<p>I’m a freshman and I’m taking general bio, general chem, a GE course in history, and the mandatory Writing 140 class (I’m a Bio major). Bio, chem, and writing are all fine, and I’ve been doing pretty well in them, but I got off to a pretty awful start in my GE class. I got a C on the essay portion of the first midterm (which is worth 25% of the overall grade). I feel I did pretty well on multiple choice (I don’t know the score yet), but either way, it’s a bad start overall.</p>
<p>I don’t really like the class. I find it very boring and the professor seems scattered in the way she presents the material, even though she’s very smart and has great knowledge on the subject. During orientation, I made the mistake of spending too much time scheduling my bio and chem classes, so once I got to the GE’s, all the ones I was interested in were taken, so I fell back on this one. </p>
<p>Could you guys suggest some tips for doing well in this situation, especially since I almost can’t stand the course? Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>If you drop the course now, will you have enough credits to be full time? If yes, consider it and take either a different section or a different GE next semester. </p>
<p>Another option (which my D did) is to take some classes in subjects that you are not good at or interested in at community college over the summer. As long as you get a C, you get the credit but the grade isn’t averaged in to your GPA. My D took foreign lang, her second semester English writing (because she was closed out of 1st semester english and didn’t want to be with freshmen in the fall) and a science course that way.</p>
<p>When my next son goes to college, he will do the same thing for foreign lang (several of my kids inherited H’s dyslexic in foreign lang gene) and possibly english, which he considers a foreign language.</p>
<p>Two words: office hours. Professors love to see their students outside of class, especially when they’re struggling with the material. It may seem a bit awkward at first, but it will help you a ton. Since your class is probably a huge lecture course, you’d most definitely need to seek out the teaching assistant(s) as well. I would also ask around about peer tutoring groups. </p>
<p>If you need help with your history class too, feel free to PM me. I’m an upper division history student. Perhaps I will be able to clarify some points for you too. :)</p>