How to Get Past Hard Classes

Summary List of Steps to Take if You're in Hard Classes

Increase Effort:

•  Focus more on the class by practicing more problems or reviewing material.

Utilize Campus Resources:

• Writing help: Seek out the Writing Center.

• Math/Science help: Use tutoring centers for subjects like math or physics.

Use Resources Effectively:

• Understand that tutors won’t do the work for you—focus on learning.

Find a Study Partner: 

• Work with a knowledgeable classmate, but make sure you aren’t overly reliant on them.

Attend Review Sessions: 

• Join review sessions run by honor societies or clubs, and ask professors for review materials.

Talk to Professors: 

• Set up meetings early to get advice on succeeding in the class.

Prioritize Coursework: 

• Focus on difficult classes, even if it means sacrificing a grade in another subject.

Leverage Online Tools:

• Grammarly for writing help.

• Symbolab, and Photomath for math problems.

• Chegg for textbook solutions (but use responsibly).

Time Management: 

• Balance your workload, prioritizing classes crucial to your major.

Steps to Take if You're in Hard Classes

Throughout your college career, you're going to have a class that you're going to struggle in. But how do you prepare for this? How do you make the struggle easier? There are many steps to mitigate this and I will be covering this in the following article. The first thing I would do if you are struggling in a class is to work more on this class and do more problems or whatever it may be. Then if you are still struggling, you can find alternative resources. The resources you need depend on the type of class you are taking.

To start with, if it's a writing or English-based class, you may want to see if there are any Writing Centers or writing help on campus. Going to your University website is a good place to start. However, if it's a different core class like math, you may want to see if there are any tutoring resources on campus. There's usually a math help center, a Physics help center, or an X help center for a given subject that many people are struggling with. I would suggest trying to use the campus resources as much as possible when you are struggling since you are already paying for these resources.

A lot of times, these resources are pretty helpful, but you have to be willing to learn they're not just going to do your homework for you. Many times that would happen when I was at the math help center at my college. I am also guilty of trying to do this. Colleges oftentimes have other resources like resume reviews and career fairs for non-academic and more career-focused opportunities, so be looking for that, too.

Another option for you is to find someone who is smart in your class that you are struggling in and ask them for help or to study with them. It might not always work, but this is one of the ideal Solutions.  Because if you're able to study with them it can be a symbiotic relationship where you can build a friendship. Then, you can study and learn the material that you want to learn without putting way too many hours into learning the material by yourself. This is because you can ask them questions about things they already know about. You have to be careful, though, to make sure that they're just not holding your hand through the learning process. If this is happening, you will blank when it's finally exam time. You have to put in the work and do the problem yourself. You can't just let them do it for you; it comes back to the same point as the help centers.

Additionally, Honor Societies or other clubs will have review sessions sometimes on certain subjects these are pretty helpful because they will go over much of the information on the exam. They'll be explained from the student's point of view rather than the professor's since a student is closer to the subject and the struggle that you're currently having. So I recommend going to the review sessions because you can ultimately learn the most from that than multiple days' worth of class. You can also ask the professor for a review packet. They may have something, especially if they taught for a good amount of time, and ask for a list of what's possibly going to be on the exam so you don't have to make one yourself. Then you can study what their list entails.

This leads me to you should talk with your professors or set up a meeting with your professors in the classes that you are struggling in before exams come up because it's better to fix the problem early. Then, catch up halfway through the semester, trying to dig yourself out of a hole. You need to talk to a professor sooner rather than later and ask him what they suggest you do to succeed in their course.

Another thing you may need to try to do is minimize other class work that isn't as important and focus on the class that you're struggling in. You may have to sacrifice a grade point in other classes for the class that you're struggling in to have an average grade. It's better not to fail a class than it is to give up a point on another class. Make sure that you pass all your classes because you're putting so much money into your classes that you don't want to have to redo them. The key here is to find the balance point between your class work and what you need to prioritize. Because, again, a class that you're building on in your major is more important than a general curriculum class that you will only take once. So it's all about time management and understanding what is worth going through and struggling to learn and what is not.

There are also subscription services like Grammarly which helps you with your writing. I still use Grammarly and there is a free version you can use for many of your writing classes if you don't want to spend the money. Additionally, if you're taking math courses, Symbolab and Photomath will help you understand math and get you to learn many of the steps to get the answer correct. Chegg is another service that has solutions to problems, textbooks, and easy Bible software to make citing sources way easier. Just be careful not to overuse Chegg and understand what you are doing.

Hopefully, this information has helped you in your learning through college and beyond. Remember to keep learning and understand what the priority class is so you are using your time correctly. Lastly, if you want more content consider applying to the email list to get a reminder. I will be covering a lot of different topics and even example problems for math, science, and other subjects. 

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