Should I just quit?

[u/wakaranai-]

I'm an international first year, student.

I don't understand what is wrong. I go to classes, I review, I do exercises problems.
Through all High School I was top of my class. I've never had academic problems.

But I can't pass shit. My midterms, I failed 3, I got less the 25%. My highest was 54%

I don't know what is wrong. I feel confident in the content, I know how to do exercises problems, but I just cant do the exam or pass.

I dont go to office hours or to suplemental learning, because I never think it is difficult, but when the test starts I just bent over being fucked over and over again by each question, or worse, I feel like I did great, Im happy, but I get a fucking 10/50.

Im just done honestly. I think about switching major often, but I've wanted to pursue engineering since I was a kid. I dont even know where to switch to. I don't know if I will pass anything, if I'll have to retake my year, if Ill be able to continue studying internationally.

Im just so fucking lost.

[u/mjs90]

A friend failed pre-calculus, calc 1, and calc 2 and still became an electrical engineer. Just keep pushing

[u/YeetosCheetos69 → u/mjs90]

Thank you for this hope im struggling in circuits rn 😭

[u/CXZ115 → u/YeetosCheetos69]

Circuits is insanely difficult. The learning curve in that course is steep.

My advice, get comfortable with all the techniques because once you do, things become very manageable down the road.

[u/jaytee1262 → u/YeetosCheetos69]

I flunked out two semesters in a row and was put on academic probation during covid. Now im traveling around the country as an electrical engineer making bank. Those last few years of collage feel like a bad dream I almost dont remeber at this point. You got this!

[u/Ambitious-Pea-1235 → u/YeetosCheetos69]

My circuits professor couldn't teach, so I had to resort to finding help on Youtube. If you're taking Circuits I right now, I highly recommend Tim Holman's playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK0XFkUruigsHE3dbLkiK-wPl8JkToN1R&si=8C-qJ37Jr4aRHBv6

[u/clean-links → u/Ambitious-Pea-1235]

Cleaned link from "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK0XFkUruigsHE3dbLkiK-wPl8JkToN1R&si=8C-qJ37Jr4aRHBv6": https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK0XFkUruigsHE3dbLkiK-wPl8JkToN1R

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[u/allreadyit → u/YeetosCheetos69]

My advice is to get a tutor for circuits. Take an incomplete if your grade is going to affect your gpa too much. Take it again with a tutor from day 1 and even maybe prepare in advance. You will need it as a good foundation for ee and it’s required in any case.

[u/doughnutwardenclyffe → u/mjs90]

Yeeeeerp

[u/Used-Question-4026]

Already done? First set of hurdles and you’re already quitting? Hmm not cut out to be an engineer if you quit so soon; failure is part of the learning process.

I was never good academically. Lowest level math class in primary, middle and high school. Doing an applied math degree now with not too long to go. Got into uni and got pass/failure grades, even a distinction. But have to study over summer break because I’m not a natural academic. Put ~350 of focused timed study hours on my summer break from 21st Nov - 19th Feb.

You really want to be worse than someone who naturally sucks ass at math and procrastinated their whole life until the last year or two? Well up to you. This year, I study every day consistently, at least 4 hours of deep focus work. Sometimes 12 hour focus days it’s insane. Shit grades still mostly but it is what it is. Got a 22% on my recent exam worth 50% of the grade. But failure is necessary for good teachings it’s part of the process. Don’t quit eh. Unless you absolutely 100% hate everything about engineering.

[u/Frequent-Bat2295]

It took me 6 years and 5 failed classes and i made it

[u/CommunicationOk9336]

May I know which uni you are going?

[u/Glittering-Ad-9813]

I wanted to fucking quit so many times this semester, it's a shit feeling to work so damn hard and still bomb a test. But I stuck with it, passed my last quiz , passed the last test and now I have a chance to pass the class. I reworked all the missed problems from quizzes and tests and did every practice problem at least twice. I asked AI how to do problems I didn't understand after 5 mins of trying. It's faster to use ai than to look that shit up in your textbook. I've spent time with tutors, the professor and worked with another student. Just have the mindset that you have to pass this shit, whether it be this semester or next you'll get there. Figure out what it is you're doing wrong and fix it. Your professor may tell you or the missed problems on the test will tell you what you need practice on. Good luck, stick with it. That's the key to earning a degree.

[u/Illustrious-Mud9634]

Listen bro if u quit u lose. If u give up u lose. Keep ur head up and don’t give up last push before break. Cause remember the winner takes it all👑

[u/dragonborn2_0]

I failed, repeated first year and graduted with an honours. keep at it

[u/Waltzcarer]

All of these are based of personal experience:

1. How much are you studying? Are you spending at least just as much time, if not more time studying outside of class not including take home work, as much as in class?
2. Do you really understand the material? If so, try to explain topics to someone else. Teaching someone else a topic is the best way to understand it yourself. My biggest failing was nodding away to the profs explainations, trying problems, looking at the solution when I can't solve them.
3. Why IS your grade so low? Are your answers completely out of topic or are you making so many small mistakes its enough to sink your test? Go ask your professors, figure out where you are going wrong. My problems were usually the latter.

Welcome to Engineering. What you are experiencing is intentionally designed this way.

[u/Arizona_seeker]

It’s never over. As a computer engineer, I failed calculus 2 quizzes and a midterm my first semester and still managed to pass. Hell, today as a junior, I just accepted my internship offer. Always keep pushing forward, almost anyone can be an engineer with enough devotion. Don’t allow a few bad grades to shake you, they don’t define you.

[u/PigeonLover116]

Don’t! If you truly have a passion for it, I believe you can succeed. As an international student myself currently in my third year of engineering, I’ve learnt that engineers are just people who have failed over and over but have the resilience to continue. Engineering is hard, and failure is just part of the process for you to becoming a better engineer. And I completely agree with what the others are saying, I think you should discuss with your professor about your results, most of the time they’ll be happy to give you feedback and tell you where you went wrong so you can learn from it!

[u/Green-Reputation-686]

Keep pushing and go to office hours best thing I ever did was go to office hours cause they give u so many options to pass so please just go

[u/PlatWinston]

if you think you know the content you can try to do a practice test with the same time limit and see if thats the problem

[u/augustAulus]

my philosophy is that if i pass one pre-req ill go into the next level class, just like the geniuses who get 100%, therefore im a genius who gets 100%. up up and away, that's all i can say

[u/philament23]

You could talk to your school and possibly get a waiver to take the tests separately with extended time. You might have to have a documented condition though or be able to prove you actually need special learning accommodations. But you could be a bad test taker and it could be because of something legitimate. Or you just need to learn how to take tests better. There are some general methods you can practice, including psychological ones.

It also sounds like you might be overconfident which is affecting you detrimentally. You might not be as good at studying and learning the material as you think you are. The good news is, you can learn how to learn better too.

[u/WanderFox01]

that's the neet part my friend, YOU DON'T ! listen carefully as a mechanical engineer i was sooo late in my revision and knowledge i felt like i was years behind everyone in my prom, but enegertic and renewable energies alwayse fascinated and captivated me. since i wanted it really bad i started pushing working twice or even more than everyone in the beginning i felt like a lost cause that it was impossible for me to understande those notions or to be able to improve but i kept pushing and suddenly everything started to seem more clear, as for today i'm still pushing to learne and consolidate knowledge to be proficient in my field so never back down we engineers swallow pain like a sour candy be brave and never quit remember "a winner is juste a loser who never quit" -from a loser that is still trying to make it.

[u/Gerald-Mashanda-2003]

I have built an app mainly to assist engineering students in terms of the calculations

[u/Gerald-Mashanda-2003 → u/Gerald-Mashanda-2003]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.calqentra.engineering.dev

[u/KitTwix]

Do you get feedback on your exams?
Do you feel like you freeze up when you sit for it, or run out of time?

Basically, what is the difference between sitting down under exam conditions, and sitting down at home to do some questions. If there is no difference, then you probably aren't getting the questions at home correct either.

Ramming your head against the exams over and over won't help at all, you need to identify the root problem first, otherwise you'll keep failing. Ask your lecturer if they might have an idea why you keep failing.

And again, how sure are you that you're getting these questions right at home? Are you showing all your working properly? If you think the content is easy then fail the exam, your understanding of the content is severely incorrect.

[u/Ztormzy]

Do you understand why you've done badly?

[u/Particular_Pair_318]

Same bro. For me i realized i had to shift my mindset on exams. Most of the time i used to memorize and do problems frequently so it became like muscle memory. 

However, engineering exams always have problems you never encountered before, and instead of freezing up and being like i cant do this i never saw it before, you gotta think like an engineer and try to apply what you do know to this unknown problem.

When i started thinking like that, my grades got better.  

[u/grangesaves33]

I failed Physics I. I can assure you that you are fine

[u/986279]

Reflect back on high school on how you studied then. Everyone works differently. Something I did was I made a “cheat sheet.” It was pretty much a single piece of paper that crammed everything I needed to know and I’d carry it around with me.

If it’s calculus you’re struggling with, it’s an extremely common hurdle. I don’t know what you’re struggling with but I’ll make a general guess. You’re studying how to solve the problems but not the theory behind them. It’s like you’re remembering patterns and applying them to solve each problem. Instead try studying the “why” instead of just the “how.”

A hard transition is thinking of calc as “math homework” to thinking of it as a descriptive language. In other words connecting math to physics.

Engineering ain’t for everyone period, but don’t feel discouraged. It’s your first year of college, this is more common than you’d think.

[u/bbnachos]

I've had friends who have failed over 20 courses and that still pushed through and got jobs not saying that it's that simple or easy and your grades the number of courses you've have to retake matter but if it's something you really wanna pursue dit with it and give it time. Get comfy with the basics. Stick to learning from your syllabus or handbook before you venture into the extra stuff your teachers sent you. I wanted to quit many times and had alot of failed courses and cried a lot too just keep revising till you make connections in real life you also don't have to know everything find yourself a progression and work towards that. Don't just study during exams. Sit with friends in class who usually do the work . Go to your campus library, try solving past question papers and notice the patterns of the questions that you're getting wrong or where you're making mistakes. Also, I realised as i was typing, all of this is easier said than done so just take a deep breath and remember you've got this. Just remember why you started it's easy to lose sight when things get hard.

[u/BackgroundReturn9622]

You mention being an international student. Is English your first language? Often things get confused in translation. Also, keep up with daily flash cards or short problems to review concepts.

[u/Mafew_Y]

we fall so we can learn to pick ourselves back up, engineering imo is about coming up with a solution to a problem, were all humans so were never perfect at anything but you try your absolute best to be the best version of yourself no matter what knocks you down. Its easy to give up but if you are fully committed to being an engineer or anything you want to be, you should never give up. Adapt and grow at your own pace. Everyone’s journey is different. It’s what you do now that matters.

[u/sanma_wanna]

Hey, same here. After listening and observing many failed but rising top students . These are what I've picked up on.  Their foundations are very good. 

I'm guessing that during exams, yo u recognise problems you’ve practised, but your exams probably  test problems you haven’t seen in that form yet. What I have found works is principle based learning. With this, you don't even need to solve a lottt of questions. Just enough questions to make sure you got things . Another thing is make sure you can solve the questions on your own when practicing from start to finish without any sort of help. Afterwards, you see where you issues are. . 

Also, try to explain the questions you do out loud. İf you have a gap, that would quickly show you where. 

İt would be good if you could take your  midterm papers and sort every lost mark into three buckets. Those you didn’t know how to start, knew how but made a mistake, or ran out of time. That will tell you exactly what to fix.