Just my two cents:
I’m from Germany and here only the last two years count for your final grade. Therefore a lot of people tend to aim for the minimum passing grade in freshman and sophomore year. Furthermore, it is possible to “delete” on or two semesters in the latter two years which wouldn’t count towards your final grade. Sometimes teachers encourage failing these semester and concentrating on the more important courses.
I started researching US universities in junior year, so I wasn’t aware of the US GPA calculations (which explains my less than stellar grades in 9th and 10th year).