3 Science Courses/W Lab Too much in one Semester?

[hamudi786]

Hello,
Im planning to take Organic Chemistry I with Lab, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Physics I with Lab, Microeconomics Honors, and English (Lit). I currently hold a 4.0 GPA and wouldn't like to demolish this :D . Is this too much of a load where it will be impossible to obtain A's in all of the following courses? I am Willing to put in as much effort as it takes, but sometimes 100% effort may not be sufficient enough, what do you think ?

Regards :)

 

[fss]

I never understand what the point of asking these kinds of questions is. We don't know you, how smart you are, how hard you work, or what school you go to. How about you just try it and drop one of the classes if it's too much? Almost every school has a drop deadline that isn't unreasonably close to the start of the semester.

If you have a 4.0 GPA I would assume you have some sort of logical capacity... why not apply it in this case as you have in others?

 

[zif.]

Look at course load by credit.

Each credit means you'll be spending roughly one hour in lecture and two on homework and studying per week.

So if you're taking 15 credits, expect to spend around 45 hours total on schoolwork per week.

More or less depending on numerous variables, but that's always the rule of thumb.

 

[Angry Citizen]

Look at course load by credit.

Each credit means you'll be spending roughly one hour in lecture and two on homework and studying per week.

I never did like that estimate. Some classes you can get by with thirty minutes a week. Others take ten hours a week.

I'm not worried about you taking three SCIENCE classes so much as you're taking three DISPARATE science classes. Biology, chemistry, and physics, at this stage of the game, have nothing to do with each other. The methods are different. Whereas with three physics classes, at least the same basic problem solving methodology is the same.

 

[hamudi786]

Hmmmmmm so your basically saying it'll be a tough semester lol

 

[Ryker]

I'm not worried about you taking three SCIENCE classes so much as you're taking three DISPARATE science classes. Biology, chemistry, and physics, at this stage of the game, have nothing to do with each other. The methods are different. Whereas with three physics classes, at least the same basic problem solving methodology is the same.

I don't think this is relevant at all, the problem solving methodology has nothing to do with how hard it's going to be. Just because the methods are supposedly different, that doesn't mean he's going to have more trouble handling the courses. It might just be the opposite. The diversity can be a godsend, so that you don't have to do the same stuff over and over again. And let's face it, he's not taking some advanced biology, chemistry and physics courses, but first year courses. These aren't hard and there are no special techniques required for mastering them. There's no special approach to any of them, you just have to buckle down and study hard enough.

This looks like a normal semester to me, and the only thing that's a mistery is how much time your labs will require you to put in for reports. So as far as I can tell, there's nothing inherently hard about the semester you're planning, it just might be very time consuming, again depending on the labs. Do you have two or three labs, though? If the former, then I see no reason to worry, especially since you said you're prepared to work hard. If the latter, check with someone how much work they require.

 

[hamudi786]

Do you have two or three labs, though? If the former, then I see no reason to worry, especially since you said you're prepared to work hard. If the latter, check with someone how much work they require.[/QUOTE]

I would have two labs, it takes approximately 7hrs/report to complete. i guess it is Tangible.

 

[Choppy]

What do you think everyone else in a first year science program is doing?

Of course it's a lot of work, but it's also a standard workload.

 

[Edin_Dzeko]

You're not the only one, dude. I'm also doing 3 sciences next semester:

Chem I
Bio 102
Microbiology

All 3 have labs

 

[Edin_Dzeko]

I never understand what the point of asking these kinds of questions is. We don't know you, how smart you are, how hard you work, or what school you go to. How about you just try it and drop one of the classes if it's too much? Almost every school has a drop deadline that isn't unreasonably close to the start of the semester.

If you have a 4.0 GPA I would assume you have some sort of logical capacity... why not apply it in this case as you have in others?

In my school we have until AFTER the first week. From then on, if you drop, it's showing up on your record