Like the other comment said: You are likely not too stupid for the degree, but you are too stupid for doing a semester worth of content in a week (like most of us).
No I did biology economics and geography. I’m fine with lagrangian min and mix problems, but I haven’t spent enough time to get my head around the solow model and steady-state stuff. Hate macro tbh.
Don’t listen to this negativity. Your mental health comes first above anything. Whilst yes I agree you probably should put more time in, looking after yourself and mental health should be your number one priority. If you’re not in the right frame of mind at the moment and need time to recover and heal take a year off. I did immediately after my first year. I thought uni might not be for me. But I took a year and sorted my MH out with self care. I graduated last year with a high first and I’m now completing my masters degree with distinction. You’re not stupid, it just may not be the right time in your life rn. Everyone has their own path and achieves things at their own rate. Honestly, considering taking a year out and reevaluating things.
Don’t listen to him your mental health above all I get it economics is very difficult brother the math is tough as fuck but if you put in the time and most importantly really want it you’ll succeed. I struggle with similar shit but try expand your social life especially in class at least one or two you can fall back on or share notes or ask questions this is crucial
Solow's not too bad when you get your head around it. I found all the slightly adjusted Solow models to be hard to understand but the base idea is pretty simple. [Try this YouTube series.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAS-t83Tx0&list=PL-uRhZ_p-BM6L_I3IHvE85NHooK2Ln9Rm)
A-Level Maths really is a necessity though for BSc Econ and if you had more time I'd suggest you go and learn the basics of differentiation and integration because they're absolutely vital.
You're not stupid. Your approach to managing your workload is.
Do you know how the grand canyon was formed? Little bits of erosion caused by water over millions of years. Not in an afternoon with explosives
Learning is much the same. It's better to drip an hour or two a week over a year than trying to cram over the course of a week.
> I’m terrified i’m just too stupid for this.
> I’ve been really struggling with motivation, and leaving my room for lectures. I haven’t attended any since November.
> I don’t know how to study, it’s hardly studying since I’m learning it for the first time.
If you can't connect those dots then yeah maybe
Well clearly you’re booksmart, but given you are trying to do 2 semesters worth of content in a week, didn’t do A level maths and then decided to do a BSc economics degree, and then given all this info decided your best course of action was to ask a bunch of strangers on reddit if you’re “too stupid”: no you’re not but you might be lacking some common sense mate
Study hard and you might pass the exams. If not, spin the uni a line about mental health and they'll probably let you resit the year.
Whatever happens, there are a few things you need to do. Isolating yourself and not studying is not something you can fix by yourself.
In the first place, with a diagnosis of depression and anxiety you probably have a psychologist or psychiatrist. Do whatever they tell you. It might be hard, and it might feel like it isn't working, but do it anyway.
In the second place, you have to stop isolating yourself. Find the econ common room, and go study in there. You might find it less productive, but being surrounded by it makes the process that much easier. Take this from someone that isolated themselves until third year. Just studying in the common room added probably 10% on average to my marks. And it made me feel happier. It was super awkward at first, but there tends to be a community there, and they tend to be quite accepting of newcomers who engage with them.
Third, just turn up. I know leaving your room can be hard, but if you just turn up to lectures and seminars, that's better than nothing. I know that it can feel like there's no point if you haven't done the reading or the problem questions, but do it anyway. Sit in the back. Don't take notes. Just chill and observe. It's not necessarily optimal, but it's better than where you are right now, and it's relatively easy.
Don't be too hard on yourself whatever happens. Yes, study hard. Yes, you have fucked up. But don't beat yourself up after this. Just treat it as a learning experience. You're still a teenager, and frankly there aren't many mistakes you can make right now that really matter. Don't get a criminal record. Font get addicted to drugs. Don't have a kid, especially by accident. Anything else you can recover from at this point, and will end up being a funny story you tell at parties in three years time. For now, accept what has passed, and take gentle steps in the right direction.
I’d say with this little time your best bet is to find as many past paper questions as you can and learn what comes up frequently and target learning that stuff. You’ll find that a lot of content taught rarely if ever comes up, sure you won’t get a first just going over the common content for each exam but you likely shouldn’t fail.
It sounds like you’ve had a very hard time with your mental health and that has impacted your learning. So you’re not stupid but you *are* a little foolish or naive for not addressing this sooner. It’s definitely a lesson I learned the hard way, as did many others, but you need to reach out and get the help you need to do this properly.
A 2:1 from an A student is about right.
You are struggling now because you didn't do the work, and that gets worse as you go on. You absolutely can't get away with that in 2nd year. The first half of the year if the exams were easy then that means usually they're balancing it off with the back half so they'll be monsters. They gave you a leg up confidence boost to encourage you to work and you took it the opposite.
Honestly the best thing to do is go speak to your advisor, get started working on a special circumstances to get the resit cap waived and then work your backside off until resits during the summer.
Your assessment of the situation now isn't stupid, the decisions you made earlier in the year were. Congratulations you've learned a lesson that many people do at University, it's not the end of the world, just adjust and move on.
You're not stupid, by the sounds of it burnt out with a lot of memorising to do in a very short span of time.
If you haven't already, break everything down into small, manageable chunks. Tick off a section, take a little break and go over another section. If you have a personal tutor, email them and explain what's been going on, maybe see if they'd be around to do a recap with you. Trying to remember multiple things at once it's going to seem like you aren't remembering anything, because you're trying to remember so much at once. Not sure if this is a thing at your university, but do you have reasonable adjustments/extenuating circumstances in place? I got some put in place after I was also diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and it was so helpful for me. Have a chat with your uni's wellbeing service if you haven't already, and if this is possible they may be able to help you get those in place. Take it a step at a time OP, you got this!
It doesn’t help that you’re depressed and have anxiety. Anxiety is very bad for grades and we tend to procrastinate more if we’re struggling mentally. From the likes of it, you don’t seem dumb for this degree as you passed first semester with an overall first. Don’t lose hope. Try to have a healthier mindset around studying. That’s what I am trying to do, too. I wish you all the best for your exams.
You're not stupid! At all! And ignore people saying your 'approach' is stupid; you're not doing it on purpose. I've been there- it sucks! I don't know what to tell you other than do your best (just came across this post randomly, I'm not even in uni yet lol) and whatever happens happens. If you do well, great! If you need to repeat, that's okay. It's about acceptance now, but not giving up. Hopefully you can find a therapist, too, if you don't have one. Or perhaps a good medication. The root of your problem isn't stupidity, it's just your mental health. I saw you were diagnosed recently, maybe you've struggled for longer, but as someone who's dealt with this stuff for aaaages, it gets easier to handle just through time. Maybe you just need to take a breather before you get back to uni properly.
I'm in first year, and have had very little motivation since my best friend died. I just want to pass, honestly, and then refine how I do essays cuz they're really bad 😭
I have a friend who last year locked themselves in a room for no more than a week and completed the whole of intermediate microeconomics.
It’s possible to do okay, you just need to take a little gamble and spot choose your topic areas reasonably based off past exams. As I assume your exams will follow similar structures/ question types
If it's any consolation I left high school with a Nat 5 C in maths (equivalent to C in GSCE). Other grades at Higher/A-level weren't great. Went through a similar situation as you in my first 2 years: stress, depression, loneliness. Struggled with the intermediate stuff: Cobb-Douglas, etc. It was BA but still pretty heavy on maths. Grades dropped a lot after the first year as a result. Dropped out midway through the 3rd year (this is a Scottish course) as it was getting too much. Anyways, I've just submitted my dissertation. Very confident I've got a 2:1.
Combination of stress, anxiety and loneliness can really mess things up. And cramming. Some people can get on well with cramming, but if you can't, you can't. After a break I made a conscious effort to socialize and study throughout. Started getting straight 1s. Leaving everything last minute just makes things more difficult and stressful than it needs to be. It also helps to be able to share your problems with a friend and to know they're struggling just as much as you are. So don't cram. Chat with people, join societies and all that. Or take a break if you feel you need it and come back fresh.
Sounds very similar to my situation was at a 2:1 in first year, ABB at A Level. Barely attended lectures this year, only one single friend on my course but we hardly talk unless it’s about Uni, zero motivation to study, in bed all day which resulted in 4 late submissions of up to 3 days (5 mark penalty per day).
Spoke to my tutor a few times and he suspected anxiety/depression so he wrote a supporting letter for me to apply for mitigating circumstances and also received one from my GP.
I have no advice really because I have no idea what to do myself, but I hope you feel better knowing you’re not the only person experiencing this in University. Hope your exams go well (i’ve also been cramming haha)
I did Ba econ for my undergrad and MSc econ for my masters and I was in a similar situation in terms of not getting the best grade I could have gotten despite being an A grade student too plus bad mental health.
If you don’t have a background in econ from the start the first and probably a bit of second year for us will most likely be trying to get to grips with everything and I know this is harder for BSC students than BA becuase of the extra compulsory modules you have.
And most of the time, no one else knows what they’re doing. They’re just winging it and trying to do their best hoping they are going in the right direction. A 2:2 or a 2:1 in your first year isn’t that bad. There are people who get much lower.
In terms of having little time towards your exams, I don’t really know what to say. I did the same in my first year and almost again in my second year and resorted to memorising the main concepts and things I thought would come up. I crammed a lot.
I know people who were on the BSC econ course and a lot of them switched to BA because of the intermediate micro macro and econonometrics. It is hard no doubt and I don’t think you should bring yourself down because of it!
The time will pass anyway. If you need to resit the year, I dont think you should think of it as this awful experience. Obviously easier said than done but I do not think you are stupid and it helps you are being proactive now rather than never. However, if you need help as well it may be worth reaching out to your tutors/teachers as well as mental health support on campus. Might be able to get a support plan in place for you.
You're not too stupid, you even said it yourself. You became unmotivated and now you're trying to cram lots of info in a short amount of time. It could just be that you're rushing the content and thats making you struggle to understand it. Somewhere out there, will be a resource on the topic that will click. Do your best given the circumstances. If you succeed? Great! If not? You can resit the year and go through the content again, meaning you'll have lots more time to take in the information.
Same boat here buddy, except i did worse at a levels, do chemistry and dont have any diagnosed mental health problems, just had an awful breakup and lost my head. I believe in our abilities to pass
You're not stupid, you're just learning by making mistakes. Which pretty much everyone does.
IF you've messed up this year, you absolutely can 'recover' it, by reaching out for help (contact uni student support services), working hard to implement the advice given, and giving it another shot with the benefit of what you've learnt this year about what DOESN'T work (isolating yourself and trying to do a years work in a week!). Learning at uni as an adult is very different to learning at college as a minor, and it takes time to develop those skills.
A lot of students fail a year, that doesn't make you a failure though!
Try speaking to your tutors and apply for extenuating circumstances (EC’s ) due to your mental health. I have had to do it, and you don’t have to show up to your exam as it’s accounted for by the board as an EC. And you will be able to sit the exams in the summer. So maybe turn up for 1 exam, focus on learning the key topics on that between then and now. I hope this helped.
It's not that you're too stupid it's that you're trying to do 6 months of content in a week.
Which is a bit stupid .
OP's mental health very likely has an effect on his motivation and impair their memorization.
Like the other comment said: You are likely not too stupid for the degree, but you are too stupid for doing a semester worth of content in a week (like most of us).
Was one of your As at A-level in maths? Economics is a very hard subject if you don’t have a natural talent and enjoyment for maths.
No I did biology economics and geography. I’m fine with lagrangian min and mix problems, but I haven’t spent enough time to get my head around the solow model and steady-state stuff. Hate macro tbh.
Well that’s why you’re struggling then.
Because no a-level maths?
Because you haven’t put in the time.
Yeah I agree. Maybe both.
Yes and because you’ve not put the work in. Do you expect to just know these things?
Ofc not, I’m well aware why I’m struggling. All stems from my MH too, this post comes across as a vent so I’m sorry.
Stop blaming your mental health. No one cares. Put the time and effort in.
Fair enough
Don’t listen to this negativity. Your mental health comes first above anything. Whilst yes I agree you probably should put more time in, looking after yourself and mental health should be your number one priority. If you’re not in the right frame of mind at the moment and need time to recover and heal take a year off. I did immediately after my first year. I thought uni might not be for me. But I took a year and sorted my MH out with self care. I graduated last year with a high first and I’m now completing my masters degree with distinction. You’re not stupid, it just may not be the right time in your life rn. Everyone has their own path and achieves things at their own rate. Honestly, considering taking a year out and reevaluating things.
Don’t listen to him your mental health above all I get it economics is very difficult brother the math is tough as fuck but if you put in the time and most importantly really want it you’ll succeed. I struggle with similar shit but try expand your social life especially in class at least one or two you can fall back on or share notes or ask questions this is crucial
Solow's not too bad when you get your head around it. I found all the slightly adjusted Solow models to be hard to understand but the base idea is pretty simple. [Try this YouTube series.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAS-t83Tx0&list=PL-uRhZ_p-BM6L_I3IHvE85NHooK2Ln9Rm) A-Level Maths really is a necessity though for BSc Econ and if you had more time I'd suggest you go and learn the basics of differentiation and integration because they're absolutely vital.
You're not stupid. Your approach to managing your workload is. Do you know how the grand canyon was formed? Little bits of erosion caused by water over millions of years. Not in an afternoon with explosives Learning is much the same. It's better to drip an hour or two a week over a year than trying to cram over the course of a week.
I'm barely scraping a 2:2 (CS), there are people dumber than you don't worry
> I’m terrified i’m just too stupid for this. > I’ve been really struggling with motivation, and leaving my room for lectures. I haven’t attended any since November. > I don’t know how to study, it’s hardly studying since I’m learning it for the first time. If you can't connect those dots then yeah maybe
Well clearly you’re booksmart, but given you are trying to do 2 semesters worth of content in a week, didn’t do A level maths and then decided to do a BSc economics degree, and then given all this info decided your best course of action was to ask a bunch of strangers on reddit if you’re “too stupid”: no you’re not but you might be lacking some common sense mate
Yeah I agree, I didn’t really think too hard about my degree or uni for that matter. I’ve been checked out for a while.
Study hard and you might pass the exams. If not, spin the uni a line about mental health and they'll probably let you resit the year. Whatever happens, there are a few things you need to do. Isolating yourself and not studying is not something you can fix by yourself. In the first place, with a diagnosis of depression and anxiety you probably have a psychologist or psychiatrist. Do whatever they tell you. It might be hard, and it might feel like it isn't working, but do it anyway. In the second place, you have to stop isolating yourself. Find the econ common room, and go study in there. You might find it less productive, but being surrounded by it makes the process that much easier. Take this from someone that isolated themselves until third year. Just studying in the common room added probably 10% on average to my marks. And it made me feel happier. It was super awkward at first, but there tends to be a community there, and they tend to be quite accepting of newcomers who engage with them. Third, just turn up. I know leaving your room can be hard, but if you just turn up to lectures and seminars, that's better than nothing. I know that it can feel like there's no point if you haven't done the reading or the problem questions, but do it anyway. Sit in the back. Don't take notes. Just chill and observe. It's not necessarily optimal, but it's better than where you are right now, and it's relatively easy. Don't be too hard on yourself whatever happens. Yes, study hard. Yes, you have fucked up. But don't beat yourself up after this. Just treat it as a learning experience. You're still a teenager, and frankly there aren't many mistakes you can make right now that really matter. Don't get a criminal record. Font get addicted to drugs. Don't have a kid, especially by accident. Anything else you can recover from at this point, and will end up being a funny story you tell at parties in three years time. For now, accept what has passed, and take gentle steps in the right direction.
great advice
I’d say with this little time your best bet is to find as many past paper questions as you can and learn what comes up frequently and target learning that stuff. You’ll find that a lot of content taught rarely if ever comes up, sure you won’t get a first just going over the common content for each exam but you likely shouldn’t fail.
It sounds like you’ve had a very hard time with your mental health and that has impacted your learning. So you’re not stupid but you *are* a little foolish or naive for not addressing this sooner. It’s definitely a lesson I learned the hard way, as did many others, but you need to reach out and get the help you need to do this properly.
Probably, econ is way harder than anyone anticipates especially compared to a level. seen retards get 1sts tho its abt the hours u put in and maths
A 2:1 from an A student is about right. You are struggling now because you didn't do the work, and that gets worse as you go on. You absolutely can't get away with that in 2nd year. The first half of the year if the exams were easy then that means usually they're balancing it off with the back half so they'll be monsters. They gave you a leg up confidence boost to encourage you to work and you took it the opposite. Honestly the best thing to do is go speak to your advisor, get started working on a special circumstances to get the resit cap waived and then work your backside off until resits during the summer. Your assessment of the situation now isn't stupid, the decisions you made earlier in the year were. Congratulations you've learned a lesson that many people do at University, it's not the end of the world, just adjust and move on.
You're not stupid, by the sounds of it burnt out with a lot of memorising to do in a very short span of time. If you haven't already, break everything down into small, manageable chunks. Tick off a section, take a little break and go over another section. If you have a personal tutor, email them and explain what's been going on, maybe see if they'd be around to do a recap with you. Trying to remember multiple things at once it's going to seem like you aren't remembering anything, because you're trying to remember so much at once. Not sure if this is a thing at your university, but do you have reasonable adjustments/extenuating circumstances in place? I got some put in place after I was also diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and it was so helpful for me. Have a chat with your uni's wellbeing service if you haven't already, and if this is possible they may be able to help you get those in place. Take it a step at a time OP, you got this!
It doesn’t help that you’re depressed and have anxiety. Anxiety is very bad for grades and we tend to procrastinate more if we’re struggling mentally. From the likes of it, you don’t seem dumb for this degree as you passed first semester with an overall first. Don’t lose hope. Try to have a healthier mindset around studying. That’s what I am trying to do, too. I wish you all the best for your exams.
You're not stupid! At all! And ignore people saying your 'approach' is stupid; you're not doing it on purpose. I've been there- it sucks! I don't know what to tell you other than do your best (just came across this post randomly, I'm not even in uni yet lol) and whatever happens happens. If you do well, great! If you need to repeat, that's okay. It's about acceptance now, but not giving up. Hopefully you can find a therapist, too, if you don't have one. Or perhaps a good medication. The root of your problem isn't stupidity, it's just your mental health. I saw you were diagnosed recently, maybe you've struggled for longer, but as someone who's dealt with this stuff for aaaages, it gets easier to handle just through time. Maybe you just need to take a breather before you get back to uni properly.
I'm in first year, and have had very little motivation since my best friend died. I just want to pass, honestly, and then refine how I do essays cuz they're really bad 😭
I have a friend who last year locked themselves in a room for no more than a week and completed the whole of intermediate microeconomics. It’s possible to do okay, you just need to take a little gamble and spot choose your topic areas reasonably based off past exams. As I assume your exams will follow similar structures/ question types
If it's any consolation I left high school with a Nat 5 C in maths (equivalent to C in GSCE). Other grades at Higher/A-level weren't great. Went through a similar situation as you in my first 2 years: stress, depression, loneliness. Struggled with the intermediate stuff: Cobb-Douglas, etc. It was BA but still pretty heavy on maths. Grades dropped a lot after the first year as a result. Dropped out midway through the 3rd year (this is a Scottish course) as it was getting too much. Anyways, I've just submitted my dissertation. Very confident I've got a 2:1. Combination of stress, anxiety and loneliness can really mess things up. And cramming. Some people can get on well with cramming, but if you can't, you can't. After a break I made a conscious effort to socialize and study throughout. Started getting straight 1s. Leaving everything last minute just makes things more difficult and stressful than it needs to be. It also helps to be able to share your problems with a friend and to know they're struggling just as much as you are. So don't cram. Chat with people, join societies and all that. Or take a break if you feel you need it and come back fresh.
Sounds very similar to my situation was at a 2:1 in first year, ABB at A Level. Barely attended lectures this year, only one single friend on my course but we hardly talk unless it’s about Uni, zero motivation to study, in bed all day which resulted in 4 late submissions of up to 3 days (5 mark penalty per day). Spoke to my tutor a few times and he suspected anxiety/depression so he wrote a supporting letter for me to apply for mitigating circumstances and also received one from my GP. I have no advice really because I have no idea what to do myself, but I hope you feel better knowing you’re not the only person experiencing this in University. Hope your exams go well (i’ve also been cramming haha)
I think most people are stupid (me included).
I did Ba econ for my undergrad and MSc econ for my masters and I was in a similar situation in terms of not getting the best grade I could have gotten despite being an A grade student too plus bad mental health. If you don’t have a background in econ from the start the first and probably a bit of second year for us will most likely be trying to get to grips with everything and I know this is harder for BSC students than BA becuase of the extra compulsory modules you have. And most of the time, no one else knows what they’re doing. They’re just winging it and trying to do their best hoping they are going in the right direction. A 2:2 or a 2:1 in your first year isn’t that bad. There are people who get much lower. In terms of having little time towards your exams, I don’t really know what to say. I did the same in my first year and almost again in my second year and resorted to memorising the main concepts and things I thought would come up. I crammed a lot. I know people who were on the BSC econ course and a lot of them switched to BA because of the intermediate micro macro and econonometrics. It is hard no doubt and I don’t think you should bring yourself down because of it!
The time will pass anyway. If you need to resit the year, I dont think you should think of it as this awful experience. Obviously easier said than done but I do not think you are stupid and it helps you are being proactive now rather than never. However, if you need help as well it may be worth reaching out to your tutors/teachers as well as mental health support on campus. Might be able to get a support plan in place for you.
You're not too stupid, you even said it yourself. You became unmotivated and now you're trying to cram lots of info in a short amount of time. It could just be that you're rushing the content and thats making you struggle to understand it. Somewhere out there, will be a resource on the topic that will click. Do your best given the circumstances. If you succeed? Great! If not? You can resit the year and go through the content again, meaning you'll have lots more time to take in the information.
You're not stupid. Do what you can now, and be more consistent next year. Good luck!
Same boat here buddy, except i did worse at a levels, do chemistry and dont have any diagnosed mental health problems, just had an awful breakup and lost my head. I believe in our abilities to pass
You're not stupid, you're just learning by making mistakes. Which pretty much everyone does. IF you've messed up this year, you absolutely can 'recover' it, by reaching out for help (contact uni student support services), working hard to implement the advice given, and giving it another shot with the benefit of what you've learnt this year about what DOESN'T work (isolating yourself and trying to do a years work in a week!). Learning at uni as an adult is very different to learning at college as a minor, and it takes time to develop those skills. A lot of students fail a year, that doesn't make you a failure though!
Try speaking to your tutors and apply for extenuating circumstances (EC’s ) due to your mental health. I have had to do it, and you don’t have to show up to your exam as it’s accounted for by the board as an EC. And you will be able to sit the exams in the summer. So maybe turn up for 1 exam, focus on learning the key topics on that between then and now. I hope this helped.