Bouncing Back After Failing College Classes
I’m a physics major going into my 4th (and hopefully final) year. I now have a 3.1 gpa, and i was on academic probation summer of my freshman year (summer 2018) because i failed 3 classes (calc 1, chem 2, and chem 2 lab).
Now, i do have adhd, and that did contribute to my trouble, but the truth? i got lazy. i got really fucking lazy spring 2018. i had highschool and 1 semester of college under my belt, i thought i was fine slacking off a bit. i have a big problem with being full of myself when it comes to academia, because i tend to learn things quickly and easily, so when i do end up not knowing something or having a hard time understanding something i just completely shut down (which makes it 10 times worse).
So, i have some advice/tips as someone who genuinely thought they were gonna drop out of college in freshman year. i know it may not be applicable to everyone, and its not the Greatest Advice because i’m not the Greatest Student, but i hope it helps (and if not the advice, then at least knowing that failing a class isn’t the end of the world and that its possible to bounce back from the brink of failure).
i got an F in calc 1, a C- in chem 2, and a D in chem 2 Lab in spring 2018: i began the semester already behind on calc because i skipped precalc. i had no idea what i was doing, and because i was already upset i just continued that downward spiral the rest of the semester. on the calc 1 final, i wrote my name, sat in the lecture hall for 30 minutes, and then turned in the exam and left. i knew i wasnt going to pass, i didnt even want to be in that exam room. chem 2 was just my own cockiness getting the best of me. I got a B+ in chem 1 and thought it was okay to not study as much because i knew the material (hint: don’t do what i did lmaoo). I got a D in lab because i skipped 4 labs and never made them up, that was completely on me.Unfortunately, a C- on my transcript does not count so i have to retake chem 2 and chem 2 lab (in fall 2020).
i retook calc 1 in summer 2018 and i got a B: i decided that i was going to buckle down and just try new methods of studying. 1st thing i did was buy a whiteboard for $10 from home depot. i found out that writing on a vertical surface while standing up helped me retain the math methodology better. i also used the Feynman technique and would write and rewrite all the derivative rules until i could do it completely from memory.
i got a C+ in calc 2 in fall 2018: i fell into a rut early in the semester, and wasnt really able to recover from that. i passed, and i am so happy that i did, but things i wish i had done from the start was doing the hw as soon as it was assigned, retaking the exams on my own time, writing out the integration rules, and going to office hours if i got stuck.
in spring 2019 i took matrix theory and differential equations. i got an A in matrix theory, and a B in diff eq: i had mtx thry at 8 am and diff eq at 12:30pm, on wednesdays and fridays. what i would do was wake up at 6:30, get to the mtx thry classroom by 7:30, review my notes from the previous lecture, take notes and write down questions anyone would ask during lecture, go to the library and annotate the lecture notes and then read the chapter for the next lecture, then i would review my diff eq notes from previous lecture, go to diff eq and do the same thing, and then go back to the library and repeat the process. then i would go to the physics lounge and do my hw for both classes on the white boards, and ask the older physics students for help if i got stuck. i learned that repition and consistency was the best approach!
i got an A in calc 3 in summer 2019: this is probably my proudest accomplishment in my academic career so far. i did the same approach as i did for matrix theory and diff eq, but i also would redo the exams on my own time. another thing i did was review all the equations i would need for the test for about 2 hours before i took it, then when the prof handed out the exams i would write down the equations from memory on the back of the test. i found that this helped me out So Much by being able to recall them from memory, and that i barely needed to look at them for reference, but knowing that i had them there in case i forgot was very reassuring.
i got a C in both classical mechanics and electromagnestism 1 (EM1) in fall 2019: this was the semester that i had a breakdown in september and had to go home for a week to get myself back to normal. the breakdown was triggered by a lot of factors, but getting an 11% on a classical mech exam was what pushed me over the edge. after i collected myself and came back to university, i was in a much better place mentally, and was ready to try again. i made study groups in both classes, and we would get together to do hw/studying/exam reviews. having this support system helped me hold myself accountable, and to pull my weight in these sessions. i went from an 11% to a ~71% in class mech thanks to this.
i got an A in electromagnestism 2 in spring 2020: this was surprising, considering that i had gotten a C in the previous EM class. my issue was that studying electricity on its own and magnetism on its own was very confusing to me, but putting them both together as electromagnestism made so much sense to me. it was like a lightbulb went on in my brain, and i was able to draw connections between all 3 fields, and it was honestly unexpected. i still was in a study group for this class, but thanks to covid the study groups moved to discord. part of my success was being home all the time and having nothing better to do than study. something i found that really helped was writing summaries for each module, i would use the lecture notes, textbook notes, and my own reasoning/justifications to write up summaries about what i just learned over the past 1 or 2 weeks. being able to write out these mathematical concepts into words really helped me visualize what was going on, and it helped me so much. (if you would like to see examples of this then please let me know!)
Now these aren’t the only classes I’ve taken, these are just the classes that i struggled in/redeemed myself in, academically.
Looking back on the past 3 years, there is so much that i wish i had done differently, but there’s nothing i can do now accept apply those changes to my current circumstances and try my best to improve in way that is within my capabilities. Failing a class doesn’t mean the end of the world, failing a test doesn’t mean the end of the world. learn from your mistakes, grow as a student, and just keep looking forward!
