I think my preparation for the first exam is ok. I read the book, reviewed my notes, and finished the worksheet. But I still surprised by the exam. For the chemistry part, sometimes I can’t match certain term with its definition. It happened in both quiz and exam. I heard other students talk about the effective nuclear charge after exam. Some actual Zeff is smaller than predicted because of the shielding, the others are bigger because in further distance the shielding becomes less effective. I was surprised because I didn’t see any questions asking about this. Misunderstanding or misread the question is the biggest problem for me for right now. I am an ESL student, so language is my biggest weakness. If the question isn’t straight forward, it likes a reading comprehension or vocabulary question for me. I need to be more familiar with the terms. For the biology part, my review covered most parts. But for the ice water question, I didn’t have enough notes and it was long time ago, so I didn’t prepare well. Overall, I think I should prepare for the exam based on book and notes.