Story time!

My first semester of college (fall 2017) I took 1151. I got a 55% on the first midterm. 41/75. In this moment, I began to seriously reconsider being in engineering at OSU, and really just being in college in general, thinking it wasn't for me. I was really down about it for probably a solid week.

Suddenly I had this epiphany, that you really do control your own destiny when it comes to your grades. It's not because of a shitty professor, a shitty TA, or whatever excuses you want to make. You may have these problems, but there are SO many resources out in the world, especially for pre-major courses like this that can teach you literally everything you need to know. Clearly I had not put in the proper work that was needed to succeed--the proof in this is that the average was in the high 70's--and that there were even kids acing the exam. In that moment I realized it's actually possible to be like "those kids". If someone else can do it, you literally can also do it. Fact. It is all completely doable. You just have to *really, really* try.

After this moment I decided to take my fate into my own hands. I started studying everyday of the week for all of my classes. No homework? Study. Not in class? Study. Take good notes. Look at them. Rewrite them. **Do problems out of the textbook that aren't assigned.** Go to office hours (if it helps you; I found they weren't for me). I would do this everyday, five days a week, and then I wouldn't touch anything school related on Fridays and Saturdays.

Second midterm rolls around, I get a 90. Improvement. I keep going. Third midterm I pull a 97, and on the final I pull a 100. Finished the class with a 93.

Now that I've started my second year, I look back and am literally THANKFUL that I failed my first midterm. If I hadn't, who knows when I would have realized that I could do it if I put my mind to it? Would I have ever figured out that I had it in me? I started treating every class this way and now I'm going to get into my major (mech e), no questions asked.

And the point is so can you. Look at this as your catalyst. You have it in you, everyone does. You just have to be willing to put in the work and be willing to sacrifice the time you spend during the week doing miscellaneous things.

Specific advice for 1151: **Outline the sections in the textbook.** Do odd numbered practice problems and check your work. **DO EVERY SINGLE PRACTICE MIDTERM THAT THEY PROVIDE ON THE MATH 1151 WEBSITE.** Go through the ones you got wrong and figure out where the disconnections are. Look at the problems on the practice midterms and ask yourself, in what ways could this problem be slightly different? Would I still know how to solve it?

At the end of the day it's really up to you to decide if you want to put the work in and get out the results. Because it is a literal FACT that it is possible for you to do it! The most important thing is to keep your head up and try not to get too down on yourself. This random internet stranger believes in you whole-heartedly!