struggling in college

<p>Hey guys, I'm a freshman at Stony Brook U, and need some advice. Right now I'm struggling in 3 out of 4 classes, i just got a 69 on my eco test and now I'm worried my grade for that class is screwed. My writing class makes it so hard to get an A or above bc how hard my teacher grades so that will also hurt my gpa. My math class my professor is horrible and i got a c+ on first exam and am also worried there. The only class I'm doing good in is business which is my major i got an A on first test. I need some advice, am i screwed rn? i was hoping to get a 3.5+ gpa, if not at least 3.0, any advice or opinions would help. </p>

<p>You need to change what you are doing and you need to take advantage of all the tools that the college has (that you pay for!!!)</p>

<p>New things to try are: </p>

<p>**Go to Professor Office hours. **Even if you say “my professor is horrible”…if you talk to them about what you are having issues with, they can talk to you specifically about that. Also they will have a face to go with a name and may be sympathetic. For math she/he may see that the way s/he teaches is not reaching you and may have different things for you to try. Give it a try…but have something specific to ask about. T</p>

<p>Take advantage of support services there are. Talk to your advisor/dean/favorite professor about options…but looking on the website:</p>

<p>Maybe you need a general study skills improvement.
<a href=“http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/advising/_students/study_skills_workshop.html”>http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/advising/_students/study_skills_workshop.html&lt;/a&gt;
Contact the people on that page for more ideas.</p>

<p>For specific classes they seem to have centers to help. For example, the writing center <a href=“Home | The Program in Writing and Rhetoric | The Program in Writing and Rhetoric”>http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/writrhet//&lt;/a&gt; will help with the writing class.</p>

<p>Do you need help with math? Check out <a href=“Math Learning Center - Home”>http://www.math.sunysb.edu/mlc/&lt;/a&gt; the Math Learning center.</p>

<p>Also see: <a href=“http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/academic_success/students/addtlservices.html”>http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/academic_success/students/addtlservices.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Form a study group with other students in your class.</p>

<p>** Make sure you are studying effectively** Look at How to Become a Straight A Student.
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Straight-A-Student-Unconventional/dp/0767922719”>http://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Straight-A-Student-Unconventional/dp/0767922719&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also: <a href=“http://www.k-state.edu/counseling/topics/stress/strestst.html”>http://www.k-state.edu/counseling/topics/stress/strestst.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The worst thing to do is say “that won’t work” and do nothing. There is absolutely no downside to trying all of these things.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>One suggestion I’d make would be to evaluate this statement. Is the professor horrible? Or is the material just difficult? I’m not suggesting that this is the case for you, but I’ve heard many people make the claim that they’re failing a class because of the horrible professor. Then it often turns out that they don’t really study, don’t go to office hours, rarely ask for clarification, etc. </p>

<p>In college, it is expected that you will be able to do a good amount of learning on your own. Your math professor certainly isn’t going to walk through every type of example that you could ever possibly encounter. There’s simply no way that there could ever be time for it. The professor provides the meat and bones, and the majority of the finer points and details are typically left to be self taught. </p>

<p>bopper has lots of good advice. also, you need to know if the professors curve or not. If they do, your grade might not be as low as you think. ask what the ‘class average’ is and see where you fall. how many credits are you taking? If you are totally bombing in one class, is it possible to drop / switch to pass-fail and still be considered full-time? Might be something to ask your adviser about. have you taken midterms yet? probably a good time to ‘take stock’ would be once midterm grades are in. Good luck. </p>

<p>Econ - You could got to office hours and get an AP review book if its just a basic maro or micro course to get a good breakdown on the core concepts.</p>

<p>Math - no excuse. There are too many online resources and probably just as many resources at your school. With khanacademy, PatrickJMT, and other resources. You should be able to not attend lecture and still get a C. If you do attend lecture, use resources, and do homework and extra problems, then it should be an easy A.</p>

<p>Writing - Just pay attention to the comments and ask your professor for recommendations and ten take those suggestions to your school’s writing center and get personalized help. This one is probably harder because you could not get high scores just because the other students are just better writers. It’s not like math and science where you either get the points or not.</p>