A question for those with undergraduate degree...

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Or those who are currently in college/university can answer too...

Did you know what program you would "do ok" in before enrolling in the program and if so how did you know?

Here's my situation. In high school I did really well in math and calculus/vectors (I didn't take data management though), better than bio/chem/english and so it made sense that I decided to enroll in a course called mathematical physics right?

However, during first year I failed a chem lab (ok, so it was chem) I retook it and passed it. I managed to pass math and physics but only with lots of help from my dad, except for calculus, it was easier.

During second year (my current year) first term, I dropped quantum phyiscs (so confusing) and I failed electromagnetism and linear algebra. I am currently in Honours Science because it is the same faculty so its easier to switch. I'm not actually sure if I'm gonna be able to pass all my courses this term since I have to take biology and I have a bad feeling about this.

So, how does someone even know what programs they will do good in? I'm actually somewhat lost in my academic career right now. I swear I have some learning disability where I can't focus. I was thinking that if my current plan failed, I might start over with some type of applied math since it shouldn't be as hard as mathematical physics.

Just because you did well in something in High School, doesn't mean that you are prepared for college-level work, unfortunately. The good news is, lots of people change majors at least once. Many change majors more than once. That's one of the reasons they like to have people put most of their focus on the core classes during their first two years while they're still sorting out what they really want to do with their lives. Talk to your undergraduate advisor. You may want to take a career-aptitude assessment, which should be available through your institution's counselling and testing office. It may give you some options you've never considered before.

For me it mostly depends on how well the class is taught. I never do that well in literature classes though. I find the whole "symbolism" part of it confusing and pointless.

Does your college offer any sort of career testing you could do?

Have you ID'd why you are doing poorly in the classes? Is it because the material is too hard? Are you having problems taking notes/understanding the lectures? Are you able to read the textbooks, or do you find it difficult to process what the written words mean? Is time management the issue? Organization?

Does your college offer tutors? Many in the states offer them for free or very low cost (to make sure students don't skip out on the session). Could you form a study group for some of your classes with like-minded people? If note-taking is an issue, you may be able to bring a laptop to class, or sometimes purchase the notes from a notetaking service if that is available.

If math fits you well, but the calculus courses seem to advanced, what about a major like finance or accounting? statistics? Information Technology?

Haha! Notetaking? All my classes have lecture slide in pdf posted online.

I don't do well learning in a classroom environment. I had to learn subject on my own and then take the classes.

There's your problem. Sorry to tell you this, kiddo, but you absolutely need to take notes -- preferably hand-written notes -- in college-level lectures. Yes, even if you didn't have to take notes in high school. Yes, even if the slides are available to read online.

Why? Because when you process information in multiple ways, you retain it in multiple ways. That's why you may forget something you hear said, but have a better chance of retaining it if you hear it and repeat it back. The more ways you record and process new information, the more likely you are to fully process the information and retain it. Reading over the slides later is absolutely no substitute. Taking notes on computer is better than not taking notes at all, but hand-writing the notes gets your body involved in the process as well.

Get as many kinds of processing involved as possible: go to lectures, listen and ask questions about what you hear; take notes -- not everything your professor says will be in the online slides and you could miss vital information or an explanation that only happens because someone asked a question; read the reading assignments and the online notes as well as your own notes -- there may be things in the reading assignments that the professor doesn't cover in lecture but still expects you to be responsible for learning from the reading assignments; when you're studying, re-write the notes with annotations from the readings; recite the notes out loud -- use that aspie tendency to talk to yourself to your advantage.

Finally, hit the tutoring office and learn effective study skills, because you will not survive college without them.

There's my problem. The textbook is too frigging long with small font. I can't focus. I like the idea of writing down notes. I will do just that and see how things go. I will also attempt to read as much textbook as possible too.

College textbooks are usually very poorly written, imo. I usually don't bother, because I can't understand them 99% of the time.

Google "reading magnifiers." They come in full-page size or as smaller portable versions, starting around $10. They may even have a version at your college bookstore. This should help with the reading assignments.

I had no clue. I went to college for psychology, and I did much better in psych classes (partially due to interest) than most, but I couldn't deal with a lot of the logistics of finding and getting included in research programs etc so I ended up majoring in anthropology.

I went back to psychology, and I'm now in a behavior analysis masters program but I literally had no idea what behavior analysis even entailed when I came here

I just finished my first year and seemingly everyone looks at me as a smart guy who pulls weight but really has no clue what's going on, and that is pretty much accurate.

You sound like me. I wanted to study archaeology when I started college, but couldn't figure out what department it was in and couldn't bring myself to ask questions, so I studied history instead. Now, I'm studying an off-shoot branch of archaeology that didn't even exist as a focus when I first started college and I'm loving it. We all get where we're going eventually.

What wild offshoot of archaeology are you into? I'm sure whatever it is is awesome.

Archaeology was part of the anthro dept at my school (which, obviously, was my major)

I've been on two digs in exotic locations and I loved every minute, just couldn't do it as a career cause doing grunt work is so hard on the knees and the back, and organizing is way too complicated for me

The whole experience with archaeology was such a blast for me, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Is Masters program a lot more difficult than undergrad bachelors?

Ok, so I've searched for tutors in my residence and apparently no one tutors biology.

I study iconography -- the study of symbol systems -- along with archaeology, and, yes, it is awesome!