So Sick of School

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I did poorly last semester so I am working had this semester to make up for it. I have been working hard and doing what I think is necessary to do well but its just not working. I had a midterm today and I had to skip my classes and events just so I can get more time to study. It didn’t pay off. I don’t feel too good about it.

Lately, the only marks I’ve been seeing is 60-70%.

I am at the point where I just want to get the degree and screw the GPA. Is that what I should do?

2

“Lately, the only marks I’ve been seeing is 60-70%.” - How does that compare to average? In a lot of Engineering schools/classes, that is typical. I suggest that you make an appointment with your advisor to discuss.

3

Skipping classes to study is like paying off a loan by borrowing at a higher interest rate. You’ll work harder but learn less and get worse grades.

4

if you had to study that much the day of the test, you had far to little grasp of the material. I’m not saying study more. I’m saying study more efficiently. There’s many posts here about that topic and books that can help. I’d suggest Cal Newport. Good luck.

5

I’ll echo a couple sentiments expressed already:

  1. To do better in school, the LAST thing you should be doing is skipping classes.
  2. Cramming (i.e. studying a lot at the end) is counter productive. You need to be on top of it EVERY DAY to do well. If you do that, your last minute studying should be minimal. (in fact I found that, for me, I liked to go to bed early the night before a big exam to have a clear mind and the best way to screw my mind up was over studying at the last minute)

If you keep up to date with your homework and even read a little ahead in the book, the lectures will be much easier to understand. Everything will fall into place at that point.

6

Get a co-op. You’ll come back from it super excited about your job and you will want to do better in school yourself. And if you don’t love it? Well you’re probably in the wrong major then.