Another brief bout of FUD

Went and stood outside the science library for 30 minutes in the rain waiting for my tutor who no-showed. I had all my lab data with me so we could go over the equations for statistical uncertainty and somehow appropriately answer what my TA is looking for. Sunday spent two hours IN the science library writing the first half of my lab, saved to the University “S” drive, went to bathroom, came back and lab was completely disappeared. Searched every temp file, etc. GONE!!! Didn’t burst into tears there, but cried all the way home. Feel like I am putting in TONS of effort and not reaping ANY rewards. Finished my WileyPlus homework last night and only was able to enter 3 out of 6 answers in a way that satisfied the program. I am now going to write an incomplete lab report with erroneous data based on the help I didn’t get to figure it out. I’ll be LUCKY if I pass this course at all. Highly doubt I will get a med school grade. I’m averaging about 65 so far. If only I had a teacher and lab TA that would let me hand write lab reports and homework, I might stand a chance. With the EXCEL rquirement and WileyPlus, I am failing miserably. Really beginning to debate a withdrawal vs. the dismal grade I am bound to get. Retake next semester? I don’t know what to do. Because the tuition credits I earn are specific to this University, I really do not have anywhere else to go. I feel exceptionally challanged right now.

If you withdraw, wait until the very last minute to do so. Your signature says you are doing things one at a time and if that is the case, then take advantage of it as a learning experience for the next time you take it since you can’t transfer that time to another class.


It’s difficult to give advice here because all the advice requires making your process longer, which you obviously don’t want to do. But nevertheless, it might benefit you to take an “intro to computer science” course that is basically a course in microsoft office suite and microsoft access. It might also benefit you to take “statistics with excel.” The reason I say this is because in every single prereq except organic lecture we were using computers A LOT (including orgo lab). Chem 2 lab at my school was extremely similar to physics lab. I also suggest it because I’ve been through 22 secondaries and they all go on a long to-do about technical standards and make you being able to use computers well a big deal. Both of those classes will get you a long way in all areas of being a premed. While taking these classes you can do Khanacademy videos and the chapter problems from the book you bought for physics. By the time you get to physics for the next goround you’ll be a beast.


As for wileyplus, there should be a tutorial on their website on how to enter answers. I always used scientific notation and was really careful with significant figures. I’m sure your problem isn’t as simple as this but:


If the answer was 1250000 I would enter 1.25E6


If the answer was 0.00038 I would enter 3.8E-4


Have you checked with your professor about what you’re not entering correctly?

I have had courses, and am actually very computer literate. I work in an electronic medical record at a community health center all day long. My problem is my dyscalculia. For some reason, data entry and entry of numbers into boxes is a REAL problem for me and challanges my learning disability. I transpose, and lose, numbers all the time. I got the B+ I got in calculus because the entire work in the course was worked pencil and paper. There is some mechanism in my brain, where if I WRITE it and form the number with my pencil, I can hold it and follow the next step, and on and on. I am completely unable to do this with moving numbers from a paper to a slot on a computer screen. If that doesn’t make sense, just enter “dyscalculia” into Wikipedia and read the article - it explains the neuroscience behind the disability. All day long I enter assessments and case notes into a complex electronic recordkeeping system, and do fine. I can word process ANYTHING. But I do not know my times tables and take 3 times longer than anyone else to perform calculations. The answer is correct, I just take longer. I can also verbally repeat to you all the kinematics equations, and I can describe vectors and forces and fully explain the physics behind what we are doing in class. I just fall down badly when I have to enter numbers into boxes. My tutoring sessions focus on knowing WHERE to put numbers into equations, and then I can work the equations. I don’t want to believe this will keep me out of med school. But this week, I am doubtful.

I kind of had a feeling I would be stepping on your toes with my suggestion based on the MSW. I apologize. But I would have felt worse not suggesting it had it been something that ended up being useful. I actually did read about your condition a few weeks ago. I remember reading that most people who overcome it have to figure out there own unique way to get through it, which sucks. That’s not as easy as taking a generic pill or doing a generic therapy. I wouldn’t quit yet but you might have to go up the chain of command at your university to make sure your unique way is accepted by them (ie hand-written lab reports).