How I Aced First Year University Science – Part 2: How to Think

As a chemistry peer tutor for my past two years in university, I have had the opportunity to not only meet and mentor some really interesting students, but I have also been able to hear about how the first year science classes have been going on a regular basis. For one of this semester’s first year chemistry classes, the average on the first test was ~30% – I heard similar numbers for last year’s class.

Although I can’t remember if the class average for my first university chemistry test was that low, the average was supposedly a failing grade. So you can imagine what the impact of those types of results is like, especially considering that for many first year science students, this is the very first university test that they take. It can be quite the confidence crusher to go from a 90+ chemistry mark in high school to a failing grade on your very first university test.

I can still remember my own first university chemistry test, so much so that I could probably regurgitate the gist of the six problems we were asked to solve. I remember them pretty clearly because I recall reflecting about that test, and particularly, how and why it was different from my high school tests.

There were subtle differences – like the fact that lectures actually mattered (however, this tends to be more true for some university courses and less true for others). Two of the questions on my chemistry test were based on information taught in lecture but not available in the textbook. In my high school, there was never information or concepts taught only in class but not available in the textbook (you’ll find that professors have much more flexibility in terms of what they can choose to teach in university). However, this on its own is not that big of a deal – just go to class more if you didn’t the first time around. Another difference you will find is that there is significantly more material to cover in university than in high school, but I will address that topic in a future part of this series.

Yet there was one question in particular on the test that many students got wrong, which made me realize what the difference between high school and university science was; it’s a difference I have continued to notice in many of my university science courses. All our professor did was take a certain problem type but turn it backwards; that is, he took a problem type he went over in lecture and simply asked us to solve it in reverse. It was kind of like being taught how to determine the force due to gravity on an object in class, and now being given the force due to gravity and asked to find the mass of the original object on the test. Obviously the question was a bit longer than that, but the general idea was the same.

University: Learning How to Think

What happened was that students were so accustomed to knowing all of the problem types, that when a slightly different problem type was presented, a lot of students were lost. That is, while we were taught both important facts and certain chemistry problem types, we weren’t really being taught how to think about chemistry.

When I use the phrase “how to think”, I’m referring to being able to think critically and logically about a subject, and therefore, being able to do things like problem solve about a subject. In university science, you can’t get away anymore with just memorizing the problem types from the text book or lecture. You need to learn how to think more deeply about the subject. Just because you get all the practice problems correct, does not necessarily mean you really know how to really think about a subject. Being able to pick up and memorize patterns for solving certain problem types may help you do your homework, but may not help when you are facing situations that you have never seen before.

In university science, you’re going to be given some problem types that you’ll partly have to figure out on the test/exam for the first time. The students who have developed the critical thinking skills that allow them to think more deeply about the subject will be able to answer more of the questions. On the other hand, the students who just do what worked in high school (i.e. completed all the practice questions but do not necessarily know how to think critically about the material) will not be able to answer some of the questions.

This is why some students with 90%+ high school averages have experienced a significant drop in marks in university science while others have not. In most high schools, you did not need to know how to think critically about your subjects, so anyone who figured out how to memorize all of the facts and problem types was able to do pretty well. However, the need to be able to think critically and logically is amplified in university science right away.

Problem: Even in University, Learning How to Think About a Subject is Not Really Taught

As it turns out, at least in my experience, the teaching style in university science is not very different from high school science. Professors still only teach facts and problem types. If professors really taught you how to think critically about the subjects, then many more people would be acing tests. In fact, it’s almost as if professors expect you to be able to think critically about a subject, even though they don’t explicitly teach problem solving, critical thinking, logic, or anything like that.

That’s weird, isn’t it? It seems as if professors are only responsible for teaching you the facts and problem types. If you tried to argue that this is unfair, someone might point to the fact that there are always students who ace the test, and therefore, all of the necessary material was taught properly. However, the reality is that while there are always a few students who have already developed pretty good critical thinking and problem solving skills on their own and thus do well, the vast majority of students are left in the dark.

So what regularly happens is that the small percentage of students who already know how to think critically and problem solve about the subject will do well, and apparently it’s just “too bad” for everyone else – it is as if students are expected to know how to think critically and problem solve, even though that is one of the more difficult skills to develop, and it’s not ever really taught well in our education system.

Am I saying it’s the university’s fault? Not entirely – I think it would be nearly impossible for a professor on his or her own to teach critical thinking and problem solving to a class in the hundreds. These are skills that need to be developed through personal thinking, small group discussion, and practice. Your professor can’t just lecture and give you these skills. On the other hand, it is not like universities ever provide any sort of support for the development of these types of skills. Then there are the debates of whether the development of such skills are important in the first place, at what age these skills should be encouraged, and what methods of doing so are appropriate. I am sure there are people who would disagree with me and believe that the education system is doing enough of these things, but I would point to the results and respectfully disagree.

Example: Understanding Logical Relationships

A lot of students have asked me to try and elaborate more on the ideas of critical thinking and problem solving, particularly in terms of tackling university courses. If I were asked to define it, my view would be that critical thinking involves making decisions/judgments and solving problems through logical, objective analysis. The bigger, more important idea is that critical thinking skills can be applied to and is important for almost any discipline, whether it is related to a school course or real world situations. The reason why some students are able to consistently do well on all of their school courses is not because they are naturally better chemists, physicists or biologists – it’s because they have developed the critical thinking skills that allow them to better tackle the types of problems they face in those courses.

Developing critical thinking skills requires you to be an active thinker, not a passive one. When you are in class mindlessly writing down what your professor says without ever questioning the merit of his or her arguments, you are not actively thinking – you are just assuming. To be able to think critically about ideas, concepts, and overall subjects, you need to actively question the things you are being taught: Do the ideas make sense? Why or why not?

Right now, as you read my articles, are you just assuming the ideas I propose are logically sound? How do you know my reasoning isn’t bad?

Overall, this is a pretty complex topic because developing these skills relies more on personal thinking, group discussion, and practice than anything else – so it is almost impossible to help you directly develop and improve these skills by writing an article. But maybe I can give a decent example to shed some more light.

One of the important critical thinking concepts you need to understand for doing well on tests is being able to understand relationships between things, and subsequently derive new ideas from these relationships.

For example, in physics you are taught that force = mass x acceleration. You are also taught that momentum = mass x velocity. Then on the test you might be asked to derive that momentum = force x time.

For things like first year physics where you get to work with equations, that might seem like an easy example. But this concept is no different form understanding relationships in biology and chemistry. Just realize that all of these relationships are logical. Let’s look at such a situation on a biology test.

Example university biology test question: Let’s say there is a biological pathway where consuming drug X causes the body to release hormone B. The release of hormone B causes the body to produce more of chemical Z. Assuming drug X has just been consumed, which if the following would be the fastest way to prevent the production of chemical Z?

Possible Answers:

• A: Consume drug A which makes drug X inactive.
• B: Consume drug B which makes drug X inactive.
• C: Consume drug C which eliminates excess hormone B.
• D: Consume drug D which eliminates excess hormone B.

Let’s say that from your studies, you know that drug A acts faster than drug B, and that drug C acts faster than drug D. From this information we can deduce that the answer is A or C.

Since the question wants the fastest way to stop the production of chemical Z, it makes sense to pick the drug which creates a hole in the earliest part of the pathway. So the answer is A, since inactivating the drug will prevent the pathway from occurring in the first place.

So as you can see, in this example, you had all the necessary information at your finger tips (assuming you studied). You just needed to understand the relationships between the items and ideas presented, and use logic and common sense to deduce the best answer.

So How Do You Learn “How to Think”?

The above was an example of what knowing “how to think” is about. If stuff like this is foreign to you, and you really want to improve your critical thinking skills, you just need to practice – and I don’t just mean in the school environment.

Anytime you see something interesting, try and ask questions about it, and practice creating logical answers/arguments. For example, let’s say your favourite sports team just made a big trade: Can you come up with logical arguments for why they made the trade? Is the trade good for either team? What would a better trade have been and why?

Or say you see a new business open up around the corner. Ask yourself: Who is their target market? Is this an ideal location given their market? Would this business be profitable, why or why not?

Even better than this is to do these types of things with a small group of friends. And then continue to ask questions, think, and debate with your friends in the same manner when working on your homework and preparing for tests.

One of the reasons I have been successful my university courses is because I have a small group of friends who I can discuss and debate with for questions or ideas I am struggling with. Sometimes it is really helpful to see other perspectives and learn different ways to approach a problem.

Being able to problem solve, think critically, and attack situations logically are extremely important skills. Pick any career or life situation, and these skills are absolutely invaluable. Not only will it help you solve many problems and make better decisions, it will help you understand new things faster and better!

Part 3 – Lectures, Readings, Note Taking, and Forming Study Groups >>

• Part 1: The Jump from High School to University
• Part 2: How to Think
• Part 3: Lectures, Readings, Note Taking, and Forming Study Groups
• Part 4: Studying for Tests
• Part 5: The Art of Test-Taking