I might fail my first college calculus class

Student Lounge College Life
1

It is my first quarter on a college campus. I am having a ton of fun while also learning a lot however one thing that is really stressing me out is the prospect that I might fail my Calc III class this quarter owing to terrible performance on the final.

This is an unusual feeling for me because I have done great at math before with 5s on all of the AP Calc tests and being in the highest math at my high school. Even here at college I was doing great. It was honestly a really easy course for me and I never had difficulty grasping the concepts.

Unfortunately though my final is not going to reflect this at all. I did study quite a bit but nothing could have prepared me for some of the problems they threw out that were nothing like the homework and seemed more involved than questions on previous finals. Im not complaining though, the test didn’t seem unreasonably difficult compared to other released finals it was just that at the time of the test I did not do well with them at all.

I did some predictions and I am very likely to fail the class and have to retake it as a result. I have no clue what to do with that idea. What do I tell people?

2

Perhaps the final exam was difficult for everyone, so that the grading curve may result in a non-failing grade for you.

If you did start in calculus 3 due to AP credit, you presumably are not behind on the course sequence for your major which presumably starts with calculus 1.

3

Wait to see what your final grade in the course. Like @ucbalumnus said, if the test was hard for everyone there may be a curve involved. In the future, don’t just study old tests. You should of course try the old tests, but don’t assume the new one is going to be just the same. Really make sure that you understand the concepts and can apply them to problems. Practicing difficult problems can really help.

Whether you fail or not, you don’t have to tell anyone, except maybe your parents. Your school performance is your business, except for maybe when there is a merit scholarship involved that requires maintaining a certain GPA.

4

You can retake it. Not the end of the world. My nephew got a D in Calc 1, then retook it second semester and did better. He then took calc 2 in the summer at another school to stay on sequence. He actually really enjoyed the summer class.