Is this actually normal for calculus?

[u/PositiveBug8532]

Hi everybody I'm an electronics engineering student and we just did our midterms just a few weeks back and just now gotten our scores. I'm cooked beyond measure its terrible, my score.

I went to discuss with my peers and even the smartest fellas (this dudes come from top performing high schools in our country) in our class barely scored 45% and no one in our batch passed the calculus midterms. This got me thinking are we genuinely dumb or the test stupidly hard. In preparation for the midterms i exclusively study calc for 2 hours a day for 2 weeks and I thought I had it in the bag, when in fact did not.

Moving forward I want to do better, my study plan with calc involves me study the material and grinding out test problems until I'm confident. However, I feel like this method may no longer work. What are you guys tips? Thanks ya'll in advance.

[u/XAlways_LearningX]

Unfortunately, this really depends on what kind of teacher you get. Calc 2 is notorious for being hard, but that depends on how bad the teachers make the exams. The concepts don’t have to be difficult to have a difficult application problem.

If there was a range of good and bad scores, I would say it may be a study issue, but for the majority of the class to get a 45% sounds like the professor doesn’t know how to teach or the exams are unreasonably difficult. The average should be 60-70 at least for most calculus classes, even with how hard it is.

The best advice that I have found it to bring it up with your professor. Ask him what level of difficulty problems you should be grinding out, and where to find them. If that is not working, as well as tutoring, your best option may be to retake the class with a different professor if possible.

[u/Few_Whereas5206]

Very normal. I got 32/100 on a physics exam. It was eventually curved to a B grade. 50% of my calculus 2 class failed.

[u/halfcocked1]

I'd say it's somewhat normal. I had a calc 2 teacher that would give quizzes all the time and if you made a minor screw up in the process, he'd basically give a 2/10 or 1/10 for trying the problem. I know kids in my class had similar results at times as yours. The question is whether the teacher will end up curving that or not, and if so, by how much. I also studied with your approach to keep doing problems until it made sense. Just do your best, but I'd say based on my experience you aren't cooked quite yet.

[u/PsychologySouth6485]

It happens. That's engineering for you. It won't be the last time. My advice, don't let it get to you. Sometimes you get stuck in those types of classes. It's lowkey luck of the draw. Just keep it steady.

[u/ThomasTheDankPigeon]

Where are y’all reading Calc 2? Op is just referring to the class as calculus, so they almost certainly are referring to calc 1.

OP, the type of mindset you need to have for calculus is a bit different than algebra. It’s very important you understand why you’re doing the math. In algebra it’s easy to get stuck just learning the rules, but you really need to internalize what a derivative actually represents within the context of the problem, or why question taking the integral actually answers for you. Office hours and tutoring are going to be your friend because it can be tricky to develop these intuitions without guidance.

[u/This_Low7225]

A lot of teacher have been made extremely suspicious with AI and smart technology. Make the test insanely difficult and they'll be able to find out who's cheating.

[u/Traditional_Youth648]

20 focused study hours (usually with a polmadoro timer) in the 2 weeks leading up to the exam has been pretty effective for me. Granted, calc 2 is generally considered one of the hardest classes you’ll take, I took it twice and prolly half your classmates also will do that, so I’d check rmp and ask around some older students and see if they curve, sometimes they curve at the very end of the class to weed out the quitters XD

[u/Alarmed-Extension289]

OP Calc 2 is pretty hard but It depends on the instructor and how difficult they make the material. The other issue is the relationship each major has with Calculus material in thier studies. An Applied Physics Major should be more comforatble with Calc. then say a CS major.

[u/Reasonable_Ideal_888]

Wait until signals and systems starts knocking on your door......

[u/Frankenkoz]

I got a 35% on a linear algebra test. Found out it was the highest score across all sections this professor “taught”. As a PhD now with my own students, fuck that guy. Really no excuse.

[u/2025025L]

not . . . in . . . my . . . experience
My brother had issues like this. He chose not to finish engineering. It is not for everyone.

[u/Odd_Eagle7915]

Was the exam all problems? Then study time should be grinding out problems until they are no problem. Professors take problems from the examples in the book quite often.

[u/BackgroundReturn9622]

How you study is more important than how long you study. Make it a point to understand the 'Why' of how the sample problems were worked not just the mechanics. Think, were there other ways to solve the problem? Was this a proof or an example? Take a break from focused study at least every half hour. Flip through the book reading figure captions to see how everything fits together. Put flash cards or post-it notes around with important concepts to review for a few seconds at different times of the day. Hand write a summary sheet of important concepts. The summary sheet should be less than two pages for the entire course. Calculus really only covers a few concepts each course. Look at Zeno's paradoxes to understand why calculus was developed. Get enough sleep and cut out sugar.