College student only gets 2 questions correct on a 100 question Statics exam: 'I studied and reviewed the homework.'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Oct 14, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

Everyone was acting like he was some big idiot for failing his test so absurdly, but did they even consider that maybe Statics is a harder class than Statistics? Do they even know what a statics test entails?

Your college GPA doesn't paint a totally accurate picture of how smart you are. Somebody who gets a 4.0 in a Communications degree might've gotten a 2.0 if they had chosen a more difficult major. I did pretty well grades-wise in college, but that's probably because I majored in English instead of Computer Science. I am not saying this to put myself or other English majors down! I loved my major, my professors, and my classes, and I am proud to be working in the field I studied. That being said, there is a lot more wiggle room, grading-wise, when it comes to an English class. In a typical English class, you don't have exams. Instead, you write three essays per semester, and they make up the bulk of your final grade. There were times when I wrote essays I considered absolutely horrible, and I still earned an A on them. Again, I'm not saying this to put myself down, but it's just a fact. Liberal arts professors don't grade their students as harshly as they could, and I don't know if that's a good thing. One of my favorite professors, Dr. Sarah Neville, was a Shakespeare scholar who gave me Bs on essays I totally deserved As on. I wasn't turning in "A" work, and I was glad someone was actually holding me accountable. 

My sister had a very different college-grade experience. I got a liberal arts degree at a state school, and she got an engineering degree at an Ivy League school. Saying her classes were more difficult than mine would be a gross understatement. She worked so hard every semester to pass and meet the expectations placed on her. It was hard for her to explain to others outside of her academic circle that getting a "C" in certain classes was an incredible achievement, not a mediocre grade. If you've never gotten such a difficult degree at such an intense, competitive institution, you can't understand what she went through. I didn't understand, but I always wanted to be there to listen when she was struggling. 

Luckily for her, and most students in incredibly difficult STEM courses, the grades were curved. That meant that the highest score determined how many extra points everyone else got. If the highest score in the class was an 88%, then everyone else got 12 points added to their grade. That helps students whose grades go from a 58 to a 70, but if your score is so low that even a generous curve (I mean, like 30 or 40 points) doesn't do much. If you've ever been in a class that was so difficult that you didn't know any of the answers, I would understand if you were to become mildly infuriated, like the guy in this story. 

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  • Teenagers taking an exam
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Students taking an exam in their Statics class

    Models for explanatory purposes only.  

  • My midterm grade for statics, despite studying and reviewing the homework

    Catus Grade # Graded 2/100 Results View Page 1 Y of 1 < >
    via u/Mysterioape
  • Sounga Tepes Even by the standards of multiple choice you should have accidentally picked the right answer here or there?
    via u/SoungaTepes
  • maoussepatate In france we don't do a lot of multiple choices, but when we do we lose points for each bad answer to dissuade people from just trying randomly Edit: at least where i studied. I cant say it is a national French rule
    via u/maoussepatate
  • TheNuclearSaxophone Not saying this is what OP did, but I know an instructor at our local University who says students come to her after they fail and say "but I studied for hours!" And then she asks HOW they studied. Sometimes it's "I skimmed the lectures and the book". Sometimes it's "I read the book but didn't take notes". Sometimes it's absolutely wild sh_like "I had ChatGPT provide me a summary on the lecture notes, then used another Al to provide a summary of the summary, then I had anothe
    via u/TheNuclearSaxophone
  • "Studying" is only effective if the method you use actually lets you retain the information, and for math classes like these you must must MUST do challenging practice problems, sometimes even beyond the homework. Source: Am a failed engineering student who learned the hard way about studying and homework.
    via u/TheNuclearSaxophone
  • reliquaryofrot I spent my entire school years just thinking I was a huge dummy. I would spend hours studying just to fail every test. I had summer school regularly for failing classes. I didn't go to college for a long time because what even would be the point? Turns out the answer was flash cards. Went to college later in life and started getting straight A's. I'm still annoyed that they didn't show us different study options in school.
    via u/reliquaryofrot
  • ProfessionalRandom21 There is no way anyone actually studied, done their homework properly get 2/100. Zero. If this is real, just gave up and go farm banana. OP probably skimmed through the text book once before the exam.
    via u/ProfessionalRandom21
  • NoLadderStall Omg statics. I got like a 30% on my first midterm, but I locked in and started going to office hours and passed. A lot of people in this thread think this is statistics and not STATICS, which is studying the forces in systems that do not move.
    via u/NoLadderStall
  • Numerous-Ad6460 D in I did read that statistics
    via u/Numerous-Ad6460
  • L_Walk If it makes you feel better, my statics grades were abysmal because they were graded on standard deviation, meaning if I got a good grade but the rest of the class did too, it was a C. If I got a bad grade but the rest if the class did too, I got a C. Needless to say, I got a C in the course. But at my job I ended up being the guy who knew the most and taught every other engineer I work with how to make the leap from theoretical to practical. So your grade isn't the end all be all, as lon
    via u/L_Walk
  • Mysterioape OP Thanks I think I needed to hear that.
    via u/Mysterioape
  • SlyDevil98 I did well in statics, it made sense to me. Calculus applied physics on the other hand.. my first exam I scored a 13%. It was partially multiple choice and statistically would have scored better just randomly guessing.
    via u/SlyDevil98
  • Nerdy_Squirrel I did well in statics and calculus physics but thermodynamics kicked my a. I got like 20% on the first midterm. I buckled down hard and turned that into an A- by the end. I remember none of it now. Just straight memorized every formula and looked for trigger words to figure out how to pass. Its a terrible way to actually learn anything. A score this low, you know they are grading on whether or not you get the right answer, not on how well you understood the problem and applied the
    via u/Nerdy_Squirrel
  • rvc9927 To everyone confused about statics vs statistics. Statics is a physics based engineering class where you solve short answer problems where the sum of all forces aka static. = 0, With short answer problems, it is very possible to get a low grade if you don't get the answer, but it's engineering and also very possible the professor is a for not giving more partial credit.
    via u/rvc9927
  • llogarithmicfunction It made me remember the time that I got 14/100 in criminal law despite studying hard and writing 6 A3 papers long answers. I complained about it and they told me "Your answers may be right but you didn't follow the systematic of our Professor."
    via u/llogarithmicfunction
  • moldy_laundry Very familiar. Eventually it clicks and you will have a barely passing grade
    via u/moldy_laundry

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studying question static homework physics static electricity college students science study exam questions college college student exams
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