So essentially I took a class last semester, passed it, but didn’t learn shit because I rarely attended the lectures (worked evenings, class was in AM, used the hour to catch up on sleep). I didn’t realize how important the class was to my major, and now I’m seriously struggling in my current classes.
Have you ever had to retake a prerequisite in order to better understand a subject?
Honestly, do whatever works for you.
Have you considered auditing the class, rather than paying for enrollment?
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Yeah. If it’s one of those big lecture halls and no attendance is taken, just go to that class.
Even if attendance is taken, I doubt there will be consequences for taking up space.
It all depends on if there’s enough space for everyone who enrolled in the class. But the only consequence will likely be that you’re asked to stop sitting in. Maybe more if you ignore that request.
Kind of.
My alma mater had two calculus tracks. One for engineers and one for everyone else.
I took easy calc 1 during undergrad. I had take easy calc 2 later on, and then take a “bridge” course that takes the easy calc kids up to speed with the engineers so they can take calc III.
That bridge course was a redo of calc 1 and 2 but a little more difficult.
I am very glad I did it that way. I’m really good at math, but calc III is bullshit (crosswind calculations, fuck dude). I had a very thorough understanding of the requisite material and it def helped.
I took calc for engineers cuz I was in engineering at the time. That shit kicked my ass. I retook calc 2 in the normal track cuz I was struggling with higher math and it made so much more sense.
I asked for a D in algebra so I could repeat it (I’d have gotten a C+, but you can’t repeat courses if you get a c or better at that school) because I’m bad at math and needed to take some more advanced math for some of my science/stats courses.
Hurt my overall gpa for that semester, but the B+ I ended up with replaced the D entirely so it was fine.
I went back to school for engineering in my late 20s. I took physics and calculus again because I needed it to be confident in pursuing the rest of the courses.
i passed linear algebra, calculus I and II, when i was 20 y.o., left college for 17 years, and then i came back to take differential equations, vector cal, etc. it was a challenge, but i was ready to get slapped
there are free online lectures out there like MIT open courseware, i’ve rewatched some classes that i got fuzzy on. Also specific concepts may be better explained on youtube by like organic chemistry tutor or 3 blue 1 brown.
I have not paid to retake a class though.
I came to college with an AP Calc 2 credit, and my counselor suggested I retake it for an “easy GPA boost”
Little did I know the only professor to teach Calc 2 was one of the worst teachers of all time, and everyone frequently got low grades in his class. It put my scholarship into jeopardy, and I had to go a long way up the chain and beg for a whole slew of overrides, to apply my old AP credit and avoid taking the same course with the same professor again.
So yeah, be careful as you might get a shit professor and hurt your GPA. You might be better off just getting study materials or tutoring from a 3rd party so it won’t have a chance to negatively affect your academic standing
Yeah. Had to retake differential equations and thermodynamic and fluid mechanics in university because the teachers were either bonkers or scatterbrained.
Yep, I did exactly that. I passed a class because the prof graded on a curve, but if he hadn’t no one would have passed, so I learned nothing. I went and talked to the prof that was teaching it the next semester, just before classes started, and he said it was fine fine to sit in as long as I didn’t come on any of the test days.
I suggest you go in person to ask, it might be something they’re not supposed to do, so if you ask in some way that leaves a paper trail, they might have to say no just to cover their ass.
I had to retake a class twice because I had transferred schools/majors and something in the computer said that was the class I needed to be in at the time. I put this on the university.
Basically they put me in this class but I hadn’t had two of the pre-reqs. This was obviously a problem, so I had to drop it twice in order to take those because I didn’t know what in the hell was going on (engineering). I was getting the runaround from the office and basically nobody knew what I needed to do and the professor wasn’t the best in terms of communication.
So to answer your question, yes. I struggled a lot not knowing the basics.
No.
Are you going to pay for that class again? If so, it’ll probably be cheaper to just see a tutor. You’ll get a more personalized education and it’ll take less time.
I took French for three years in high school and three years in college thinking I’d eventually pick some up but all the French I know is from movies
I went back to school after a 8 year absence after I couldn’t afford to continue school originally, and had to get a blue collar job. I competed 2 years at a university before leaving. But I ended up having to retake most of my courses I’d already completed up to that point as my community college didn’t accept any of my credits after that time frame.
In all fairness, I probably would have struggled to get into the new stuff if I hadn’t reviewed the old things and it made it easier to get back into the college mode since everything was familiar. The only part I’m really annoyed about is having to retake physics. I aced AP physics in high school, like vreezed right through it with nearly perfect grades and got a top score on the exam. But they didn’t count the credit because it wasn’t Calculus based. The difference between the Calc based and the non-calc based was negligible at best, the class was not relevant to my degree and they only offered it in the semester I had to take it in a city 1.5 hours away for a 5 hour lecture and lab twice a week. So I dedicated 16 hours a week and all of that gas money for two semesters just on this one ultimately useless class. I’m a bit salty about that one.
When I finished my associates and transferred to a state school for my last 2 years for my bachelor’s, they ended up accepting nearly all of my original credits even though they were now redundant. However they didn’t accept the credit from either school for my discrete mathematics course credits. So I ended taking that course for a third time. Yaaaay! Also. Guess what, they accepted my AP physics credit that my community college didn’t. So I made that drive and spent all day on that class twice a week for no reason at all! Woo-hoo!
I should have but couldn’t afford it. Was able to learn later over time with a little smoke and mirrors but really wish money hadn’t kept me from a decent education.
