<p>Being good at physics, chem, and calculus is all relative, as these subjects are taught much differently in high school then college. In high school these subjects are taught slower, and with more emphasis on allowing the student to sort of learn whats going on, which includes going over topics 2,3,4 times in a week. In college you sit in a giant lecture hall and you learn the one topic that might have taken a week in high school takes 50 minutes, and once its taught, a new topic begins. Many people are not used to this style of having to understand things so quickly and as a result do poorly on their midterms, and considering there are usually 2 or 3 midterms in a semester/quarter it pretty much spells doom for your grade. Plus factor in the freedom of college, and you have a perfect recipe for engineering drop outs.</p>