Am I stupid or just not hardworking enough?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I used to have the belief that, well, if you are hardworking enough, and have decent intelligence, you can pass any test. I just got a bad feeling that I have just experienced a paradigm shift.

You see, I just have my discrete mathematics test, and I am not feeling too good about it. 4 questions, forty minutes, and I couldn’t complete all of them and is quite positive that I got 3 of them totally and utterly wrong.

Well deep breath

I go to all the lectures, take down tonnes of notes, is always present for all the tutorials, attempt the tutorials before plopping down to the classroom, did hundreds of questions within the textbook…

…and I still can’t do the test.

If you are hardworking and if you are intelligent, then you will pass the test.
If you do not pass the test, then you are not hardworking or you are not intelligent.
Extrakun (most likely) did not pass the test
Extrakun is not hardworking or is not intelligent.
Extrakun thinks he is hardworking
Therefore, Extrakun is not intelligent.
(Or maybe Extrakun’s hard work isn’t enough)

SIGH
I hate tests.

2

You missed an option.

Extrakun used poor study technique.

Extrakun is intelligent AND hardworking, but the work done was incorrect for the desired outcome.

I’m not saying this is true. But, assuming you have failed, rather than writing yourself off as stupid, or forcing yourself to work harder next time, try using a different study technique. Talk to some successful students to find out their study methods.

You can work as hard as you like, but if you’re learning the wrong stuff, it won’t do you any good.

3

There’s also a point in Mathematics that everyone reaches: The Wall. Everyone reaches their own wall at different times, and it’s possible to get past it. For me, math was easy all the way through differential equations (except partial diff. eq’s, which seemed entirely logical to me). It took me quite a bit of different types of studying before I wrapped my mind around it…then I went forward until I hit another wall. This might be your wall, and it might take time to find out how to think about these types of problems, but they can probably be conquered with the right help. Or, you just studied wrong, like Death Ray said.

4

Learning the right stuff might have been the problem. The situation is that the professor insists on his style of proof, and refused accept others, even those from the official textbooks.

5

Another possiblity is that Extrakun’s prof is not presenting the material in the best way, or he made the test too hard and everyone will do poorly on it.

Or Extrakun did fine on the test. God knows everyone’s walked out of exams conviced that they’ve failed, only to find that they did well on them.

Or Extrakun wasn’t prepared for the course, and was a little weak on some of the prerequesites.

Assuming that you’re really in trouble in this class, Extrakun, come sit at Grandma Podkayne’s feet, and listen to the Voice of Experience.

You and me, kid, we get through life pretty easy, right? We’re smart. Things come easily. And when they don’t, we can just work harder, but we know we can get it. Right?

Until you bust your ass, and you still can’t get it. Then you get to have that special feeling of failure and worthlessness that most of the human race experiences across long before they attempt higher math, but it comes down on you like a ton of bricks, because you always thought you could learn anything you put your mind to.

Been there, man. Statistical Physics. It broke my spirit. Seriously.

My advice is:

Don’t beat yourself up. I fucking demolished my self esteem that semester. Kicking my own ass about how stupid and lazy I was did not help and did some serious lasting harm to my psyche. My work ethic and confidence when dealing with difficult challenges is shot to hell. The experience taught me that I could work as hard as I could, and still fail miserably, which has made it much harder for me to motivate myself, knowing that all my effort could end up being for nothing. 'Cause, man, I don’t know a goddamned thing about statistical physics. I think I know less about it than when I started the course, because I was so confused, panicked, and filled with self-doubt by the end of the semester.

So, learn from my mistakes. You are an intelligent person. You are a hardworking person. You are trying to learn difficult material, and Something Has Gone Wrong. You probably missed (or mistook) some important concept somewhere along the line. The imporant thing is to fix it now. You will be lost for the entire semester if you don’t get this straightened out ASAP. That’s probably going to mean getting help from other people, since you feel that you’re doing all you can on your own.

Are you studying with other students? If not, then find someone to work with. Learning from someone who’s close to your own level can be extremely effective, and they will also learn the material better by explaining it to you, so you don’t have to feel like a complete charity case. Plus, you can get some perspective from other students. If everybody else is struggling as much as you are, then you’ll know it’s the prof, it’s not you.

Have you talked to the professor one-on-one? Maybe he’ll be helpful, maybe not, but you absolutely should be talking to him if you are struggling with his class.

If you’ve already talked to your prof, to no avail, and you have a good relationship with some other professor in the department, perhaps you could ask them to review some basic concepts with you. Explain that you have been working with Prof. Whatziznutz, but you’re still having trouble, and you’d really appreciate hearing the material presented from a slightly different perspective, if they would be willing to take an hour to sit down with you. You don’t want them to fear being sucked into a quagmire, so make sure you’re clear that it’s a finite engagement, just 60 minutes to discuss a small number of specific concepts.

Professional tutors might also be an option, but one I know little to nothing about. Ask around in the department.

If you can’t get the help you need, then for the love of God, drop the class, and take it some other semester, preferrably with a different professor. It may be painful to admit defeat, but it’s much better than spending the semester wasting your effort on a lost cause and destroying your confidence in yourself.

Good luck. My heart goes out to you.

6

Last semester I took Quantitative Theories and Techniques of Anthropology (i.e. statistics). It was TERRIBLE! I could only complete my homework with a great deal of effort/help, and the tests…well, let’s say on a good day I’d start to work on maybe half, let alone getting an answer, let alone getting the answer right.

And you know what? I got a good grade (can’t remember what it is at the moment, but it wasn’t bad). Of course, the professor graded us based on each other’s performance, so whoever got the most right got the best grade etc. He was a crusty old archaeologist who liked to talk about poker and drinking with us…but I digress.

The moral of the story is, you don’t have to do all that good on the test–so long as nobody else does either.

I still know nothing about statistics. In one ear, out the other.

7

So ExtraKun hasn’t seen his actual score? Have faith in the power of the curve. Chances are, a number of your classmates ( who are working just as hard with the same materials and resources ) had trouble as well.

Hard work will get you through. That doesn’t preclude the fact that you might have to do some things twice ( or more ).

Don’t we all.
I bombed a probabilites exam once. There was one question that particularly vexed me. I was convinced that the Prof had never shown us any technique relating to how the solve such a question. Years later ( after having passed the course and graduating after all ) I was sitting at my desk, thinking of nothing in particular and BOOM, it hit me, the solution to the exam problem. The prof had explained it after all.
Stupid Pascal’s Triangle.

8

When I first took Abstract Algebra in college, I went to every class, took notes, worked problems, kept up with the material.

We had the first test. It was all proof writing, and blammo. I realized I had absorbed basically nothing. I got like a 20 on it. I knew I bombed it.

It wasn’t really the material, but I just hadn’t been practicing proof writing. I met with the teacher, really figured out what I was supposed to know, figured out what he wanted, and went on to do fine in the course.

That happens.

Keep this in mind when studying math. . .it can be a lot of fun to go through your books and go, “yeah, I get that”, “that’s cool”, “I can follow that”, “I’ll remember that”. But to prepare for tests, there’s nothing like turning to the back of the chapters and working every problem they have an answer for in the back.

If they don’t have answers, just work through the examples in the chapters without reading along.

9

Intregration. Been there (three times in 22 years) stopped cold each time, got the failing grade.

Yeah, if you’re bright and know you need to learn it, you’ll figure it out. Calculus for me was something I didn’t need , but kept taking it for pride’s sake.

10

Integrals, dammit. See, I can’t even give it the right name!

11

Integration is what you do with integrals. You’re not wrong to say you hit the wall at integration.

12

Once again, I must point out that the two options presented in the thread title are not mutually exculsive.

:wink:

13

I’ve failed the Florida Bar Exam more than once, and now I’m nervously anticipating another bout of bad news when the most recent exam’s results are announced later this month. Only this time, if I fail, I will lose my job (and probably everything else). So you have my empathy.

14

I wouldn’t even start worrying about it until you get it back and see the grade. In lower-level courses, that whole “90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C” thing often does apply. As you get to higher level courses, though, the standards start shifting. I’ve taken tests where 40% was an A, and the average was somewhere in the 20s. If you stay in school long enough, this will happen. But the first time it does happen, it can be a real shock.

If it does turn out that you didn’t do so well on the test (which is by no means a foregone conclusion, at this point), ask for help. Ask anyone and everyone. Ask the professor in office hours. If the professor isn’t willing to help in office hours, then go see the department head to complain about it… And while you’re there, ask him, too. Are there any TAs in the class? Ask them too. Ask students who have already taken the class. Ask other students who are currently taking it. Keep on asking until you do understand. And don’t worry about being a pest: I’ve TAed and taught classes before, and I’ve given out bad grades. Most of those bad grades have been to students who just never asked for help, or waited until it was too late, and I would dearly have loved for them to have come to me sooner and asked for help.

15

“Have faith in the power of the curve…” That is so going to be my mantra now.

I was just very used to “I know I got most of the questions right; I am cleared” than to “All right, that was hard. Here’s hoping everyone else find it hard too!” This is my first test in an univeristy (yeah, stop with the ‘freshies’ cat-calls already!) and if this is the norm (and from the way my seniors had told me, it seems to be), I need sometime to pacify my inner perfectionist.

I am quite a perfectionist, actually. So this is worrying…

After some analysis, it seems that everyone was caught off-guard by the questions. They were phrased it in a confusing and ambigous manner - most of the time was spent dechipering questions than in answering them.

Thanks for all the advices, guys, gals and all. I was quite depressed for a while but the clouds soon cleared after getting myself a RPG game I really wanted, getting some new clothes and gouging myself on KFC.

Oh well. I have a short Calculus quiz next month…

16

Boy does this bring back memories.

Thorugh high school, and first couple of year at university, tests were something to look forward to.

Then I had a class in my major that didn’t list differential equations as a prerequisite, but camn sure should have. But if it had, it would not have been possible to meet the requirements for an undergrad degree in 4 years.

Well, stuff started going way over my head pretty quick. I somehow managed to pass, but I distinctly recall going into hyperventillation, anxiety attacks, etc. during one of the exams…really freaked me out. Later exams were as bad, but I at least saw it coming by then.

17

And don’t forget to pray to the god of partial credit.

18

Don’t do anything you will regret later.

19

I think this happens to everybody in college at one point or another, usually during the first year and again when you start taking upper-level major classes.

I remember my first day of college. I went to the first day of all my classes, and thought, “These classes sound so hard, maybe I should give up astronomy and pick an easier major.” I ended up with a 4.0 for the semester.

One of my physics professors, Dr. Anlage, had a theory- the average on the first test is always 60%. I called it Anlage’s Theorem, and found it to be true, more often than not, in physics classes (though Neville’s Correction to Anlage’s Theorem is that the average is, at most, 60% on the first test). Nobody really knows what to expect on the first exam. On the second, the average goes up as people get used to the professor’s style.

20

Doing well is college classes is as much about learning the system as it is about learning the material.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that it is very common for a Prof to make older exams available for study purposes. Sometimes they hand them out and sometimes they are on file somewhere. If the prof didn’t mention it one way or another, ASK!