I know people have been saying to not stress about Spring 2020 classes, but I wanted to see if anyone had advice about 3B with Robak.

I originally took this class in Fall 2018 with her. I came in premed as a freshman and was MCB/IB. I took Bio 1B at the same time as Chem 3B.

However, after scoring slightly below average the first Bio 1B midterm (so basically a C-, which lowered my grade to a B-), shit happened. I know there was an entire shitfest about that class this semester too, but I honestly didn't know that other people were going through the same thing with that midterm my semester.

Consequently, I had a panic attack over how badly I did, which aggravated my already severe depression and anxiety about life at Berkeley and my probability of making it to med school. I ended up having to drop out of that semester.

I wasn't on track to doing well in Chem 3B with Robak either; I had about a B/B+ average on quizzes (according to her grading scale) before I started developing serious mental health issues, at which point my quiz scores dropped into the single digits out of 20. I wasn't able to study for the first midterm in 3B all that well either, and remember barely getting a C- on it.

I switched majors to economics, but I've done some reflection over the break and have decided that I might want to be premed again. I think I have a much healthier perspective on GPA and have better control of my anxiety/depression. Consequently, taking this class would be the first step towards being premed again. I'm aware that I may do poorly again, at which point I would use my late drop and forget about being a doctor altogether.

However, I'm a bit nervous. I know she is a very supportive professor (talked 1 on 1 with me about the personal struggles I had that semester, test anxiety, and medical school), but still.

First of all, it's organic chemistry, which is yikes enough. Also, I remember I'd often feel a bit lost and overwhelmed with details in her lectures (side remarks she'd make about the chemistry/science of reactions if I remember correctly). This might be because I have a terrible foundation of organic chemistry (got a B- in Chemistry 3A with Vollhardt, but was struggling with severe depression that semester too).

I wasn't always very attentive during lectures but I remember having to re-watch webcasts afterwards because I couldn't get all the notes down. I also think that quizzes felt a bit hard and were a time crunch if I remember correctly.

Her straight grading scale (with no curve) was also pretty scary, IMO. I know that I suck at organic chemistry, and that "weeder" classes like these have to have at least some standards, but I sorta think 85% for an A- in organic chemistry is a pretty tall order.