Failed my first ever exam in my first weed out class

Is my grade doomed after failing my first Biology exam? Rather, am I still capable of an A, cause this is all I really care about. I completely understood the material but I was HORRIBLE with time management and wound up leaving the last two pages completely blank because I ran out of time. Scored below the mean. There was just so much essay writing and I couldn’t handle it. Am I screwed or can I come back from this with an A if I manage to improve? If I get a B or C can I still get into medical school? I’m freaking out so hard right now. What do I do?

You need to check your syllabus to see how your professor has weighted each exam. and what their grading policy is. Some profs will drop your lowest grade; others will overweight the final so it’s worth more than any single midterm; still others will have a really huge curve at the end of the class. So whether you’ll be able to recover and get an A is depends on that syllabus & the professor’s grading rubric. There’s no way for us to know.

BUT… don’t freak out. Take a deep breath and do better next time. One C or even a D or F is not going to keep you out of med school.

But college is big step up from high school–and it’s only going to get harder from here. You need to improve your game if you want to be competitive. Consider going to the academic support center at your college and get some help with test taking skills and writing skills so you’ll be better prepared for the amount of essay writing on the next exam.

One bit advice my older D gave her sister when she started college: NEVER leave an answer blank. Write something down. Even if it’s mostly wrong or terribly incomplete, you’ll still get some partial credit and every point helps.

At the beginning of the exam, don’t dive right in. Take a moment to look through the entire exam so you’ll know how long it is. Answer the questions you have down cold first., but don’t go overboard with elaborate answers. Answer the question, but don’t add in unnecessary details. Then go on to the more challenging questions, leaving the most difficult or any you aren’t sure how to answer for last. IOW, don’t go through the exam sequentially. Keep your eye on the time. Don’t spend too much time on any one questions. Truncate your answers if necessary and keep moving on so that you have written down something for every single questions.

You haven’t gotten many responses so I thought that I would give my opinion.

I think that what you have experienced is normal in any class that might be thought of as a “premed” class. First year biology is of course one such class. I have heard multiple cases of exams where the class average is in the 40’s (and I saw at least one such exam in graduate school, but definitely not in a premed class). Both of my daughters witnessed similar exams in their first course that happened to overlap with classes that premed students were taking.

These are tough classes intentionally.

I think that it would be a good idea to talk to the professor. More importantly, learn from this experience and understand what you are going to do differently next time. When you talk to your professor, the emphasis should be on what you are going to do better next time. You might want to talk about how to pace yourself for the next exam.

This will definitely not keep you out of medical school. Your reaction to this might be one major thing that will either keep you on track for medical school or not.

I don’t know if you can get an A in the class. Depends on how this exam is factored into your final grade.

This one exam will not keep you out of medical school.

How you react and adapt to setbacks is important. Think about what will you do different next time.

If you are not good with time management in exam, you are having much bigger problem going pre-med… could it be a wake-up call for you?

First off, congratulations!!! Welcome to college. ???.

You need to speak to your professor directly like today
They will have suggestions. Get your butt down to learning services like today and get help. Don’t blow this part off, just do it. They are there for this exact reason.

Most schools have study groups for the sciences /math
Join one.

Learn about if you can get extra time,especially if the writting in general is time consuming. There can be something else going on with you so let them evaluate you

Never, ever let somebody tell you, you can’t!

Find a way and make it happen.

If you don’t get help now you will see the same issues in your other classes.

I got a 45 on my first college exam, in honors physics. I had made only one course grade lower than an A in my life, in fifth grade. I thought my life was over.

I got a tutor, went to my prof’s office hours, and studied like crazy. I got a C first semester and a B second.

I made one other C in college, in architectural design. I am not artistic but had to take the class as an architectural engineering major. I also made a handful of Bs in other classes.

I graduated with high honors and got a fully-funded fellowship to engineering grad school. So don’t give up hope! Work hard and ask for help.

As others have said, definitely go see your professor right away. See what you can do differently / better going forward. Seeking help will show her/him you care which actually matters to college profs. Not seeking help will show you don’t which also matters to them.

College classes are very different than HS. Lots of kids struggle in weed out classes. Some decide it’s not for them. Others stick it out and grind through it because it’s only a class. Just because you struggled doesn’t mean you can’t do the work going forward.

Good luck.