Passing A&P II but failing microbiology please help!

nalie2, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 7, 2015

Have you talked to the professor? Perhaps the professor can guide you in the right direction. After having the first exam you should be able to gauge what the professor will test you on. Maybe dropping this class and taking it with a different professor will help. Perhaps it is just the professor's teaching style that isn't clicking for you.

oldsockventriloquist · Oct 7, 2015

What is your class currently studying (antibiotics, taxonomy...)? Advice might vary depending on the which topics the class is on.

futureRN_ · Oct 7, 2015

We're currently studying aerobic and anaerobic respiration and fermentation. I made a 66 on my first exam and I have second one this upcoming Thursday. I've studied my eyes out and I'm so nervous this upcoming exam.

futureRN_ · Oct 7, 2015

Talking to her seems like great idea however she seems very nonchalant and sort of rude. I will most definitely try though. It's too late for me to drop and this is a small private college and she's the only microbiology professor.

oldsockventriloquist · Oct 7, 2015

We're currently studying aerobic and anaerobic respiration and fermentation. I made a 66 on my first exam and I have second one this upcoming Thursday. I've studied my eyes out and I'm so nervous this upcoming exam.

So, I guess the first step would be to see how you would do in the class, if you did well on everything else. Is the class curved? If so, it would be helpful to know the average. Now for the second exam, you could try googling diagrams (find some good ones) of each process (like fermentation) and keep on copying them onto scratch paper until you got down all the steps. Then, you can read more about (hopefully you can find the information outlined or easy to find in your notes or textbook) each cycle or process. If memorization is the problem, that might help. Or maybe it has to deal with some other issue (for example, applying the concepts on test day).

schrutefarms · Oct 7, 2015

Whenever possible, draw and redraw models or diagrams. Recreating concepts on a blank page from scratch is a great way to remember information. Or maybe even bullet point things from scratch.

ladysushi · Oct 7, 2015

Microbiology is indeed a monster :troll:

I found that recording lectures and listening to them again really helped me. The website quizlet helped me a lot as well. Utilize your book as well! Read and reread the process of aerobic and anaerobic respiration and fermentation, write out the processes step by step, understand every aspect of each down to specifics, then go over it with your professor to make sure you are understanding the processes correctly. If you are a learner like me, then it takes these extra steps that others may not need to take in order to be successful. These extra steps helped me get an A in micro.

Good luck!