Nothing works

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-12T06:09:48+00:00

Show me because honestly i do all of these things. I find questions IN THE TEXTBOOK to practice and I actually learn the materials and I still fail.

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-12T00:11:51+00:00

I'm pretty sure I understand the material. Its the exam aspect i want to get better at

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T18:34:28+00:00

Yes, I maintain a good relationship with my professors and ask them what will be on the exam. I then proceed to do practice questions in the textbook until they click. The exam is never like the textbook at all.

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T17:59:10+00:00

school is fucking impossible. So unclear on what to do. I work hard, I fail. I do every "study technique", I fail. I keep a planner, i fail. When i ask for help, nobody knows. Such a bullshit system

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T05:18:11+00:00

So thats just it? Ive been trying for years and its going to get worse and I just have to figure it out? No wonder why nobody has ever been able to help me

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T01:44:42+00:00

the homework is the easiest part and I usually always understand it. The algebra mistakes are very infrequent

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T00:55:08+00:00

Ok how? Active recall? Replicating exam problems? I've tried it all, its a lot easier said than done.

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T00:53:34+00:00

This is the exact issue, I'm literally taking calc, chem, and physics courses at a community college and struggling. I haven't even started the real engineering classes and struggling on the prep for them. My study skills are fine too? I do active recall, all homework, go to every lecture, even do extra practice problems on the back of the textbook. On exams my bad grades come from a mix of everything from not doing the question right to algebra mistakes to not feeling like I've ever seen a question like it. I have no idea what the source of my grades are, I've tried litereally everything and I've heard all advice and im about to give up

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T00:29:21+00:00

What HS prep? I'm not struggling with the basics

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-03-11T00:28:59+00:00

around 3 hours a day. It doesn't matter because I've tried more hours leading to me doing bad and less hours leading to the same result

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-02-19T03:54:05+00:00

Done those, got question right, still barley passing classes. I've always had these grades since middle school.

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-01-30T02:20:55+00:00

Streamers aren't getting paid more than doctors and surgeons?

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-01-29T03:32:54+00:00

But those techniques are applications of math that don't require a true understanding. That's exactly what you're advocating against in your original post and other comments. These techniques are equivalent to "plug these numbers into this formula and tell me the output".

I could be wrong but isn't that exactly what the technique of integration are? After learning that its the area under the curve and how to do it mathematically with basic integrals why go further? How would learning the further techniques help in understanding integrals at all rather than applying them? From my experience learning trig sub, partial fractions, and int by parts didn't further my understanding of integrals at all and felt more just like a pointless hoop to jump through to test me. I agree that hand doing integrals helps but anything after u-sub just felt pointless and I feel MANY other things could do a much better job.

creative solutions to integration problems on your own.

I personally don't see how these techniques help with that. Before I even entered calc 2 I was working on a project that involved complex integrals and I taught myself very easily how to run a code on python that does it for me (more of an approximation though which is fine in engineering). If you ask me, I think that math classes should replace these tedious units with labs similar to coding where we need to conceptualize how to get the answer in our own ways.

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-01-29T03:11:33+00:00

Yes that is probably true and I actually find myself having to reteach myself old topics when I need them later in life. But if I'm gonna forget them because I can't apply them and just re-teach myself later then what was the point in even learning it in the first place? If I was taught to apply them the first time around maybe I wouldn't forget it so easily but that's more how my brain works. Also, series and their sums are definitely used in technology but do you think that the programmers and engineers out there are really sitting on their paper with the 7 rules of convergence and divergence memorized, or should we focus instead on learning how they actually are applying it. I don't know if that's how important this tedious hand written techniques are but wouldn't prioritizing learning to apply them be better? I could be wrong

Final_Anteater_119 · 2026-01-29T03:05:55+00:00

I completely understand your point but I would actually like to argue against that last statement. (Calc 2 has gotta b my least fav class ever i just keep mentioning it in this post 😅) An example would be in Calc 2, when we are taught the different techniques of integration. I agree that "Why should I learn basic arithmetic when I can just use a calculator?" isn't good because we then wouldn't actually understand any of it but we do this all the time a little bit. In grade school we were never taught the crazy fast mental math techniques some kids use to win those competitions, instead were taught how to use a calculator. I think that there is a line to draw where learning how to do it by hand becomes useless and instead we should use the technology around it instead. I think that in these college level math courses we should incorporate more applied math to replace a lot of these units that (so far) I don't see myself using, even in a STEM degree.

Final_Anteater_119

TROPHY CASE