<p>OPIE - VERY nicely said - love those super powers :)</p>
<p>One other thought - if ZG is afraid of her professor, or if the professor isn’t clear in review sessions - does ZG’s school have an Academic Support Center or some other such office? Those are designed specifically to help kids in ZG’s position - once a star, now lost in a different environment. They can help her with the specific subject, or just with different approaches to the subject - the Academic Support folks at my d’s school told us that it’s not unusual that the study techniques that worked in high school may not work in college. So they have various tricks & tips to approach college level work.</p>
<p>Remind ZG that the school wants her to succeed and it put these things in place for a reason. Use the help that they give you.</p>
<p>ZG got a tutor through the academic support center and that has helped a bit. I spoke with her this morning and she said that she knows she didn’t do well on the test, but that it wasn’t the end of the world, either. I passed along a lot of the insight I’ve received on the thread and in PM and I can tell you that it is much appreciated. There are so many things that neither ZG nor I know about the whole college grading process or what’s really expected. She’s been comparing herself to her friends, none of whom are science majors, who all have core (rather than major-related) classes which, while not easy, are not in line with taking bio, chem and two other serious classes in the first term of freshman year. I told her about the possibility of a curve and asked her to check her syllabus, which said that tests are only 20% of the grade, so that made her feel somewhat better. I told her that she needs to do her best in the class, but if she can’t score a B at the end of the semester, then there’s no choice but to change majors and the world won’t end if she does that. Thank you all again and I’d like to commend you all for taking the time to point out things to me that may seem obvious to you.</p>
<p>is ZG afraid of failing or of getting a C? what drives this kind of anixety is unwarranted fear- if its failing, she should set the goal to pass, if she is afraid of getting a C because she never got Cs before, well, a C is average…it is a decent grade</p>
<p>CGM, she is required to have a B in this class in order to continue with her major and she thinks (three weeks in, so who knows?) that she can’t do it. Maybe she can and maybe she can’t. Either way, I’ll still know that she hung the moon.</p>
<p>okay, so that is a real stresser, sometimes students put pressure on themeselves that is warranted and sometimes not, so this is something that is real</p>
<p>I am sooo happy that my D school has a core curriculum, you can take the tough classes in your area of interest, or balance stuff out, with time to
catch up as it were with the courses needed toward the major</p>
<p>with history showing that many many many college kids change majors more than once, to spend the first year pretty much in one area of study may not be the best plan for some students, mine included</p>
<p>ZG has a core curriculum, too, but she didn’t choose this set of classes. I don’t think this is necessarily the best thing for her, either, but she does want to be certified to teach biology, so there are a lot of classes and not that much time, so . . .</p>
<p>ZM: my D, who had never had anything below an A, called me in tears after leaving every chem exam her first term at Berkeley where there are 1200 peoples grades curved (3 lectures combined) together. She was a failure in her fresh from HS eyes.</p>
<p>The two lessons she learned were to study and perservere and that getting a B in that is more meaningful than any prior A she’d ever earned. Also, that curves are scary.</p>
<p>Another D had an OChem class where a test was 44% was an A and a bio class where it took 97% on a certain exam to get an A :eek: </p>
<p>Is your D in a sorority or any small group where she might find some one who has taken that class who could give her a reality check. It is possible that she is simply adjusting, but there are good reasons to be scared, some one does get that D/F on the curve. My D took Ochem in three quarters and you had to have a C or better to proceed to the next class, each term people were dropping like flies and having to repeat the class, which when you think about it, means the next class in the series only has the A-C people from class 1 moving on to class 2, so class 2 A-F would drop the C people from class 1, then the A-C people from class 2 move on to class 3- where the curve is even tougher because only the top half of class two is competing against each other :eek:</p>
<p>This anecdotal information is so helpful to me. I had no idea how this all worked. I did, however, (hear my propellers?) sneak onto the college website and read the syllabus. Turns out that there is extra credit available from this professor, so that’s hopeful. Although ZG called me a little while ago and has a 102 fever a raging cough and sinus pain. So I wonder how clearly she was thinking anyway when she took the test this morning.</p>
<p>Is this advanced chem class mostly freshmen? If not, sounds like horrible advising.</p>
<p>My school offers advanced versions of freshmen physics, chem, bio, etc., and of the ones I’ve taken, certainly I would be very hesitant to advise anyone to take them with only 1 year of regular HS background, unless possibly it was their major or they were otherwise somehow qualified.</p>
<p>One good thing is that at least in the advanced classes here, the average grade tends to end up being somewhat higher than the regular version of the class. The idea is to not penalize students too much for taking the advanced class as opposed to regular. It might be worth asking around and trying to find out from people who have taken the class previously.</p>
<p>Also, this is an excellent time to go to the professor and ask if a B is realistic. And have her tell the professor that she absolutely needs a minimum grade to keep her scholarship. The professor can offer a lot of advice and possibly ease some concerns.</p>
<p>After that, time to go back to her major department advisor and ask what options there are - dropping back down to the regular version of the class, withdrawing from the class without any effect on GPA, if the grade can be replaced by retaking it later, etc. If there’s something that can be done now to prevent a bad grade, then it’s worth considering.</p>
<p>Plus, the simple act of knowing something like that you can withdraw the class up until a certain point without grade or scholarship penalty can relieve a lot of stress and help her perform better. Just a thought.</p>
<p>About 2 weeks into school my S’s freshman year, I got a text from him: “Going to see my advisor today to drop french and change my major. I will fail it.” He was majoring in Int’l Studies and had to have the foreign language.</p>
<p>By the time I got hold of him, he had talked to his advisor and she had talked him off the ledge. She told him not to make any rash decisions and to give it a bit longer. He ended up with a B in French.</p>
<p>So yeah, I think meltdowns are not at all uncommon.</p>
<p>Don’t know if this story will help your daughter, ZM:</p>
<p>My freshman year, I wanted to be a bio major. I had to survive Chemistry (which I did, with a very respectable B) and I was then supposed to take both Physics and Organic Chem. I had heard such scary things about both those courses that I changed majors – I didn’t even enroll for the courses.</p>
<p>Forty years later, I still regret it.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to know that you can always drop the class and repeat it later. Or even fail the class and repeat it later. Like somemom’s post indicated, many students end up having to retake a class and life goes on. Just knowing that a retake is possible is enough to keep most students on a forward course. </p>
<p>From what I’ve seen and experienced, many of the people who switch out of majors because of fear of failure do so because they feel “boxed in”- they don’t see the alternatives and possibilities. They look at it like, “I have to take this really hard class and if I fail it’s all over”, instead of, “I have to take this really hard class and if I fail I get another chance to take it again.” That kind of thinking really makes a difference- and it applies to every challenge a person faces in life, not just college.</p>
<p>That’s great and insightful advice. She is paralyzed with fear about physics and organic chem, which I believe are next year together and the problem is that she (right now) really does feel boxed in. I’m going to try another pep talk today.</p>
<p>One of my D’s was a bio major, by the time she survived Calc & OChem and took some GE, she realised she did not want to be a bio major, she liked much more one of the GE classes she had taken. She ended up double majoring as she had “killed herself” getting through those weeder courses, she was most definitely going to earn the degree. She did leave the year of physics (her HS nemesis) til the end and blew it away with the confidence of a senior 
I don’t know what she would say, but I think Ochem was worse than anything that came after.</p>
<p>Zoosermom: So sorry to hear this is happening.</p>
<p>Parents counseling about difficulties with courseload are wise. Others who say things may resolve well as also wise.</p>
<p>I want to offer a little different kind of support. If it happens that she feels she can’t pull the rabbit out of the hat, she won’t be the first there either. My D had dreams of being a Classics major. It was unfortunate that she hadn’t taken Latin in HS as S did; she studied French. But she fell in love with the Iliad and wanted to learn ancient Greek.</p>
<p>Fast forward: She was doing so poorly in the class that she changed to P/F. Then it became doubtful she was even going to pass the class. She only had four classes so she couldn’t even drop the class. A horrible GPA starting with an F was a frightening prospect. Happy resolution: she got the first-year dean on board and was allowed, just this once, to only carry three courses. So she dropped the class, and obviously, changed majors.</p>
<p>You D has a different scenario because she is already proficient in Bio, really has career goals attached to it as well as a scholarship. If she really can’t master the course with a B, perhaps she can drop it for this year, take basic chem over the summer, and redo next Fall. </p>
<p>Good luck to her. My heart goes out to her. Many of them do soul searching and question their abilities first semester of freshman year. If all else is going well as you say, hope things sort themselves out and she finds her niche.</p>
<p>BTW: Thank goodness D never had a recurrance and has done well since.</p>
<p>Here’s the update:</p>
<p>She failed the test, but not as badly as she had feared. The day before the test, she went to the professor for help and he sat there and stared at her without speaking. Apparently he believes that he can communicate telepathically or by intimidation. The tutor changed her tutoring times to 10:00 pm on Mondays and had a major attitude. ZG went to her advisor who saw how hysterical she was and told her to drop the class. Apparently, this teacher is known to be difficult and the advisor thinks that with ZG’s mindset passing is not possible. So she will have 3 1/2 classes this semester and possibly take an extra elective next semester to make up for it. The real mistake here was that ZG could have switched to a different chem class with another instructor but was too unsure of herself to do it. Hopefully lesson learned. Thank you all again.</p>
<p>ZM-I think this is for the best. I think that she just was thrown into a class that she wasn’t quite prepared for–and she had no idea what she was getting into SHe’ll be fine. She will have time to make up the lost credit, and get into a class that will better prepare her for taking this one again. OR she’ll end up with a different professor and TA the next time. This change will give her breathing room, and time to sort things out.</p>
<p>ZM—glad to hear things worked out. She probably could have survived, but why have your first semester start out so badly?</p>
<p>Re: going to the professor for help… Back in the olden days, I went to a large U, and also was an undergrad teaching assistant for my last 2 years. I counseled my own D, who is now at a large U…schedule to meet with professor or TA before test, but go in with some specific questions. (“I’m having problems with figuring out how to do …”), as well as some more open ended questions. (“Can you explain again the difference between xxx and y? I don’t fully understand it”)? That was usually the most effective. And sometimes, you even can get some insight into how detailed you need to know particular concepts before a test. When I was a TA, if a student came and said they needed “help”, it was hard to know where to start…</p>
<p>“That was usually the most effective. And sometimes, you even can get some insight into how detailed you need to know particular concepts before a test. When I was a TA, if a student came and said they needed “help”, it was hard to know where to start…”</p>
<p>That’s good advice. Apparently this professor believes that everything needed was given in class and that if a student didn’t “get it” they aren’t working hard enough. About 1/3 of the class failed the test.</p>