Help Needed: Struggling to Get Good Grades at Community College

[RussellBear]

I am having trouble getting good grades in classes in general, not just Physics. I've taken Calculus Physics I and II, and have gotten Cs in both. I have some Liberal Arts requirements I need to take in order to graduate, and I also get Cs in those.

I am currently at a Community College, so I commute to school in the morning around 6, and just stay there all day (because sometimes I have night classes) and go home at 9 at night. Throughout the day, if I am not in class, I will be sitting in the library studying, so technically I literally study all day, every business day. On the weekends I will do similar but since I don't have classes I just stay home and study.

Since this study time including classes accumulates to very close to 75+ hours a week, I figure I am doing something wrong if I am barely passing the classes (minimum grade for most of my classes is a C).

For example in Physics class, I can read the material and perform most of the questions presented to me based on that material, but on an exam if a question of similar nature is posed but with slight variation, I often get lost and tend to overthink the problem and end up spending more than I wanted on a single question. Basically I go through the motions of "brute forcing" techniques on a problem to see if I can get an answer, which makes me believe for some reason I am not understanding the underlying concepts and only the basics.

For the Liberal Arts classes, they're mostly kicking my a** because I go off-topic a lot and don't complete the assigment given and I am terrible at structuring my thoughts so I don't know how to transition paragraphs or a set of information because I have difficulty discerning what information is relevant to other information...for example if I am discussing in a paragraph about, say, the topic of dangers of ice on the street, I am not sure if I sure reference the factor of speed into that same paragraph, or if it's not relevant at all. I don't know what the professor wants to read, and it doesn't help that she blows everyone off that seeks help. I sought the assistance of a classmate who is doing well in the class, but I still got a C on the essay.

Anyway, my study habits consist of just reading the texts of a particular class over and over again until I can understand the wording (sometimes they use complicated sentence structures so it can take a while to decipher a sentence into plain old understandable layman English), and then re-read everything until I believe I understand what I am reading. For subjects like Calculus/Physics I will do just the same except also solve all the practice problems I can find in assignments and textbooks, and if I have time to spare will review those same problems again because I don't have great memory so I usually forget the solutions to the problems which sort of works out because I get to solve them again.

I feel for most of the Liberal Arts classes, I am not understanding what the professor wants even though I try to make out what they do want from the class Syllabus but either I am naturally born to be terrible at academics, or I have some sociopathic lack of empathy which prevents me from understanding what people want.

If there is a flaw in my study technique, please advise so I can fix it immediately. It's a bit too late (the program I'm in requires a minimum of 3.3 GPA and minimum of 3.0 GPA for math/science classes with no re-takes) since I will be transferred out of the program into a regular college degree program, but I still want to get into grad school so I'd like to keep up my grades, ideally up to the 3.8-3.9 range so I have a good shot at a school with lots of funding for research in engineering and good lab equipment.

 

[wilsont23274]

Here are some things you can try to improve your study habits and grades: 1. Break down the material into more manageable chunks. Instead of trying to read through the whole textbook in one go, focus on one chapter at a time and make sure you understand each concept thoroughly before moving on. 2. Make use of flashcards or notes to help you memorize concepts and equations. This will help you recall them more easily when it comes time to take exams. 3. Work on your problem-solving skills. Instead of brute forcing solutions, try to use logic and reasoning to arrive at the answer. Solve problems from different angles and look for patterns in the data to help you arrive at the correct answer. 4. Ask questions during class or office hours. If you don't understand something, don't be afraid to speak up and ask your professor or classmates for help. 5. Form a study group with other students in your classes. Working together can help you better understand difficult concepts and you can also review each other's work. 6. Take regular breaks while studying. Taking a break every hour or two can help you stay focused and prevent burnout. 7. Reward yourself for your academic successes. It's important to recognize your accomplishments and reward yourself for your hard work.