r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Mysterioape • 1d ago
Too mild for school My midterm grade for statics despite studying and reviewing the homework.
2.7k
u/FOMOsexual7675 1d ago
Your prof is posting this in r/extremelyinfuriating
1.1k
→ More replies (10)150
6.4k
u/TheNuclearSaxophone 1d ago
Not saying this is what OP did, but I know an instructor at our local University who says students come to her after they fail and say "but I studied for hours!" And then she asks HOW they studied.
Sometimes it's "I skimmed the lectures and the book". Sometimes it's "I read the book but didn't take notes". Sometimes it's absolutely wild shit like "I had ChatGPT provide me a summary on the lecture notes, then used another AI to provide a summary of the summary, then I had another AI transcribe it to an audio format and I listened to it while I was doing other tasks."
"Studying" is only effective if the method you use actually lets you retain the information, and for math classes like these you must must MUST do challenging practice problems, sometimes even beyond the homework.
Source: Am a failed engineering student who learned the hard way about studying and homework.
1.3k
u/reliquaryofrot 1d ago
I spent my entire school years just thinking I was a huge dummy. I would spend hours studying just to fail every test. I had summer school regularly for failing classes. I didn’t go to college for a long time because what even would be the point? Turns out the answer was flash cards. Went to college later in life and started getting straight A’s. I’m still annoyed that they didn’t show us different study options in school.
1.0k
u/MuraMastaPOGO 1d ago
They DID show you different study options but it wasnt via flash cards so you didnt retain it :(
→ More replies (1)234
u/reliquaryofrot 1d ago
Lmao maybe you’re right! I just remember different ways to take notes, not study.
85
u/Pleasant-Future5818 1d ago
How much did you ultimately retain? Because I used to use flash cards and I forgot that shit immediately after the exam. I feel like flash cards load into temp storage.
31
u/EveningSky3731 1d ago
You've got to continue repeating them over time to get them into long term storage. Spaced repetition.
→ More replies (1)20
u/iamthewinnar 1d ago
I remember maybe 1-2% of the names and none of the dates of the art pieces in my art history class that I studied with flash cards. But I aced every test with that method. My retention sucked though because the teacher gave us like 50 items and told us 20 of them would be on the test, and each test was a new set of 50/20, the final was not cumulative, so no reason to remember anything from the previous 50.
→ More replies (6)21
u/sticky_neutrino 1d ago
that's almost all school studying, and it's ok.
the single most useful thing you learn in school is how to learn. and you'll have a general idea of the content that lays the groundwork for more in-depth study as the need comes up in the future.
the nitty gritty detailed substance you'll naturally retain as you come to use it a lot. nobody expects you to have an eidetic memory of everything you covered in school
116
u/SanaraHikari 1d ago
Sometimes even the best study methods just don't fit.
I was never a bad student, just average, sometimes lazy. If I was interested in a topic I got better results. But what I only realized after my masters thesis was that I am really bad at rote learning. I needed to see and experience how the things I learned are used or needed. That's why learning English which is not my mother tongue was easier for me. Because the internet existed and I saw how speaking English is needed. And in my master studies I had zero tests. Everything was done with projects and essays. I had a whole semester to learn and work on a class. I had time to understand and see what this topic does and why it's needed. I didn't have to learn a script, I gathered information myself guided by a script.
And looking back I always was better with projects and essays and presentations. In school and my bachelor's. And honestly it kinda makes me mad about my country's education system. Because people like me got labeled as average when the system just didn't fit.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (27)52
u/TemporaryGospel 1d ago
I was a very good high school student. I had a teacher, who taught the most basic three-grades-behind shit. She then carved out class time to make us make flash cards and study them for this "2+2=4" insanity. I hated her
I hated her in college
Then I got to grad school and flashcards saved my life and I realized she cared more about how to teach us how to study than the less Important stuff and I came full circle and I was a big fan
Turns out she had the highest gpa in her respective program at FSU's grad school program the year she got her Master's. I wish she led with that.
→ More replies (1)98
u/TheMastican 1d ago
Studying for statics is literally just practicing. The method is most important. Doing lots of problems is that and even studying how to do certain problems.
→ More replies (11)42
u/Turtleknuckle 1d ago
One of the skills I had to develop was realizing that the answer I calculated could not possibly be correct. That meant I made a mistake somewhere in the generation of the solution. When I mastered this, my test scores went through the roof.
This requires an understanding of the material, not just practice and memorization.
→ More replies (10)14
u/LedinToke 1d ago
That was one of the first things I was told in some entry level engineering class, "if the number for the answer you have doesn't make sense, you did something wrong."
→ More replies (2)14
u/thealmightyzfactor 19k points 18 hours ago 1d ago
I still remember 3rd year of mechanical engineering and the professor gave us a "what are some of you doing" speech because one of the problems was to calculate necessary power for some vehicle and some people gave milliwatts and some gigawatts lol
→ More replies (2)29
u/scrambles57 1d ago
Yeah I found that just memorizing shit didn't work too well. I began to learn how processes work and how things apply to and affect each other. That really turned me around on studying
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (71)110
u/Relysti 1d ago
As a successful physics and chemistry student, double majored 3.99 graduating GPA, it really is about doing practice problems and retraining your brain. Grade school math was all arithmetic, how to calculate quantities, and the rules of math, the English class equivalent of learning your ABC's. College level math is taking those math rules and applying them to abstract problems and finding general solutions instead of the specific solutions you'd find in a grade school math problem, the English class equivalent of writing an essay. Making that leap from finding specific solutions to general solutions is hard to grasp, and even as someone who exceled in math and science, I failed my first physics exam in Intro Physics 1. Practice, practice, practice, you gotta get your brain thinking like a physicist.
→ More replies (4)18
u/Crypticcrypto 1d ago
Failing intro physics 1 first test to a double major 3.99 gpa. Heck of a turnaround!
1.9k
u/NeighborhoodDude84 1d ago
Everyone clowning on OP for being bad a statistics and cant read that OP is taking statics (an engineering course).
578
53
u/beepboopbeeepboop0 1d ago
At Mizzou statics was the engineering weed out course. Had about a 50%-60% pass rate
→ More replies (6)18
u/WAAAAAAAAARGH 1d ago
It typically is designated as the weed out course in most programs
→ More replies (1)77
u/fender8421 1d ago
Fluids is more interesting anyways
→ More replies (2)45
u/xXrektUdedXx 1d ago
I don't think he's gonna enjoy it if this was his performance on statics with studying
→ More replies (3)9
u/fender8421 1d ago
Ha, true. I'm a pilot who has never taken a statics course anyways. Guess I'll see OP in the sky
48
177
u/Jellyswim_ 1d ago
Tbf statics is one of the easiest engineering courses out there...
85
u/throw69420awy 1d ago
Statics was the first weed out course for my program and was considered extremely difficult
I found dynamics way easier, but it was hard not to notice that the statics problems we had on exams were extremely in depth in comparison
→ More replies (5)12
u/KardashevZero 1d ago
dynamics was the hardest course I took man. I got a C+. Aced fluids, thermo, compressible, control systems, all that. just couldnt wrap my head around dynamics
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (12)17
→ More replies (30)9
u/TheMobHunter 1d ago
If it’s a statics exam you should at least get more than 2% for writing ΣF=0 and ΣM=0
→ More replies (2)
746
u/NoLadderStall 1d ago edited 1d ago
Omg statics. I got like a 30% on my first midterm, but I locked in and started going to office hours and passed. A lot of people in this thread think this is statistics and not STATICS, which is studying the forces in systems that do not move.
161
u/Numerous-Ad6460 1d ago
Damn I did read that statistics
→ More replies (2)47
u/FredBurger22 1d ago
Shit. Same. I thought this post was about statistics... ooops
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (35)57
u/CheapBoxOWine 1d ago
Huh. I just scrolled back up because I was like, "l can read good"
Turns out... I cannot read good.
→ More replies (1)
18.8k
u/SoungaTepes 1d ago
Even by the standards of multiple choice you should have accidentally picked the right answer here or there?
6.3k
u/maoussepatate 1d ago edited 1d ago
In france we don’t do a lot of multiple choices, but when we do we lose points for each bad answer to dissuade people from just trying randomly
Edit: at least where i studied. I cant say it is a national French rule
2.8k
u/Packwood88 1d ago
You not only dont get points for getting it right, but you lose points? So its better to leave it blank if you arent pretty sure?
2.3k
u/maybeintroverted 1d ago
Yes, to discourage guessing if you don't know
1.5k
u/CjJcPro 1d ago
That's crazy, in the US we are literally instructed to guess if we don't know, and that the act of leaving it blank is wasting the points. I recall her saying "even if you don't know, you still have a 25% chance of getting it right".
737
u/NavierStoked981 1d ago
This used to be the case for the SAT up until 2016. You would lose points for wrong answers, lose zero points for leaving it blank, and gain points for correct answers.
Losing points for guesses in multiple choice isn’t that rare in a college exam setting either depending on the professor and in larger weedout classes so they can create a larger spread between students that know the material and those that don’t.
102
u/Mpuls37 1d ago
Yup, my freshman physics class in engineering school was like this. All formulas were listed at the top of each test, unlabeled, and the tests were typically 3-5 questions, thpically in order of easy-medium-hard.
Example:
What is the first law of Thermodynamics?
Calculate the amount of expansion a 1 kg cubic sample of pure iron would undergo given a 10⁰C change in temperature while not undergoing a phase change.
Using the table 3.a, calculate the change in the diameter of a high-carbon steel piston ring on a typical 3.0 L V6 aluminum block internal combustion engine. Plot the change over time on a graph using your ruler to maintain a consistent scale.
We got points for showing our work correctly, even if the answer was wrong. Someone actually cried during that test.
Me. I cried during that test. Quietly, but it happened. I did not succeed in completing engineering school.
→ More replies (9)389
u/musicismydrugxo 1d ago
In Dutch we call this "giscorrectie" (guess correction). Universities moved away from this system because it accidentally created gender inequality: turns out men are more likely to take a risk and guess when they're doubting between 2 answers, but women are more cautious and likely to leave the question blank. You'd think that would be an advantage for women, as they would be punished less for a wrong guess, but it actually meant that women would leave a question blank even if they were 90% certain their answer was correct. Now we use "verhoogde cesuur" (raised caesura?), which doesn't punish wrong answers but means you have to score e.g 60% to pass the exam.
→ More replies (39)88
u/wallyTHEgecko 1d ago
Test hack: Skip all questions and only answer the one you're absolutely sure of. 1/1=100%!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (7)47
u/thunderling 1d ago
I took a 10 week long SAT prep course in 2007 (my mom is crazy like that) and one of the "tricks" they told us was that you don't guess if you don't know, because of the risk of losing points. If you can narrow the 4 options down to 2, then go ahead and guess because your chances are better.
I always really hated how the majority of SAT prep seemed not to be the actual knowledge of the material, but learning the tricks to game the system better than the other students.
→ More replies (1)15
u/HankThrill69420 1d ago
Sometimes I wonder if the games are the point. Like, maybe it intentionally rewards people who understand the system and how to leverage the rules instead of simply following them.
→ More replies (1)65
u/modern_milkman 1d ago
And that's the exact reason why France does is differently. Because they don't want you to get points by just being lucky.
→ More replies (11)→ More replies (15)15
u/gottahavethatbass 1d ago
The SAT and any other College Board tests I took had a penalty for incorrect answers, at least they did 15 ish years ago
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (18)284
u/Bring_cookies 1d ago
My dad was a highschool teacher. He called multiple choice tests multiple guess.
191
u/ImSoCul 1d ago
I loved multiple choice tests in high school. You can do a bunch of meta-reasoning on the questions themselves- sometimes 2 of the options are closer (high likelihood that one of them is correct), sometimes a throwaway answer you could eliminate, some teachers would put something obviously wrong to be cute. I was a nerd and straight A student, but I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a passing grade (i.e. 60+%) on any multiple choice exam in highschool having never seen the course material just from reasoning skills lol.
74
u/ElmosBigRedSchlong 1d ago
Yeah this is how I was able to coast rawdogging with ADHD.
→ More replies (1)33
u/brickyard37 1d ago
Same here. Works great until you have an instructor who actually knows how to write exams properly. I had one professor who gave multiple choice questions.. with 16 answer choices each
→ More replies (3)23
u/TheyTookByoomba 1d ago
I remember a cell biology professor I had where each answer was 3-4 sentences long. Each would be roughly 80-90% correct with only one being 100% correct. Each question also had an "all of the above" and "none of the above" that would be true sometimes. So you had to absolutely pour over every answer to every question to see which word or clause was incorrect.
I slept in one test day and got to class halfway through, I got like a 40 on material I knew pretty well because I had to rush through every question.
→ More replies (3)10
u/Nutbardelete 1d ago
sounds like a lot of the "ASE" style questions. Automotive and diesel service schools ask questions where there are multiple technically "correct" answers, but its up to you to know which is the most correct. Like Tech A says you should always wash your hands after handling a potentially hazardous material. Tech B says you should always wear gloves rather than washing your hands, they might say that Tech A is more correct because Tech B assumes that if you wear gloves you don't need to wash your hands. it's kinda brutal sometimes, actually.
→ More replies (6)35
111
u/Karn_Gentrified 1d ago
Exactly.
And Thats the entire point. It muddies the actual student comprehension % if people are guessing correctly. So losing 1 point for blank and 2 points for wrong will allow you to see what subjects the students arent understanding. Since they leave it blank instead of risking a 2 point loss.
→ More replies (4)15
u/Chance-Ask7675 1d ago
What? Its the total opposite lol. If people don't put anything all you can deduce is they weren't sure enough to risk it. If they put a wrong answer you know for sure they didn't know it. That's what tells you whether its understood or not. The effect of correct guessing is negligible, but more importantly its predictable. Where you muddy the waters is having a mix of guessed and omitted answers.
11
u/Jason1143 1d ago
And that goes double if people show work. If people show work for the wrong guesses then you can figure out what exactly they didn't understand. If they just leave it blank then you have no idea what problem is.
I think students should be encouraged to try every question, especially on tests that aren't multiple choice.
13
u/Shadow_of_Moonlight1 1d ago
That's honestly not too uncommon where I'm from as well, yes. It's not the most common type of testing, but I did have quite a few tests in university that worked like that.
Most tests at my university will make you lose only 0,5 points per wrong answer in MC tests, but there are a few where you'll lose all points. Can't go negative however.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (81)25
u/Pope_Squirrely 1d ago
I’ve done tests like this. You’re better to not put anything down if you honestly don’t know. You don’t get the chance for a mark for it, but you don’t get any deduction either.
37
u/The_Amazing_Emu 1d ago
The SAT (the test for people going to university in the US) has five multiple choice options and deducts a quarter point for wrong answers. Generally, if you can narrow it to two, it’s worth guessing, but not if you have no idea
15
u/hum_dum 1d ago
Not anymore, they changed the format about 10 years ago and you no longer lose points for being wrong.
→ More replies (7)7
u/Kingnetheriteyt PURPLE 1d ago
The SAT does not deduct a quarter point for wrong answers anymore
→ More replies (6)16
u/buboop61814 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh god this brings back some memories. I can’t remember what test it was, but iirc was some kind of standardized test I took in hs (in the US) but it was similar. You got a point for correct, 0 for unanswered, and I think -0.25 or something for wrong. So I remember we had also worked out there was an ideal max number to guess on due to how it would be rounded. But yea it was to discourage people guessing on questions, either you knew it or you left it blank
Edit: typo
→ More replies (11)→ More replies (40)8
700
u/greenmachine11235 1d ago
OP said Statics which is could be the engineering course studying static systems. In my class, every test question required a numerical answer with no matching.
→ More replies (13)175
u/Comrade_Falcon 1d ago
Only time I ever saw grades like this in engineering classes were when the whole test cascaded. Essentially one question broken into like 8 parts (or maybe 3 questions in 5 parts) but essentially A. was define your system boundaries and maybe variables and B-X were then solve for x to then find y to find z etc etc. had a class where essentially no partial credit was given and if you got A wrong you could still go about the entire rest of the test with the wrong parameters and not know it so even if your logic and math was correct for B onward, because A was wrong B was wrong C was wrong, etc. the mean on one of the midterms was 16 once (high was 95, median was 0). Class was fucked and a couple years later those professors were quietly moved off of that class.
90
u/ManaSkyees 1d ago
To be fair. In structural engineering if you don't check, double check and triple check your starting numbers people die.
32
u/Extension_Plant7262 1d ago
by that logic shouldn't the prof just fail anyone that's not completely correct?
→ More replies (5)23
u/midnight_toker22 1d ago
That’s often how they work. I think that’s what the other person was explaining, albeit in a convoluted way, but in essence, each subsequent question builds off the answer from the previous question. So once you get a wrong answer, you get all the next answers wrong too. If you get the first one wrong, you’re fucked.
And you’re not just graded on the answer, but whether you’ve applied and followed the formulas correctly.
On the bright side, they’re usually graded on a curve.
→ More replies (1)10
u/1998_2009_2016 1d ago
Nah you just multiply the end result by an "empirical safety factor" of 20x, have massive cost overruns into your pockets, and everyone wins!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)16
u/rigiboto01 1d ago
Sure but don’t you have other people check your work, and have the ability to use resources?
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (8)13
u/aerostevie 1d ago
Had an electromagnetism test like this except the professor outlined in the instructions that you could, at any point, check your answer for any question with him to make sure you are entering into the next one with the correct number. But if you chose to do this, you would sacrifice all possible points you may or may not have been given for that specific question. It was straight psychological warfare.
105
u/Mysterioape 1d ago
It wasn’t multiple choice I had 4 problems to correct.
197
u/Eldrunk 1d ago
Now you have another one.
→ More replies (9)13
u/det4410 1d ago
brutal and absolutely hilarious at the same time. man that was a great comment
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (3)11
u/Optimal_Scholar7123 1d ago
Did you feel like you understood the material before going into the test? Regardless of how much time spent studying - did you do that gut check?
→ More replies (16)32
u/Garfield_and_Simon 1d ago
I'd assume its not multiple choice and like if its all short/long answer questions its completely possible to not be able to answer a single one lol
→ More replies (2)12
→ More replies (75)7
u/Scruffasaurus 1d ago edited 8h ago
I was in a pre-law group in undergrad where a girl on practice LSATs consistently made below blind guessing. After a few times, that’s nearly more impressive than doing well.
254
u/schbrongx 1d ago
Lol, this post is drowning in bad statistics jokes.
People skinming the post-title faster than OP skimmed his statics textbooks.
→ More replies (2)
4.8k
u/ProfessionalRandom21 1d ago
There is no way anyone actually studied, done their homework properly get 2/100. Zero. If this is real, just gave up and go farm banana.
OP probably skimmed through the text book once before the exam.
797
u/Jorycle 1d ago edited 1d ago
During my masters, I had a course where the average grade on every test was below 30%. Grades like this were still low, but a decent amount of the class regularly got single digit scores.
It was a survey course, but the tests were full of hyper specific things that were never even mentioned in the class. Both of the professors running the course knew this and said it was intentional, because they wanted the tests to show them who was really into the material such that they were deep diving the subject outside of class topics (I'm pretty sure they also referred high scorers to top tech employers - they never said this, but it's one of those fields where it would make sense).
They always curved grades up so a 30% was usually an A, but it made it feel like I never had any idea if I was actually learning the material, and it was probably one of the most deeply demotivating experiences I had in my entire time in school. Just very bizarre to say I aced a class despite getting what would have been a failing grade on every test.
254
u/Crypticcrypto 1d ago
Quantum chemistry had abysmal passing grades when I limped around that mental minefield.
86
u/Over-Pineapple3833 1d ago
In Kinetics we once had a midterm where the class average was 19.
→ More replies (1)13
→ More replies (14)71
u/really_tall_horses 1d ago
Same, every test was a logic and reasoning test where everything was a concept not covered by the course. The idea was that fully understanding fundamental principles would allow you to reason yourself pretty close to the correct answer. I think it mostly just served to give us all extreme test anxiety.
33
u/tyberrymuch_ 1d ago
I work in academia, and the issue can be that people who want to do research are forced to give classes. It’s regular here that you have up to 70% teaching duties, depending on the research group. They don’t actually have the motivation to be a good teacher. They came with a passion for the field, and they don’t understand the novice-expert gap, or what motivates students to learn and retain information.
24
u/SinibusUSG 1d ago
Same situation for an algorithms course I took. Way more than mildly infuriating to study extensively, have almost no clue what you’re doing on the test, and have to sweat out the time until it comes out the professor just wrote a shit test and had to curve that 28% up to a B+ or whatever.
→ More replies (13)20
u/ttotto45 1d ago
My professor for both dynamics and hydraulics targeted class averages on exams to be 25%. Why would he actually teach us the material? Not like dynamics is intrinsic to civil engineering or anything. I didn't learn a lick of hydraulics and still walked away with a B (if I remember correctly) because of that curve. We called him Dennis the Menace for a reason. He was a grad professor forced to teach those classes because the regular professor went on paternity leave or research leave or something. Good thing I don't work in Civil Engineering lmao
894
u/Mydickisaplant 1d ago
“Go farm banana” made me laugh harder than it should have
117
u/zer0w0rries 1d ago
real scenario, some people just don't have the mental capacity and no amount of studying will make them pass an exam
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (3)5
86
u/Prestigious-Moose415 1d ago
Or the TA made a mistake adding points/transferring results between systems. Go check. I agree this is ridiculously low even for a half-assed attempt
→ More replies (2)38
u/papayakob 1d ago
If they are anything like the tests I took when I was still pursuing engineering it's a string of math based questions, with each answer being dependent on the answer to the previous question. So if you get Question 1 Part A wrong, you'll get every subsequent question wrong as well. I had an exam once where I got 0/100, and technically got one of the later questions right but through a happy accident so it was still technically wrong.
→ More replies (1)6
u/immagonnafinnahella 1d ago
Generally speaking on engineering tests, arriving at the wrong answer while still following the (mostly) correct process will get you at least some points
→ More replies (2)38
u/Gizmodget 1d ago
Not enough information here.
Math test so likely fill in the blank of some kind.
The answers could have been formatted in a unique way that the student didn't match, leading the system to mark it as wrong even though they are technically right.
If there are short answer questions, those tend to not give points when pushed automatically to the gradebook. They produce points after an instructor manually looks over the question. *Since the system can't grade written responses itself.
→ More replies (2)22
u/monkeypan 1d ago
In my statics class, most of tests were setup more like physics problems where you had to show your work/steps in determining the stresses/forces and answer. There were just a few multiple choice/short answers at the beginning to cover the concepts/definitions. Only answering those would still me get 10 to 20/100.
Showing at least some correct work on the rest, even if the answer was wrong (e.g. error in math, using the right variable/math but with the wrong equation, etc.) would net a few more. No way they did the homework or studied if they only got 2.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (46)48
u/BeachBumHarmony 1d ago
It's statics.
It's a weed out class for engineering major.
OP should switch majors.
→ More replies (11)20
u/Monsterjoek1992 1d ago
It is also not extremely difficult to, just math heavy. If OP seriously tried and that is their grade, time to shift to business
→ More replies (3)
79
u/Evening_Scale_5755 1d ago
Effort doesn't mean effective. You are not studying in a way that is working for you. Its time to go to office hours and have a chat with your professor hat in hand and ask for help.
23
u/Heavy_Original4644 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s basically impossible to get a 2% if you did the homework and studied. Like surely you got the homework graded? If you got an OK grade…even half or a third of the homework right, you would not get a TWO PERCENT
OP probably wrote the answers in the wrong place or disordered something. I’ve gotten 20% off an exam because it was humid that day & the last 2 pages were stuck together & I didn’t notice I had a whole side left…
Like there’s no way it was actually a 2 percent grade
→ More replies (5)12
u/nomadschomad 1d ago
Said another way... It's not the magnitude of the vector but how the force is applied. Amirite.
→ More replies (6)
214
u/AdBusiness2626 1d ago
→ More replies (6)22
u/BerryCroissantWitch 1d ago
I like how the scene shows how smart Miles is but that he still isn’t able to outsmart his teacher. She isn’t having his bullshit
99
u/SlyDevil98 1d ago
I did well in statics, it made sense to me. Calculus applied physics on the other hand.. my first exam I scored a 13%. It was partially multiple choice and statistically would have scored better just randomly guessing.
→ More replies (4)22
u/Nerdy_Squirrel 1d ago
I did well in statics and calculus physics but thermodynamics kicked my ass. I got like 20% on the first midterm. I buckled down hard and turned that into an A- by the end. I remember none of it now. Just straight memorized every formula and looked for trigger words to figure out how to pass. Its a terrible way to actually learn anything. A score this low, you know they are grading on whether or not you get the right answer, not on how well you understood the problem and applied the concepts which is what actually helps you learn.
→ More replies (4)
46
u/scorpio-blush 1d ago
It’s okay you can still graduate with a 2.1 GPA like me
→ More replies (27)29
u/ComusPaine 1d ago
What do you call an engineer who graduated last in their class?
An engineer!
→ More replies (1)
112
u/CaptainKaroo 1d ago
I see a bunch of people commenting about statistics and making statistics jokes… isn’t statics a physics course??
46
16
u/ImSoCul 1d ago
yeah. It's physics for when objects are not in motion
Some crazy Dunning-Kruger here. "lol OP can't spell", when they're likely in an engineering course way above commenter's paygrade. (or maybe OP just can't spell idk)
→ More replies (4)24
u/SEND_ME_FAKE_NEWS 1d ago
Yes, statics is physics of stationary objects.
I think most people haven't done any engineering curriculum courses and likely just don't recognize the word.
Also OP, how hard is it to draw a FBD and some arrows for partial marks?
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (10)9
u/Daystats 1d ago
Yup, statics is generally taken on some type of engineering track which has nothing to do with statistics.
→ More replies (1)
37
u/Efeyester 1d ago
Don't worry bud, it only gets more complex going forward when things start moving.
→ More replies (3)12
129
u/UnlikelyStaff5266 1d ago
Statics is one of those first year engineering courses universities use to thin the herd. At least it used to be. Good luck OP. You can always switch to a business major.
27
u/KeepDinoInMind 1d ago
For my college in 2016 it was differential equations lol.
And organic chemistry.
→ More replies (42)→ More replies (87)17
u/Unfair_Awareness7502 1d ago
Even if it's not designed to thin the herd intentionally, so much other theory is built on techniques you learn in this class that it's best you either figure it out early or realize at this stage it's not for you.
→ More replies (4)
73
u/totallynotexciting 1d ago
There’s no way you get a 2 and studied, I’m sorry man but I’ve had some classes/assignments and a 2 means you didn’t do shit.
→ More replies (5)18
24
u/FreshLiterature 1d ago
You reviewed the homework or you did the homework? Those are two totally different things.
You have to DO the homework. In these fields you're never going to absorb the material if you aren't actually doing the work.
→ More replies (24)
193
u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie 1d ago
Idk anything about Engineering, but I do know you almost have to TRY to get a 2/100.
Like failing or almost failing and getting like a 50/100 or a 60/100…sure. Maybe a low 40 or even a 30.
But 2/100? Usually you have to “troll” to get a score like that. Because if you were earnest and you actually tried to study the material even a little bit…you might fail sure, but you likely retained SOME of the information.
2/100 is WILD, assuming you actually studied and tried. It means you studied the wrong info entirely or your study methods are deeply deeply flawed.
54
u/Patient-Success673 1d ago
Or they were not given partial credit on multi step problems with a singular correct answer. That's how one of our professors did it and it created some grades like this in decent students occasionally
15
u/Ancient_Audience_467 1d ago
This is why I dropped Introductory Chinese (Mandarin). Coming from a Latin alphabet background we were tested very early on in our ability to correctly write Chinese characters rather than Pinyin and there was zero partial credit if one line was out of place. I was doing great with speaking, with the tonal shifts of the language and aced my spoken word tests.
I'm not even really criticizing my professor I just wasn't up to the task.
→ More replies (2)40
u/Estelle_conjecture 1d ago
That's not true for all types of testing though, if they ask general questions or multiple choice, yes you will likely be able to scrape some points. If the exam consists of complex exercises you're likely to get each one wrong if you don't grasp the material.
→ More replies (2)30
u/No-Opinion-8217 1d ago
Statics exams are usually a single problem that then adds to previous answers like, what if a bird lacks on the end of the mast and the wind slows by 5m/s, what do the stresses etc etc. So a really harsh grader could allow an error in the initial question propagate through the rest of the exam instead of grading based on the wrong calculated values.
→ More replies (15)10
u/imatunaimatuna 1d ago
Most professors are normal human beings and they would give you partial (or even full) credit for doing everything else right. It's what the graders in AP exams do in US high schools.
It'd otherwise defeat the whole purpose of learning.
→ More replies (7)9
→ More replies (45)20
u/TitleCultural3133 1d ago
Depends on the course. Statics? I think I'd score above 2/100 even if I tried to get everything wrong.
Other classes? The average score in my Thermo/Heat Transfer classes was somewhere between 20-30%. I can't quite remember.
→ More replies (34)
20
u/ThorstyBihh 1d ago
Check to see if it was auto graded. If so, some of them might say your answer is wrong if even a space is in the wrong place
18
u/Own_Recommendation49 1d ago
Statics is usually free response so it has to be hand graded
→ More replies (1)
16
184
u/user0823100823 1d ago
sounds like u need to learn how to study 💀 that’s quite impressive that u can earn such a low grade
→ More replies (17)
30
u/bigvahe33 1d ago
engineer of a certain space administration here at the US
my first statics score was 0/100 with a personal “not good” when handing the exam to me.
keep on trucking my friend
→ More replies (1)9
u/Pox_Party 1d ago
I come from a family of engineers. My dad had a statics professor who used a stamp for all the failed tests.
→ More replies (1)
17
u/OnyxDynamo 1d ago
Did you study from a different book than the rest of the class?
→ More replies (1)
12
u/itsastart_to 1d ago
….how wrong was your theory or did you just have a full panic attack during the exam? Because no way there you only scored that many question pts or part marks even if you didn’t do advanced questions
→ More replies (1)
15
29
u/L_Walk 1d ago
If it makes you feel better, my statics grades were abysmal because they were graded on standard deviation, meaning if I got a good grade but the rest of the class did too, it was a C. If I got a bad grade but the rest if the class did too, I got a C.
Needless to say, I got a C in the course. But at my job I ended up being the guy who knew the most and taught every other engineer I work with how to make the leap from theoretical to practical.
So your grade isn't the end all be all, as long as you actually try. Sometimes the professor just sucks, either with thier grading scheme or teaching style.
→ More replies (1)9
u/Pleasant_Curve_9024 1d ago edited 1d ago
Getting a curved C is not in the same universe as getting a 2/100 my guy. You could literally draw the free body diagram for one of the problems and get more than a 2/100. I genuinely don’t know how you could do this poorly on a test unless you’ve never been to a single lecture and used ai to do every single homework problem. Your grade isn’t the end all be all, as long as you actually try, but a 2% is just about guaranteed to mean you aren’t actually trying.
Edit to add: this is from a guy with an engineering degree who never went to lectures and basically spent three days per semester per class actually learning the content - the days before the two midterms and the day before the final - so I know how it goes. 2/100 on a statics midterm is a score you get from putting in no real effort to learn and understand the content. Just being honest.
53
36
u/pikachu_senpai1 1d ago
I'm assuming college?
If so see if you can visit the library or whatever like center of learning you have on campus. They should be able to help you learn how to study more efficiently to be able to retain info better.
Also maybe try doing the homework problems again but don't look at the answers till after.
→ More replies (4)14
u/dinamet7 1d ago
I just read something about how students who used AI to do homework and study do really well on assignments, but fail at exams because they aren't going through the processes to retain information. I wonder if AI played into study or homework habits here.
→ More replies (12)
12
26
u/llogarithmicfunction 1d ago
It made me remember the time that I got 14/100 in criminal law despite studying hard and writing 6 A3 papers long answers. I complained about it and they told me “Your answers may be right but you didn’t follow the systematic of our Professor.”
→ More replies (11)
10
u/PandaWonder01 1d ago
Imma be real, if you're getting a literal 2, there's some massive gaps in understanding. You said you studied, but did you actually feel like you understood what was going on? Did you do correctly practice problems without an outside form of help ?
→ More replies (2)
36
u/BlasterMH 1d ago
The amount of people assuming this is multiple choice is alarming
Is that what most people’s college level courses were? I am jealous
→ More replies (19)15
u/Smooth_Chocolate_586 1d ago
fr it's STATICS it's solving problems. i completely see why someone would get everything wrong if they have some fundamental knowledge gaps. the people suggesting flashcards... man i wish it was as easy as just flash cards.
→ More replies (8)
63
u/Accomplished_Joke255 1d ago edited 1d ago
The number of people reading this as statistics instead of statics makes me think a lot of you would fail an English exam.
→ More replies (11)30
22
u/rvc9927 1d ago edited 1d ago
To everyone confused about statics vs statistics. Statics is a physics based engineering class where you solve short answer problems where the sum of all forces = 0, aka static.
With short answer problems, it is very possible to get a low grade if you don't get the answer, but it's engineering and also very possible the professor is a dick for not giving more partial credit.
10
19
9
8
121
u/the-other-marvin 1d ago edited 2h ago
My statistics teacher long ago told us "statistics is just math. math was all created by people, and therefore it can be understood by people. If you can't understand it, it's because someone is making it hard to understand. That person is your teacher."
Incidentally he was an excellent teacher and made things very easy to understand.
EDIT: Yes, I misread "statics" as "statistics". No, I don't think that changes the core message.
71
u/crimpin_n_whippin 1d ago
Statics. Not statistics. Basically force balance basics on static objects for engineering.
→ More replies (25)→ More replies (17)41
u/D-RAKE 1d ago
2/100 is not the result of a bad teacher unless that is a common score across the whole class, which it definitely isn’t
Tbh this is such a bad score that I am wondering if there was an error with the answer key
→ More replies (30)
17
24
u/TheVenerableEmrys 1d ago
Honest advice? If you’ve been doing your best to pay attention in class and have been putting forth sufficient time and effort in studying and still gotten this result, I’d strongly consider switching majors. Not every field of study fits every person.
On the other hand, if you were cramming during the days before the midterm to make up for drifting off during lectures and playing/partying rather than consistently studying as you go, you need to pull yourself together. School and life only gets harder from here, and you’ve got to manage your own time well and discipline yourself. After all, this is only statics. Nothing’s started moving yet.
→ More replies (5)
101
u/peppa4theppl 1d ago
How do you fail statics?
94
37
22
u/Background-Mode-4036 1d ago
I failed my first statics midterm. For some reason the revelation of “literally just sum forces and set equal to zero” took that long to set in.
→ More replies (31)21
14
u/Decent-Proposal-8475 1d ago
I would set up a time to meet with the professor. I have failed tests before, but I was never surprised I did poorly. You seem surprised
7
u/Mysterioape 1d ago
I knew I wouldn’t excel but I thought I could at least get a passing grade or something not this terrible.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/HairyPairatestes 1d ago
What do you believe your score would’ve been if you had not studied?
→ More replies (1)
7
u/stefek132 1d ago
Well, learning ain’t easy. Learn to learn and it’ll become waaaay less work for waaay more result.
Kinda loved it at the university: “ive learned for 5 weeks straight, 24/7! Why did I barely pass?!” Well, spending time on something doesn’t mean you’re effective.
7
4.6k
u/Rho-Ophiuchi 1d ago edited 23h ago
Just a tip from my experience in college. A grade like this is worthy of going to talk to your professor during office hours. This is either a fundamental misunderstanding of the material or the answer key is wrong. Either way you need to talk to the instructor. You’d be surprised how much good will you can earn by just looking like you give a shit.