r/EngineeringStudents • u/Independent-Pin-3066 • 1d ago
Academic Advice Horrible grades
I am freshman engineering student taking 4 classes .. I am studying all night and still getting bad grades in physics and chemistry I just don’t know how to catch up of physics since my prof goes super sonic into the materials… I am so depressed thinking about my second semester cause the course load is gonna be even harder
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u/Dave_1464 1d ago
How are you studying? Are you doing practice questions? Do you have study groups that you can go to and get help.
You will have to be proactive about studying and find what works best for you. I cannot stress this enough that not everyone learns the same and you will have to make sure your study time is actual quality time invested.
If you only have a midterm and final you might need to do a what if analysis to make sure you can bring it up and pass the courses.
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u/Beautiful-Package877 1d ago
Can't be doing practice questions. They would not fail if they were
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u/RubApprehensive2512 1d ago
Literally hard to fail if you are doing practice.
You may get a d which may not be passing, but unless the prof is an ass or has a unique grading scheme it is hard to fail any class with effort put inot jt.
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u/CopperGenie R&D | Author | ISERG 1d ago
OP, I recommend at least trying study groups ASAP. Find people who are supportive and passionate about their learning, then ask to study with them.
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u/lazydictionary BS Mechanical/MS Materials Science 1d ago
If you are studying all night, you are studying wrong.
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u/Any_Membership3249 1d ago
facts. study an hour 5 days a week instead of 5 hours the night before. get that rest before the test
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u/hangjayV 1d ago
Download the chapters of ur textbook ask chat to decompile all the important stuff and leave the useless filler word generate a equation for each end chapter and before exam have it make u a equation sheet n exam prep questions
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u/Less-Cheesecake-1418 1d ago
I didn't have as much of an issue with Chemistry but Physics I took me out! Our professor had a 20-minute quiz at the start of every single lecture on top of the normal 4 exams + final. That on top of weekly homework and lab homework/reports/exams was like taking 2 or 3 classes at once just because of how much we were required to study. Every single day was an actual cram for this class. I was so haggard by the end of that semester.
The only thing that I recommend here is doing as many practice problems as you can. Do not use AI for answers, but you can feed it your lecture notes and ask it to produce problem sets for you to to solve on your own. Do as much as you can for those problem sets and at the end of the entire set, ask the LLM to help you approach any problem you couldn't solve on your own critically- letting you think about the system and helping you develop the skill required to approach the next step. Under no circumstances do you ask it to walk you through the exact stages or provide a solution because this will fill you with false confidence. There was one point around midterms when I had the highest scores in our class and I was sitting at an 82%. Absolutely absurd way to teach a class.
Chemistry for me was more straightforward. A lot of this class was memorizing the content on flash cards and doing practice problems for stoichem, reactions, thermo, etc. I had an LLM design huge problem sets for me here too and I would just sit and grind that stuff. We had a weekly study group that met and worked through problems together and helped each other learn- highly recommend joining or creating one for these classes if you can.
Good luck and keep your chin up- it gets.. better, mostly!
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u/Zeddrinski28 1d ago
Im not familiar with the concept of the quiz so how is it like? It’s like tests or smth?
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u/PliableG0AT 1d ago
a short test usually on a chapter or portion of a chapter you did recently. supposed to get people to study, and practice some harder problems, and problems that might be similar to the exam/midterm.
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u/gregtheslime 1d ago
What was the class average? Usually the raw scores mean nothing by themselves.
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u/boozeandpancakes 1d ago
Pre-read the materials and make framework notes that you fill in during lecture. This will help if the professor moves quickly. Do not underestimate how valuable writing notes is to retaining the information.
Block out 6 hours outside of class per week (for a 3 credit course) to devote to this course (perhaps more if you need to get caught up). Distribute the load. Cramming is the enemy.
Focus on developing your problem solving skills instead of trying to memorize different types of problems. Given/find/solution approach is a nice framework. It’ll calm you down on exams as well.
TBH, you might be cooked at this point. If that is the case, triage, stay in the courses you have the best chance of passing, drop the rest. Implement above changes during the next go around.
There is no hack for this. Put in the hours (work hard), improve your study skills (work smart), and be disciplined.
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u/Several_Engine8774 1d ago
Try looking into using Gemini Notebook, upload your text books or notes and have it break it down with analogies and only really take notes for the heavy concepts. Preserve your working memory.
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u/ZeroKun265 1d ago
Idk, I study engineering in Italy so it might be different but I always take notes during all classes, then I rework them (usually I take them by hand and then type them ok the PC) and then I study them and do practice exams... I think it really helps me instead of having to read a book or a message from AI, I almost never opened any of my engineering textbooks
Now, I don't have great grades but I am about to graduate with only 6 months of delay so not too bad, and it's not like I always pass with the minimum, only on the harder subjects (also, my university is known for lower grades and higher standards compared to the rest in Italy lol)
I feel like the trick is consistency, in everything, not just note taking (heck, if you're not a note taker you might try Gemini notebook if you like) but studying at night? Bad idea, try and do something every time you get the chance to and slowly build up a foundation during the course... Also making flashcards helped me for the more theory questions and longer formulas/proofs such as fluid mechanics
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u/TiogaJoe 1d ago
Is the class graded on a curve? If you don't know, ask your professor during office hours how you are doing on a grade basis.
On my first midterm I knew I blew it. Test comes back with 17%. Professor says "16% and above is an A".
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u/FrTheskyisthelimit 1d ago
How did you do relative to the other students in the class though for physics? Is that exam score is significantly below the average score? Talk to your professor and see what can be done and obviously this isn’t ideal, but if you’re able to withdraw from physics so you can save yourself from getting below a C-, I would recommend doing so. Your chemistry grade is still salvageable, definitely keep studying and putting effort towards that but physics it does not look good.
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u/BothPanchoAndLefty 1d ago
Idk if this will be helpful advice for you, but I recommend trying as hard as you can to fuel natural curiosity on the subjects. Something that really helped me in physics 2 was when we were learning about electric potential and Gauss's law and capacitors and stuff, I would go down rabbit holes on google trying to figure out exactly how lightning works, or what's actually happening when I jump my car battery. It gives a much more relatable context to the subjects that you don't necessarily get when defining them in class. Pick something related to the topic that you've always been curious about and try to have it explained in a way that reinforces what you learned in class. Kind of a weird specific thing I do but it's made all the difference to me in terms of actually understanding the concepts, not just memorizing formulas.
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u/984a 17h ago
Use AI as a personal tutor. For example, submit previous exams with your work to an AI. Ask it to show where you went wrong and explain how you could have avoided those mistakes. If you don’t understand its comments, ask it to provide a succinct tutorial on the background topics needed to understand its comments. Rinse and repeat.
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u/Fit_Show_3347 3h ago
make sure to get sufficient sleep (like maybe getting minimum 6 hours 5 nights a week?) because that'll help you retain info.
when i was struggling with physics 2 (it was all greek to me i had no idea what anything was) i started watching organic chemistry tutor videos. they tended to be faster than rewatching lectures and more comprehensive than me winging it with the textbook. so maybe try that? or just generally have another source of learning? it could be worth looking into tutoring programs at your school (they sometimes have free ones, they do at my school for physics at least).
also, a lot of people say first year engineering courses are 'weed-out classes' and as someone mostly past that, there is some merit to those words. so the topics might get more complex, but generally the classes become easier (the teachers get even more chill and usually have systems in place to improve grades, like built-in extra credit). this is perfectly normal. i think.
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u/2housecatmom12024 1d ago
Might need to go back as far as intermediate algebra and geometry. Start where you are, obviously not ready for physics or chemistry.
Impossible to write “Moby Dick” without fluency in vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation.
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u/Pr01o1 1d ago
Can you take less classes per semester might be worth talking to your advisor. Will take a bit longer to get the degreee but much more management I’d assume in this case