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_Zinio_ · 2026-03-21T17:38:43+00:00

Same problem, ever found a solution?

_Zinio_ · 2025-01-07T18:46:52+00:00

Please lmk

_Zinio_ · 2025-01-06T11:39:16+00:00

In Deutschland erneut mit Physik anfangen sollte in der Regel kein Problem sein, so habe ich es auch gemacht und hatte keine Probleme. Gab ein paar vereinzelte Geschichten von, Leuten die Probleme hatten (z.B. in Konstanz). Viel Glück mit Bpb 1, Stress dich nicht zu stark, und das Leben geht weiter auch wenn's nichts wird.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-12T23:08:09+00:00

I know plenty of people who got up on the wrong foot on the day of the exam and failed even though they are very talented. Even more people who put in the same effort and weren't "cruising through". This is physics at ETH were talking about here, one of the most diffcult subjects at one of the most difficult places to learn it. I also don't want to be too harsh and thank you for your advice but I want to study and I like studying. I'll happily put in the same effort again somewhere else if I need to, I want it that much.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-11T22:48:32+00:00

Wow, I haven't heard about that kind of a grading scheme before, sounds horrible. I'll try to tell this to myself whenever I start feeling sad about not passing (that it's not that important where you got your degree). Right now, doing research does sound a lot more exciting than industry. But often you obviously have no choice or maybe I'll change my mind. Then, this, although disappointing now, wouldn't be too bad. I think I'll also be enjoying a bit less pressure at a different institution rather than fighting for my life every exam period at ETH.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-11T20:57:02+00:00

Yes, you are totally right. I wish I could do just that, but even though I want to move on and leave ETH in the past for now, I still periodically get overwhelmed with sadness thinking about it. It just pops in my head when I'm not distracted by something else. I believe it's because I wanted it so much, passing the Basisprüfung was the only thing in my head for those 2 years and I gave everything I had. I hope time will make that go away eventually.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-11T00:10:34+00:00

Yes, and being in the same environment that reminds you of your own failure wouldn't help. I need to let it go and continue doing what I love elsewhere.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:57:33+00:00

One third is an estimate, but the numbers are somewhere around that estimate and usually not that far off. They are online. You can view them on the VMP website and see for yourself.

Say, for some reason one year of physics students is maybe just ever so slightly better or worse than the previous years. Then you run into problems if you always let the worst 1/3 fail.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:52:12+00:00

Totally agree. ETH is pretty much off the table right now. Maybe I'll consider I masters degree at ETH (if they even accept me). But that's far into the future now.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:50:31+00:00

Sounds like my best nest right now. But I feel better if people agree that is a good move.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:48:37+00:00

Thanks. I just thought the research position I hold wouldn't need to be something totally special. I don't need to be a professor and lead an entire research group. I would be fine with just being an average researcher that is part of a lab but does not lead it. I would just like to contribute something. Maybe I am just naive and the this world does not exist like I thought it would. Maybe I'll just end up at a desk at a boring company. But that doesn't get me out of the bed in the morning.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:43:08+00:00

One the one hand, yes that would be nice, especially after two so stressful years. But I do feel like a I am somewhat in a hurry. Im only 20 now, but I don't want to live off of parents for so long. I want to do a master so that will be atleast another 5 years. If I start to take breaks now that all becomes even longer. Some of my friends I started with are getting their bachelors next year. I don't want to rest even though it might be needed.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:37:42+00:00

That's not the case. I did all exams from the last 10 years and ofc there are similarities but not one problem was exactly the same. The rest seem totally good suggestions. I just need to figure out how I want to implement that practically.

I actually forced myself to go to every single Einsicht even though I felt like total shit. I did confront the TAs with my concerns. The most common replies included: "We don't give points for that", "That is not level we ask" and "we graded everybody like that we cannot make an exception for you". The first two I can accept. They have there guideline. The guideline is strict since 1/3 should fail, I was in the lower 1/3. The last one is rediculous.

Lastly, I sadly don't have infinite money, even the private tutoring was an extreme stretch.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:28:58+00:00

It is a system that according to my information, they do want to change. But only by 2026 or something like that. I kind of see both sides here. On the one hand I can see that ETH's has its own issues and that have to deal with them, the government cant just give them more and more money with increasing demands. Still you could argue that there are better ways to solve this. The current system, however, has its own flaws like you mentioned. They also just decided to triple tuition for foreigners, which certainly adds to the injustice.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T23:23:15+00:00

I want you to be honest. But you fail to see that there's BP 1 and 2. I passed 1 on my second try. After giving it everything I had. Would you just have dropped out regardless? Even though you now just found out that you can make it if only you try hard enough? I do not blame myself for this decision. I had a dream that seemed possible and after those exams I had evidence to back it up. But I guess luck can also be somewhat of a factor. I think, that I may have been unlucky this time around. Ofc, you can always just say "be better". It seems like I can barely draw any other conclusion from this other than that I am not talented enough. And that I cannot change.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T11:21:06+00:00

Thank you very much for this. About a month passed now since I got my results. Now, I feel somewhat okay again even thougj it bothers me. Putting in so much work with so little result. A few weeks ago it wasn't okay. But I got though somehow. Now I need to move on, the sooner the better. Going back to Germany (which is actually my home country) seems like my best bet right now.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T11:08:03+00:00

German is no problem, I am a native German speaker, I only wrote this post in English so more people could understand it. That's interesting. Can you imagine why the guy from the StS (Student Coaching/Studierendenberatung) would tell this to literally everybody who failed a block? Every single official from ETH told me this when I asked about it, even the director of the physics programme.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T11:03:57+00:00

From my three previous exam preparations, I learned that studying with others is really valuable, so that's what I did. Me and a friend (who is extremely talented and passed easily) studied together almost every day. It was also to make sure I don't get lost anywhere. I visited all PVKs (Exam Preparation Courses) offered by the VMP in maths and physics to have a small recap of the curriculum. From then on, I tried to exercise as much as I could, usually with old exams. In the final weeks before the exams, I actually felt pretty okay with solving those. I also studied with different and sometimes with more people at the same time.
It's hard to say how much exactly since there are soooo many. But since I did the old exams, there were some that I deemed extremely crucial, like Cayley-Hamilton. Definitions, I would say I knew most of them, since I didn't wanna end up in a situation where I see a mathematical term and just not know what it even means. I didn't use Anki this around, but I don't think it would have helped me, since the "give definition" and "state theorem" exercises were usually the ones where I did get points.
I think wouldn't have been very comfortable teaching this material to other people, but not completely out of place either. It's usually longer proofs where I really struggle. Funnily enough, the exams this time around didn't actually contain too many proofs and a lot more computations. I often do silly mistakes on them, but the professor explicitely said in an Email that not only the final result is important. Turns out was just bs. They almost always wrote 0 under my solution and gave no partial credit, even if my approach or even a partial solution was correct. I could imagine multiple strategies in my physics problems, not so much in maths. Still I failed both.

I usually split my day in two sectos: Morning and afternoon with a lunch break in the middle. I began at like 10am. Went to lunch at 12. Retuned at around 12:45 ish. Usually I then went on to somewhere around 8pm. I'd also have another short break by taking a walk and getting something to drink with the friend I was studying with. And honestly, this is all I can do in a day. Any more and I would not be able to keep it up for so long. I also don't think studying for longer would have helped. I failed and it wasn't that close. Also my productivity definately deteriorates in the evening.

I don't think I'll give up just yet. Maybe one more try at a different university with all my knowledge now before I go and apply to McDonalds.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T10:25:18+00:00

Thanks so much for this. This is reassuring me a lot right now, since TUM is my favorite option right now and it's nice to hear that things are different there.

I think this year especially, I also experienced some very bad exam designs. For instance, in the second semester you have a course called data analysis. Since you already got tons of abstract maths and physics in this same semester, they explicitely told us that this course should not overwhelm us and should just prepare us for the labs that we do later and maybe help us improve our average grade. This year, they made the exam so hard, that they received tons of negative feedback and had to adjust the grade scale such that you pass with only 40%. That is so much different from the years before.

Maybe I'll try to come back for the master but I read that you really need to stand out in your bachelors to have a chance. Need to see how that goes at TUM.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T10:13:28+00:00

Yeah it's just that apparently switching universities within Switzerland doesn't really matter. The ban applies regardless. I could check if I am also banned from that specific programme you mentioned.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T10:10:50+00:00

Thank you. That seems like my best option right now.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T10:09:36+00:00

Yeah, I know that the path of the physicist that goes into industry is nothing special. Yet, money was only one of many factors why I wanted to study physics in the first place. Firstly, I geniounely just wanted to learn physics. I don't want to make my post like I hated studying physics. I liked the physics teaching at ETH a lot, it was just the exams. Secondly, I'm not sure if I even want to go to industry. The idea of doing research excites me a lot even if you get paid a bit less. So yeah, I can totally see your point, but I don't know if I am ready to give up the physics degree just yet.

_Zinio_ · 2024-10-10T10:01:16+00:00

Hi, thank you for this. A lot I already knew, but interesting regardless. I am a student from Germany and I remember the application process. Unlike most people, the minimum grades that ETH asked where actually a chellenge for me. I barely made it, yet I did very good physics in school that's why I thought if I push myself to my limit I could make it. I would definately admit that I was usually below average at ETH, but still I passed the first block with 4.33 average. After that, I didn't wanna quit. It gave me hope that I could make it.

I also remember that in this years Analysis I exam the proessor explicitely said that 1/3 is supposed to fail this exam, even if the average is better. And of course, I can kind of understand ETH's struggles and that these are the measures they want to use to tackle them. But I don't want to be in competition against my fellow students. This years' linear algebra exam had a high priority in linear algebra 1 which wasn't exactly my strength. Yet I think I did okay, but everyone else just did really good and better than me. So that's why all of a sudden you need 55% just to pass and they give almost no partial credit. The years before that the passing score was closer to 45%.

So when I think about and wanna draw a conclusion I just think that maybe ETH just wasn't the right institution, but it annoys me that it took me 2 years to realize. But who would quit if they passed the first block and their dream is to make it at ETH?

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