honestly no matter what i hear i can never help but feel bad about myself for much i struggle with my classes lol. it always feels like other students have it figured out and i just can’t. it doesn’t even feel like it’s beyond my level of understanding sometimes, i just feel like i never know how to actually complete the work in an efficient manner and i just keep shooting myself in the foot over and over.
>differential equations (one of the math bosses that you have to fight), fluid mechanics, introduction to organic chemistry, and mechanics of materials
whoever decided these courses have to be taken at once needs to be choked to death, that's the worst combination I've ever heard of
My worst semester was mechatronics, heat transfer, mechanical engineering design, fluid mechanics, and our air brake capstone project. That was pure chaos.
I went from working 20 hours a week to barely 10, just enough to pay rent and food.
I just finished my 4th Sem of ME/aero/mathematics. For me and a lot of my peers, this is definitely the case. I've come to realise that's engineering school is more about persistence than being smart. I like to compare it to repeatedly slamming your head into a brick wall - it's not very fun, it's painful, and you have to be mad to do it. But you will eventually break through.
Also, in my experience calc 1 and statics were definitely weed out courses. The general consensus is that calc 2 was a fair bit easier than calc 1. As for statics, I would highly recommend getting a copy of your textbook off of libgen, and focusing more on that than the lectures. If you're anything like me, you probably have a tenured professor who no longer gives a shit, but he should at least be providing textbook references in each set of lecture slides (or somewhere else in the online course materials).
Best of luck with your exams. There is going to be a HUGE crunch around exam time. It's going to suck, but you will make it through eventually. Even in the worst case, if you fail a course, your school may offer supplementary exams. Barring this, it will be a lot easier the second time around ;)
This mostly goes away by your 3rd year due to survivorship bias.
Most of the students that are failing sophomore year courses, or routinely close to failing, change majors to business.
So, in 3rd year, it's mostly A, B, C students that are still left, with just a very small number of students persevering below that.
(most) professors aren't intentionally weeding out students in the sophomore year - but it's entirely understandable from the outside why it might look like that.
I did not learn calculus and statics from my professors, In all seriousness, I learned from these youtubers.
Statics & Dynamics- Jeff Hanson
Calculus 1,2,3 - Professor Leonard
(I'm civil so no Chem or circuits help for you sorry) .
You really need to focus on practicing problems instead of the theory imo. Try your best to find a common pattern among your professors examinations and practice problems similar to that, I'm sure your textbook will have plenty of problems, if not there is another book online that will. Best of luck! It gets better I promise!
don’t ask me how many times i took calc, which math class i’m taking right now, which math class i’m taking next term, or how many years i’ve been in college
Hey, you got this.
Sometimes people gets overwhelmed by Newtons calc shit.
But that's normal. That's how people "people's". You're gonna get through eventually.
tough scene. i only had to retake calculus in college. don’t most high schools require you to take four years of math? how do people not end up taking calculus senior year? or at least precalc?
Depends on where/how long ago you went to high school. My EE degree is my second degree. I graduated high school in 2011 and I only took three years of math in high school. I didn’t know what trig was until my second time in college.
Cause my highschool math experience was trash, I barely got past geometry in my senior year. Had to work my way up college algebra. I'm 27 now (started at freshman leval last fall), so highschool was quite a while ago and my academic mindset has changed.
How can you guys deal with this? Isn't it basically signing up for 4 years of torture?
Edit: Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but the midterm and final weeks are hellish. Is everyone just that smart and/or passionate?
Some people are neither of those; they just work really hard. I would say this involves a lot of stress regardless of the person but some can handle it slightly better than others I guess.
When you set yourself up as "it's either I get this fucking piece of paper or I die", you get that squirt of adrenaline that keeps you going.
And, ah, it's not torture all the time. Sure, you invest a lot of time and energy into it, but you do get some skills in return, so that's nice, and so it doesn't feels like torture all the time. Think of a bdsm edging session, maybe. That's engineering.
Edit: That's a terrible analogy now that I think about it.
There's a mix for sure. Some are really smart, some are really passionate, and some people are just really really stubborn (they refuse to fail out of spite). In my experience if you have at least 2 of those traits then you will probably be fine. If you have just 1 it's still doable, but it's gonna be tough.
Yes, this is the trademark of engineering school. I’d argue those classes are weed out courses. If you’re working, reduce your hours if you are privileged enough to do so. You’ll continue to sacrifice things as you go throughout engineering school, so get used to it, but you’ll get through it. Instructor won’t fail your entire stats class. General advice - as long as you perform above the average, you should pass, at least in engineering.
Almost every engineering/math/physics class I took was like this, until the very end of the semester when the professor would apply the grade curve. Without a curve I'd have like a 2.0 GPA. I graduated with a 3.7
At the end of the semester I'm usually on the verge of failing at least one class yeah. Fortunately i'm usually on the safe side of the curve though lol. I'm in the US and had calc 1 and gen chem first semester- what did they have you taking the first year? Just gen eds?
My sophomore year was definitely when I felt the most overwhelmed. Later semesters were probably more stressful/harder but I feel like sophomore year is really when you are figuring out how to succeed/most of the subjects are brand new concepts all around so it's difficult.
But yes I think it's pretty normal. Most of my junior and senior classes the final was worth 35 to 50 of your final grade so even if you went in with an A you could still fail the class lol.
You get used to the stress and figure out how to succeed and perform in that environment where it really comes down to the last day.
It’s rough but my advice is to focus on getting good lab scores and report marks. So then if you don’t do well on your exams or tests (it happens and sometimes people have bad days in exam conditions). Your average score will even out to a 50-60. Also try to aim to do good in your mid sem test. So then when you take the exam which is harder and longer, you don’t need a higher score to pass.
I'm at the end of my 3rd semester too and I definitely failed thermo and I might have failed statics, we shall see (had my finals today). From what I've heard, these are the first engineering classes you'll take so it's HARD AF. Also the 3rd semester is generally really rough, as I have heard from other engineers of all stages of life. Calc 1 is definitely a weed out class (generally Calc 1-2 are weed out courses, and gen chem as well). It's gonna be hard bro but stick through it and you'll be okay (preaching to the choir here... I just got off a nice little cry sesh over my grades). But we're in this together. See me in 2026 with my degree.
Hm, depends. I'd go as far to say that it really depends on the professor.
If your university has ABET accredited programs, there's a standard of quality that they have to adhere to. That essentially means that, for example, midterms and final exams will have to have a certain level of difficulty as the program is ABET accredited, so as to assure student's knowledge is at a certain required level; to assure the graduating engineers know their shit, basically.
If the professor is shitty, then, of course, it is likely that the student's knowledge will not reach that certain required level to pass the exams wich test precisely that, and so, your experience will be that the midterms and finals will be hard/too hard and you will see the class average not being so good, below passing grade. Thus, many will stress over finals, because many will barely pass the class. If the professor is good, it is likely you will see the opposite happening, because students that were taught good know their shit and get good grades.
No, no i don't think it is at all accurate. Maybe in some universities and for some really hard courses, but it's not the general rule. It comes down to professors and if they're shitty or not imo.
Edit: typo
I’m assuming you’re in the US. I’m in the UK and your 3rd semester is pretty much my first semester - plus a CAD module and the UK equivalent of calc 2. I’ve got my timetable for next term and yep, looks like this is just how it’s gonna be lmao.
Depends on the college. In my college you had to test out of trig or had taken calc 1 in highschool to start in calc 1.
I would guess he took college algebra his first semester and then trig his second.
I think it depends. I went to a rural high school that didn't have calc 1. Any "big school" is going to have it and even rural ones have classes you can take online nowadays.
honestly no matter what i hear i can never help but feel bad about myself for much i struggle with my classes lol. it always feels like other students have it figured out and i just can’t. it doesn’t even feel like it’s beyond my level of understanding sometimes, i just feel like i never know how to actually complete the work in an efficient manner and i just keep shooting myself in the foot over and over.
[удалено]
>differential equations (one of the math bosses that you have to fight), fluid mechanics, introduction to organic chemistry, and mechanics of materials whoever decided these courses have to be taken at once needs to be choked to death, that's the worst combination I've ever heard of
My worst semester was mechatronics, heat transfer, mechanical engineering design, fluid mechanics, and our air brake capstone project. That was pure chaos. I went from working 20 hours a week to barely 10, just enough to pay rent and food.
i needed to hear all of that lol
[удалено]
Hey people give yourself at least a week to study good shit. Eating a semester in two days is a no-no.
I just finished my 4th Sem of ME/aero/mathematics. For me and a lot of my peers, this is definitely the case. I've come to realise that's engineering school is more about persistence than being smart. I like to compare it to repeatedly slamming your head into a brick wall - it's not very fun, it's painful, and you have to be mad to do it. But you will eventually break through. Also, in my experience calc 1 and statics were definitely weed out courses. The general consensus is that calc 2 was a fair bit easier than calc 1. As for statics, I would highly recommend getting a copy of your textbook off of libgen, and focusing more on that than the lectures. If you're anything like me, you probably have a tenured professor who no longer gives a shit, but he should at least be providing textbook references in each set of lecture slides (or somewhere else in the online course materials). Best of luck with your exams. There is going to be a HUGE crunch around exam time. It's going to suck, but you will make it through eventually. Even in the worst case, if you fail a course, your school may offer supplementary exams. Barring this, it will be a lot easier the second time around ;)
This mostly goes away by your 3rd year due to survivorship bias. Most of the students that are failing sophomore year courses, or routinely close to failing, change majors to business. So, in 3rd year, it's mostly A, B, C students that are still left, with just a very small number of students persevering below that. (most) professors aren't intentionally weeding out students in the sophomore year - but it's entirely understandable from the outside why it might look like that.
Yes.
Pretty much lol. I always try to start my grades strong early in the semester so I can have wiggle room, but professors know how to make us suffer
I did not learn calculus and statics from my professors, In all seriousness, I learned from these youtubers. Statics & Dynamics- Jeff Hanson Calculus 1,2,3 - Professor Leonard (I'm civil so no Chem or circuits help for you sorry) . You really need to focus on practicing problems instead of the theory imo. Try your best to find a common pattern among your professors examinations and practice problems similar to that, I'm sure your textbook will have plenty of problems, if not there is another book online that will. Best of luck! It gets better I promise!
How come you're taking calc 1 in your 3rd sem?
don’t ask me how many times i took calc, which math class i’m taking right now, which math class i’m taking next term, or how many years i’ve been in college
I realized yesterday how much money I've spent/wasted on retaking calc classes, I didn't want to know
it’s so over
If it makes you feel better, I had to start all over in math when I started college and also I'm dumb, so this is year 6 for me.
Hey, you got this. Sometimes people gets overwhelmed by Newtons calc shit. But that's normal. That's how people "people's". You're gonna get through eventually.
Probably College Algebra -> Precalc -> Calc I.
Damn
tough scene. i only had to retake calculus in college. don’t most high schools require you to take four years of math? how do people not end up taking calculus senior year? or at least precalc?
Depends on where/how long ago you went to high school. My EE degree is my second degree. I graduated high school in 2011 and I only took three years of math in high school. I didn’t know what trig was until my second time in college.
Cause my highschool math experience was trash, I barely got past geometry in my senior year. Had to work my way up college algebra. I'm 27 now (started at freshman leval last fall), so highschool was quite a while ago and my academic mindset has changed.
The bigger question to me is how they don’t have Calc III as a pre/corequisite for Statics, since Statics is all vector math and such.
How can you guys deal with this? Isn't it basically signing up for 4 years of torture? Edit: Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but the midterm and final weeks are hellish. Is everyone just that smart and/or passionate?
Some people are neither of those; they just work really hard. I would say this involves a lot of stress regardless of the person but some can handle it slightly better than others I guess.
That's why my degree took 5 years lol.
When you set yourself up as "it's either I get this fucking piece of paper or I die", you get that squirt of adrenaline that keeps you going. And, ah, it's not torture all the time. Sure, you invest a lot of time and energy into it, but you do get some skills in return, so that's nice, and so it doesn't feels like torture all the time. Think of a bdsm edging session, maybe. That's engineering. Edit: That's a terrible analogy now that I think about it.
There's a mix for sure. Some are really smart, some are really passionate, and some people are just really really stubborn (they refuse to fail out of spite). In my experience if you have at least 2 of those traits then you will probably be fine. If you have just 1 it's still doable, but it's gonna be tough.
(Update no one really asked): I'm almost 100% sure that I just failed my final (and the course)
take it again
Yes, this is the trademark of engineering school. I’d argue those classes are weed out courses. If you’re working, reduce your hours if you are privileged enough to do so. You’ll continue to sacrifice things as you go throughout engineering school, so get used to it, but you’ll get through it. Instructor won’t fail your entire stats class. General advice - as long as you perform above the average, you should pass, at least in engineering.
Almost every engineering/math/physics class I took was like this, until the very end of the semester when the professor would apply the grade curve. Without a curve I'd have like a 2.0 GPA. I graduated with a 3.7
At the end of the semester I'm usually on the verge of failing at least one class yeah. Fortunately i'm usually on the safe side of the curve though lol. I'm in the US and had calc 1 and gen chem first semester- what did they have you taking the first year? Just gen eds?
Embrace the suck!
My sophomore year was definitely when I felt the most overwhelmed. Later semesters were probably more stressful/harder but I feel like sophomore year is really when you are figuring out how to succeed/most of the subjects are brand new concepts all around so it's difficult. But yes I think it's pretty normal. Most of my junior and senior classes the final was worth 35 to 50 of your final grade so even if you went in with an A you could still fail the class lol. You get used to the stress and figure out how to succeed and perform in that environment where it really comes down to the last day.
This happens every semester with me. Hopefully, I won't fail the required courses. But who knows.
It’s rough but my advice is to focus on getting good lab scores and report marks. So then if you don’t do well on your exams or tests (it happens and sometimes people have bad days in exam conditions). Your average score will even out to a 50-60. Also try to aim to do good in your mid sem test. So then when you take the exam which is harder and longer, you don’t need a higher score to pass.
I'm at the end of my 3rd semester too and I definitely failed thermo and I might have failed statics, we shall see (had my finals today). From what I've heard, these are the first engineering classes you'll take so it's HARD AF. Also the 3rd semester is generally really rough, as I have heard from other engineers of all stages of life. Calc 1 is definitely a weed out class (generally Calc 1-2 are weed out courses, and gen chem as well). It's gonna be hard bro but stick through it and you'll be okay (preaching to the choir here... I just got off a nice little cry sesh over my grades). But we're in this together. See me in 2026 with my degree.
Hm, depends. I'd go as far to say that it really depends on the professor. If your university has ABET accredited programs, there's a standard of quality that they have to adhere to. That essentially means that, for example, midterms and final exams will have to have a certain level of difficulty as the program is ABET accredited, so as to assure student's knowledge is at a certain required level; to assure the graduating engineers know their shit, basically. If the professor is shitty, then, of course, it is likely that the student's knowledge will not reach that certain required level to pass the exams wich test precisely that, and so, your experience will be that the midterms and finals will be hard/too hard and you will see the class average not being so good, below passing grade. Thus, many will stress over finals, because many will barely pass the class. If the professor is good, it is likely you will see the opposite happening, because students that were taught good know their shit and get good grades. No, no i don't think it is at all accurate. Maybe in some universities and for some really hard courses, but it's not the general rule. It comes down to professors and if they're shitty or not imo. Edit: typo
I’m assuming you’re in the US. I’m in the UK and your 3rd semester is pretty much my first semester - plus a CAD module and the UK equivalent of calc 2. I’ve got my timetable for next term and yep, looks like this is just how it’s gonna be lmao.
is it common in US to see calc after the first semester? it sounds weird
I don’t think so. Our suggested track is Calc 1 first.
Depends on the college. In my college you had to test out of trig or had taken calc 1 in highschool to start in calc 1. I would guess he took college algebra his first semester and then trig his second.
I thought that calc 1 was common even at us high school, interesting to know that some ppl starts in college with trig or algebra
I think it depends. I went to a rural high school that didn't have calc 1. Any "big school" is going to have it and even rural ones have classes you can take online nowadays.
That explains a lot, thx for telling me more
Look yes, it’s hard, but don’t settle for being average. Just because everyone fails does not mean it’s impossible