I suck at college

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Are there various names for many learning disabilities?

I've been trying to find a structured article, or something to help me identify my shortcomings, but I've come up with nothing.

I'm absolutely horrible at math and calculus, along with accounting (which are the three main courses I'm having trouble with currently and keep failing!) - I've completed some courses, and I did fine in grade school, ok in high school (I failed a few maths classes there but I could get by, by taking them over the summer and one during the evenings) so I graduated on time.

But now, in college - I should be graduated!

(...geez, I needed to vent a little. I think I'll probably seek out a counselor at my college even though I kinda dread it ...she'll just probably tell me I'm stupid and should quit college and give up on those courses I've gotten credit for, get myself a menial job that sucks the life out of me)
Jes.. Chr...! I wish I could be like Rain Man in this regard

A counselor is highly unlikely to tell you you're stupid. They're there to help students who want to succeed find a means to do so.

I don't know about your campus, but I know that some have math tutoring centers where students can drop in to ask for assistance or just if they need a quiet place to study. You might not need to do it all alone.

Yepp, I know. But my mind is pretty good at conjuring up the worst possible scenarios.

I also feel like I should be pretty good in college, seeing as how things were pretty normal in all my other school levels. So I don't understand why things have taken a turn for the worse.

Which is why I'm trying to find out what the h+++ is wrong with me

I have three classes to take to get my Associates Degree, one is remedial (Intermediate Algebra) that I failed twice, and now I have to pay out of state tuition or go to a different school and take. The others are College Algebra and Statistics. I don't have a math brain and I need lots of help, but I have a hard time asking for help and sometimes understanding the help that is being given. Sometimes, it just works like that. I agree with downbutnotout, ask for help when you need it. Alternatively, you can go on Khan Academy, Saylor.org, or InstaCert and maybe one of those will help you out. I don't really think there is anything wrong with you. A lot of people are mathematically challenged. If I wasn't, I would have built a Viper and flew through a black hole. Oh, and Accounting does suck. I had a horrible teacher, he has a continuity contract and didn't care that he sucked. But, there is a lot of help out there with that also. Are you a business major?

In college you typically get to work at your own pace--this can be a serious problem for folks with executive function issues.

In other words, if you are sufficiently gifted, you don't have to study every week--nothing wrong with waiting until the last moment if you can do well on the exams. But, most students can't really do that.

It's not always simple... I've talked to a few people who've been good at math, bad at math, and then good at math again. Or very bad, and then very good. Along with people who just never improved their skills very much.

Your brain itself is probably fine. Do whatever you can until you have the breakthroughs you need to graduate and leave this behind.

Does your school have a math center? I know my college provides free tutoring in the math center.

Also, if you only need a math credit and not a specific math credit, you can take a class that's lower than the one you were placed in. No sense in beating yourself up in Calculus if you can take intermediate algebra and graduate.

How could you say that? Either way, I know how you feel. That's why I need help with my studies.

I posted this same kind of advice in Queensamaria's thread about math further down the forum list, but....

I have tended to find that the teaching method for things, tends to matter most in my ability to learn it in any given space of time. Math is a language. You don't learn Japanese by having some one stand in front of you and talk at you in it for an hour a day, and then go home and try to work out what they said out of a text book..... Most school's curriculum for math tends to center around Lecture and Homework, but not everyone can use that to learn something like math. You need to find a method that works for you. Queensmaria actually mentioned flash cards in her thread, and thats a great idea, though it may not be for everyone. Personally, I like having access to someone that knows the math that I can ask questions and have confirmation as I go that what I'm working on is being done correctly, as I do it, though again this may not be for everyone. The entire trick here is figuring out what might work for you, and accomplish trying it.

Most school's these days have some sort of Math Lab as some one suggested. They'll also have a tutor program available (Work Study folk gotta do something to earn that cash). Depending on which school you go to they might have other resources available as well. If you have an ASD diagnosis, register with your school's disability center as they will almost always have *something* more available.

Good Luck,
Aldran

I just posted a long reply in a similar thread about math. I hope it helps.

I am an accountant and would be happy to try to help explain some of the accounting topics, if that would help.

However, do well or poorly at math and accounting things doesn't make someone smart or stupid. Most of the time, the understanding or lack thereof is due to the teacher, but there's also natural aptitude for different topics. Accounting was something I understood well, but things most people consider easy like literature or music or history were a nightmare for me. Remembering who wrote what music or ruled which country or figuring out what an author "felt" when s/he was writing is not something I can do well at all. So, don't let math or accounting get you down. They might be the bane of your existence for now, but once you make it past these classes, your difficulties with them will probably not be an issue anymore.

Just a thought here:

If you know that math isn't a strength that you have, you can choose college majors that have a lot less of it. You're taking math, calculus and accounting at the same time? That's got to be problematic. I'm pretty good at math, but I still try to keep each quarter's schedule more varied than that. I'm on my 10th consecutive quarter with a math class (including classes during summer quarters). I've alternated chemistry and physics and had a third, mostly different subject each quarter: English, Econ, Engineering, foreign language (yuck), even took World Music for a diversity requirement!

If you were, say a sociology major, most schools would make you take one quarter of college-level math and be done with it. Doesn't even have to be calculus!

Culinary arts requires only a Math 101 course, and same goes for criminal justice.

What are the important accounting topics at the beginning?

The most important things to take out of an entry-level accounting course are:
- Getting familiar with the terminology used in accounting
- Ideally, understanding debits and credits

Some of us still struggle with debits and credits many years later but if you can get them figured out early, that helps a lot. For example, if you know whether debiting or crediting an income account means you made money (crediting is making money for an income account) and when you deposit that money if it's a debit or credit to your bank account (it's a debit to the bank account when you deposit). These things are confusing and half-backwards, so don't feel bad if they don't make sense right away. Our most recent hire has about 20 years' accounting experience and still gets confused with them! However, if you can master debits and credits in your first year of accounting classes, then the rest of college as well as your career will be much easier.

It would probably be a good idea to not take more than one of these classes at a time, since you have trouble with them.

I see that several people have suggested getting academic support through the school. I would add to that the possibility of a dedicated tutor who can help you with specific questions as you work through the class.

Another thought I had is a tutor or someone who can actually teach you how to study. This is a skill all of its own and if you were able to get through high school without it you are now in a position where you need to learn study skills quickly.

Things like making flash cards for formulas and definitions, how to review information so that you remember it, how you best learn (some people learn better by listening to a lecture over and over again, rather than reading the information) are all important to being successful at college.

Don't give up - remember if the school can't help you there are often 3rd party companies who are happy to provide academic support/ tutors for a fee at many schools.