The urgency of getting a degree done in 4 years seems to push students to unreasonable class loads in my opinion. I always had the acceptable losses class, where I could not study enough for it and took a lesser grade than I hoped for. I struggled in college, and really was not ready to go to college when I did. I was an underdeveloped human being who needed to develop socially first.
Skipping class and not studying enough were primary causes for my struggles in college. I majored in participation in organizations and working out at the physical education center. I spent three nights a week going to campus Christian orgs or Bible Studies and developing my faith and my identity as a person. It was good for me, what I needed most.
But as for my college career, I had no idea what I wanted to pursue. I changed major and minor nine times, pursued education until there was a two-year waiting list, bombed on meeting the requirements of a paper for a core social work class, which led me to get less than a "C" (the prof said it was an excellent sociology paper, but not a social work paper) and drove me to change to sociology as my major--the one which I eventually earned a degree in.
My problem is that I cannot memorize. Well, I could, but it takes my teflon brain 3-5x the time it takes the average person. I don't know why, but I think it had to do with APNEA even then. I have a condition called ideopathic hypersomia in addition, which makes me tired during the day. I do recall sleeping in the student union lounge instead of going to class some days.
This is why when I took my Spanish classes I took them in the summer and only one course at a time, quit my job and studied/did class 12-14 hours per day (four days per week). I got an A- and B+ and wish I had done better. But some folks can memorize things and some cannot.
I always did better in the courses which required logic and understanding, or encouraged proficiency of utilization of formulas (which weren't memorized). Art History Classes were brutal for me... I had to try memorize images, artist full name with correct spelling (baroque artists), the year painted, the city where it now resides, and the name of the museum or collection in which it sits in that city. That was a part of my art minor, and I thought it was a waste of time.
It would not be one if I was planning to be a curator, or schmooze at cocktail parties among the luminaries of the art world. But I wanted to expand my appreciation of art, and this took it away for me.
Often the science courses were the most trouble for me, unless they were understanding-driven. Biology courses were usually exercises in precision memory. What value is remembering phylum, genus, and species unless you're going to be a biologist who is working with a specific animal species? I can only guess that the people who found this invigorating were meant to find that coursework as a sort of an entry interview into the field. Otherwise, I don't know how identifying bird species has any value as part of a college degree. Sure, for personal enrichment, if I want to be a bird watcher, great. But not as part of a degree program, in my unhumble opinion.
I'm not justifying every poor students' performance. One thing I NEVER did when I was in college the first time was speak with my professors. That was a big mistake. I always felt that I didn't fit the instruction/measurement style in many of my classes, and didn't ever make my struggles known to the instructor. Not that it could have changed things much, because my problems were my own to fix, but it might have lent itself to some assistance in small ways.
And I didn't go to tutoring either.
But when I finished my degree with those Spanish classes I went to tutoring, spoke with my prof/T.A.s outside of class, and asked lots of questions in class.
The tutoring is what saved my bacon, as well as studying with peers in our coffee shop. If I had tried to go it alone the memorization hurdle which kept me from completing my degree for 13 years would still exist.
What's so odd about me is that despite my inability to memorize things, I have always been considered of above-average intelligence (very early on in school), and in my jobs I have risen to positions like SME (subject matter expert), where I was the sole trainer and interpreter of a 600 page technical standards document for a telecom vendor. I cannot say that I memorized it, but I had an astounding ability to grasp the "spirit of the living document" and make right judgements about how to interpret it--and to interact as a customer liaison.
I was a secondary ed student for two years in college and I resonated with the concept of alternative learning styles. I never found a way to cope when a class didn't meet my style. I guess I always thought that I had to be just like everyone else, and learn the same way. But now I know that is not true.
But when I learn something, after all the extra effort, I thoroughly understand it, and then can teach it. But it takes me a long, long time to memorize the details. But the professors seemed to test on the details, rather than the understanding. I give that methodology an "F".
By the time I figured out some things about myself, and found a program and courses which fit me, I was a super-senior. I'd wasted an awful lot of credits and sunk my gpa. I still have a whole lot of regrets about my choices, and that I had no idea of my medical conditions or of what my learning style is. I still don't know what method works best for me to learn. But I do know myself well enough that I earned a 3.5 when I went back to college. I had a career gpa of 2.6 prior to that.
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