I failed my first session at Uni :(?

I would take the class over, if I were you.

However, I would study every day, 5 days a week, from the start of the term until the exam.

I would read the sections in the textbook *before* the information covered in them was discussed in class, and I would try to solve all the problems in the book *before* going to class.

Then in class, it would be a review to the greatest extent possible, reinforcing what I had already learned, and I could ask any questions I had because I would have a list of them going in (and I would tick them off as they were answered and put the answers into my notes). Because so much of the class would be review, I would be well-prepared to notice and learn from any tangents the instructor might be taking.

I would also be learning how to learn math from a book, which is a very valuable skill.

After class - but on the same day - I would use my reading notes and my class notes to write out a comprehensive set of study notes. I would review those notes regularly even after we had moved on, and I would continue to solve problems relating to *all* the topics the class had covered. That would keep the material fresh in my mind. If I were exhausting all the problems in the book and all the problem sets the instructor gave out, I would go to the library and borrow some more textbooks for similar classes and solve the problems in there.

Reviewing study notes and solving problems are things that really help students to succeed.

But you need to understand that even though "I was just upset because I studied 2 weeks every day just for maths, I can honestly say that with all my heart" sounds *to you* like "I really worked hard to learn maths," it sounds to many people, including (at the very least) some instructors like "I blew off this subject for most of the session, and then even though I spent more time 'preparing' for the exam than many other students, I could not in the end overcome the effects of the choices I had made." In fact, every time a student has ever said to me, "But I studied *a lot* for this exam" or "I worked *really hard* on this," it has turned out that they really only did a small amount of studying or put in a small amount of work compared to their more successful classmates.

Distraction works to a significant extent, but don't distract yourself so much from what happened that you can't learn from your mistakes.

And as for your family, the odds are that this method worked just fine for you in high school, and you are now learning that you need to do more at uni. That's an important lesson, and one that many bright students need. If it only takes you this one class and an extra $2,000 to learn the method, I don't think that's a waste. Some students take *years* to figure it out.

Yes, some of your classmates can still get away with not studying for most of the session. Others are pretending they don't study so you'll think they're more intelligent than you are. But that doesn't mean you "can't do the mathematics" to be a programmer. It just means that *this* time, you didn't do the work that it will take for *you* to master the mathematics. I really don't think that what you describe here warrants quitting your dream.

Good luck with the rest of your studies.