<p>First year engineering student at Iowa State- very frustrated with how things are going. We just had our Calculus I midterm last week and I got a 68- Average was 66. I am doing slightly better than average but most people in my class are getting a C- as things stand</p>
<p>My Chemistry for Engineers class, right now I am at 61%. Average on our first exam was 56. We are having our midterm next week- and after Exam 2- the curve range for passing(C-. C. C+) is between 34% and 78%-To get a B, I would have to be at 78%- I would say very unlikely, if not impossible mathematically</p>
<p>I am taking a BS Speech class which I am getting an A, so probably my first semester will be A, C, C that would be a 2.66 GPA. Not what I expected but I don't know what else to do.</p>
<p>I have had tutors for both Chemistry and Calculus since day 1 and I am still doing slightly above than average, not good enough though.</p>
<p>Is my situation normal? Is it supposed to get better or what? I am never going to give up but as things are going right now, I am very frustrated.</p>
<p>It sounds like you aren’t really making the appropriate conceptual connections. I don’t know how your work ethic is and how much time you spend making those connections, but you may want to ponder about that. Also, if your tutors aren’t managing to help you clearly understand the concepts, you may want to take a step back and think about what they do to try and help you and what effort you put in in return. </p>
<p>Keep at it and really strive to make those connections. Without doing so will lead to problems with succeeding in these courses and in the future when you need to apply them. Good luck though! Have hope!</p>
<p>Cal Newport is a CS PhD from MIT now working at Georgetown. When he was an undergrad at Dartmouth, he struggled his first year. He dedicated himself to figuring out how to study and made all As his next three years. He was going to write a book on “his technique” when he discovered he wasn’t exclusive to him. He surveyed the Ivy Phi Beta Kappa members and wrote a book on the commonalities of their (his included) study techniques. It’s called How to Become a Straight A Student. Read it over a weekend. If you buy into it, I guarantee your grades will improve dramatically. You have to accept that you are a “pseudo-studier” (like most of us are or have been). Then you will do what it takes to watch your time management like a hawk and study with extreme focus for short bursts of time. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestion! I just ordered the book on Amazon and I will read it over Spring Break. </p>
<p>It is hard for me to pinpoint exactly what my problem is. I don’t dislike what I am studying. I know I want to be an engineer and I know I am never going to give up. </p>
<p>I think it may be just a matter of reevaluating my study habits. We will see what happens. Thanks again!</p>
<p>My brother wanted to be an engineer but always struggled in college. After about 5-6 years, it became evident that he wasn’t going to ever get his degree in engineering. Our daughter has one or two friends who are already struggling with their engineering courses. One decided to change his major. It’s a very difficult major ( as I’m sure you already know). Best of luck.</p>
<p>You may not recover this year’s grades to the point you’d hoped, but as long as you stay in, don’t have to repeat and then show improvement, you’ll be in line for an on time graduation and good job opportunities. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you know you want to do what you’re doing, keep at it. I barely pulled a C in calc 1 and was relieved to even get that. I kept trying, learned how to study better, and now I’m graduating cum laude (3.73 GPA, top 5% or so of my class) in civil engineering. There’s a definite possibility that you’re dealing with some serious weed-out classes right now.</p>
<p>Well, it aint over until the fat lady sings…so, keep chugging along till you hit the bull’s eyes. Remember nothing is impossible; if you need so badly, you will get it eventually. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Hey man, I’m in the same boat… I struggled through the calculus sequence. If you can get through that, then the higher level math actually felt easier. I literally got a D in calc I, retook it and got B’s through the calc sequence. Differential equations was even fun for me, linear not so much I(hated all that weird subspace vector space crap), probability/stats is ok… The crazy thing is math got easier, but then once you get passed the intro engineering stuff… engineering got extremely hard especially thermodynamics. It felt like their was no answer to the question only how you proceeded to solve the problem using the equations correctly. Anyways good luck… cuz i’m struggling too haha</p>
<p>Thanks, Comicho. I am more than convinced that I am not the only one struggling but it is nice to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I will read the book recommended, try to reevaluate my study habits and keep going. I am never going to give up but I definitely want to do better.</p>