I learned so much. There is a lot to know and a lot to memorize, but you work with much of the same material over and over.

I wish you much luck; have fun with it!

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Is anyone taking Micro this fall? I'm taking Micro along with Nutrition, and I'm a little nervous!

I'm also taking Micro and Nutrition!! As well as A&P and Pysch. I think it will be a lot of fun. Challenging but fun...

Good luck :)

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I took micro last semester and I, too, really enjoyed it. It was a lot of work but not difficult conceptually.

Here're things that helped me get an "A":

  • Study EVERY DAY. It doesn't have to be for long; even just a few minutes looking at flash cards or chapter summaries.
  • Make lots and lots of flash cards. I find them to be the best way to memorize voluminous content.
  • READ THE BOOK. I'm amazed at how many people eschew reading. I find it vital and it produces the grades that I'm looking for.
  • Interact with the teacher in a positive way. That means trying to answer the questions that they pose in lecture (but giving others a turn, too), sitting in a prominent place so that they can see you, being there every class (they know, you know...), and asking questions of them. Don't always look to be the first one out of lab. I've had a number of lab partners that are just trying to get through as quickly as possible; many of them weren't even around after the drop deadline.
  • Make use of the off-day labs if they can accommodate you. You really should look at multiple slides of the same organism so that you can pick them out on lab tests.
  • Review often. Don't laugh but I'd even take my book into the john (I'm a guy... we do that...).
  • Get your terminology straight. When I study with others and find that they can't define things succinctly using the terminology from the book, that's often predictive of how they perform on tests.
  • Get a photo atlas. It wasn't recommended by the teacher but I used ISBN 0-8053-2732-0 and found it very helpful.
  • Hunt around on the web and you'll find lots of pictures - download 'em and look at 'em.
  • Try to understand WHY the various tests work and not just the steps. It's much easier to remember if you understand them.
  • Don't do just the minimum that they recommend. I read through stuff that the teacher doesn't cover just because I don't like to have holes in my subject knowledge.

You can do micro and you can do very well. You will have to work at it, though, and keep at it through the whole semester.

Best of luck to you!!

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I took micro last semester and I, too, really enjoyed it. It was a lot of work but not difficult conceptually.

Here're things that helped me get an "A":

  • Study EVERY DAY. It doesn't have to be for long; even just a few minutes looking at flash cards or chapter summaries.
  • Make lots and lots of flash cards. I find them to be the best way to memorize voluminous content.
  • READ THE BOOK. I'm amazed at how many people eschew reading. I find it vital and it produces the grades that I'm looking for.
  • Interact with the teacher in a positive way. That means trying to answer the questions that they pose in lecture (but giving others a turn, too), sitting in a prominent place so that they can see you, being there every class (they know, you know...), and asking questions of them. Don't always look to be the first one out of lab. I've had a number of lab partners that are just trying to get through as quickly as possible; many of them weren't even around after the drop deadline.
  • Make use of the off-day labs if they can accommodate you. You really should look at multiple slides of the same organism so that you can pick them out on lab tests.
  • Review often. Don't laugh but I'd even take my book into the john (I'm a guy... we do that...).
  • Get your terminology straight. When I study with others and find that they can't define things succinctly using the terminology from the book, that's often predictive of how they perform on tests.
  • Get a photo atlas. It wasn't recommended by the teacher but I used ISBN 0-8053-2732-0 and found it very helpful.
  • Hunt around on the web and you'll find lots of pictures - download 'em and look at 'em.
  • Try to understand WHY the various tests work and not just the steps. It's much easier to remember if you understand them.
  • Don't do just the minimum that they recommend. I read through stuff that the teacher doesn't cover just because I don't like to have holes in my subject knowledge.

You can do micro and you can do very well. You will have to work at it, though, and keep at it through the whole semester.

Best of luck to you!!

Thanks for all of the tips! I am excited about this class, but I bought the book and started reading it, and there really is ALOT of information! I want an A, though, so I will do whatever it takes

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Specializes in Emergency Dept..

i start micro on the 28th (t/th). the lab manual was the only required text, but that photo atlas by alexander and a micro textbook by bauman were both listed as optional. i got all three! i'm super excited! thanks for the helpful info, ♪♫ in my ♥! :up:

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I am starting Micro in October. I am very nervous too. All those hints are going to come to good use, thanks!

Kelly

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Here's another thought from somebody who's done a good deal of tutoring in various subjects:

1) If you think you'll need help, get a tutor right at the beginning of the semester and work with them every week. Don't wait until a week before the test or until you've gotten behind.

2) When coming to this board for help, try to pose specific questions. It's hard to answer vague questions so you're less likely to get helpful responses.

One last thought: Try to maintain a good attitude. You have to take the class no matter what and your teacher is who they are. Energy spent complaining about the teacher or about the silliness of having to learn something is wasted energy.

Stay positive and stay focused on your goal.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Cardiac.

I certainly agree with all the above posters about keeping up with the studies.

I loved Micro. I think it's been my favorite course so far. Nutrition wasn't all that bad. You just had to keep up with the studying.

One thing I used to do in micro lab that I found helpful was that I brought a digital camera to the lab and I used to take pictures of my plates. Then I'd print the pictures and paste them in my lab book instead of using colored pencils to try to draw the colonies. My classmates and the teacher thought it was funny (and probably weird) but I found it so much easier than drawing, especially in certain labs where we had to compare the number of colonies on various plates. I was also able to e-mail the pictures to my lab partners.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
danh3190 has a good suggestion. we had a gal who did this in our class, including slide shots through the microscope. she shared them with everybody and it was a real help in preparing for our lab final.
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