Encouraging Words From Former AP Biology Students
The emails that follow are from former AP Biology students. I hope that my current students might get a broader perspective on AP Biology from those who have traveled this path before them.
Received May 3, 2012 from Evann Dufort who is attending University of California at Davis
Hey Mr. Hammack!
This is Evann Dufort from your AP Biology class in 2009-2010. It has been a long time since I have seen you! I hope the marriage is going well and AP Bio is still as great as it was when I took it my junior year. I am currently in my third quarter as a freshman at UC Davis as a Food Science and Technology major. I am having a great time and learning so much in college!! I am just starting the Biology series here and I am appalled at how different the teaching styles of university professors differ from my time at Los Gatos High School. I am using my old chunky AP Bio binders as a valued resource.
I just wanted to thank you for preparing me so well for college bio and the workload, especially. In college, you are constantly expected to be ahead of the professor's lectures and it definitely helps to just read hammiverse lecture notes before I go into class. I am truly at an advantage because I took your class!!
Thanks again!!
Evann Dufort
LGHS class of 2011
Received February 15, 2012 from Kevin Meng who is attending University of California at Berkeley
Dear Mr. Hammack,
It's Kevin, one of the twin brothers who took your AP Biology course the year of 2008. I just remembered how big of an influence you were in getting me interested in science and helping me find my place in the world. I'm currently at UC Berkeley, if you don't remember. Studying Bioengineering now, possibly going into bioinformatics or synthetic biology.
I'm really grateful for the awesome class you held for me when I was a junior. The class was very well setup and a whole bunch of fun, but most importantly it was memorable. You're one of the few teachers I still remember from high school because of the impact you had on me. I feel I've been a bit lacking in keeping in touch with teachers in LGHS so I might come by and visit sometime this May, look forward to it!
Thanks for everything once again!
Best
Kevin Meng
LGHS class of 2009
Received September 19, 2011 from Adrienne Clark who is attending University of California at Los Angeles Medical School
Dear Mr. Hammack,
I hope you are well. I graduated from LGHS in 2002 and took your AP Biology class my senior year. You were the first person to introduce us to Steven Jay Gould, E.O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, etc., and I still remember how much fun it was to learn to think about evolutionary biology as something modern and controversial. Your class was one of the best science classes I've ever taken, and probably had a lot to do with how I ended up in medical school.
Anyway, I'm in my last year of medical school at UCLA now, and I rarely have time to read for pleasure. I was thinking of re-reading The Naturalist (Wilson), since it's been a few years, but was wondering if you had any other recommendations. If you have time, I would love to hear what you've enjoyed recently or think of as the "greatest hits."
Thanks as always :)
Adrienne
Adrienne Clark
LGHS class of 2009
Received September 13, 2011 from Sean Afshar who is attending University of California at Berkeley
Hello Mr. Hammack!
It's Sean from Berkeley. I just wanted to see how you're doing and, once again, remind you of your influence even now that I'm 3 years out of high school, and 4 years out of your class.
Though I study at UC Berkeley I'm currently "abroad" in DC in a fellowship with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. . . I really just wanted to again thank you for instilling in me a love of science, which is really why I'm here. I approach policy not like a lawyer, but like a scientist, so my logic in writing such a proposal relies solely on facts and pragmatism, not partisanship and emotion. . . For this pragmatic and scientific approach, I owe you. . . I plan to go to Med School so I can eventually come back to DC and complete my mission if Congress hasn't already passed a bill that actually works.
Anyway, thanks again, and I hope you are doing well. Please let me know if I can help in any way, because I know it can be absolutely overwhelming to be lighting fires in kids' heads, day in and day out. Though it may not seem like it with all of the kids, I know that in a few years time they will look back and see what a valuable teaching experience they got from you.
It'll be good to hear from you, and I plan to visit you in January when I get back.
Sean Afshar
LGHS class of 2009
Received August 26, 2011 from Katie Hunt who is attending University of San Francisco
Hey Mr. Hammack,
I just wanted to send you a quick email and let you know how incredibly much your class has helped me so far here at USF. I just had my Human Physio lecture again this morning and I was able to follow along so easily and understand everything my Prof. was talking about due to your class. Today we were going over negative and positive feedback loops and so many people were so confused but I instantly thought of all the animations and diagrams you showed us last year. Thank you for an amazing year of AP Bio and for getting me so prepared for college. I'll stop by and say hi next time I'm back home. Hope you're doing well with the new school year and congratulations again on the wedding.
Katie Hunt
LGHS class of 2011
Received January 3, 2011 from Sarah Collogne who is attending University of Chicago
Hi Mr. Hammack,
I took your AP bio class three years ago, and I wanted to take a moment to write to you to tell you about an experience I have just had which made me think of both your class and our trip to Catalina. Normally I am a theater major at the University of Chicago, but I took last quarter off to complete a program with an organization called Seamester. In this program I lived on a one hundred foot boat for three months with 23 other students and 6 staff members and sailed from Rome to the Caribbean. However, while learning to sail was a large part of the program, the other major academic pursuit on board was our courses in Marine Biology and Oceanography. By being on a boat, we were able to get the most out of these classes with hands on experiences like keeping field logs of the organisms we identified while scuba diving and completing our own oceanography experiments on board.
It was the experience of a lifetime that is structured in such a way that essentially anyone could get something out of it, and I wanted to tell you about it for two reasons. First, when I was taking the marine biology class it was amazing how much I remembered from AP Bio and how much that helped me, so thank you for such effective instruction. Second, this trip was very similar to the Catalina experience (if a little more lengthy and rigorous) and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed their time on Catalina and was looking for a unique and amazing study abroad experience. While the program was great for someone like me who was completing it in the middle of their college career, there were also many "gap year" students on board who had just finished high school and not yet been to college. I would highly recommend this program to just about anyone who is looking for an adventure.
I hope you are having a great year!
Sarah Collonge
LGHS class of 2008
Received November 12, 2010 from Lexie Kendra who is attending University of North Carolina
Mr. Hammack!
It's Lexie Kendra, I hope you remember me from a couple years ago! I'm a biology major now! I just wanted to send you a message to let you know that I've got a test on friday in my molecular biology and genetics class at Carolina and I am using your website to help me review! Your website is the bombbb!! It is so awesome and reminded me how much I loved your fabulous AP bio class.
I hope all is well, and thank you for continuing to help me understand this material!
Lexie Kendra
LGHS class of 2009
Received November 4, 2010 from Kelly Davis who is attending Scripps College
Hi Mr. Hammack!
We've finally started some bio in my accelerated integrated science course, and I am excited to say that it is, so far, nothing more than what we covered in AP Bio last year!
So far in my class it's been really advanced chemistry and physics that, I presume, were at least introduced in AP Chem/Physics (two classes which I did not take), so I've been really lost so far. Today, however, we started a discussion about lipid membranes, and I knew everything my professor was talking about!
Also, I found a striking similarity between my college biology and your AP Bio class: my professor asked what was so important about the membrane's structure, and I immediately thought of AP Bio's mantra "structure leads to function". No sooner than I thought of this, the professor says "structure subserves function. If there's on thing you remember about this course, this is it." You were right! (Not that I ever doubted you, of course).
I hope everything is going well for you and AP Bio this year, and I will make sure to keep you updated if any other parallels appear between college bio and AP Bio!
Best,
Kelly Davis
LGHS class of 2010
Received October 23, 2010 from Andrew Miller who is attending Stanford University
Hey Mr. Hammack,
I just wanted to thank you for being such a great teacher last year. I know I was really critical of the structure of your class come the end of the year, but the fact is it worked really, really well. I just had my Intro to Brain and Behavior midterm the other day, and your class completely saved me. You went so much deeper into detail than this class even comes close to that these lectures felt like very basic review - I even used some of your lectures to study with instead of my professor's. As much as I would have preferred a critical thinking-based approach, your class ended up being way more useful than I could have imagined.
Thanks again,
Andrew Miller
LGHS class of 2010
Received October 19, 2010 from Kelsey Fiance who is attending University of San Francisco
Hi Mr. Hammack!
I'm at the nursing school at the University of San Francisco and I am loving it! It is really hard, but its a good challenge! AP Biology helped so much with my physiology and even my microbiology classes I took last semester! AP Bio gave me a good advantage over some of my peers who had not taken the course at their high schools. Having some basic knowledge about the body systems and a bit about microbes made learning the newer material so much easier! Thanks for being a great teacher and helping me get that 5 on the AP exam and prepare me well for college courses!
Sincerely,
Kelsey Fiance
LGHS class of 2009
Received October 5, 2010 from Sean Ashfar who is attending UC Berkeley
Hey Mr. Hammack,
How are you doing? This is Sean Afshar from the class of 09, I took your AP Bio class my Junior Year and you did one of my teacher recommendations for college! Anyway, I just wanted to see how you are doing and thank you again for the great teacher you've been. I'm a Pre-Dental/Political Science major right now at Cal and I'm taking a Psychology class for my Pre-Dental requirement and we just had a midterm. It was on neural signaling, the endocrine system, and other parts of the nervous system. Long story short, I used your lectures on Neural signaling and the Endocrine system to help me study for the test (www.hammiverse.com- best website name ever) and got a 91%, way above the class average. Keep up the good work Hammack, you were easily one of the best teachers I've ever had and you're influence is still helping me in college. Make sure your students know that, because I'm busting my ass right now in Organic Chemistry and Psychology along with some Political Science classes and it would have been way harder if I didn't have the strong biology background you gave me.
Take care,
Sean Afshar
LGHS class of 2009
Received October 4, 2010 from Adam Siegel who is completing a PhD at Arizona State University
Hi Mr. Hammack,
I graduated from LGHS in 2000, from Tufts University in 2004, and am scheduled to defend my Ph.D. in Biology in January 2011 at Arizona State University. I took AP biology my senior year (I made the squid video). That year I read a copy of Journey to the Ants (that I believe may have belonged to you). Now I am in the same research group as Bert Hölldobler, and know him well. My advisor is Robert Page Jr. who may have been a graduate student at UC Davis when you were a student there. My dissertation work is on the physiological mechanisms that regulate foraging behavior in honey bees. I'd be happy to send you more detail if you are interested. I just wanted to say hello and give you an update. You are one of the three most influential teachers that I had in my academic career.
Best,
Adam Siegel
LGHS class of 2000
Received March 24, 2010 from Alexa Chavez who is attending UCLA
Hello Mr. Hammack,
I am in my second year at UCLA now, and I am having a blast. I am majoring in neuroscience, and recently started a research position in the neurobiology lab. My project is called "neural fiber tracking in cognitive circuitry in patients with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS)". I am working with MRI's of CCHS patients to measure the overall neural fiber density within three specific cognitive circuits. The work is very interesting, but certainly more intense than my other classes. I am having a great time with it.
All of the things I learned in AP bio are proving to be extremely relevant and useful for many of my college classes. If I hadn't had a strong background in biology, I don't know how I would have survived some of the pre-med introductory classes. For example, my professor covered all of cellular respiration in one 50 minute lecture, and for the test we had to recall all ten steps of glycolysis and all ten enzymes. I was really glad that I had a good conceptual framework going into the class.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Hammack! Thank you so much for all of the effort and energy you put into the AP bio program at LGHS. I will come visit when I am back in Los Gatos.
Take care,
Alexa Chavez
LGHS class of 2008
Received February 9, 2010 from Lia Farb who is attending University of Michigan
Hi Mr. Hammack!
It's Lia from you AP biology and physics class last year! I am emailing you because I wanted to thank you so much for everything that you taught me last year in AP bio. Because of you, I passed out of two semesters of general biology here at the University of Michigan. I am now taking a biology lab and we are learning about PCR. The song that we listened to about PCR keeps playing in my head! Thank you so much for preparing me so well for college. I hope your year has been great so far and I hope to come visit when I come home for summer!
Sincerely,
Lia Farb
LGHS class of 2009
Received January 14, 2010 from Mary Stump who is attending University of California Davis
Dear Mr. Hammack,
I’m a now junior at UC Davis majoring in Viticulture and Enology (AKA "winemaking"). How I got into winemaking is kind of a long story since I actually started majoring in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Genetics. Your course in AP Biology really encouraged me to go into the sciences once I got into college, and I’ve stuck with the sciences ever since. Unfortunately the AP Biology Test didn’t get me out of my Biology Course Requirements at UC Davis, and I quickly discovered that I was required to take a brand new series of biology courses because they were phasing out their old first year biology curriculum. This meant that my classes were “guinea pig” classes, and every now and then I got a professor who didn’t really know how to teach a class since it was in its beginning stages. Thankfully the lectures on your website really came in handy and helped me to work through a lot of the topics that my professor didn’t describe to the extent I needed to learn it.
I can say with certainty that I’m in love with the sciences, and my new major. A lot of that came from your AP Biology course, and I don’t know what I would be majoring in if it wasn’t for that class.
Thanks for all your encouragement,
Mary Stump
LGHS class of 2007
Received December 17, 2009 from Noelle Stephens who is attending University of California Irvine
Hi Mr. Hammack!
I am currently a Freshman at UC Irvine and my major is Biology. My school requires all Bio majors, even if students received a 4 or 5 on the AP exam, to take its intro Biology course. I cannot tell you enough how much your class had prepared me for that course! The professor would be going over concepts during lecture and many things just clicked and made sense to me because I had seen the material before or had drawn pictures of it on your tests. Many of the diagrams and pictures on your powerpoints were exactly the same! I was shocked at my first exam grade because I scored well above the class average. Pop quizzes were no problem, even if I hadn't yet studied the material from previous lectures, because I remembered concepts from your class. I also took Chemistry during the fall quarter and it was extremely difficult, even for students who took AP Chem in high school. I think I would have been so stressed this past quarter if I had not taken AP Biology because both courses would have been very overwhelming. I heard that many Bio majors change majors because of this. Let all of your AP Bio students know that everything they are doing now is going to pay off in college! I thought I would forget everything over the summer, but the material really sticks with you.
Thanks again for everything!
You truly are a great teacher.
Take care,
Noelle Stephens
LGHS class of 2009
Received November 7, 2009 from Bridget Lillis who is attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Hi Mr. Hammack!
This is Bridget Lillis and I just wanted to let you know how helpful and glad I am that I took AP Bio last year! At Cal Poly SLO, I was able to get out of the beginning biology class and take the next level. We just had our midterm where I got a 96%!!! =]
It definitely helped taking AP bio last year because I just had to review before the test. Most of the information came back to me from all the hard work and studying before the AP test. I even looked at some of your lectures online to help clarify some processes!! They do come in handy!
I just wanted to say thanks for everything and I hope this year is going great!!
Bridget Lillis
LGHS class of 2009
Received October 28, 2009 from Amy Zhang who is attending Dartmouth College
Hi Mr. Hammack!
This is Amy Zhang; I was in your AP bio class last year. Hope all is going well
at LGHS!
I promised that I'd tell you how bio in college is going, so here it is:
First off, possible bio majors have to take an entry level class at Dartmouth in order to take any upper level bio classes with lab, so that's what I'm currently doing. The title of the class is called Conflicts and Cooperation in Bio, and the subjects covered are as broad as the title indicates. But I'm doing very well in that class, and I think it has a lot to do with the bio background that I gained from your class last year (thanks by the way). The class is very large (biggest in the college I think) with almost 170 students and two profs, but its structure is similar to your class with curved tests and ppt lectures (there are much fewer tests of course). The material is very esoteric at times, which is sometimes cool but other times frustrating because the relatedness of material is not clear. But for your current bio students, tell them that they are very lucky to have your ppt lectures because I think they are much neater than the ones my profs give. Plus, they shouldn't complain about the few readings you give them because those in college are much denser, longer, and often less interesting. All in all AP bio is very helpful in life after high school, as it even helped me get a paid research internship as a freshman. So thank you and hopefully my message will make your current students feel better about their bio class.
Best,
Amy
LGHS class of 2009
Received February 26, 2009 from Aimee Walker who is attending UCSB
AP Bio Students:
Taking AP Biology is one of the best investments you could ever make for your upcoming college career, especially if you are planning to major in the area. When I entered UCSB, even a 5 on the AP test cannot get a Bio major out of taking the intro bio classes, so studying to forget this material once the test is over will not benefit you. I urge you to take advantage of the way that Mr. Hammack teaches you now because you will most likely never get another teacher as dedicated as he is. The free response style seems so tedious and time consuming, but it is the best way to study for not only biology, but also many other classes. The free response pushes you to be able to explain exactly how a mechanism works. If you cannot write out a free response, you do not understand the material yet. Writing it all out is like being able to explain the idea to someone else that has never studied biology before. TRUST ME, the time you take now is worth it because it will give you that much more time while you are in college to keep up with every thing else you have going on. I have found that my 600 person classes are very hard to learn from, but with my strong background from Hammack's class, I am doing well. I have talked to other students that did not take AP Bio in high school, and they are struggling quite a bit. There is so much information, and so little time (especially in quarter scho ols), you need to be on top of your game. When you are done, you will be thanking Hammack, no matter how hard it may be now to push yourself further than understanding the material to get an A. If you study the material to the point where it is no longer about memorizing facts but about connecting ideas and telling a story about a mechanism (like in hormone regulation or DNA replication), you will be golden. USE Mr. Hammack's website as much as you can, and ask all of the questions that come to your mind. Something i would suggest is to write questions down as you are studying at home and bring them to class. This will keep you engaged in the material and enhance your understanding as well. Enjoy the rest of high school, and good luck with your search for a fitting college!!
Aimee Walker
LGHS class of 2007
Received March 26, 2008 from Andrew Emmons who is attending UCSD
To the students of AP Bio,
It can be a rough road leading up to the AP test, but the hard work is well worth it especially if you plan to pursue science. Different colleges accept different amounts of credit depending on the test and depending on the score; at UCSD by getting a 4 or a 5 you receive credit for two
quarters of lower division bio classes which are common to most bio majors, and I know other UC schools at least are generally very accepting of AP credit. Getting introductory level classes out of the way allows youto get ahead as well as pursue other interests, which really is one of the most exciting aspects of college. Even if you don't get credit for classes you need then you can still get units which help with your class enrollment times so you can get the classes that you do want, which is an aspect of college that I never even considered to be important. So I highly suggest that you do as best as you can and don't slack on the Bio and other AP tests because you really don't know just how much it will help until you get to college, I know I wished I had tried harder on certain tests because if I gotten a 5 versus a 4 on Physics than I would have been exempt from a quarter of Physics.
In addition, Mr. Hammack does an awesome job of giving you the resources you need to succeed. If you actually learn the material than the transition into college bio classes will be a breeze. Even a lot of the course descriptions for upper division biology classes contain a lot of overlap with what you learn in AP Bio. As a Bioengineering: Biotechnology major I found it super helpful to have a background in chem and bio to understand a lot of the topics covered in many introductory level classes.
So essentially the harder you work now the better college will be because you won't have to spend as much time stressing or studying for tests (at least this is the case for me and several other people I know). So do what
you can to succeed now, and good luck!
Andrew Emmons
LGHS class of 2007
Recevied March 26, 2008 from AJ Shepard who is attending UCSD
Hi Mr Hammack!
The AP bio test, along with all the other AP tests, has really helped me out my first year in college. Going to UCSD with 46 units of credit already under my belt means that not only to I get to sign up earlier than most freshman, not only can I take upper division courses (which are far more interesting, and less review) my first quarter, but when I mess up with my GE requirements I know I'll still graduate in four years. Even in AP classes you don't plan on taking the test for, or you don't get a high enough score on, it is still important to try hard and learn, because you'll find that early lower division courses are the EXACT same as your high school AP courses, except you have to learn the same amount of material in 1/3rd the time. Also, there's less homework, and more learning on your own. I got a five on the AP Bio exam, got out of the two first bio classes at UCSD, and the third one is still a review of Mr. Hammack's class (the pictures in the examples are the same ones in his lectures). You have the option to learn this stuff in high school, or learn it in college, and it's easier and way more cost effective to learn it in high school. Plus, the opportunity to place out of courses allows you to get to the fun, meaty, upper-division courses that much sooner!
There you go!
Aj Shepherd
LGHS class of 2007
Received January 16, 2008 from Francis Nguyen who is attending Tulane University
Dear Mr. Hammack,
I just wanted to send you an email to thank you for teaching AP biology to me my Senior year. I never could have known how important having a biology background would be in college, and I now can see how great of class your AP biology class really was.
I will admit that at the time, I was skeptical. I liked that you were so enthusiastic about biology and that you genuinely cared about the subject, but I couldn't really see how what we were learning was really that advanced or complex. I guess that goes to show how great of a teacher you are. But I also couldn't see how what we were learning would help me for what I was going to learn in college.
Now, as a pre-med major at university, I can now see how wrong I was in thinking those things. I have now taken an evolutionary biology course called Diversity of Life which was all about evolutionary history and ecology. I enjoyed the subject matter of the class a lot, but the teacher was not too great of a teacher (and his slides weren't all that great either). I even ended up using your slides as extra study material for his tests! I also now am taking a cell biology class and a public health course which focuses on disease on the cellular, organism, and population level, both of which require a very strong biology background to succeed in. I feel that I honestly have that strong biology background.
Without your constant dedication, the excellence in the way your course is taught, and all of the material that is covered in your class, I am having a much easier time understanding more advanced biological concepts that my classmates who did not have the same caliber of education are struggling to understand. For that, I want to thank you.
I recommend your biology class to everyone. Biology is so relevant to the world today that is it practically inescapable. New advances in medicine, the discovery of new organisms, the spread of diseases around the world - these are all things that make headline news and affect the world as a whole. Even if students think that they hate science and they don't think that it will affect them because they plan to study liberal arts, I want to tell them that it will. As living beings in a constantly changing world, biology affects us all, and I highly encourage students to take the rare opportunity to learn more about that world in your class.
Keep doing a great job!
Best,
Francis Nguyen
LGHS class of 2007
Recevied April 21, 2008 from Jenna Anderson who is attending UCSD
Hi Mr. Hammack!
I'm studying for my first Biology midterm and I thought of you and AP Bio. It's weird how much of the material I remember even though I took your class two years ago! I have actually gone back to look at some of your lecture notes to help me study because you put everything there for easy access. Even though I remember a lot of the material our test covers 20 chapters, which is a lot of information to cover! I really appreciated how you gave us all the tools to help us succeed, and look, they are even helping me after I am done with your class!
I am really enjoying UC San Diego. I am very happy with my decision to come here. Although LG prepared me well school is still pretty difficult so I've been putting a good amount of time and energy into that. I played rugby this year though, and that was a great time and it also gave me a good outlet from all of my studies.
I just wanted to say hi and I hope everything is going well with you and your Bio classes.
Jenna Anderson
LGHS class of 2007
Recevied April 16, 2008 from Jon Gelber who is attending Yale University
Hey Mr. Hammack,
I truly am sorry that it took me so long to write this e-mail, but I hope that I can still stress to your class how important the AP is!
First I'll give a little bit of an update on myself right now - I am nearing finals right now, so I have some serious studying in front of me....
I am currently a MCDB major here at Yale (Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology), and am about halfway through the courses right now.
First of all, I just have to say THANK YOU for keeping the AP Bio website updated and open to anybody to see. I cannot tell you how much I have used the site as a reference and study material. I actually did the majority of my studying for my reproductive biology class from the reproductive biology section on your website!
During my freshmen orientation here, I realized that almost none of my AP credits would help me at all here. The key work here is ALMOST. The single, only, one AP credit that can place you out of credits for your major here is the AP bio credit! Luckily enough for me, I got a 5 on it (thanks to AP bio at LGHS!) and was able to place out of 2 semesters of intro bio, and an entire year of intro bio lab. Those credits freed up my schedule so much that I will actually be able to study abroad (a lot of bio majors here have too many requirements and not enough planning to study abroad). Again, the bio AP credit was the only thing that helped, and it helped a lot!
(OK, so Yale actually does accept one other type of AP credit - language AP credit, but unfortunately for me, my spanish was not bastante bueno for Yale to accept any credit...)
Anyways, I still love studying bio, but I think that I've only recently realized my passion within the major: The more courses I take, the more I realize that I find cell signaling and super microscopic biology a little boring, and that I really do love studying whole organisms, environments, and evolution. Unfortunately, Yale doesn't have a zoology or marine bio major, so I am stuck with my MCDB major here. However, I am trying to transfer now to either Stanford or Pomona. Stanford has an absolutely amazing marine biology program, and Pomona has many organismal biology courses, as well as extremely small biology courses. Additionally, although I am halfway through my biology major here at Yale, all of my bio courses have been huge (200+) lecture courses. If I had known that the bio courses were so huge here, I wouldn't have wasted paying twice as much, and would have gone to a UC with the same caliber classes for half the price!
Anyways, I would just like to say thank you for all your help and encouragement with biology. Additionally, I hope you know that your class was a big inspiration to me and made me want to study biology as a major and a possible career choice later in life.
Thanks again, and I look forward to talking to you soon!
Sincerely,
Jon Gelber
LGHS class of 2007
P.S.
I did forget to mention an important thing in my past email though: I initially had trouble studying for bio tests in college because I thought that all the information was too much to handle, and simply going over my notes wasn't cutting it. So, I decided that I was going to try the "Free Response" approach, and it worked out amazingly! To this date, the way that I study for all bio tests/ quizzes/ finals is by reviewing my notes, and then writing out in paragraph form everything that I know about the material until it is absolutely ingrained in my head.