So Stressed

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>Hi everyone, so basically I'm just super stressed and I honestly don't think I'm smart enough for college.</p>

<p>I'm a freshman who just started his second semester. I'm currently a physics major but have considered switching to engineering. </p>

<p>So this semester I'm taking 16 units: chem class, chem lab, physics class, physics class, calculus 2, and calculus help lab. I just have so much homework to do and not enough time to get it done.</p>

<p>Last weekend (Super bowl weekend) I went home and worked on homework friday afternoon, friday night, all day saturday, saturday night, sunday morning, and sunday night (after superbowl party), and still did not finish all I had. I can barely do any homework during the week because I work monday, tuesday, and thursday from 5-11pm. </p>

<p>It's wednesday night and I'm trying to get done with calc and physics homework do tomorrow but I can't do any of it. I already missed one physics assignment that was due tuesday (couldnt get it done sunday night). I don't understand any of this basic physics or calc. </p>

<p>The physics is just vectors, adding/subtracting them. Everyone says its so easy but I have no idea how to do any of it. I cant even add 2 vectors and find the magnitude. The calc is all about the natural log function and its derivatives and stuff. I take notes in class but they dont help me at all with the homework.</p>

<p>I don't have time to go to tutoring or office hours since I have class all day everyday during tutoring hours. What should I do? I genuinely think I'm not smart enough for college if I can't even figure out these vectors everyone else seem to think are so easy. </p>

<p>Any help would be appreciated. Thanks</p>

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<p>For starters I would either quit the job or drop a class. It seems you have a lot of difficult classes and clearly you can’t handle all of it. It’s totally normal and the stress isn’t worth it. I would meet with an academic counselor and see what classes can easily be dropped or tell your boss at work that you need less hours. Good luck</p>

3

<p>Could you set up an appointment time with your professor or TA? Many are willing to do this if you are unable to go to office hours.</p>

<p>Could you get help for Calculus during your Calc help lab, which I’m assuming you worked into your schedule since you listed it as one of your classes? Are there similar help rooms for physics or chemistry? Common classes that everyone has to take often have several support systems in place, such as a tutoring center, help room, etc. Make sure you look at all your options. There may be school, department, or student run tutoring or help programs, outside of what your professor or TA’s have available.</p>

<p>Alternatively, you could try to hire an upperclassman or other student as a tutor, if you have the money for it. Or if you have a friend who is in the class or has done well in it previously, I’m sure they’d be willing to help you out for free. It sounds to me like spending more time on your homework really isn’t going to help, and that you’re just lost. Having someone walk you through a couple of problems might help you get an idea of where the confusion is.</p>

<p>Have you tried reading the textbook? Hearing the same information in a different way may be helpful. They will likely also have example problems throughout the chapter, which you can go through step-by-step to get an idea of how to solve a problem. Do you have the solution manual for the textbook? Even if these aren’t the homework problems, you may be able to find a similar problem in the textbook and go through it to find an example of how to solve it. These problems may not be an exact match to the homework problems, but they should at the very least help you with some of the basics.</p>

<p>Also, you could just google “adding vectors” and I’m sure you’ll come up with a wealth of resources explaining how to add vectors. Keep working through them until you get it. Find a resource that makes sense to you and stick with it. There are also likely youtube videos where they do these sorts of problems.</p>

<p>Could you form a study group in your classes where you work on homework assignments together? Is the homework graded for completeness or for correctness? Even if it’s graded for correctness, you may get some points for attempting the problems, which is better than a zero for just not turning it in.</p>

<p>It sounds like you’re just overwhelmed. Quit your job, if you are able to, but I understand needing to work. Take a different courseload next semester, if you are able to, perhaps with a balance of science and GEs or non-science courses. But I’m also concerned that you’re spending all of your time on these assignments, and you still can’t finish them because you just “don’t get it.” Try to figure what you don’t get, and get help to address it.</p>