STEP 1 EVALUATE PRIORITIES AND CORE COURSES

• The student really wants to do well in math/science courses to improve their BCPM GPA.
• The student looks at the courses they can take in to improve their BCPM GPA and decides they will be the "core" courses.

STEP 2 CATEGORIZE YOUR COURSES

Examples

• Organic Chemistry I: Category V, Understanding Memorization and Problems
• Biology I Lab: Category I, Mostly Memorization or Category III, Understanding and Memorization
• Pre-calculus: Category II, Mostly Problems
• Physics I: Category IV, Understanding and Problem Based
• Organic Chemistry I: Category V, Understanding Memorization and Problems

STEP 3 RESEARCH YOUR CLASSES

The student checks the university's course catalog for the core courses. To simplify the example, only Organic Chemistry I offers more than one professor for the upcoming semester. They are:

• Professor 1: Dr. HappyGoLucky
• Professor 2: Dr. Re-Reserach
• Professor 3: Dr. Teach-a-lot

The student "Googles" each professor and gathers the the following information:

• Dr. HappyGoLucky: Easy exams and assignments, lectures very unorganized, wing-it lectures, many students say, "Easy A" but don't seem to learn much organic chemistry
• Dr. Re-research: Very hard exams and assignments, lectures very structured, strict attendance mandatory with pop quizzes, no make-up exams, no excuses, very focused on theoretical and research, nearly half the students fail
• Dr. Teach-a-lot: Hard exams and assignments, lectures very structured, strict attendance mandatory with homework, gives relevant real-life examples, students say professor is difficult but interesting and a fair grader. They've learned a great deal of organic chemistry

STEP 4 CONSTRUCT YOUR SCHEDULE AND CONSULT YOUR ADVISORS

• For Organic Chemistry I the student believes Dr. HappyGoLucky is the best and registers. Since there is no choice in professors for the remaining core courses, the student registers for Physics I and Physics I Lab that best fits their schedule
• The student repeats each step for non-core classes and filling out the semester with 15 hrs.
• Academic Advisor for Psychology (student's major): Everything looks good and they're on track to graduate in 2 years.
• Premed Advisor: The advisor notes that there is heavy use of pre-cal and trigonometry in Physics and it may not be the best idea to take it before completing pre-cal. The advisor also mentions that taking Organic Chemistry I is difficult and doing well is important for Organic Chemistry II. From this information, the student registers for Pre-cal and Biology Lab after repeating the relevant steps instead of Physics I and Physics I Lab. Knowing the student must take Organic II in the future, the student decides to take Dr. Teach-a-lot instead of Dr. HappyGoLucky. The student also drops a class making their schedule to 12 hrs to have more time to study, volunteer and join a premed organization.