I have to take a chemistry exam in 2 weeks, and I really don't see myself being prepared. I hardly ever went to this class, and although I made effort to self-study, the textbook wasn't very helpful. Apparently there's a lot of shit that the prof covered in lectures that isn't discussed at all in the book. IMO, if a professor is going to assign a textbook, it should cover everything in the class in MORE detail. The lectures are supposed to focus on important topics, and the book is supposed to be your go-to resource so you can understand things more clearly, and get extra info. This textbook covers some of the important stuff in class, but usually in less detail.

Anyways...complaining isn't really going to accomplish much, but although I'm putting time into studying...I feel like it's a lost cause. Thankfully, the class is not important for my major, and an F won't do much damage to my GPA (though it will make it harder for me to pull it up, as I already have 2 other Fs [Some easy As balanced it out, so I'm basically a B- student overall), but I hate failing after trying to learn all of this shit.

Have you any of managed to pass exams like this, where you know you don't really understand the material very well? Cheating isn't an option, by the way.

It's got a lot of problem solving, and I'm thinking my one chance is to take advantage of the tutorials the prof gave us. Like, we have practice exam problems and answers to them, so I'm thinking...if I go through each one, memorize every step (even without full understanding), then I can perhaps feel my way through similar problems on the exam. Has that ever worked out for anyone?

heh, thats me in maths.

it seems like i would fail, but the previous minor assessments just manage to scrape me through

man, spring quarter i somehow put off studying for all my exams, or even reading the chapters, until the day before the test. i have no idea how this always happened and i'd get pissed each time and be like "NOT NEXT TIME DAMNIT!" but still i'd find myself putting it off. i had easier classes though and ended up with an A-, a B+, and a B. should've had straight As, damnit. but yeah, no way could i have done that with chemistry. chemistry ended up being a "wait until the weekend before the test to start studying" class and i did all right.

oh one quarter i was studying for finals and had put off studying for my last one, economics. luckily the professor had given us a test bank of like 500 questions from which our final would have 75 of or similar to, questions on it. to study for that test i just read the test bank questions and answers, trying to associate phrases with certain words without really understanding the meaning behind them. man i thought i was fucked for that. ended up getting an A on that test and in the class.