Here's a suggestion for how to do well in classes like chemistry, physics and math....
When I was in college I was working full time and was married with kids so something had to give. I learned quickly that I rarely understood the material while in class and I still didn't get it after doing the homework problems assigned.
So eventually I stopped attending classes altogether and just did every problem in the book. I also picked up all practice exams and did those a few times before every exam or final. Believe it or not I ended up getting much better grades. I attribute this to the fact that I eventually understood the basic concepts by practicing them on my own and then I could apply them to more complex situations. Practice is the only way to really understand it, unless you are a genius. Doing every problem in the book definitely covers the practice part.
For classes like Biology, where you take tons of notes, I had a different approach. I always attended class and always took notes but I would not buy or read the book. Instead, every day I would read my notes - ALL of my notes. Sure, it ends up taking a lot of time but eventually I had my notes memorized. I started getting the highest grades in my classes and in some cases never had to take the finals. This was in a very competitive college in NJ, where there were medical students in some of the classes and I was outperforming them. That pissed them off. Well, they are probably doctors now and I'm not so I guess they are laughing now
Anyway, that was just my approach to school since I didn't have a lot of time.
Good luck!
