I think I'm gonna fail one of my January exams

Ok so I only have two January exams but one of them I'm just really panicking about. I barely understand any of the content from the module and I've tried to go through the lecture notes and understand it but I just don't get it and the problem I have is that the questions on the exam always ask you to proove things which we haven't learnt in lectures and it's always worth a lot of marks as well say maybe 8 marks and I never know what to write at all and so I'm just gonna end up missing out tonnes of questions and hence I think I'm going to not even get 40%. I've tried looking at past papers and solutions but I don't find it helps me very much as section A is hard and then section B is just always impossible like I can rote learn the definitions but that's not gonna get me many marks. Has anyone else been in the situation before where they just know no matter how hard they try and revise they're just not going to pass -_-
Extra info : I'm studying maths and the exam is ' foundations of pure maths ' where you have to proove various things to do with sets and stuff for instance

Well, you've come to the right place to seek help. Have you posted regularly in the Maths forum here? I've been told that in very worst cases universities just give you stuff you're expected to learn.

I just feel like the exam repeatedly tests knowledge that is beyond the spec of the stuff covered in lectures or maybe one thing mentioned very briefly now forms the basis of an entire question and it's just like how am I supposed to revise if the things that appear little are the things that I'm gonna be asked loads about ; it just seems ridiculous and I'm just close to giving up entirely

Unfortunately, this is uni-level learning. At school, you're "taught to test" - essentially, you are taught everything you need to know in order to pass exams, and also the required exam techniques.

Uni is very different. When I started my degree, I was told that lectures would give me about 10% of what I needed in order to get a degree. The bulk of my learning experience would be independent work - in my subject, that was working through reading lists based on topics which were introduced in lectures. I'm not sure what the Maths equivalent would be, but I suspect that just rote learning lecture content won't be enough - you need to understand and practice how to apply those concepts. That aspect seems to be missing from your prep.

If you do fail exams, get advice from your module leaders about how best to improve your working methods. You're clearly capable, or you wouldn't be at uni in the first place. It's just that you need to adjust your learning techniques for your new environment. This is pretty much what your fist year is all about - it's an apprenticeship in uni learning on which the second and third years can build. Failing first time round is OK as long as long as you treat it as a learning experience and get advice on how to improve.

Thank you I guess it is a learning curve and I'll try not to get too stressed if I do end up performing badly. It's just when it comes to knowing how to apply the content I just never know how to go about revising that and also a lot of the content for this particular module is pretty abstract and it's hard to find resources online which are accessible to a first heat student

Report back here with your good results please! You'll do well!

What were your a level subjects?

Can't really be of help, but you're not alone. I'm pretty sure I am going to fail my January exam. It's completely my own fault though.

All you can really do is try your best.

I just have no motivation cause I've pretty much decided I'm gonna be leaving uni at the end of this year anyway as I'm not enjoying myself and dreading the thought of going back at the weekend cause I'm just around people I dislike and it pisses me off
I just wanna be done with all of this

Did your course offer revision lectures? Or have you gone to speak to the course/module leader?

erm nope no such thing as revision lectures and no i haven't and there's not really time now to do that lol

Unfortunately, this is uni-level learning. At school, you're "taught to test" - essentially, you are taught everything you need to know in order to pass exams, and also the required exam techniques.

Uni is very different. When I started my degree, I was told that lectures would give me about 10% of what I needed in order to get a degree. The bulk of my learning experience would be independent work - in my subject, that was working through reading lists based on topics which were introduced in lectures. I'm not sure what the Maths equivalent would be, but I suspect that just rote learning lecture content won't be enough - you need to understand and practice how to apply those concepts. That aspect seems to be missing from your prep.

If you do fail exams, get advice from your module leaders about how best to improve your working methods. You're clearly capable, or you wouldn't be at uni in the first place. It's just that you need to adjust your learning techniques for your new environment. This is pretty much what your fist year is all about - it's an apprenticeship in uni learning on which the second and third years can build. Failing first time round is OK as long as long as you treat it as a learning experience and get advice on how to improve.

Just thought I should point out that pure maths is uniquely difficult and it's pretty crazy that they're often 100% exam modules. So you have to answer like 10 questions in 2 hours and every single one is "prove this" which you're either good at or not (for some people the novelty of each question throws them as there is no set method and for others it's the time constraint so they never finish any proof).

Like applied and stats also asks you to apply your knowledge to novel situations but not on the same scale under time pressure. So yeah, there is no shame in bailing on pure maths if you find those exams difficult: you either have it or you don't (I did not have it).

But yeah, practice still helps a ton. You can scrape a pass just by knowing how to start off each proof properly even if it never goes anywhere.