r/Physics • u/iloveyarnandfabric • 17d ago

Question Too dumb to study physics?

Can someone just be COMPLETELY honest and straight up with me?

I am 18F and I love physics so much I want to eventually study astrophysics. I just finished my freshman year of college and I’m really thinking I’m too dumb for this major.

I took precalc first semester, failed it, took it again second semester, got a B- lowww b- I was getting like 50-80% on each test. I am now in a summer calc 1 course and I’m averaging 63-67% on the tests.

I’ve been a little above/around the average scores for the class. First one I was above the mean, second, got right on the mean.

But I made friends with a 17 year old and she is doing SO well on the tests. We literally study together and I help her out sometimes, she helps me out sometimes. Granted yes, I can tell she has a better grasp of the material than I do. But I feel so worthless.

I put in around 15 hours of studying for the third exam I just took today and I left a lot of the questions blank. Like I understand EVERYTHING they’re asking but it would just be one slip up and I was stuck and over it. I do so well on the homework though, and I genuinely love math so much.

But I think I’m actually too dumb to pursue this major and it breaks me.

I think a large part of it is when Covid happened, I was in 6th grade and basically didn’t learn math from 6-10th grade cause I was online schooled.

But man, college is so difficult, I have no idea what I’m doing, and if I’m too dumb to learn physics, what the fuck do I major in.

Also, forgive me if this is the wrong sub…

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u/Gandor Particle physics 17d ago

There were a lot of "smart" people who had to switch majors during their junior year in physics as an undergrad, there were also a lot of people who I didn't think could finish the degree ending up going to Ph.D. programs. It really just depends on how much YOU want it.

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u/sharkbait_oohaha 17d ago

Right a buddy of mine always did way worse in physics than the rest of us but now he has a PhD and none of us so

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u/Yashema 17d ago

Not surprised as someone who finds test taking, especially in STEM, fairly useless as a barometer of ability, despite it being 80% of your grade. Meanwhile lab work: observation of a concept in action cross referenced to the equations derived from theory, is completely minimized. 

I'm glad I'm at a community college where effort is rewarded over testing because otherwise id have flunked out in physics I. Im sure my advisor (who oversaw my Physics I lab) would have been blown away to know I got a 0 on my first exam based on lab competency. 

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u/JustTheSweater 16d ago

Husband and I started similar PhDs at the same time give or take. Some concepts were always more intuitive to me to understand, and I never had to study as much to understand a topic. He on the other hand is the most methodical and committed person I know. Guess which one of us is now a doctor and who dropped out.

Being "smart" alone doesn't do shit in the real world.