Getting bad grades despite trying my hardest

Student Lounge College Life
#1

All you need to know : I hate my major. (Math)

So I force myself to study, and I do. My god, I study three to four days before every exam. I read all the material, my notes in classes, I search online for free courses and youtube tutorials, I even ask a few students who are willing to help for help. I don’t know what else I could be doing. Then, the results are posted and I’ve got the lowest grade in the entire class. I’m way below the average as well. I asked my professor if I could see my answer sheet and maybe explain a few of my thought processes, but he said next week. Now I have to carry this stress and anger for a week.

Math is really difficult. I’m a senior, but my GPA is 1.9 (but really 2.4 ) so I will graduate with this, but I’m afraid I might be put on academic probation and then that would be my 2nd time, and I might get kicked out with only 20 credits short of graduating. I can’t stop worrying. I’ve wasted four years of my life struggling with this, and I won’t finish it any time soon, so really, five years and if I don’t at least get a degree out of it, I might as well be dead.

#2

Why did you major in mathematics? What do you plan to do after your undergraduate studies?

#3

Cause of my family. They wanted me to go into Engineering, and honestly, I wanted to as well. Especially since I was really good at Math in High School. Sadly, that was a whole different story.

I am working on a Photography portfolio (going to classes), and I’m gonna apply to any art school I can to study Cinema and Cinematography. That’s what I plan to do.

BTW : I don’t pay for school right now. (It’s sort of a scholarship - I got really good results in my Entrance exam like the SAT and my entire HS career)

#4

How did you make it to 20 credits shy of a B.S. in Math while getting the lowest grades in the class? Clearly you must’ve done alright in some classes; otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to pass the prerequisites and move up to upper division coursework.

#5

Well, so far, I’ve failed about 24 credit’s worth (about 8 courses, 1 of them twice. meaning I passed the 3rd time!)

But, yeah, I’ve done well in some courses. I took A LOT of elective courses, like Economy (A+ ), Sociology (A+, highest score in class), lots of CS courses like Cryptography. I got good grades in Calculus I and II … pretty much most of my “applied” math classes, but sadly, there aren’t lots of them to take.

But, all that’s left is my pure math courses and I absolutely hate them all. :frowning:

#6

Do you ask your professors for help? For pure math, do you work extra proofs/related problems?

If you’ve taken lots of CS courses… could you maybe switch your major to CS or something else?

Are you converting numbers? You mentioned being an international student studying in your home country in another of your threads (where you mentioned you needed 10/20 to pass and 12/20 to graduate).

Could you take a break from university to possibly work on/get help on your health problems?

#7

What kind of help? If you mean with the course material, no, I’ve rarely done that. I have met some of them during office hours, just to talk to them about specific situations. Last semester, I tried Ritalin (prescribed ) and I had a terrible reaction to it, and I missed a good three weeks of school during my mid-terms. One of my professors was about to drop me, but when I explained the situation (and I had a note from my Dr) he understood. That’s the class I got an A+ in, despite missing so much of it.

I honestly never do “extra” work. I hardly ever do the homework, let alone … but that is a good suggestion. I do need to work more than everyone else. I won’t be doing it for math, but to get rid of math so that I can go after those things that I truly care about.

I can’t switch majors to CS. The courses I’ve taken were offered, I had a choice to either take those or electives related to Statistics and math (mostly pure math) and so that’s the reason I chose CS courses. I don’t actually like CS either, although I don’t mind programming. (it’s just that I’m not good at it! ) Besides, my GPA is way too low and they won’t let me change my major.

Yeah, see, my school is the ONLY school in my country that adds your failed grades to your overall GPA. I’ve failed classes two times, and my terrible grade has been calculated twice !!! It’s ridiculous. With those grades in my overall GPA, my GPA is 1.9… which in the U.S means you won’t even graduate! But really, my GPA (passed courses) is 2.4. I converted my GPA using a website. I think it’s accurate.

I can take a break, but I don’t want to. I want this to finish, so I can do what I want. I want to work, but with the pressure I’m under from school and myself, I can’t focus on anything else.

I also don’t want to complain. I wish I could calm down, and stop worrying. Maybe if someone told me that I was going to graduate no matter what, then I would be very very happy.

#8

Then why didn’t you just major in engineering? It would have required fewer math courses.

#9

That would be really complicated :

In my country, we take an Entrance Exam for college. If you score really well, you get to go to the top 5 schools in the country (3 of them are in the City I live in - the capital ) and these 5 schools are FREE for those who score really well. BUT, there are only few places to fill. Since every high school senior (and older person) in the country is eligible to take the EE, a huge number of people are examined. Then those schools have a fixed number of people they accept, for Example, Sharif Uni (which is the most competitive in the Technical schools around ) only allows 150 people into their Electronics program. And you have to choose your major based on your exam scores and your chance of acceptance to your uni of choice. So, I knew I wouldn’t get into that Electronics program, since I wasn’t in the top 150 … and I wanted a free quality education, since I had great scores.

I applied to almost all engineering programs I could in the Top 2 most competitive schools in my country, and then Math and CS, and I got into the #1 university in my country, and one of the hardest and most competitive Math programs.

I hope that made sense. It’s really difficult explaining it to someone who has no idea how our education system works.

#10