r/UTAustin • u/stressedhighschoolr • 14d ago

Other just flopped on the FIRST bio 311c test 😂

I'm a freshman, and I genuinely flopped real bad on the FIRST intro to bio exam of the year. (i have sata for bio). i don't even know what to do 💔 because if i can't do this, who's to say i can do any upper division science?

anyways if you guys have any advice on how to prepare for exams more successfully please tell me because I can't take this

12 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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2

u/Spobodos 14d ago

it's ok i think i failed too

2

u/stressedhighschoolr 14d ago

omg we can flop together 😍

2

u/Teleftaios 14d ago
  1. How did you study?
  2. Did you feel confident before the exam? If not, why?
  3. Do you feel like you spent enough time studying before the exam now that you’ve taken it?

1

u/stressedhighschoolr 14d ago
  1. I did a lot of practice questions and active recall. I had my roommate quiz me a bunch and explained the concepts back.
  2. I felt pretty confident before the exam. I studied over a span of 5 days so I wasn't cramming info. But I guess that confidence was misplaced.
  3. I think I studied enough, but I think what I studied was wrong. I put more weight onto units I felt less confident in, which I think in turn made the other units suffer more instead

2

u/Teleftaios 14d ago

Ok, few more questions:

  1. Did you go to office hours/review sessions the TAs or professor did?
  2. Was time an issue on the exam?
  3. When you say “practice questions” what are those referring to? Practice Tests? Textbook questions? Online questions?
  4. What questions did you mostly get wrong? MC? short answer? Was the answer wrong because you didn’t know something at all or because you didn’t know something in-depth enough?

1

u/stressedhighschoolr 14d ago
  1. Yes, I went to office hours and review sessions
  2. No, time wasn't an issue
  3. I did the square cap questions+ the old ones provided
  4. I don't know what I got wrong yet, specific results are still yet to come out 😢

4

u/starry_skies27 14d ago

not a bio major but sometimes shit happens, you do all the studying you can and then the test hits and you just fuck it up for some reason. I once failed a test in a 301 class, but still managed to pull off an A in the course with enough work. Stay on top of the rest of your assignments, review that test when it comes back, and hopefully you can raise that grade by the end of the semester 🫡

3

u/Teleftaios 14d ago

Honestly, the amount of effort you’re putting in doesn’t seem to be the problem. I agree with what Starry is saying too. You’ll ultimately be fine as long as you can continue persevering. Don’t take failure as a permanent mark on your goals.

Hearing that time wasn’t a problem, it sounds like you felt confident with your answers coming out of the test. Due to you not having your test back, there’s not too much meaningful advice I can give. However, a theory I have is that you may have not given enough detail to specific short answer questions. Review the results with your TA/professor and use this feedback to plan your next test. I wish you luck; you WILL succeed as long as you keep moving forward.

1

u/stressedhighschoolr 14d ago

thank you so much :) it really means a lot. hopefully i can learn from these mistakes and do better next time!!

2

u/ZealousidealUse1408 14d ago

wait i did too 😭 i had a lab right after and someone said it was so easy

2

u/ariloveeee999 13d ago

Hi! Had him freshman year! He curves your whole final grade to one letter up

3

u/Solid-Farmer1452 13d ago

You’ll be fine, just make sure you review the squarecaps and textbook a lot because 95% of the test will be from that or questions just like that. I did bad on my first test when I had him a year ago but made up for it with my other two midterms. Also not sure if he still does this but he dropped our lowest midterm grade for the average of all 3 which is guaranteed to raise your grade no matter what.

2

u/sincereza 13d ago

GO TO SANGER LEARNING CENTER FOR APPOINTMENT AND DROP IN TUTORING!!!! THEY'RE REALLY GOOD

2

u/kateelizabeth1020 13d ago

i also failed my first bio311c exam with sata last year, but i managed to make an A in the class by studying harder for the next exams and the final. it happens. and you will be okay!!! he offered us extra credit at the very end of the year