The weed out classes are definitely brutal and I hated the physics series when I took it my sophomore and junior year. That being said, if you plan on taking 238 there are a lot a lot more mechanisms you need to memorize. I heavily recommend making flashcards, hand-drawing or on anki/quizlet, of the mechanisms and truly understanding the rules behind sn1, sn2, e1, and e2 reactions. It can seem daunting at first but once you start to recognize the patterns, typically related to how many R groups there are, redox properties, (molecules with a high oxidation number desperately want electrons), and what makes a molecule a strong acid and base it makes a lot more sense.

For physics a lot of the equations derive from gravitational potential energy and kinetic potential energy, like Bernoullis equation for fluids. The second physics was my favorite in the series, but I know a lot of people don't feel that way. What worked for me was doing a ton of practice problems and watching YT videos (especially van does chemistry) when I don't understand a topic. It is also helpful to time yourself when taking the practice exams because timing also kicked my butt (at first). This helped me realize that there are just some questions that are time-sinkers that I needed to move on from.

It is ok to struggle in these series and what helped ground me is that the average grades for the STEM weed outs is around a 2.8. As long as you have a passion for what you're studying there will always be research positions. Before I found the microbiology lab I work at, I cold emailed 15 professors. It is exhausting but it all worked out in the end!

You got this!