another year at 3.5

[Guest dogeatdog12]

great another year at 3.5. I am nowhere near being competitive to get in. Right now I would love to hear some success stories on how others like me rose to the occasion and got 4.0s in their final two years! or any advice would be great.

[Guest Lactic Folly]

It kinda depends on what things you believe are keeping your marks down. Are outside commitments sucking away your study time? Do you feel that you've mastered all of the material in your courses? Is it test-taking that's tripping you up?

 

I will say that our university Education library is an excellent resource - dozens of full length textbooks, each dealing with the sole topic of study skills.. and others dealing with study skills for specific subjects like biology.

 

My marks dipped a little in second year but I pulled them back up in third year - these tips may sound painfully obvious, but I attribute it mainly to keeping up with the material and making notes after each class, not pulling any frantic all-nighters, and staying away from mind-numbingly blah classes, no matter how supposedly medically relevant.

Well, obvious to most people here, but not to me at the time

[Guest UWOMED2005]

While my story isn't exactly like yours, I did find second year to be the toughest in undergrad. No longer are the courses at the OAC level as they might have been in first year, they're still 'background' courses for the most part, and you're still crammed into a lecture hall with a lot of people.

 

From my experience, things improve in 3rd year. The course subject matter might be tougher, but it's usually in the area of your major and the classes are smaller allowing for more questions. At least that was the case for my program, and my marks went up quite a bit in 3rd year.

[Guest Hilde]

you sound a lot better off than I am. My first year GPA was a 3.6 and second year dipped a little to a 3.4. I thought my second year was very tough and being in a nerd program didn't help either. I'm going to trying to pull up my GPA in my 3rd year probably not scoring 4.0's in all my courses, but I think we should all try to do our best. Everybody has at least a bad year (that is, if you're normal) and just don't let a 3.5 get to you too much. What is equally important is your committment to your society, join a volunteering organization or take on a leadership role in a club. Those will surely compensate for your marks. Usually if you're in the 3.5-4.0 range, you're in a good shape.