So I falied my Calculus final.

[Crimmy]

Yup.

Now I have to take a half-year course to end thid well.
And I have to wait until february to enter uni.

So, Playgrounders.

Have you failed an assignment, exam, or something that changed your life?

[kusje]

Are you sure your only failed calculus?

[mucat]

There are no summer courses available, Crimmy?

Don't know what country you're in or how the system works, but check with local (or less local) universities and two-year colleges or the equivalent. Someone might be teaching a summer calculus course that it's not too late to join.

[lostlittlebear]

Are you sure your only failed calculus?

C'mon - that was uncalled for.

And pretty ironic, considering the way you spelled that post.

@Crimmy:
My heart goes out to you, I know how easy it is to mess up an exam due to a bad performance on the day itself. But put it this way - it's just half a year and in 5 years time you'll look back and realize it wasn't such a big deal after all. There's plenty of time to catch up :smallwink:

[Crimmy]

@Mucat: Well, I don't exactly need it for university. But it was my final exam, and failing this, I can't exactly get my High School finished.

And, though I can get a summer course or two, the people at my school think it's better I takethe course there, and then present an extraordinary exam. Then I will finish HS, and will be able to do what I want.

@LLB: Yeah, I know that when I finish it, I won't feel as bad. Thanks for the heart-lifting.

@Whoever responded first:
Too bad the joke's on you... Sorry, on "your".

[mucat]

@Mucat: Well, I don't exactly need it for university. But it was my final exam, and failing this, I can't exactly get my High School finished.

And, though I can get a summer course or two, the people at my school think it's better I takethe course there, and then present an extraordinary exam. Then I will finish HS, and will be able to do what I want.

Well, before I say anything else, please take my advice with a grain of salt. I don't know where you live and what the system is like there. But I think the people at your high school are overstating the importance of getting a diploma from them. It's natural that they would overestimate the importance of the institution where they work, but their advice might not be good in this case.

As long as your university is willing to let you start, it will never matter whether you finished that last high school class. (Assuming you eventually get that University degree, of course.) It certainly isn't worth a semester-long delay.

So don't worry about what the high school advisors say; talk to the people at the University that accepted you. Do this as soon as you can -- first thing Monday morning would be best. Tell them what happened, and ask what you need to do to fix this and begin classes in the fall.

If they say that a summer class won't work, and that you need to retake the class at your original high school next fall, then your high school advisors were correct. (Though you might want to confirm this with more than one person at different levels in the University's heirarchy; the first person you talk to may not know the full range of possibilities.)

But if they say a summer class will make up for the failed exam, then get them to sign off on a written plan (to make sure there are no miscommunications that could derail things) and go with it. And do this now; summer classes have probably already started, and it may soon be too late to join them.

Now, if you want to wait before beginning university, that's a completely different matter. I actually think it's almost always a good idea to do other things before starting college. But don't get stuck with an unwanted delay just because someone at your high school is giving bad advice.

[Starscream]

Calculus. Ouch. I feel your pain.

Calculus nearly screwed me my first year of college. In high school I was excellent at math, even taking a couple of AP courses. I even ended up testing out of one of the first math courses in college, so I got to start with Calc 1. Did fine.

Then I went on to Calc 2. Had the worst teacher imaginable. She barely spoke English, never did examples, only proofs, and constantly made elementary mistakes. It got so bad that the other professor who taught that course sent us an email saying (in more polite terms) "Your teacher basically sucks and everybody knows it. If you want to attend my lectures and only show up to her class for tests, I won't say a word."

Alas, this advice came a bit late and I got a D. Not failing, but I'm a guy who is used to As and Bs. The next class in the lineup required that you get a C- or better to sign up, but I was planning on majoring in Education which didn't require that class, so I decided to accept my D with good grace and say goodbye to Calc forever.

Next year, I finally pick a major: Engineering. Now I need to keep taking math classes. Which means I need to go back and retake that class I didn't even fail last year. And guess who I get as a teacher? Go on, guess. I had planned to avoid her like the plague, but the other guy's class filled up right away (seems word gets around).

Fortunately this time I knew what to expect, didn't attend any of her lectures, just read the textbook and looked for lessons online. It worked, I got an A-, and never looked back. The following math classes were much better, with teachers were were qualified to do their jobs.

[SurlySeraph]

Starscream, are you me? Because you just described my math experience thus far pretty closely. Except the engineering part.

Also, chemistry. My high school chem teacher was retiring at the end of the year, so the administration couldn't do anything to him, and he didn't care how much we learned. Hell, for the first three months I was under the impression that breaking bonds released energy. I did very well in that class because it wasn't very demanding, and nearly failed my college chem class, largely because I had so little background as a result of that class.

Also, physics. My high school physics teacher was useless, and quit to become a musician a year after I had him. I don't think we ever got past levers. That a) screwed me for Calculus 2, since we had a bunch of physics problems in that class whose format the teacher expected us to be familiar with, and b) means that I have to hope like hell I never need to take another physics course.

[Starscream]

Starscream, are you me? Because you just described my math experience thus far pretty closely. Except the engineering part.

No, but I wouldn't rule out that I'm your evil alternate personality. The engineering degree is because it costs a fortune to have someone design death-rays that come out of volcanoes, so I prefer to do it myself.

Oh, and you know that one book on your shelf that you've never read, and don't really plan to even though you insist you'll get around to it someday? Yeah, don't pull that book.

In the event that you do pull that book, don't go down the spiral staircase.

In the event that you go down the spiral staircase, don't touch anything that looks like it exists simultaneously in five different dimensions.

In the event that you do touch something that looks like it exists simultaneously in five different dimensions, don't be alarmed if the covalent bonds that hold your molecules together are broken.

In the event that you are alarmed, at least don't be surprised if no energy is released.:smallwink:

[TSGames]

Have you failed an assignment, exam, or something that changed your life?
Yes. I failed Calc II at a university where only 53% of students received a grade of 'C' or better in Calc II.

I later retook Calc II and made an 'A.' While I would definitely say that I had a substantially better teacher the second time, the only major difference was personal motivation.

I had failed Calc II because I was weak and lacked discipline. It was not until later that I would realize that when I failed Calc II I was at my weakest, my most defeated. From that defeat arose many victories. I learned that if I didn't develop the willpower through discipline, I would never have it. In many ways, failing Calc II was the best mistake I ever made.

[rakkoon]

Never changed my life. Did have one single class I had to retake in my last year and that took away a month of my vacation time. It wasn't that hard but it was the only thing standing between me and graduating.
And I already signed with a company starting 2 days after graduation...pressure :smallannoyed:
One stupid class...

[Delwugor]

The first time I took the PHD Qualification exam.
There where 2 parts a written and an oral test. If you get 90% on the written you pass outright otherwise 70-90% you have to take the oral. I got an 88 on the written and it was expected for me to pass the oral easily. And because I did so well the professors for the oral gave me what was suppose to be easy questions, answered the first one well and the second (and easiest question) I just drew a blank and froze completely, then I was so flustered that I couldn't answer the third question good enough. So I went from almost passing the written outright which about 1 in 30 people did to failing and having to take the next year. It was really embarrasing being one of the top grad students and failing the qualifiers.

The next year I got an 85% on the written (grrrrrrr), but had learned my lesson and studied for the oral with the professors who where to give it. I didn't know exactly what would be asked but I knew basically what areas they where to cover and that time no suprise.

[pendell]

Yup.

Now I have to take a half-year course to end thid well.
And I have to wait until february to enter uni.

So, Playgrounders.

Have you failed an assignment, exam, or something that changed your life?

I also failed calculus my first term at Uni. I went back and took it again the next term. Then I did it again the next term until I finally received a grade high enough to meet the prerequisite for the computer science degree I was pursuing and eventually received.

Failure is just something that happens. Sometimes it's the universe's way of telling you that maybe you should be trying something else. Sometimes it's the universe's way of telling you that you need more practice. When I fail, I either try again or find a workaround which makes the failure irrelevant. For this Darth Sidious is my role model -- in the prequel movies he has all kinds of obstacles, failures, and dead minions, yet he somehow always finds a way to turn his failures to advantage, so that he wins regardless of the occasional screwup.

It's like playing poker, really. No one wins every single hand. But a good strategy will allow you to capitalize on your wins while minimizing your losses, so that you come out ahead in the end anyway.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Dr.Epic]

I failed an art history class. And it wasn't even the good type of art history. It was fine art from the past 100 years. Yeah: cubism, post-modernism, surrealism (which I don't actually mind since I like a lot of Dali's stuff), minimalism.:smallannoyed: Unless it's like comics or other cool art stuff like that, the past 100 years of art have mostly been a major waist of time.

[Kobold-Bard]

Failed an entire year of uni. Resat, passed this time :smallbiggrin:
Its not the end of the world even if it feels like it atm.

(2)

[Niezck]

In regards to your problem:

It won't be that bad from what I can tell, as most people tend to fail/miss/resit/whatever atleast some time through uni. Or atleast, that's what my experience through my elder siblings has been. Plus, people doing extra degrees and/or going back to university later in life - you shouldn't feel all that out of place once you get there.

Somewhat related:

I missed my entire second term this year and so had to skip over half my exams last month. I'm therefore having to resit this entire year and, should my results in the exams I did sit be good, miss out those modules next year.

In about two years time I'll be in the last year of high school and everyone I've known for the past 6 years will have left ... FML.

I know it ain't the end of the world or anything, but I bet it will really, really, really suck.