> Althought many of you don't know what that mean, I should be starting CEGEP in just a few weeks. CEGEP stands for College d'Enseignement General ET Professionel. Or, in another language, General and Professional Teaching College.
>

Heh. Thanks. I went through the system and honestly never found out what CÉGEP stood for. :-)


> That's two years between high school and college, wich basically mean I get a year less of High school (No senior year) and one less year of college in the Province of Québec. or credited courses elsewhere.
>

Although it possibly depends on which CÉGEP college you go to, you really should consider your two years of CEGEP to be equivalent, in both learning and difficulty, to the first year and a bit of freshman University. I wish someone had told me that when I was in school. Since the tuition at most CEGEPs is free, most students in Quebec go through this system. Or they try to. The 40% of the population in Quebec who successfully attain this first-year college education are probably at an advantage.


> Anyway, everything seemed to be going well. I was signed up for Natural Sciences, wich is the program peoples who are aiming for sciences take. I'm not sure what I want to do in life, I intended to apply for the Coast Guard next year, then, when I'd have gotten turned down, go in biochemestry or something in those lines. Or Computer Science. Whatever.
>
> well, last Monday, I learned that I had flunked the retry exam for Math 536. AKA, prerequisite course.
>
> It amaze me how I can manage to get 41% on an exam, and 37% when I try it again. Well, with different questions. Anyhow.
>
> So now, I can't get in Natural Sciences. So I call the API, AKA the person in charge of me at the CEGEP. (Enough accronym in a sentence, right?) First of, she used formal form with me, wich I didn't mind at all. Quite to the contrary. But she used my first name. First name and formal form? Nope. Sorry. Doesn't work.
>
> Then she started treating me like a retard. Wich I did *not* appreciate. I'm not a retard. Or so I like to believe.
>

> 'Welcoming and integration'.
>
> It's the program retards take. That's how it's commonly known. Basically, I'd have french, philosophy, Math 536, Phys. Ed, and an optionnal class. That's like 10 hours of class.
>
> My plan is to switch to Social Sciences (Sciences humaines, whatever), and just live happily with it. If I end up in A&I... Well, ok, I could start sciences in January, but I'd never be able to go out in public again without my paper bag. So I'd just take teh semester off and work somewhere.
>
> Anyway. I know most of you (Read, none) don't give much of a duck anyway. But I needed to express it wholy somewhere. Get it off my chest.
>
> Ever felt that you don't have a clue of where you're heading, but you've gotta take a decision in two days? And that that decision's gonna orient your life a good bit?
>
> Anyway. It's not fun.
>
> Eti "Mommy!" enne


I know I'm considerably tardy in answering this, and you've already made your decision in switching to Sciences sociales. And yes, that decision is indeed reorienting your plans and your life quite a bit. But contrary to what someone else said, I wouldn't immediately write off your opportunity to take Sciences naturelles just because you "failed a topic that you didn't love," i.e. Math 536.

It's rather early to be closing doors in your life that you really didn't want closed. There are *always* ways to get around setbacks, if you are patient and don't mind taking an extra semester. For example, you could discipline yourself to work hard; learn the ropes on how to study. The easiest way to do this is make friends with the best students in class and ask them lots of questions. Also, get copies of old exams out of the library archives so you have an idea of what topics are coming up next and what to focus on. Do well in sciences sociales this semester. Then when the next semester comes up, tell the Registrar that you want to take Math 536 and switch into Sciences naturelles. You won't have lost that much time. In fact, your total weekly course load will probably be *easier* because the philosophy, history, and economy classes will now count as electives which you've already taken.

Regarding Mathematics 536: I looked at the general outline syllabus for this course, and I don't think I ever took it in high school...

/ / / / / / 536 Topics: Algebra (systems of inequalities, real functions, optimization, metric relations, exponential & logarithmic functions, transforming expressions); Geometry (circles and conics, right triangles, geometric loci, trigonometric functions, and vectors); and Statistics (problems involving one- and two-variable distributions).


Wow. I only took the algebra and trig part by Secondaires III-V; that's all that my school had offered. Which finally explains why I had to take a course called "Basic Math" when I first went to CEGEP. For a "basic" course, that course was BLOODY HARD. It included all the topics above, PLUS complex numbers, mathematical induction, combinatorics; and more analytics, more polynomials, and the Binomial Theorem. It wasn't so much that the content was hard. There were just too many things to learn with sufficient depth. Fortunately my teacher was amazing -- she was excellent -- so I barely managed to pass it with a 67%.

At core I discovered that this kind of "lower math," and often the way it's taught, is always more difficult to learn than higher math. It looked strange on my transcript given that that same semester I got a 96% in Calculus-I and a 90% in Cal-II the next year. In other words, I think you should never assume that just because an "introductory" course seems impossible, it means you're not suited to studying a certain discipline. You have to consider the course's format, and the number of topics covered within its timeframe, when you're making your evaluation. So don't ever think that just because you failed a "critical" course, you're now labelled a retard and have to take retard courses. Consider that this time is a breathing time to reorient yourself and think about priorities, and plan for the future. Also, it's a good time to learn who you are, and what you think you will want.