for the below average students, during first year, did any of you get stuck on a problem literally every few seconds while studying, and would take you the whole day or even more just to understand it. How did you get past taht

[u/cyderyt]

Im in first year, im finding myself getting stuck way to frequently its messing my mental up. Im having a really hard time believing myself.

For example im on the formal definition of limits and I understand the basic idea in a way, but not the wording nor how to solve it, my math reading comprehension is really bad i guess.

And ontop of that ik my studying methods are horrible, I can legit "study" for hours and end up accumulating nothing.

i want to go to office hours aswell for physics but I dont even know waht to ask in the first place because im so lost.

Ive failed my first calc 1 test and first 2 physics quiz.

I cant drop out and I dont want to. Any advice is greatly greatly appreciated

[u/pokemonlover503]

This happens any of the years btw, I'm a junior and still having this problem I don't think this ever goes away. The best way ive found is just keep doing the problems over and over and do as many problems as you can, eventually it clicks, and that will speed up your time that you are able to solve them. For math and physics this will be easy, there's endless variations of the same problem, keep doing these and eventually the pattern clicks. Use AI if you have to and tell it specifically to not solve it for you but to instead ask you questions on how to solve it, become the teacher and it will make things better (atleast for me!) When you study, what does that consist of? What i do is first read or watch a video on the topic the video may include example problems, and then attempt the homework or book problems. Instead of watching and reading for hours its best to throw yourself into the problem, keep doing this with every problem.

[u/cyderyt → u/pokemonlover503]

Before I solve the problem or get to the math part, I try really hard trying to understand the concept or the actual science of it and thats waht messes me up, i feel like if i go straight to the math I wont get it aswell or it will kill me in the future.

[u/pokemonlover503 → u/cyderyt]

That is a good way to think about things, specifically for physics. For calc one it's really just brute force pumping out problems, that's how I got through all of the calcs. For physics it's helpful to write down the concepts you know about when solving the problem and then writing down the equation that goes with it. I struggled greatly in physics 1, but ended with a great grade! I was the exact same way as you with physics, wanting to understand the conceptual side. The first time I went to office hours I was failing, what I told my professor was that I felt like I was focusing too much on trying to understand the concept when my peers were just doing the math and getting the answer, what my professor said was that I'm actually doing it the correct way. He said he wishes his students focused on actually understanding the concept instead of just writing equations they don't really understand and solving. I will forever remember that. Engineering school imo isn't just about doing the math and getting a passing grade, sure we all want to pass, but I think it's more important that you actually take the information with you when you leave the class rather than a letter grade. It'll improve your problem solving skills a lot

[u/cyderyt → u/pokemonlover503]

I never had a question to ask for physics since im completely lost but thats such an amazing question to ask, thank you for that.

[u/pokemonlover503 → u/pokemonlover503]

I shouldn't say this is a "problem" it's really just how it is with engineering school. Some problems and topics may take hours to figure out, it does hurt my mental health. If I'm getting upset I take a break and reset, go for a walk.

[u/Top_Crazy4072]

Gonna keep it real it doesn’t get much easier. You just get better at taking the stress. I didn’t do good my freshman year first semester for all my first tests. I quite literally bombed all of them. I got away in hs passing with good grades and not studying. Things that helped me get pretty much A for majority of my classes is going to office hours and studying with friends. I’m telling you go to office hours and genuinely ask any question you want. I would literally go to office hours and straight up ask what will be on the test and a lot of times they will make your studying much more concise. If you’re lucky they might even tell you exactly which type of question you see. Also I actually did better once I was in the tougher classes as there was a lot less to study per test compared to gen ed classes.

[u/cyderyt → u/Top_Crazy4072]

do you think going to office hours and literally saying "im completely lost" is a good question bc for physics mainly i genuinly dont have the capacity to think of a physics question itself

[u/Top_Crazy4072 → u/cyderyt]

Yes, in my experience professors a lot more chill outside of class. Check if your college has tutoring center as well. Maybe a student explaining it to you would help better. There’s also AI which also helped a lot. I see people always saying they don’t use AI and they tough it out when trying to understand concepts but a lot of times they just straight lying. Use your resources don’t try to only struggle on your own

[u/DrCarpetsPhd]

blackpenredpen absolutely fantastic channel for maths videos; epsioln delta definition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdtEQk_DHQs

physics first year has infinite videos on youtube, just put in the search term and you'll find worked examples

what was the last physics problem you worked on that prompted this post. post an image and maybe someone here will see it and help. alternatively

homeworkhelp, askmath, physicshelp, physcsstudents all good subs

chin up, all is not lost. you'll just have to work a bit harder and maybe take a little longer.

[u/cyderyt → u/DrCarpetsPhd]

ive already asked about physics, after genuinly days of reading, watching yt vids and different reddit comments I now get it slightly, but thanks for taht video tho it sums up so much stuff

[u/ScratchDue440]

Stop spending so much time on homework. Utilize solutions manuals. But use them intelligently. Attempt the problem on your own. refer to the solutions manual when you get stuck. Do extra problems until you get it down. You know you have a deep understanding of it when you’re already thinking of how to solve it before you even start writing it. Think of solving it systemically. 

As far as studying, don’t over complicate it. Nail the fundamentals. For physics, this may really be drilling dimensional analysis and thinking of the definitions. Think of the equations used to define it and how tweaking the variables effect the outcome. 

[u/ApprehensivePop6653]

That's pretty normal though for all learners. I would like to recommend you to study EVERYDAY, like literally everyday, even if it is only for 15 minutes. Start from a very easy and simple problem,  then practice solving that again and again (till you know how to solve similar problem) while increasing the level of difficulty from time to time. This definitely works for me. I solved for like 5 minimum problems per day even if I don't feel the nerve to do so.. BTW, just do it. Do it tired, do it lazy.. because it's very fulfilling knowing that you've done giving all your best even if the score is not that much satisfying.. and also don't limit yourself nor doubt it to solve difficult problem/s,  YOU WILL DO IT because we've left no room for negativity. 

KEEP GOING ENGR.🫡!!!

[u/cyderyt → u/ApprehensivePop6653]

I wake up early just to study the theory and i end up taking genuinly the whole day to understand it bc it doesnt click whatsoever, so i end up being bad at math AND the concept aswell😭😭.

Would u recommend going straight to problems?

[u/ApprehensivePop6653 → u/cyderyt]

What works for me might not work for others as well, but I want you to try it out. I go straight to solving problems because that's when the realization of theories came after doing so. Just try different methods of studying if the one you are used to won't work well, and you'll find sooner, the methods that best works for you.