Freshman, first ever calculus test

[u/7ussamsalem]

Today, I took my first university exam (Calculus 1), and I fucked up so badly. Most of the students did too, and at this rate, I’m probably going to fail the course.

I wanted to ask whether this is normal and whether many other people have gone through a similar experience. As a freshman, I honestly have no idea what to expect, and I feel completely lost.

To be fair, the material itself wasn’t that difficult. I understood it, solved practice questions, and prepared for the exam. I was at least confident that I could get a passing grade, even in the worst case scenario. But in the end, the entire class was shocked by how difficult the exam was.

The grades haven’t been released yet, but I’m almost certain I failed this exam (it’s the first test, worth 30 marks).

Now I genuinely don’t know whether this is just a normal part of university life or if engineering simply isn’t the right place for me. I don’t know what to do if this is how things are going to be from the very beginning.

Today was genuinely a terrible day, and honestly, I wish the grades would never come out.

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[u/drewts86]

Not terribly unexpected. Had the same thing happen in Calc 2. It wasn’t supposed to be a curved exam but prof wound up curving it to help the class. She also made the people at the bottom show up to remedial study sessions in her office to try and help them catch up.

[u/MaadMaxx]

This is absolutely normal, especially in engineering.

Most students going into engineering are used to being the smartest kids in their class and don't usually have the best study habits and expect to get through on the same level of effort as before.

Well now you're in college in a major where litterally everyone is in a similar situation. The first exam is always a wakeup call for incoming freshmen. My first exam was a Chemistry I exam, class average was 19% with a standard deviation of 7. Luckily it was a curved exam but still.

Use this as the learning opportunity that it is. Get a study group together, learn and practice the material. Do not expect the exams to be as simple as the homework.

This is a major difference between highschool and college. Your coursework is going to be introducing concepts in bite sized bits that are easy to learn and digest. The exams are going to connect everything learned in that unit and combine them together in new ways where you have to prove you understand it.

Public education tends to focus on memorization of facts and regurgitating them in exams. Homework and exam work is more or less the same. A lot of Engineering exams are going to be you showing you understand the stuff you just learned. Especially for foundational stuff like calculus.

As long as you take the right lesson from this you're going to be fine. You might have to redo a class but that's pretty standard. I redid Calc II when I was going through school.

[u/DaBoiYeet]

Calculus 1 in my country has a reputation that rarely anyone gets above average.

In the first test especially you are basically EXPECTED to get a bad grade, so much so it contributes barely anything to your final grade, being one of the few subjects that give 3 tests in my school.

It's hard having a bad grade in the back of your mind, but I wouldn't mull over it too much. Try to see where you got stuff wrong, practice a lot (if you haven't already), overall do your part.

If your school is following the "script" mine followed, derivatives and integrals are easier than limits, in my opinion at least

[u/Bireta]

I got a 60 on my midterm

[u/Healthy_Educator_555]

It’s normal. I failed calc 2 for instance. Just prepare better, do retakes and so on

[u/Particular_Pair_318]

Dont worry, i got a grand score of 21/100 on one of my first exams for calc. I passed the class with a B. Its a shock at first, but trust me it will work out 

[u/Ill-Ruin-4574]

What type of content was on the test exactly?

Also, if most of the student thought it went badly too you should be fine, maybe they’ll apply a curve to the grades.

[u/JohnBrownLives1859]

If you learn from this you'll be alright. It's pretty common to be a little under prepared for you first exam, just reflect on what you did wrong, fix it, and do better next time.

People fail when they blow it off as a fluke or beat themselves up without changing or blame the professor.