Pre-Med STEM Survival

Guide
General Tips

● Do the easy stuff. Don’t miss easy points. ● Read, Lecture, Review

● Just get through the lecture. ● Practice

● Take your time space it out. ● Know what you need to know

● Listen to rate my professor, don’t play ● Do what you can even if you can’t do it
yourself all.
What type of class is it? / How am I being tested?

A. Memorization

B. Problem Solving

C. Concepts
What type of class is it? / How am I being tested?

A. Memorization- rogue memorization is hard. Understanding the material and

having a connection to it makes things easier.

B. Problem Solving- classes like physics and gen. Chem are heavily focused on
problem solving. The more practice you get at these the better you will do.

C. Concepts- The best way to know if you truly understand a concept is by being
able to teach it to others.
Problem Solving Tips

What are we given/ What do we need What formulas

1 2 3
What do we know ? to find out? connect the two?

ex. Temperature, Volume PV = nRT

pressure, moles
General Chemistry:

Problem Solving: 50% Tips:

Conceptual: 35%
● Practice, Practice, Practice
Memorization: 5% ● It’s ok to fail but fail early
● Keep track of each concept
Best Resources:
● Create chapter outlines
- Practice Exams ● Eliminate mistakes over time
- In text textbook questions ● Ask why and how
- Recitation activities
- TAs
- Office hours
- ODI tutors
General Chemistry: Notes
General Chemistry: Concepts
General Chemistry: Practice Problem
Biology:

Problem Solving: 10% Tips:

Conceptual: 40% ● Keep up with lectures

● Use lab time as a way to apply your
Memorization: 50%
definitions from class
Best Resources: ● Draw out how the chapters relate to each
other
- Lecture Notes ● Ask your professor clarifying questions in
- Lab Notebook
- Recitation activities or out of class
- TAs
- Office hours
- ODI tutors
Intro Biology Concepts:
Calculus:

Problem Solving: 75% Tips:

Conceptual: 20% ● Practice, Practice, Practice

● It’s ok to fail but fail early
Memorization: 5%
● Keep track of each concept
Best Resources: ● Eliminate mistakes over time
● Ask why and how
- Khan Academy
- Ximera (Please do ahead of time)
- Recitation activities
- TAs
- Office hours
- ODI tutors
Calculus Practice Problem
Calculus Concepts

Limits - In layman’s terms, an expectation of the behavior of a function

Derivatives - Rate of Change (slope)

Integrals - Antiderivative/Area (an amount given the rate of change)

Series - Behavior of functions as they tend towards infinity, Representing different

functions using polynomials, Using these polynomials to approximate different values and
determining the error
Physics 1200 & 1201

Problem Solving: 80% Tips:

Conceptual: 15% Class activities are very applicable to the exams.

Memorization: 5%
Make the most of Labs, Pearson, HIHW, GW
Best Resources:
Practice makes Perfect
- Khan Academy
- Recitation activities Keep track of units
- TAs
- Office hours
- ODI tutors Know how units are related
Physics: Practice Problem

Q = 4.9 x 10^-6 C
E = 2.2 kV/mm
 Physics Concepts

Kinematics
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Work, Energy, Power
Circular Motion
Gravity
Fluid Mechanics
Electricity and Magnetism
Circuits and Capacitors
Optics
Atomic and Nuclear Physics
Organic Chemistry
Organic Chemistry

Problem Solving: 25% Tips:

Conceptual: 50% Create a well organized reaction notebook.

Memorization: 25%
Understand why the reaction is taking place.
Best Resources: (positive attracted to negative, pKa, steric
hindrance, etc.)
- Organic Chemistry As a 2nd Language
- Recitation activities Teach the material to friends (concepts come
- TAs way easier this way)
- Office hours
- ODI tutors
Biochem

Problem Solving: 10% Tips:

Conceptual: 50% Practice drawing structures to memorize.

Memorization: 40%
Pay close attention to detail when drawing
Best Resources: structures!

- Mastering hw Make sure you understand concepts early

- Recitation activities because they will continue to build on each
- TAs other.
- Office hours
- ODI tutors
Biochem Concepts

- Gen Chem type problem solving and content

- Nucleic acids/Amino acids/proteins: structure and
function
- Lipids, membranes, and cellular transport
- Interorgan and intracellular regulation
- Carbohydrates
- Metabolism (of lipids, carbohydrates, etc.)
- Enzymes
- The Citric Acid Cycle
- Oxidative Phosphorylation