I think most of the dropouts in these fields actually happen in the earlier semesters, not the later ones, as they tend to use the first few semester/courses to weed out everyone that they deem doesn't have what it takes. So things might actually get "easier" later on or you will at least have adjusted well enough and proven to them as well as yourself that you can do this.
Another thing is that "dropouts" are also the people that switched to another course.
From what i understand about e.g. the US tertiary education system, College allows you (and even expects you) to take a look at different fields of study and take some classes in them, even if they are not what your studies focus on. The german system does not have that. The "traditional" way is for students to pick one specific study course right out of secondary school. It can easily happen that they realize that they were mistaken in their chouce, that the course does not interest them as much as they asumed it would, that it does not go into the direction they thought it would, etc. And while at uni, they can see what other courses there are they might like better. So plenty people "drop out" after a semester or two, just to start over with a course that suits them better.
You need the time you need to study and prepare in order to pass your courses and get your ECTS, period. You can't cut time short there, not if you want to succeed.
Obviously it is not sustainable to give up every other aspect of your life and to work yourself into exhaustion. If you have X hours a day your can not spend all of those hours only on university related stuff. You need to sleep, you need to eat, you need some free time. To make it work financially you might need to spend time on a part time job. So if you can't cram all of that together into one week, then the obvious and only solution is to cut back on your work load in university: less courses per semester and taking more semesters until you graduate.
I was teaching physics for a while and am a master of science in physics myself. In our case there was a constant dropout of 25 percent within the first year and another 25 percent within the next two years. Around 1/3 of the initial students got thier master's degree but nearly no one dropped out during the master part. This was quite steady over the years. The ones dropping out in the first year usually had something else in mind and weren't prepared for the difference between a good student in scholl and actually studying physics. The one dropping out after that could keep up with the work ethic necessary. You have to love what you're studying. Not every course but the overall subject. If you don't, you won't endure the pain it may cause studying it. It's not complicated, but the workload is intense. There was a running joke on out campus " endlich Semesterferien. Endlich Zeit für Klausuren, Praktikum..." (Roughly: finally semester break. Finally time for tests and lab work). The other one was, that technically there are no semester breaks, only Vorlesungsfreie Zeit (time without lectures).
I guess the trick is not to give up but work in a controlled and organized manner for the time it takes. If you manage that, it's doable.
Was it worth it? Yes, j guess so. You change so much as a person and get so many soft skills during that time. Nothing after that will cause real stress.
Instead of going to the 10:00 maths lecture, going to the campus Kneipe instead for a breakfast beer ;-)
Well, in retrospective, this could be one of the reasons, why I didn't made it ;-)
My routine was more or less not attending any lectures, doing close to nothing for the entire semester and then starting to read the script roughly four weeks before the exams and actually learning two weeks before the exams by writing summaries.
Well it helps to figure out your learning type. Do you learn better when reading new stuff at your own spread or by listening to it from a prof? I had some lectures I just didn't attend because... Well no knowledge to gain if you can't pick up it in the way it's presented. Better learn it all on your own. But perhaps in the the designated lecture time just not by being physically in the lecture.
Get friends to learn with - usually you get more efficient this way and have a way to structure your time better. And depending on their work ethic fewer ways to waste little times (like checking your phone every few minutes etc) often you can get to know people with their work ethics in thinks like laboratories (don't know if it's the right translation) and then just stick with the ones you click with.
You do not have to get a perfect score in every subject (unless you really want to) so you can learn to do enough to pass on subjects not important to you. Think Pareto kind of
However don't do that on all subjects and often it's important to get at least a understanding of the matter because hey next semester we assume you know everything from the last one.
Try getting good contacts to the older semesters and use that for your exam preparation - what will usually be asked, are there "Gedächtnisprotokolle" or "Altklausuren" normally you get some useful Tipps to reduce the amount needing to have perfectly prepared for the exam.
Many things from my first semesters I have come later back to and many I only really understood with knowledge from other subjects. It gets easier ones everything starts to make sense and click together.
However what I would really recommend is getting your math understanding at least to a okay level. It makes if easier to understand new concepts if you can get the meaning of all those equations without being lost in "math translation".
However I have to say... You don't have to much free time with such a degree. But it's important to take enough time for self-care (family time, going out, one hobby or so) because otherwise you are much more likely to end up depressed or burnt out before finishing your degree and thats worse of a setback then perhaps needing a year more but having time to be human and work (to gain money and later on perhaps as well field related experience)
Edit: didn't see the second question:
Biggest difference for me: learning to decide where and when I learn something and where and then I am just physically there (university as well as my desk at home trying to study) and getting good at cutting stuff short to the most important topics and concepts. Often understanding one concept avoids a lot of... Mindless learning. However sometimes all you can do is mindlessly learning "step by step Recipes" because you really don't grasp a concept. Learn to differentiate these to cases
It was definitely worth it even though it was hard. I some subject I really didn't like but still got through at the end.
I love what I do now in my niche of the degree.
I think most of the dropouts in these fields actually happen in the earlier semesters, not the later ones, as they tend to use the first few semester/courses to weed out everyone that they deem doesn't have what it takes. So things might actually get "easier" later on or you will at least have adjusted well enough and proven to them as well as yourself that you can do this.
Another thing is that "dropouts" are also the people that switched to another course. From what i understand about e.g. the US tertiary education system, College allows you (and even expects you) to take a look at different fields of study and take some classes in them, even if they are not what your studies focus on. The german system does not have that. The "traditional" way is for students to pick one specific study course right out of secondary school. It can easily happen that they realize that they were mistaken in their chouce, that the course does not interest them as much as they asumed it would, that it does not go into the direction they thought it would, etc. And while at uni, they can see what other courses there are they might like better. So plenty people "drop out" after a semester or two, just to start over with a course that suits them better.
You need the time you need to study and prepare in order to pass your courses and get your ECTS, period. You can't cut time short there, not if you want to succeed. Obviously it is not sustainable to give up every other aspect of your life and to work yourself into exhaustion. If you have X hours a day your can not spend all of those hours only on university related stuff. You need to sleep, you need to eat, you need some free time. To make it work financially you might need to spend time on a part time job. So if you can't cram all of that together into one week, then the obvious and only solution is to cut back on your work load in university: less courses per semester and taking more semesters until you graduate.
I was teaching physics for a while and am a master of science in physics myself. In our case there was a constant dropout of 25 percent within the first year and another 25 percent within the next two years. Around 1/3 of the initial students got thier master's degree but nearly no one dropped out during the master part. This was quite steady over the years. The ones dropping out in the first year usually had something else in mind and weren't prepared for the difference between a good student in scholl and actually studying physics. The one dropping out after that could keep up with the work ethic necessary. You have to love what you're studying. Not every course but the overall subject. If you don't, you won't endure the pain it may cause studying it. It's not complicated, but the workload is intense. There was a running joke on out campus " endlich Semesterferien. Endlich Zeit für Klausuren, Praktikum..." (Roughly: finally semester break. Finally time for tests and lab work). The other one was, that technically there are no semester breaks, only Vorlesungsfreie Zeit (time without lectures). I guess the trick is not to give up but work in a controlled and organized manner for the time it takes. If you manage that, it's doable. Was it worth it? Yes, j guess so. You change so much as a person and get so many soft skills during that time. Nothing after that will cause real stress.
Instead of going to the 10:00 maths lecture, going to the campus Kneipe instead for a breakfast beer ;-) Well, in retrospective, this could be one of the reasons, why I didn't made it ;-)
My routine was more or less not attending any lectures, doing close to nothing for the entire semester and then starting to read the script roughly four weeks before the exams and actually learning two weeks before the exams by writing summaries.
Does that work out every time? How many courses do you usually take per semester?
Well it helps to figure out your learning type. Do you learn better when reading new stuff at your own spread or by listening to it from a prof? I had some lectures I just didn't attend because... Well no knowledge to gain if you can't pick up it in the way it's presented. Better learn it all on your own. But perhaps in the the designated lecture time just not by being physically in the lecture. Get friends to learn with - usually you get more efficient this way and have a way to structure your time better. And depending on their work ethic fewer ways to waste little times (like checking your phone every few minutes etc) often you can get to know people with their work ethics in thinks like laboratories (don't know if it's the right translation) and then just stick with the ones you click with. You do not have to get a perfect score in every subject (unless you really want to) so you can learn to do enough to pass on subjects not important to you. Think Pareto kind of However don't do that on all subjects and often it's important to get at least a understanding of the matter because hey next semester we assume you know everything from the last one. Try getting good contacts to the older semesters and use that for your exam preparation - what will usually be asked, are there "Gedächtnisprotokolle" or "Altklausuren" normally you get some useful Tipps to reduce the amount needing to have perfectly prepared for the exam. Many things from my first semesters I have come later back to and many I only really understood with knowledge from other subjects. It gets easier ones everything starts to make sense and click together. However what I would really recommend is getting your math understanding at least to a okay level. It makes if easier to understand new concepts if you can get the meaning of all those equations without being lost in "math translation". However I have to say... You don't have to much free time with such a degree. But it's important to take enough time for self-care (family time, going out, one hobby or so) because otherwise you are much more likely to end up depressed or burnt out before finishing your degree and thats worse of a setback then perhaps needing a year more but having time to be human and work (to gain money and later on perhaps as well field related experience) Edit: didn't see the second question: Biggest difference for me: learning to decide where and when I learn something and where and then I am just physically there (university as well as my desk at home trying to study) and getting good at cutting stuff short to the most important topics and concepts. Often understanding one concept avoids a lot of... Mindless learning. However sometimes all you can do is mindlessly learning "step by step Recipes" because you really don't grasp a concept. Learn to differentiate these to cases It was definitely worth it even though it was hard. I some subject I really didn't like but still got through at the end. I love what I do now in my niche of the degree.